summer & luke // l.h. [ON HOLD]

when he reads comics

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luke.

mr stokes walked around the desks, handing out slips of paper. luke looked down at the sheet in front of him. an assignment - great. they were all to find a poem of their own choice and memorise it, to recite to the class in a week's time.

he paused when he was leaning over luke's desk. luke stopped drawing on his textbook and covered it with his hand, but mr stokes didn't seem to notice.

'you kids are almost out of highschool. and i'm not kidding when i say that everything i teach you this year, you'll forget. well, maybe. you might remember that romeo and juliet was a story about star-crossed lovers. you might remember that a simile is different from a metaphor. but you certainly won't remember much else. so today, i'm going to make you memorise a poem.'

luke's english class erupted into moans and groans. he glanced at summer accidentally. she was still staring out the window.

'now, now class. this will be fun, just think. many years down the track, you'll see me in a bar somewhere and walk right up. "hey mr stokes! remember our english advanced class way back in 2013? i still remember 'the man from snowy river', listen... 'there was movement at the station, for the word had passed around...'"

mr stokes moved on to the next desk and luke relaxed. he didn't like teachers breathing down his neck.

'but choose wisely. my advice is to choose a romantic poem. choose something that means something to you. something that one day might,' he tapped on summer's desk but she didn't turn from the window, 'help you speak to someone else.'

luke didn't plan on choosing something romantic. he decided then and there. a rhyming poem would be much easier to memorise. the safer option.

he liked mr stokes but sometimes his eccentricity really got to him.

'we meet tomorrow in the library,' mr stokes said, sitting down at the front. 'off to your next class then.'

the end-of-period bell rang right on cue.

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summer.

'watch it, raggedy ann.'

lola shoved past summer as she stepped onto the tram.

she had everyone in their p.d.h.p.e. class calling summer 'scarecrow' but lola had personally moved on to names like 'raggedy ann' and 'stick insect'.

'because it looks like your clothes have been patched from rags,' she explained, today in the changerooms.

of course fate had put lola in summer's gym class. because gym was a form of torture, and lola was another. and not only that, but lola seemed to have a mini cohort of demons that followed her around everywhere, laughing at the things she said and wearing matching gym uniforms.

actually, everyone had to wear matching uniforms.

at her old school, summer had to wear a cotton shirt and shorts for sports. she hated it, because every little sweat patch showed up on those clothes. but now, she was pretty certain the sports uniform at northridge high was quite possibly the worst she'd ever encountered. it was a full body suit, made from polyester and coloured green and an ugly white, and it had a long zipper at the back. it was the only thing that actually fit summer, because it was so tight.

'so it is possible for you to fit into some clothes then,' lola said, the first time she saw summer in her sports uniform. all the other girls laughed, even the big torres straight islander girls at their school, who seemed to hate lola. laughing at summer brought them all together.

after lola pushed past her, summer took her time dawdling up towards the back of the tram, but she still got to the seat before the weird blonde kid. which meant she'd have to get up to let him get to the window. which would be awkward. everything was awkward, sitting there. the last time the tram crossed a bumpy track, summer had almost fallen into the guy's lap.

maybe, she thought, someone will die, or drop out, and then i can have their seat.

but no one did, so summer sat next to the boy again. at least he didn't talk, or look at her. or she didn't think he did - she never really looked up. sometimes, summer stared his shoes. he always wore the same pair of scuffed black all stars. sometimes, she even looked over to see what he was reading.

it was always a comic book.

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quick lil update :-) i finally managed to update simmer down today, so go give me some luv on that as well !!

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