bully

two

the week went on without hearing much from michael, and luke was almost certain that the punk was up to something, and he wasn't wrong.

it was friday, period 4, just before lunch, and they had an empty period. the english teacher they were supposed to have hadn't turned up, so luke had decided to use the lesson to finish studying some of the poems that they needed to learn.

that was until michael turned up and came and sat at the back next to luke again.

but this time, there was nobody in michael's seat, meaning michael had just done it to annoy luke.

"what do you want?" luke asked, lifting his head from where it was resting on his arm as he wrote on the paper to look at michael.

michael had red eyes that almost matched his hair, and bags under them too. he looked almost ill. his skin with deathly white, and he didn't have the usual bounce in his step.

"are you okay?" luke asked softly, closing his english book and looking at the boy next to him.

this was what he hated about michael.

deep down, he knew michael was probably only doing this to wind him up, so that he could go to his friends later and be like "oh, luke loves me, he cares about me" or some bullshit like that. but luke was a good person at heart. he cared when people were upset, and was willing to push aside the fact that michael hated him just to try and be nice to him.

"i don't know. mind if i sit here?" michael mumbled back, but the question sounded more like a demand or a statement. his voice was much lower than usual, luke noticed.

his eyes were fixed on the table, not looking back at luke.

"why don't you go and sit with harriet and all your other friends instead of me?" luke suggested, realising there was more than one empty seat next to michael's friends.

"i want to sit with you." michael said quietly, resting his head on luke's shoulder.

luke shivered and his first instinct was to push the boy off, but he stopped himself, and let michael use him as a pillow as he went back to scribbling down notes about poems in his book.

the bell chimed for the end of lesson, and luke got up carefully, letting michael lift his head off of him, and collected all of his things, sliding them into his bag quickly. he was about to leave the classroom when someone tapped on his shoulder, and he turned and saw michael again.

"do you mind if i come with you?" michael asked, his voice soft and gentle, something luke didn't think someone like michael could ever do.

"sure." luke said. calum wasn't here today anyway, he thought.

he still didn't know why he was being nice to michael.

luke wandered slowly outside to his tree where he usually sat at lunch, and climbed up to sit on one of the branches, watching michael climb up and sit on the branch opposite him, watching the kids play football below.

luke hated the way that he was smiling at michael stupidly, as if michael cared about him. this was another sick wind up, and luke was falling for it.

"how comes you aren't with your friends?" luke asked eventually as he got comfortable as well as he could in a tree.

michael's gaze didn't move from the people on the field. he shrugged. "how comes you don't eat lunch?" he asked, randomly.

luke shrugged.

"where's your friend?" michael asked.

"c-calum isn't in." luke said quietly, and that was about all that they said to one another. michael eventually took his bag off and pulled out a box with pizza in, and ate that, offering some to luke, but the blond boy insisted he wasn't hungry. michael made a face and nodded. that was about all luke's lunch time that day consisted of.

when the bell went to signal the end of lunch, michael helped luke climb down from the tree by wrapping his arm around the small boy's waist and putting him down gently. they walked to science together in silence, with look throwing occasional glances at the pretty punk next to him.

sometimes he didn't understand michael clifford, and the things he did.

like how one day he would hate luke's guts, and tease him all day long, but other days like today, he wanted to be with him. even if they didn't really talk, he still insisted on being with luke, and being sort of, affectionate toward him.

luke didn't think he'd ever understand michael clifford

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