The Undercover Bad Boy

Chapter Twenty One - An Open Mind

Chapter Twenty One - An Open Mind

During the time I was sitting outside of the office, impatiently waiting for Zach to finish his conversation with Mr Fletcher, I had put my earphones in and started tapping my foot against the floor to the beat. No teacher questioned what I was doing there or why I wasn't in lessons, so I just remained where I was.

Out of pure boredom, I surveyed the reception area; everything was polished to perfection, trophies and awards assembled so they were clearly viewable and the pictures were all neatly hung on the wall. The whole reception seemed to be faultless.

I glanced across to the receptionist and my eyes landed on Luke. He was in the process of being signed out at the main desk. I seriously hoped that he wasn't leaving early because of injuries he got from the fight with Jimmy and the others.

With nothing better to do I had approached him.

"Hi," I had said, resting my elbows on the desk.

Luke pivoted on his heel and looked almost shocked to see my stood there. He easily recovered and his face bloomed into an overenthusiastic smile. "Hey, Alex."

"You're going home early?"

"Yeah. I'm not feeling that well," he replied carefully.

That was the first time I had spoken (or seen for that matter) Luke since the day after Tara's birthday party. He looked the same as always; light brown hair, warm eyes and we still had to same fashion sense. Even though he was identical to what he looked like before, it felt like I was with a completely different person. That's what a little bit of distance does to people.

And to be fairly honest, it scared me. A lot.

"Thanks for helping Zach." I didn't know what else to say.

He waved a hand dismissively. "It was nothing. So..." he trailed off, trying to think of what to say. "How have you been?"

The atmosphere was incredibly awkward. It was obvious by the way I was shifting my weight to each foot or how Luke was scratching the back of his neck. It just wasn't the same.

"I've been good. And you?"

He started fiddling with the strap of his backpack. "Great, yeah, I've been great."

I couldn't stop myself from adding what I said next. "And what about Jett, how is she?" It was asked in a conversational way however there was an accidental hint of bitterness underneath the layer of amiability.

He froze at my words. A rigid expression took over his features and his eyes narrowed into slits. "She's great too." His tone was snappy and brisk as if this wasn't a topic he wanted to discuss.

"I'm glad," I stated dryly, annoyed by his sudden attitude change.

"If you don't mind, I need to be going home," he muttered. And with that, he barged straight past me and left the school building.

I just remained motionless, watching him get into his car. I cast him one last fleeting look before turning back to the reception. I regretted ever approaching him because I had just made everything worse.

When he jumped in to help Zach, I thought that he was going to come back to us. Well, I was wrong.

~

For the third night in a row, Zach had stayed over. He had also completely disregarded all of Mr Fletcher's words and hadn't bothered calling his parents. No matter how many times I told him that he should, he would argue otherwise and I knew that he was not going to rethink his judgement.