Lost boy ♡ muke

september issue ✧ 2

the month in the title coincides with the time in which the story is happening

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Luke found his favorite playlist on his computer, opened up his notebook and started eating his lunch.

He had about thirty minutes to get some planning done for the first number of the year.

Over the summer Luke hooked up with someone who was good at designing so in exchange for a few nights together The Ink got a new theme.

He didn't hook up with him because of it but it was a great bonus Luke got out of it.

Over the summer he collected the ideas for the issues. The paper consisted from twelve sheets of paper which made The Ink twenty-four pages long, including the front and the back page.

The front page changed every time, the cover of even-numbered editions belonged to the Photography Club and odd ones came from the Art Club. It was an honor to help create the paper, that's why Luke was confused over why no one applied to help.

Just as he was chewing his salad someone knocked on the door, making Luke frown. No one besides Mr. Abrams knew Luke was his during lunch and he was pretty sure he had a class right now.

"Come in," Luke shouted and moved the lunch away from him so it would look more like he was working.

If he would still be holding his fork he'd probably drop it at this point.

He spent quite some time thinking about Michael Clifford since he learned he'll have to look at him every day. For some reason, Luke didn't remember him being so hot, not that he saw him in school that much. Or maybe he just had a glow up over the summer?

Michael was pale, his hair was dyed blonde and he had an eyebrow piercing that made Luke's mouth water. He was dressed in all black, ripped skinny jeans and a jacket with a white shirt under it.

"Hi." He waved at Luke and his voice was just as hot.

Only more reasons for Luke to dislike him.

"Hi," Luke mumbled back. "What are you doing here?"

Michael walked into the room and closed the door after him. "Umm... Didn't Mr. Abrams tell you I'll be helping you with the newspaper?"

Luke made sure his smile looked fake and that his voice sounded unpleasant. "Yeah. But that's an afterschool activity. I don't blame you for not knowing since you're never at school."

"Whoa." Michael laughed and raised his hands in defense. "He told me you normally work on it during lunch so I decided to see if you need any help. No need to be a bitch about it."

Luke had no reason to be this mean to Michael. He knew that he just didn't want to be nice to someone who didn't take school seriously and was supposed to help him with something that meant the world to him.

After Luke remained quiet Michael walked further into the small room and placed his hands on the edge of the table before leaning over.

"Look, I get it. You don't want me to be here. I don't know the details; all I know is that in order for the principle to let me graduate I have to help you with the paper."

Michael's eyes were piercing green and Luke had to look away only to see a color Peter Pan tattoo on his inner wrist.

"And I need to graduate so please when I come back after school find some work for me to do."

When Michael was at the door Luke swallowed his pride and called his name. The older boy slowly turned and looked at him expectantly.

"Look I'm sorry. It's not your fault but somehow you're the reason I can even sit here, otherwise, the Journalism club would be nonexistent. I just don't want to work with someone who clearly doesn't want to be here. But yes, I'll find you something to do just don't expect me to trust you with anything big."

Michael came back and sat on the chair opposite to Luke's. "I do want to be here. Like I've said, I have every intention to graduate this year and I'll do my best. It'll probably take more than me creating sudoku and crosswords for the principle to let me do that but it's a start."

"You know how to do sudoku?" Luke asked surprised. "I normally just get them off the internet."

Michael laughed. "I noticed. Last year the same one made it into three different issues, I checked and it was the first one you can find on Google."

"What?" Luke couldn't believe he did something so stupid. "Wait, you actually read the paper?"

The boy across the tabled shrugged his shoulders. "I'm pretty sure everyone does. And since I wasn't in school that often last year it was a way for me to catch up on the news."

Luke wasn't sure if that was a compliment but he intended to take it as one.

"Do you have a notebook or something with you?"

Michael nodded and opened his backpack.

"Today it's Tuesday and we need to finish writing the first issue of the year by Monday so it can get printed by Wednesday."

Luke wasn't sure if he should be happy or not that Michael seemed to actually listen to him. He wrote down all the content the paper was split into, he took notes of everything Luke pointed as important and made sure to ask if there was something he didn't understand.

"Okay," Michael said after ten minutes of Luke talking. "I'll make sure to find some old issues in the library so I'll have more idea about what to do after school."

"You're leaving?" Luke asked. "Is it the end of the period already?"

"No." Michael smiled and pointed at Luke's lunchbox. "I just noticed I interrupted you while you were eating so please finish it and I'll see you after class."

When Michael turned to leave, Luke was left in shock.

On the back of Michael's black jacket was a white X. A sign that gave Luke a lot of ideas about why Michael was missing school so often.

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T H O U G H T S ?

Luke's attitude and Michael's persona?

What do you think Michael's tattoo or the X on his jacket mean?

i'm sending love to all of you who decided to read my 11th (!!) book.

Love, Lucija ♡