Chapter 1
(A/N : this is my first fanfic so sorry if it’s really shitty and for any spelling mistakes . share with your friends if you like it! thankyouu xo)
I’m Lou, and the way I see it, everyone has a soul mate that they’re meant to be with. Everyone in this world. But sometimes that person is on the other side of the ocean, not born yet, or maybe right in front of you and you just aren’t looking hard enough. Maybe they tragically died so you’ll never know they were yours, because they wouldn’t have belonged to you in the first place. And you can’t control it, you could fall in love with the most expected/unexpected person, and it would hit you right in the face – hard. I’m a bit of a realist, so maybe I don’t believe in love in first sight… well maybe I do. I’m just not the type to admit it.
The bell rang and I checked my phone, I had one message from Calum:
hi Lou im sick :( not coming to skwl sorry.
call me later x
I sighed, wondering how I would get through the day without him. I walked to my first class, through the door and took my seat. I sat at the back table next to the radiator with an empty seat beside me. English on a Thursday a morning was a boring first lesson, but I had nothing to complain about. I was top of the class. And I liked boring – doing the same thing over and over – routine was good and as uninteresting as it sounds, it’s true.
Just then the door opened again and the lady from the office who I’d spoken to a few times walked in with a boy I hadn’t seen before. Blonde hair, skinny, almost as tall as the doorframe. Black T-Shirt, black hoodie, black skinny jeans, black Vans. He had an awkward smile and looked nervous.
“Ah, you must be our new student,” said Mr Brown, “would you like to introduce yourself?” He certainly didn’t look like he wanted to introduce himself as he tugged on the sleeves of his hoodie trying desperately not to make eye contact.
“Uh, hi I’m Luke. Hemmings,” he said. A couple of girls giggled and blushed which seemed to make him even more embarrassed. “Okay then, Luke, are there any empty seats for you?” Sir continued. I stared at the empty seat next to me. So did Luke. I didn’t like talking to new people, I wasn’t particularly good at it. And he seemed nice, decent and almost as awkward as me. He looked at me and our eyes locked. I was maybe just about to speak when Stacy Evans raised her hand and stood up. “Sir this seat isn’t taken,” she smiled pointing to the seat next to her. Usually, her boyfriend – Ashton Irwin – sat there. Mr Brown didn’t seem to notice as he ushered for Luke to sit. He was sitting directly in front of my table.
For the whole lesson I spent about eighty percent of the time staring at the back of Luke’s head. Mainly because I couldn’t see over it, but also because I was trying to listen to his and Stacy’s conversation. About ten minutes into the lesson he’d made an awful joke about how her mum must be hot because she was ‘Stacy’s Mom.’ She didn’t understand and I accidentally laughed. He’d turned to look at me and we had a brief, awkward conversation about Fountains of Wayne where I constantly seemed to blush and he constantly bit his lip. He had a lip ring that moved up with the rest of his mouth as he smiled and I found it incredibly distracting. I felt like I needed to touch it.
Ashton kept glaring at us. He’d walked in five minutes late, figured out what was going on, and taken the seat next to me. We didn’t talk (obviously) and he seemed pretty unhappy. Why wouldn’t he be, he has Stacy as a girlfriend. There had been a lot of messy situations with her and other girls, she use to bully me in Junior school. She was nice to Luke, she sugar coated everything.
The bell rang and even though I was at the back of the class, I was the first out of the door. I could have sworn I caught Luke watch me walk out. The day dragged on and I was alone for most of it. Calum was my own friend. A couple of other people knew me as acquaintances or as That Girl Who Hung Out With Calum.
Finally I walked to Maths, my last lesson, and took my seat. Maths and English were the only classes I had without Calum. I stared out into space and was snapped back to reality when Luke walked through the door. He was directed to sit in the seat next to mine as I caught Stacy and a couple of other girls scowling at me. He sat down and coughed awkwardly.
“Hi,” he said breaking the silence, “we talked in English but I didn’t catch your name?”
“Oh, I’m Louise,”
“I’m Luke,” he smiled. He played with drawstrings. Every time I looked at him he was constantly fidgeting with something. Just like me I thought.
Before I could do or say anything stupid Sir walked past us and placed my marked test paper on the desk and smiled. 98/100. Luke was staring at my test paper. Then me.
“What?” I blurted out.
“Nothing it’s just, that’s pretty amazing – your score I mean,” he said sounding a little rushed.
“Thanks,” I said tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. He hadn’t stopped smiling and his dimples were showing. They were cute. He was cute. From my peripheral vision I could see the left side of the classroom. Ashton was staring at Stacy. Stacy was staring at Luke. Luke was staring at me (still.) I was staring at my desk. I really wished Calum was here.
“Soo,” he said brushing his hands through his hair. It was all blonde and messy, piled on top of his head styled upward. I looked at him. Blue eyes. Then back at my desk. “I was wondering if you could do me a favour. My mum’s pissed at me because my maths scores are kind of shitty and uh um –“
“You want me to tutor you maths?” I asked. Why did I keep interrupting him? Where had this confidence come from?
“No I meant we could just do homework together and stuff,” he rushed. His words ran into each other and I liked it. His voice was nice.
“Sure,” I smiled at him for the first time properly.
The bell rang just then. How had an hour passed by so fast? Luke and I walked out together and I accidentally dropped my keys halfway through the door. We bent down to pick them simultaneously and our fingers touched and brushed past eachother. “Uh sorry,” he mumbled. I wanted to tell him it was fine but h
e had already stood up and I could still feel his soft touch lingering at my fingertips. Luke scratched the back of his head and looked at me sideways.
“So when do you wanna meet up?” he asked. He was trying to look bored and it wasn’t working.
“For maths homework?”
“Yeah,” he replied.
“How’s Tuesday after school?” I said nervously.
“Perfect,” he grinned, “see ya.”
“Bye.” I watched him walk down the hallway the opposite direction to everyone else. Did he know he was going the wrong way? He did look really cool though, all calm and collected – until he tripped over his own feet and continued awkwardly.
I smiled to myself.
