four letter words // hemmings au

four

Luke couldn't even remember his head hitting his pillow last night. After Calum had dropped him home, hewas so tired from freaking out over what had happened with their drug deal, that he fell asleep straight away. Now he is up, showered, and finishing his Captain Crunch cereal that is starting to go soggy, because he's eating it so slowly.

Soon enough Michael was at the front of his house, beeping his car horn impatiently. They're both running late to school, where first period is about to start in a matter of minutes. Luke tips the bowl so all of the remaining food and milk pours into his mouth quickly, and he gulps it down before running out of the front door with his backpack thrown dramatically over his shoulder.

"Okay, okay!" Luke yells, waving his hands to get Michael's attention and stop him from beeping his horn.

Michael only smirks in return and beeps it one last time, holding his hand down on the button until Luke got into the passengers seat. As they drive off Luke sheepishly apologises to the neighbours through the window that are now all staring at Michael's car. He's created quite the scene in the middle of the street.

"Was that really necessary?" Luke asks, pulling his seatbelt down and buckling himself in while Michael speeds down the street.

"Yes!" Michael grins childishly.

"So." He continues, taking a sip from the McDonald's cup in the car drink tray.

Luke groans out loud, tugging at the small strands of hair that are sticking out by his ears. He knew that Michael was going to ask about what happened, but it really is the last thing that he wants to talk about right now. Luke is very nervous about the whole topic, he already keeps checking behind himself because he feels like there's going to suddenly be a police officer running after him again.

"You have to tell me what happened." Michael laughs.

"I really don't. Surely everyone in our grade will know the story by recess, ask someone else Michael." Luke says impatiently.

"So you'd rather me find out from someone who's probably been given a twisted version of the story, in which you may have ended up sleeping with a homeless man or something fucked up like that? It's all a game of Chinese whispers, that won't go down very well and you know it." He laughs.

Michael is very good at talking people into doing whatever it is that he wants, and now that Luke thought about it, he would prefer him to know the true story. But before he could even get close to explaining anything, Luke notices that there are flashing red and blue lights in the distance. And as they got closer to the school campus, his heart began to race faster and faster.

"Holy shit.." Michael parks his car in the carpark, and stares out of the window to pay close attention to what was going on. He tries to hold back laughs that are already well on the way to spilling out of his lips any second now.

"Oh my god." Luke stomps his feet into the bottom of Michaels car.

"How can you find this funny? This is far from funny!" He yells, thumping Michael over the back of his head.

The two of them both get out of the car as casually as possible. There's no reason for them to freak out just yet. The boys aren't the only ones who get up to trouble at this school, they definitely aren't the corporate that started any of the activities they take part of for income.

"Michael.. Calum and I got spotted last night. We don't know if it was a cop, but I was literally twenty feet away from a guy chasing after me and probably being tackled to the ground." Luke says quietly. "You're dead meat." Michael simply laughs out loud, obviously just messing with him. But it's only making Luke more nervous. His legs are starting to shake. 

They soon approach the front door of the building, walking in slowly after a few people that were ahead of them. Until they were stopped abruptly, by an older man at the start of the hallway.

"You don't mind if we check through your backpacks, do you?"

"Please." Michael says kindly, handing his bag over right away and dropping it onto the table. Luke just stood there, staring at the man blankly.

"Luke." Michael clears his throat awkwardly, knocking him out of his trance he was stuck in.

"Sorry." Luke slowly takes his backpack off and places it down onto the table in front of them, never dropping contact with the mans eyes. He watched as the officer proceeded to dig through his bag and search through each zip pocket.

Suddenly Luke remembered that this was actually the same backpack he used for the deal last night. He shared a quick uneasy glance with Michael, who returned that look with widened eyes. They both watch the officer freeze for a second, and he tips the bag upside down. "Quite the amount of cash here, son." He says in shock, counting the money that Luke has in his backpack. 

"It was my birthday last week, I must have forgotten to take it out." He says hesitantly, letting a nervous laugh out and scratching the back of his neck.

"Hm. You wouldn't want to lose this, I suggest putting the money somewhere safe so nobody steals it. Especially after what's been going on around here, there's some kids up to no good." The officer stacks the money back together and places it back into the backpack, following with Luke's lunch and books that were thrown out along with it. 

"Thank you officer, but we're unfortunately running late to class right now. Have a great day." Michael says quickly before pulling Luke behind him by his shirt and leading them down the hallway to their wall of lockers. 

They both emptied their bags into their lockers in silence, and grabbed their books for first period. Luke shut his shortly after, and leaned against the wall while waiting for Michael to finish. He couldn't stop looking over at all the students being checked for any evidence of drugs. He actually feels kind of bad, because he is the one that they should be asking further questions to. That doesn't mean Luke's going to go and confess to them though. The consequences for those actions are way too scary, at least while he has an education to attend and people to supply to. 

"Do you think he was suspicious?" Luke asks the question that was on the tip of his tongue straight away.

"Uh, of course. What person leaves five hundred dollars in cash in his bag for school?" Michael shakes his hand through his bright red hair rapidly.

"I didn't know that they were going to be here!" Luke whines in a loud whisper. 

Michael, Calum, Ashton and Luke had been close to getting in trouble one other time on a deal, but not like this. This is all making Luke consider dropping out from the arrangement. After all what they are doing is not only highly illegal, but dangerous too. The nervous feeling won't last for very long though. He needs the money, and is too attached to the drugs and how they make everything feel exciting and new each time. Anything from alcohol to smoking, or more. The high and adrenaline is addictive, and Luke isn't ready to give it all up just yet.