Your Time To Shine

Part 3

They made their way outside to sit and eat their dinner on the benches- James and his friends were already sitting on the benches where there was a roof, so Sara sat far away, not caring that if it rained or snowed, they’d be doomed. Nobody was running around the grass field because it was too cold, but there was many people crowding around nothing. Her crimson hair was pulled back into a slick, loose ponytail and whenever she turned her head, her ponytail flicked with it, too. Sitting down, nobody seemed to bother Sara, but they eyed up Luke a few times, because he wasn’t very familiar to them and nobody knew him but Sara, it seemed.                                                                                                Luke had brushed the snow off the bench so that when Sara sat down it wouldn’t be cold. “Ladies first,” He offered politely, holding out his arm for her to take as she clambered onto the bench, not wanting to slip. Obviously, Luke had been brought up with very, very good manners.                                  “Thank you,” Sara smiled at him weakly, it would be the perfect moment in time if there hadn’t been student’s gorming at them, trying to figure out who Luke was- or just if the other students weren’t there at all. She caught sight of James looking at her with narrowed eyes, so she hid her face behind Luke, munching on her chicken salad quickly. Luke pulled out an apple, warm drink and a sandwich from his Nike messenger bag, digging into it straight away.                                                                               “Hey you, Sara!” James bellowed, cupping his hands over his mouth like he held authority, like he thought he was cool, but really it just made him look like a little bit of an idiot. He beckoned Sara forward with his finger, eyes cold and hard on Luke.                                                                                     Sara chewed her lip again, turning to face Luke, she hadn’t realized but their faces were ever so close- that probably explained the gorming faces. “I best go and see what he wants, I’m sure I won’t be long.”                                                                                                                                                             “Are you sure, Sara?” Luke almost didn’t let her go, but he remembered that he was her teacher, not her personal protector, not her boyfriend. With anxious eyes he watched her stand up awkwardly, her face screwed up and contorted as she tried to figure out what he did want. He twisted his whole torso in the direction of James to watch the scene unfold.                                                                                     With Luke behind her, knowing that his eyes watched James’ every move, she could be a little more upfront with James than usual. “What do you want, James?” Sara retorted, her lip curling up in disgust as she glanced at the table- they were drinking alcohol on school grounds, how were they not getting punished for it? “I wish I’d never let you walk all over me this morning, you’re just making me realize how much of a jerk you really are.” She was only saying this because she wanted to go back to Luke, not to have a conversation with James. If her threatening voice hadn’t of been so feminine, it would have come across more powerful. “You and your weirdo friends can leave me alone now.”                                     James almost looked offended. “Now, honey, we know you’ve got your pretty little boy over there, but we don’t care about him, do we lads?” His friends nodded and grunted. “He can always be.... disposed off. So let’s just say that you never said that and just pick up from where we left off?” James leaned in to kiss her- hands already on her waist, but Luke surged forward at the speed of light, leaving their food over on the other bench, obviously not bothered what would happen to it. Harshly he shoved James so that he was sent flying in the other direction; Sara stumbled backwards behind Luke so that he would protect her.                                                                                                                                When James looked up, his face was crooked and blood trailed down his skin. “Are you messing with me, mate? What’s your name? I’ll come sort you out, I’ll show you who is really boss, hey! You hear?” James stepped back a little as he saw the serious look on Luke’s face, a look that chilled him right to the bone.                                                                                                                                                “I’m more commonly known as your enemy if you think you can have your dirty, filthy hands all over Sara.” He threatened, twisting his hand so that his wrist cracked; he tilted his head to the side, piercing eyes staring straight through James, his breathing deep, heavy and really quick. “I’d go, if I were you, and take all of your school-boy friend’s with you, okay?”                                                                    Like a dog with its tail between its hind legs, James and his friends scuttled away from the sheltered bench, disappearing, but cowardly James turned back to shout; “You haven’t seen the last of me, you stupid boy! I’ll get you back, I promise you!” James was probably going to one of the girls who’d take pity on him and sort out his face.                                                                                                     Sara collected their food so that they could go and sit down on the sheltered bench- it was much warmer there. Luke turned to face her with an innocent smile- you wouldn’t have believed it was the same person that had been threatening James not long ago- of course he could get in trouble for that being a teacher, but since James didn’t know who he was, he would probably be okay- James didn’t seem like the one to grass somebody up anyway. “Now, where were we?” It was almost as if nothing had happened at all.                                                                                                                                                         Now that James and his gang of mutts had gone, the two could sit under the sheltered bench. Sara got her dinner out- a chicken salad, made especially by her wonderful cook, her mother. Of course, she could cook too, just not chicken salad as well as Chloe could. With content eyes she watched Luke eat his chicken sandwiches, apple, and his warm drink that she guessed was either coffee or tea. She would probably buy a coffee before she went in. She snapped her head up to the sound of Luke’s voice.