Warning!!! This chapter contains some material that may be considerable triggering for some people. It contains bullying and self-harm. If either of those topics make you uncomfortable, or are triggering to you, please make the correct decision for yourself and don’t read this. If you choose to read it even after seeing this warning and you don’t like something about the self-harm or bullying topics in this story, please do not comment on them. All comments of this manor will be removed at the discretion of myself, @lilacxlashton, and the other author on this book, @yoursalwayshaz. Thank you guys for reading!
Luke's POV:
Gym class, great. Gym class with Michael, even better! I mean that sarcastically, of course. Michael used to be the most amazing person in my entire life. In fact, he was the only amazing person in my entire life. And then he just kind of left. He walked out of my life like I didn’t matter to him anymore after one little fight. I had to admit, it hurt. I understood why he wanted to leave, but, did he really have to? Why couldn't we have simply worked through this?
As all of the boys filed into the locker room, I paid close attention to the red-haired boy walking in the front of the line with a few of his friends. Assholes, was all that crossed my mind when I saw the people that Michael was friends with. But when I saw Michael, I couldn't think at all. My brain went cloudy and I couldn't focus on anything. Michael was amazing.
"Hey, Hemmings, stay back a minute!" Coach Brown called to me.
Reluctantly, I stayed back, hearing stupid laughs and comments from most of the people on their way into the locker room. Even the people that weren't very athletic laughed at me, making jokes about how the coach was probably calling me back to tell me that I was kicked out of gym class for being bad at it, which honestly, wouldn't even surprise me.
Math, science, language arts, it hardly took any effort to pass those classes. But once you put a ball in my hand it was a whole different story. The only person in the entire gym class whose comments weren't completely heartless, or centered around me being called a fag, was Michael. He never dared say anything about my sexuality, because first off, he was gay as well. And second, he knew how much it affected me. He also didn't seem to like making those comments about me, even though he still seems embarrassed that he ever dated me.
"Luke, you uh... You have a D in gym.... This is the only class you don't have something above a 95 in, and I had to talk to the principal about it. We understand that you aren't the most athletic person, which is why we've agreed on a different method for you. Your gym grade will now be judged on how hard you try to participate, and you will also take tests when other people play the game for their final big grade. We're making it an option for everyone to do this, along with a worksheet or small quiz instead of playing sports at the end of the class. It doesn't mean you won't have to play the sport, or you won't have to know how to play it, but it means that your grade will be based more on what you know than what you are physically able to accomplish. Again, this is an option for everyone and I'll make an announcement about it to the rest of the class later, but I just thought I should tell you, considering that the principal and I came up with this new way of grading for this class while talking about you. I hope this can raise your grade in this class, because you know that if you don't get a C or higher you'll have to take gym over the summer and possibly repeat the grade, so please try and help yourself, okay Luke?" Coach finished his talk which seemed like it was taking forever, and didn't even wait for an answer before patting me on the back and sending me off into the locker room to change.
I was immediately exposed to the taunting of the other boys as I entered the room and he did my best to just ignore it, grabbing the clothes and going off to the bathroom stalls so that I could change there. I didn't want anyone, especially Michael, to see my thighs. My wrists weren't bad, and everyone seemed to know about that, but my thighs were covered in scars.
As soon as I slipped my jeans off, I pulled my gym shorts on, not wanting to even look at the scars myself. They were a disgusting reminder of how much I hated myself, and I didn't want to remember. That would only upset me even more.
A few minutes after that I left the locker room with the herd of boys, following the coach into the gym.
Basketball, great, my favorite sport. Sarcasm again, like usual.
After fumbling with a ball for a few minutes, I finally figured out how I was supposed to hold it, but as soon as I turned around a bigger guy, probably a football player like Michael, 'accidentally' knocked me over and I fell back onto the floor, landing hard on my bum. When I fell, my shorts came up a bit, just enough so you could see the cuts. And who was standing next to me, but Michael.
At the sight of the cuts his eyes went wide, as did those of a few people around him. And then the taunting started from some people, but not Michael. Insults were thrown at me, boys spitting out poems from Tumblr about cutting on thighs. It was terrible.
"They see no scars, but it’s all lies, they only check wrists, not thighs," one guy mocked, rolling his eyes at me, while I sat on the floor, completely horrified.
"They'll check your wrists but not your thighs, they'll check your smile, but not your eyes," another smirked at me.
Michael stood there, just trying to hold back his tears. He stuck his hand out and sighed weakly. "Come on, Luke. It's okay. I promise. Come on."
He gave me a look of pure empathy and I put my hand up to take his, standing carefully and looking at him apprehensively.
A/N: Thanks for reading, I hope you guys like it! I’m @lilacxlashton by the way. I know this chapter wasn’t very long but I really loved this story idea and I wanted to be able to update tonight, so here you go! Lol. Future updates will probably become longer as we go through the book and there are more things to talk about. @yoursalwayshaz, the other author on this story, will be posting her chapter soon! I can’t speak for her, but I can say for myself that my updated should come within a week or a week and a half if I’m busy. If there are times where I know I will not be able to write for at least two weeks I will ask her to post her chapter and then a second chapter, so that you guys don’t have to wait so long for an update, and she can do the same with me if she needs to. One person shouldn’t have to post three times (or more) in a row, but it might happen. Also, the Author’s Note at the beginning of this chapter was a warning about the triggers/sensitive topics that this chapter contained and that will be at the beginning of all of my chapters. I can’t promise that it will be at the beginning of all chapters by the other author, but if there are any particularly dark topics or topics that are mentioned heavily, I will make sure to go in and add a warning as soon as I see it. If there is a part of the chapter that you think should be included in the warning but isn’t, just let me know and I will do my best to add it as soon as possible! I hope you guys like this story!
Question of the Chapter: Do you ship Muke as a bromance or a romance?
Answer of the Chapter: This is the biggest struggle because like I literally ship Lashton, Muke, and Cake, and I also don't want Luke to be gay or in any type of relationship because goddamnit I want the stupid idiot all for myself.
