The sun came up right next to my bedroom. I jumped out of bed when I realized there was only fifteen minutes until seven. I jumped straight up and changed into jeans and a long sleeved shirt. I slipped on some Toms and my sweatshirt. I bounded down the stairs with eight minutes to spare. Luke was sitting at the table picking at a plate of what looked like eggs.
“Hey.” I said, out of breath.
“Are you okay?” He looked up at me from his plate. His eyebrows were pulled together and he looked like he was trying to keep from laughing.
“I woke up later than planned. Where’s dad?” I went to the fridge and grabbed a water bottle. I looked at Luke and he was picking at his food again.
“He went to go see mom.” He stopped picking at his food and took a sip of orange juice. He wasn’t looking at me. That either meant that he was lying or dad told him to keep something from me.
“What about?”
“You, of course.”
“What about me?”
“Mom wants you to come home.”
“I don’t want to go. This is my home now.” On the counter there was a book bag with my name on the note taped to it. I opened it and it had a bunch of school stuff for me. “Did dad put this together for me?” I looked up at him and he was staring at me again.
“Dad took me to the store and I picked everything out but he paid for it.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Did you want to eat something before we leave?”
“No thanks. I’m not much of a breakfast eater.”
“Okay, just to let you know, we have to pick up my best friend Chris on the way there.”
“Alright.” I slung the bag over my shoulder and followed him out to his car. He drove only a couple of blocks before stopping in front of a house that was similar to ours. “Should I move to the back seat?” I looked at Luke and he just shook his head.
“Chris already knows that you’re with me.” I looked back out the window and a boy around my age with tousled black hair and green eyes was walking to the car. It wasn’t until he smiled at me that I realized that he had a blue lip ring on the left side of his bottom lip. I gave him a small smile back and he got into the car behind me.
“Luke, when you mentioned your sister, you didn’t tell me that she was so pretty.” I glanced in the rear view mirror and he was still smiling. I hid my blush in my red hair, hoping that he wouldn’t see it.
“That’s because her prettiness is none of your business.” Luke’s voice was hard. I looked at him through my hair and his face had an unreadable expression. The school was less than a 5 minute drive from Chris’ house. I could probably walk here from home with no problem at all.
It was highly obvious that all the girls with the short skirts and skimpy tank tops had been waiting for Luke and Chris. They smiled and gave flirty waves as we passed. I watched as all of their faces fell when they saw me. Luke walked me to the office and both of them walked me in.
“I think I can handle it from here guys.” I told them. I had always been independent, for the most part anyways. I walked up to the front desk and the lady at the desk smiled at me.
“You must be Samantha Evans.”
“Yes, that’s me.” I pushed some hair behind my ear and gave her a small smile, suddenly getting shy. They probably didn’t get much new students around here so I would be the center of attention for a while.
