leaked (l.h.)

5

"Hey," I say, closing the empty classroom door behind me as I meet Luke's blue eyes as he sits in the back of the class room. He smiles softly as he sees me, holding his face in his hands as he stares at the blank canvas in front of him. He wears those black skinny jeans he always does, but paired with a sort of white t-shirt that he cut the sleeves off of. He doesn't have the biggest biceps in the world, but he looks great regardless.

"Hi," he responds, nibbling on a baby carrot as he grabs a chair and pulls it beside him. "You didn't bring your lunch?"

"I'm not hungry," I explain, taking a step towards him as I feel my stomach turn.

"Oh, well I've got plenty of food to share if you are," he says as if he means it. But I know that he's just being nice, you know, since I look like something that has just walked out of a scary movie.

"Thank you," I say, dropping my backpack to the ground as I sit beside him. "Tell me about that plan of yours."

"Right," he clears his throat. "Well, it's going to sound crazy. Just... listen."

"Okay," I say, cracking a weak smile as I lean back in my chair. "I'm listening."

"So... I have to paint you. And you have to paint me," he smiles softly. "What if I painted you as my favorite song, and you did the same."

"My favorite song?" I raise my eyebrow.

"I told you it would sound crazy," he shrugs. "But I promise you. This will work."

"I'm not judging you," I reply. "It sounds like that'll take a lot of brain power that I just don't have. But I'll try."

He nods softly, and as he picks up his pencil to begin sketching me, I clench my jaw. I don't look put together enough for him to be staring at me like this, but I know that he won't take no for an answer. He's got a sort of drive that I don't, and I wonder if he does this in all of his classes.

"I uh," Luke begins, and I watch how his pencil dances across the canvas. "I'm going to ask you something, and you don't have to answer it if you don't want to. I'm just... making conversation I guess." He says, and as he asks this I can't help but wonder if he'll ask about the nude that he may or may not have seen. "What happened to your wrist?"

"My what?" I ask, raising my eyebrow as I bring my wrist up off of my lap, and when I look down I see that it's covered in purple and blue bruises that I had forgotten about this morning. I gasp, bringing it up to my chest as I realize how exposed it is. People are going to ask. "Oh I, uh, I hit it."

"That looks like a handprint," Luke adds, looking up at me from his canvas as he fills in my eyes.

"I'm not sure why," I lie. "Just a coincidence, I guess."

"Huh," he says, and as I lick my lips I realize that he doesn't believe me. He's not stupid, and I'm not a good liar.

I look up at the ceiling, bouncing my knee as I take a deep breath. As much as I hate being interrogated by this stranger in front of me, I'd rather be here than anywhere else. Because as time passes, it gets closer until I'm expected to be at Tyler's front door again. If I don't jump off of a bridge before then.

But as I feel myself begin to panic like usual, I feel my heart stop as I hear Luke ask me a question that no one has asked me yet. Because before Luke, I thought I was good enough at hiding it to keep everyone else in the dark. Turns out, they just decided to ignore it.

"Are you okay?"

"What?" I add, being rudely awakened from my nightmare that is my reality. "What did you ask me?"

"I asked if you were okay," he raises his eyebrow. "You look tired, and you aren't very talkative today."

"I couldn't sleep," I add, making up excuse after excuse to keep Luke from the truth that I'm trying to desperately to keep him from.

"Hey," he lowers his voice. "I know we aren't exactly friends, but-"

"Luke! There you are!" I hear from behind me, and as I turn to see Luke's friends fill up the otherwise empty art room I can't ignore the tears that well in my eyes anymore. I'm not okay, but I can't tell him that. "Oh, hi Grace."

"Hi," I say, gulping as I wipe a tear as it escapes. I keep it lowkey, doing my best to shield Luke from the sob that can't help to escape after I can't repress it anymore. I clench my jaw, standing up after quickly  realizing that I can't be in the same room as Luke anymore if he is actually, genuinely worried about how I am doing. Because given the first opportunity, I know that I was confess everything to a man that I don't even know. Because at least he'll listen.

That was my problem with Tyler, too. He cared when Arzaylea didn't, and I always end up over sharing. So it's dangerous now, when my entire life is on the line.

"Where are you going?" Luke asks, watching me as I pick my backpack up off of the ground.

I give him no explanation, mostly because no words can explain who helpless I am feeling right now. So I shake my head, wiping my eyes as I sprint out of the art room. I need to be far away from here, from Tyler and Luke and Arzaylea. I need to find a way out of here without getting hurt even more so that I already am.