third person
The bell screeched throughout the halls, signaling the school day was over and the kids could go home. Jay huffed as she tucked her folder into her backpack. With a kick to her locker, she made her way down the crowded, frantic hallway. An ocean of people blocked her way to the exit, making her exhale in annoyance.
"Hey Jay. Ha, that rhymed." Luke greeted, chuckling at himself.
Jay jumped, for he had literally popped up of nowhere. He easily kept up with her pace with his oddly lengthy legs moving slow while her short, thick legs moved rapidly.
She turned her head to face forward, or rather just anywhere else than his direction. Remaining silent, she mindlessly checked her phone for any new notifications. Jay refused to even spare a glance at his confused face.
Luke furrowed his eyebrows. Is everyone mad at me? He thought to himself, angrily trying to recall what he'd done to upset all of his friends. Then, he'd remembered the previous day's events.
"Oh, Jay, uh I'm really sorry for what I said yesterday. It was really uncalled for and disrespectful. I had a lot on my mind and I just sorta took it out on you I guess. Forgive me?" Luke rambled, hope evident in his soft, blue eyes.
She sighed in response, meeting his gaze but her brown eyes wandered to the violet color displayed on his face.
Jay let out a little gasp and stopped in her tracks, making everyone grunt as they walked around the two. "Luke, what did you do?" She grabbed his face in her hands and brought it close to hers to inspect the bruise. Luke's stomach flipped as his eyes flickered from both of hers frantically, not used to the closeness.
"Um, I uh fell. Y-Yeah! I fell and hit my face off of the corner of my nightstand." He made up, not wanting to have to explain that her best friend pinned him against the cold, metal lockers and threw a punch at his eye with his oversized fist.
"Luke, how the frick do you even do that?" Jay asked, not quite buying his lie. "There's a little scratch here too, what kind of nightstand do you have?" She asked rhetorically, lightly grazing her thumb over it, making him wince.
That's when the pieces of the puzzle fell into place, creating an image of the truth. Her hands fell from his soft skin to the straps of her book bag.
"Ashton hit you, didn't he?" It was more of a statement, but she needed clarification.
Luke sighed in defeat, nodding in response. Jay's fists balled up, her nails digging into her palm, Luke taking notice of her aggravation.
"Do you know something about that?" He asked her, watching her facial features intently as she closed her eyes and sighed, opening them again to speak.
"He was mad that you were being rude to me. I didn't know he was gonna take it this far." She explained, suddenly realizing the bruise was about the size of a fist, and Ashton's ring had probably cut him.
Luke nodded in understanding, knowing why his friend had been so peeved at him. He had good reason, but wished Ashton explained himself why he was being punched and yelled at. It hurt Luke not only physically, but emotionally. He may have cried, but he wouldn't admit to it.
All Luke wanted was to protect her, but now he's the one she's being protected from.
"I need to get home, but I'll see you tomorrow? Oh also you're forgiven." She offered a grin, starting to walk away in the now vacant building. He shyly nodded and watched as her hair bounced with every step she took. He was so infatuated with this girl he knew nearly nothing about, and he didn't even realize the tingling in his stomach was a chemical reaction named love.
"Hey, wait!" Luke called, speeding up, suddenly filled with confidence. He couldn't be a wuss forever; time to grow up a little.
She turned around and waited for him to catch up. "Yeah, what?"
Luke smiled at her and leaned in, placing a kiss to her cheek. "Text me, okay?" Jay froze as she glanced up at him. He winked his not-injured eye and gave her shoulder a final squeeze before walking off. She remained in her stance, running her slender fingers over the spot Luke's pink lips met, feeling her face heat up.
Eventually she shook her head, breaking herself from her trance and retreating to Ashton's car outside. Jay grumpily took the backseat, seeing Ashley already had the passenger seat. 2000's pop drifted from his crappy car speakers as he turned the engine on.
"Why did you take so long?" Ashton asked her, putting the car in reverse.
"Why did you hit Luke and not tell me?" Jay clapped back, clearly unhappy with his actions.
Ashton paused, uncomfortably tapping against the steering wheel. "So... you know about that."
"You what?" Ashley butted into the conversation, suddenly interested in her friends' drama.
Ashton let air out of his nose as he turned down the music. "Luke was a douche, so I set him straight." He shrugged.
"No, you over reacted and hit your own friend out of temporary anger. But whatever." Jay retorted, even more bothered that he didn't seem to see anything wrong with the way he handled the situation.
"I'm sorry." Ashton said seriously, making eye contact though the rear view mirror. Jay looked away from his apologetic, hazel eyes and through his dirty car window, at the world outside of it.
"Don't say sorry to me, I'm not the one you punched in the face." Jay spat, plugging her white earbuds into her phone and allowing the music to block out anything Ashton may attempt to say. She didn't care, and she wouldn't care until Luke received a sincere, honest, heartfelt apology.
Jay was definitely upset with Ashton, but as love songs played through her cheap headphones, she couldn't help but feel giddy over Luke.
