Heartbreak and Love: A Luke Hemmings Story

9- Headline

It took five minutes for my mind to be set right. I told myself that to just act normal, the boys didn't know of Jane, or anything of what happened today, (I just told them I needed the car), so there's no point acting unhappy.
They wouldn't understand.
Act normal, Jane won't even notice that you're gone. She probably won't even know that I am here in the first place.
I wouldn't expect her brother to tell her anything, seeming as he doesn't want me to be there. At all.
So, I got out of the hospital, and to be honest it felt like a weight off my shoulders because I think I have a certain guilt with those places.
It just makes me feel... Off.
Anyways, I got in the car and drove off - I didn't even say goodbye to Jane (well what's the point when her dad's banning from seeing her?). And I drove to my home.
My clothes stunk and I couldn't wear this to a gig. I wouldn't make it out alive.
I got home fast. And I parked the car well; two cars were out the front of the house.
Ashton and Mike probably came together before so the other must be Calum's.
They were all here, waiting for me. Usually, one of the members of the band - I don't know why this happened but it just happened - would go to the gigs location and set up. Odd.
Well I guess they probably just want to check that I'm okay with all of this.
I opened the front door to my home to find the three of them, and my mum in the lounge room, waiting for me. Staring at me. actually, when I entered.
"What's ... Going on?" I asked.
Silence.
"Luke," It was Calum that broke the silence. "I think that there's something that you should know," he said, walking over to me with a sympathetic face; that wasn't needed because there was nothing wrong..... Was there?
A thousand of thoughts went through my head, what, how, when... And then they all lead back to today and I just wanted to forget about it.
What if they knew about Jane? What if they thought I did that to her?
I didn't. I had a strange feeling that-
And then Calum gave me the newspaper. The headline was as bold as anything; mainly because it was about me. It read:

Luke Isn't Feeling Summer

---- (some of the article) ----

'New to be popular lead singer of the band, 5 Seconds of Summer, Luke Hemmings hadn't felt too good at his recent show up, in fact he didn't even perform in any of the act. The public and his fans are wondering, what is wrong? His band members, Calum Hood, Michael Clifford and Ashton Irwin claim that Hemmings' no performance was no other than because of illness but we have some other ideas. Could Hemmings be deciding to quit the new, popular band? Is the fame getting to him? ....'

----

I threw it across the room, it hit the wall, and a picture of me as a little kid smashed to the ground, glass goes everywhere on the floor. "Luke!" Mum cried.
"No, how dare they, mum?" I screamed, "I'm not giving up in our band, I'm not quitting!"
"Well, the media and the fans are starting to think so, Luke. That's why we need you to come to this gig we have tonight. You need to the best you can, put faith back into our fans." Mike told me, quietly but sounded pissed off.
"Well if they want me to prove to them, I will fucking prove them so hard, they'll have to burn everyone of this papers." I point to it on the floor, surrounded by glass. "Because they are wrong."

...