brooklyn baby

blonde espresso

C H A P T E R   T W O

Just as Luka had finished organizing the files in his messy locker, a strong draft hit, blowing the pages everywhere. Damnit. All that for nothing. Standing up, Luka banged the crown of his head on the locker door above. Oh, clumsy smurf. Not a great start to this Wednesday. Luka decided to carry his books to first period because he didn't want another unfortunate thing to happen to him because bad events always come in threes.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Emma emerged out of the blue.

"I want the world to be dominated by aliens, and fast." Luka said as he massaged the back of his head, gently.

"Great, so I have this dance thing coming up.." Emma started.

"..yes, and it's a Valentine's Day dance but they just called it that so people would show up. Yada, yada, yada." Luka rolled his eyes sarcastically.

"How did you-" Emma's confused kitten eyes stared blankly at Luka.

Luka sighed. "You literally told me yesterday and how I remember it, is because when you talk the universe stops mid-orbit so that you can turn a simple sentence into a novel. But because I'm such a great listener, I don't mind."

Luka sneered at her as she punched his shoulder, pulling tongue. Luka stared at Emma with his 'you know I love you' look on his face. Emma's face suddenly lighted up but she wasn't looking at Luka, she was looking behind him. It could only be one person. The spawn of Satan, himself..

"Jamey!" Emma exclaimed.

"In the flesh," he answered, gesturing for Emma to hug him. She did just that, running into his arms in slow-motion like this was a damn movie. He blatantly ignored Luka. But honestly, Luka couldn't care less, he didn't need nor want Jamey's approval. He was fine with the eye rolls and sighs of disapproval they shared. Luka didn't care what happened to the guy, even if he was Emma's boyfriend.

"Whatever. See you later Em." Luka smiled at Emma but shot a dirty look in Jamey's direction.

Luka made his way up the stairs, heading toward the second floor, making sure he placed one foot in front of the other when he walked. Walking ever so carefully. He entered the classroom that was decorated with watercolor posters and realism artworks of past and current students. Visual Arts was Luka's favourite class by far. He could really express his feelings, through pencil and paper. Art was one of many of Luka's hidden talents.

A few eyebrow sketches into the lesson, a vibrant girl, escorted by the principal, waltzed into class. Everyone stood up in unison, the sound of their chairs scraping across the floor lingered in my ears.

"Listen up everyone, Aurora here is the new exchange student that will be joining us. She is from Venice and will be attending Heartlake High for five weeks, so please make her feel welcome."The suited man said with authority in his voice.

The new girl rocked back and forth on her raven coloured boots as the boys whistled. She was a tall glass of water, wearing a rolled up, monotonous striped shirt and a cherry red skater skirt to match her lips.

Just as the principal spun around on his heels, he spoke up, "Oh and I forgot to mention, Aurora needs a buddy to show her around, make her feel at home."

"I'll do it!" Luka's lips blurted out, without full permission. The principal gestured for Aurora to sit in the seat beside him as he slipped out the door. She sat down beside Luka as the bubble of gum she was chewing burst. What did Luka just sign up for? He was supposed to be the soft-spoken, quiet kid that sat at the back of the class, making sketches of the voices inside his head. But now, now he had agreed to be Aurora's personal Uber driver.

"Buddy? What are we, ten?" Aurora mumbled as she leaned back in her seat.

Luka let out a chuckle. "I'm Luka, Luka Yellowwood"

"Like the tree?" Aurora smirked.

Luka giggled, "You're relentless."

Aurora started to tie her hair up in a messy bun, "I'll take that as a compliment."

Luka stared at Aurora's freckled cheeks, connecting them in his mind like they were constellations. "You wanna skip second, I need to get out of this torture chamber. I could show you around, maybe?"

Aurora let out a sigh of relief. "Took the words right out of my mouth."

The hourly bell sounded and Luka escorted Aurora out of the class. The halls were crowded, the chaos looked like a scene from a movie. You had your clique cheerleaders accompanied by the clique jocks with their bags flipped over their shoulders. The clique gamer geeks that played games between classes stumbled into the fashion obsessed teens, as they strut down the hallway. Then there was Luka, not falling under any of the categories, not identifying with any of the cliques. All alone. Just Luka. And Aurora. He led her to the tennis courts, the hideout for people who bunked class regularly.

Aurora unlocked her phone and started taking photos of herself.

"What are you doing?" Luka asked, confused.

"Snapchatting.. duh." She replied, pulling her tongue as the camera flickered. Just as she sat down, it started drizzling. "My hair!" Aurora exclaimed in fear, sprinting to shelter.

Luka on the other hand, loved the rain. He would just stand there as the droplets ran down his cheeks. The rain was so quiet you could hear the pitter patter on the court. It sounded like little footsteps running in around in circles. The grass was wet and glossy, reflecting the sun and looked as if it was shining. The rain hitting Luka's face were so pure, raindrops straight from heaven.

"Are you just going to stand there aimlessly?" Aurora sneered as she protected her eyelashes from the rain.

"Pretty much." Luka replied, dumbfounded.

"So, what exactly do you do when you bunk class?" Aurora muttered as her hand danced in the downpour.

"Grab coffee." Luka smirked at Aurora.

Aurora jogged away from the shelter, "I'd love to but getting soaked in rain isn't one of my favourite things."

Without thinking twice, Luka was on his way to the local coffee shop, dodging the puddles along the way.