never be » lrh book one

Chapter 7

A C C U S A T I O N S
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E N C O U R A G E M E N T S

Sam's POV

As I'm sitting in my first period class, being miserable because I'm all alone, my day suddenly brightens as Michael walks into the room. His eyes find mine instantly and I sit up a bit straighter in my seat. My teacher looks over from the smartboard and raises her eyebrows at him.

"Yes, Mr. Clifford?" She asks, folding her arms over her chest.

"I was transferred from Nory's." Michael responds, stepping forward and handing the teacher a small pink slip. I can see the annoyance on my teacher's face and it makes me laugh quietly.

"Okay. I'll get your assigned seat ready for tomrrow. As for now, sit wherever you can find an open seat." She said, clearly fed up with him already. I wondered what he had done to make her hate him so much, but I pushed that thought to the back of my mind. Michael sat as close to me as he could, which I appreciated. He was a column over to the right and one row up.

Halfway through class, when the teacher's back was turned, he passed me a note. Everyone around us looked at him like he was the most awful person they had ever seen.

Hey Sam, Luke and I changed our schedules so you wouldn't have to be alone in your classes. Now you aren't alone in any classes. x M

I looked at him and gave him the widest smile. At this point, I was so excited. Now I would actually have fun at school and I wouldn't have to worry about being alone. Each day at school keeps getting better and better.

* * *

The whole day Luke seems distracted. A part of me is sad about it, but I tell myself he's probably just tired. That's what I thought, ha.

I find out why he's so distracted as we're walking out of math with Calum. Luke is the first one out of the classroom, Cal and I following. We step out into the hallway and up comes this girl whose name I don't know. She walks up to Luke and causes him to stop dead in his tracks.

The girl is a couple inches shorter than him with brown hair, but she has highlights. Her makeup is done a little more than everyone else's and she wears her uniform in a more slutty way than everyone else. No surprise. Ashton told me Luke fucks around with a lot of girls.

"You're an idiot for thinking I'm not going to tell the police what you did." She spits, disgust in her voice.

"What the hell are you talking about?" He asks, clear confusion etched into his voice. They weren't yelling, but everyone stared. I think this was the closest thing to a fight the school had seen.

"Don't play stupid, Hemmings." She rolled her eyes and folded her arms over her chest. "You forced me to have sex with you while I was drunk. I never gave you consent."

Luke's mouth fell open. "What the actual fuck are you talking about?" He asked, "I never even had sex with you. You're fucking crazy, Allie."

"I was with him the whole night. You were trying to get him to go upstairs with you and he rejected you." Calum stepped in and grabbed Luke's arm, tugging him away.

"Okay, whatever. Have fun banging the American slut." She called after him. I could see him roll his eyes.

Once we were out of the group of people, Cal let go of Luke and we all stood in an empty hallway. Hopefully no one would hear us.

"Don't listen to her. She's the craziest bitch in the whole school." Calum turns and tells me, giving me an apologetic look. Luke walks his his hands in his pockets and his head down. I walk up next to him and throw my arm over his shoulder.

"Don't listen to her, Luke," I tell him, "You're wonderful. Anyone who knows you is lucky to. She's just insane."

His head lifts and he looks at me, a smile spreading onto his face. His arm wraps around my neck and he messed up my hair, causing me to groan. The only reason I'm okay with it is because he seems happier.

We walk into Mr. Day's classroom and pull our lucnhes out of our bags. All of us agreed that it's best if we just pack instead of wasting our time in the lunch room. Calum, Luke and I all sit down in our usual spots and wait for Michael. Sadly, he never really shows. Cal texts him and he doesn't respond. We all assume he's serving a detention and writing sentences. He's in detention at least once a week.

After we all finish our food, Cal and Luke pick up the guitars that they basically have reserved for themselves. This is my favorite part of the day. Today, they were rehearsing a song Calum had written in his bedroom recently. He announced it was Beside You.

They sang it with the occasional mess up and loss of lyrics, but I loved every second of it. When they were finished, I clapped. When I did, I noticed they both blushed. It was probably the cutest thing I had ever seen.

"That was amazing!" I exclaimed, causing them both to shake their heads.

"No, it was terrible." Calum said, getting up to put the guitar back on the rack. I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms.

"Well I thought it was good. You're just being modest." I turned on my heels and picked up my back, slinging it over my shoulder and turning to Luke.

"Let's start walking." I suggested, him responding with a nod and a wave to Cal.

This part of my day always gave me slight anxiety. It was just Luke and I, all alone. The other times it was less nerve racking because we were in classrooms or hallways full of people. The bell hadn't rung yet, so we were all alone.

"You and Calum are really good. Michael too. I haven't really heard Ashton but I'm sure he's good too if you guys chose him to be in the band." I spoke first, wanting to break the slightly awkward silence.

"I think he has a crush on you." Luke blurted out, giving me a bit of a side glare that wasn't really a glare.

"I don't." I answered, even though a part of me was flipping out because Luke knows Ashton and if he thinks Ashton likes me then he actually might.

"Why not? He punched his best friend in the face for you. That's saying a lot." He grumbled, slowing down because we were early.

"I think he was just angry because you weren't being nice to someone who didn't do anything to deserve it." I shrugged and leaned against the wall. "He seems like the guy who sticks up for everyone."

"He is, we met at a movie theater. People were bullying me and he stepped up and pulled me away from them, then introduced himself." Luke smiled at the memory and looked down at his feet, then back up at me. He bit his lip as he looked me over, making me feel self conscious.

"What?" I ask, snapping him out of his little stare.

"What? Oh. Nothing." He flashed a smile and then the bell rang, causing me to let out a groan. Luke sped into the classroom to get seats for us in the back.

The rest of our day went smoothly. Luckily it was Friday. Ash texts me later in the day that he wants to take me out on a date. Of course I accept. Who would reject a date with someone that hot?