Why Me?

Chapter 34

The next morning, I woke up, got ready for school, had my breakfast, and went to wait in the car for Luke. I told myself I was going to try and contain myself to not cry today. My dad said my mom's doing better, which is good.

The whole car ride was silent. At school we were all quiet. We tried to make little conversations but they quickly died out.

I made my way to each class, trying to wear my best smile and keep my head high. People knew something was up. I could tell by the way they looked at me.

I walked to my locker before lunch. I expected Luke to be here already, but he wasn't. I leaned against my locker and waited for a few minutes. I took my phone out and started playing around on it.

Minutes later, I heard shuffling from down the hall. I looked up and gasped. There were two police officers holding two high schoolers in hand cuffs.

"Sheriff please, Luke was only defending himself. Pete's the one who started it and threw the first punch," Ashton frantically said.

"Puh-lease! Luke isn't all innocent over here!" Will yelled.

"Why don't you just shut up Will?!"

"Boys! Stop!" the sheriff yelled.

They walked down the hall and stopped at the principals office which wasn't that far away from me. Luke looked up and met my eyes. He quickly looked back down at the ground. I started to walk to him but Ashton stopped me.

"That's probably not a good idea, Sara," he said.

"What happened to him? Why does he have bruises and cuts on his face? Is he okay? Can I talk to him?" I frantically asked.

"What is this, 20 questions? As car as I know, Luke's fine. He won't talk to me though. All I know is Pete was pestering him and egging him on to fight. Pete threw a couple punches in before Luke finally cracked and punched him square in the jaw. I tried to pull the two of them apart. Will sort of helped but you know how he is."

"Can we talk to Luke right now?"

"I'm not sure. We can try I guess."

We walked towards them, slowly.

"Hey, don't come any closer," the sheriff said. He was stuck holding the two boys while the other one went into the office.

"Sheriff, she's my girlfriend. Can I please talk to her?" Luke asked.

"Two minutes."

Luke walked over to me. He still had the hand cuffs on, so hugging him was awkward. I examined his face which had cuts and bruises all over. I felt the tears in my eyes as my fingers ran over them.

"A-are you o-okay?" I asked him. My voice cracked a few times.

"Babe, I'm fine. It's just some cuts and bruises," he replied.

"It ruined your beautiful face." I felt the tears stream down my cheeks.

"Baby, don't cry. I'll be alright."

"What if you won't?"

"Don't think about that. If I'm not back after school, Ashton's going to take you to your mom at the hospital. If I don't meet you there, Ashton's taking you back to your house. He's going to 'take care of you' today. Look, Sara, I'm really sorry for all this. I didn't plan on this happening."

"What exactly happened?"

"Pete started saying shit about you. I told myself to walk away and ignore it. I was doing pretty good, until Pete hit me a few times. Then I hit him back and it went down hill from there. Are you mad at me?"

"Why would I be mad at you?"

"Because I got into a fight. I know you don't like it when that happens. I know you don't like to see me hurt like this. I know that this is totally not going to help your mom like me at all."

"Luke, I'm not mad at you. I could never be mad at you. Well not too mad at least. You stuck up for what was right. It makes me fall even more in love with you."

Luke looked down at the ground.

"I just wish it didn't have to end like this," he mumbled.

"Hey," I said. I was trying to get him to look back up at me. It didn't work.

I lifted up his head with mine and attached my lips to his. I placed my hand on his cheek. I felt our tears mix together.

"Two minutes is up," the sheriff said.

We broke away from each other. Luke turned to walk back and almost ran into the principal.

"Sorry sir," he said.

"I am utterly disappointed in you two," our principal said. "Getting into a fight like that on school grounds? What were you thinking?!"

"I don't know, sir," Luke replied. Pete stood there, silent.

"Well you've got some explaining to do. And it's going to have to happen at the sheriff's office. Will, Ashton, and Sara, please go get to class."

He gave me a sympathetic look as Ashton and I turned to walk to the cafeteria.

"It's going to be okay," Ashton reassured me. He placed his arm around my shoulder.

"But what if its not?" I asked.

"Don't see it as that. See it as one conflict in the thing we call life. Nobody's perfect. We all make mistakes. It's just some people make bigger ones than others."

"Do you want to be a counselor or something when you grow up?" I asked with a smile. He laughed.

"Maybe. It seems like I'd be pretty good at it."

"It does."

We walked over to our usual lunch table and sat down. Then we told them the entire story as to why Luke wasn't there.