"uess who has detention today?" I smile widely as I take a seat on the lunch table.

"That's today?" Luke asks.

"Yeah, Principal Collins said that since we have the fun fair thing on Thursday, she's going to postpone it till next week which is this week and she told me that will be today," I explain to him. "I really counted on her losing her memory or somehow getting a concussion that she wouldn't remember."

"I was counting on that concussion part," he mumbles under his breath and I laugh slightly.

"Why do you guys have detention?" Jennie asks, frowning.

"Because we punched Seth," I grin.

"Oh yeah, I heard," she chuckles slightly. "You also broke his nose?"

"Yup," I state proudly.

"Nice job," she bumps her shoulder slightly with mine.

"Thank you," I smile at her.

That's when I notice that Zach is staring at the both of us and not normal staring, more like 'squinting while trying to figure out what is going on' staring. "Zach, is everything okay?" I ask him, kind of getting creeped out.

"I just can't believe that the both of you are talking normally," he replies.

"Me too," The rest of them agree, even Luke.

"Well, people fight and make up everyday. It's normal," Jennie shrugs.

"Are you sure you didn't get high on anything lately, Jennie?" Alex asks her and Luke rolls his eyes.

"No, Alex." She laughs. "I just knew that I was doing something wrong and that I needed to fix a couple of things, so I decided to apologize."

"That's character development right there," I hear Riley whispering to Sophie and she nods, letting out a 'mhm'.

"So like I was saying when I first came here," I bring up the detention topic again. "I have detention and I'm not going to be walking home with you guys." I tell the girls and they nod.

"Doesn't Colette have a car? Why do you walk?" Alex asks.

"We prefer walking," Sophie answers.

"Also Anna gets anxious about cars, unless we open the windows and we can't live without the heater in the car, so we walk," Riley explains. "Although we all end up frozen, especially Anna," then Riley snorts to herself at the Disney pun.

"Ha-ha. Very funny, Riley," I comment sarcastically.

"I know. I try," she brags and the rest of them laugh.

| | | |

This room is the most disgusting thing in the school, after the locker rooms.

"You look like you want to throw up," Luke tells me.

"That's because I want to throw up," I reply. "How do you last five minutes here?"

"Cherries, this is your seventh time here," he points out.

"Sixth," I correct him. "I am not a criminal."

"And I am?" He asks.

"Yes," I reply bluntly.

"I don't last five minutes here. I skip most of the times since they always let lazy teachers watch us," he says. "Plus, I have work right after school. I can't stay in a room until four doing nothing just because I did some kind of fuck up."

"I honestly don't know how are you not expelled yet."

"High grades, Cherries," he answers. "Something that your final report will lack."

"Hey, at least I'm not an egotistic idiot who has a GPA of 4.0 when his IQ is probably 52," I snort.

"'The IQ' card, huh?" He raises an eyebrow, smirking.

"More like 'the truth' card," I smile innocently at him.

"Damn, ouch," he chuckles and I laugh along.

"Quiet!" The teacher watching us snaps, glaring.

"Sorry," Luke says with sarcasm basically oozing from his voice.

Then he proceeds to ignore the teacher and speaks up only more quietly. "Do you have anything to do after school today?"

"Mr. Carter, did you not just hear what I said?" The teacher asks Luke.

"I did," Luke replies. "You said to talk quietly."

"Quiet, as in shut your mouth," he glares at him.

"No thanks," he tells him.

The teacher just sighs and goes back to reading his magazine. "As I was saying, do you have anything to do after school today?" Luke asks me.

"No," I shake my head.

"I was wondering if you maybe wanted to hang out after school today," he suggests.

"Don't you have work today?"

"Tina gave me a day off today since I'm taking Jennie on a date at seven," he responds.

"Really?" I place my chin on my hand, propping my elbow on the desk. "Where are you taking her?"

"Golden Gate Park," he answers.

"That place is amazing. She'll definitely love it," I smile.

"Yeah," he nods. "So I was thinking about hanging out since it has been awhile since the last time that we hung out and all the messed up shit that happened for the past month ruined any ideas of hanging out, but it's not necessary though. I mean, I get it if you're busy after school or anything, so we don't actually have to hang out. It was just a thought-"

"Luke," I cut him off with a small smile on my face. How cute.

"Yeah?" He runs his hand through his hair.

"I'd love to hang out today."

"Great," he lets out a huge breath and smiles.

"I should have recorded that," I tap my chin.

"Recorded what?"

"You being nervous. It rarely happens," I reply.

"I wasn't nervous," he scoffs.

"You totally were," I grin.

Before Luke can reply, I hear a loud snore and my eyes dart to the sound. The teacher is leaning on the desk with his hand supporting his head. Two guys and a girl get up and leave once they notice that the teacher is already snoozing off.

"Let's go." Luke stands up, slinging the backpack over his shoulder.

"What? Now?" I sputter in surprise.

"No, tomorrow," he deadpans.

I ignore that remark. "But we're gonna get in trouble."

"Since when do you care about getting in trouble?" He tilts his head in confusion.

"I don't. I'm too tired to move."

"Come on, lazy ass. We're not going to stay here the whole day," he tells me, the corners of his mouth curving up slightly in a small grin.

"Fine." I grab my backpack and stand up as well, then we go around the desks before we leave the room.

Going through the exit of the school, we head to the parking lot and spot Luke's Nissan. We head to the car, get inside and he pulls out of the parking spot before driving away. Luke opens the four windows and the fact that he remembered makes me smile to myself.

"We're gonna stop at my house first, okay?" Luke tells me, glancing at me from the corner of his eyes and I nod.

"Where are we going anyway?" I ask him.

"A place," he answers.

"No, really?" I say sarcastically. "I meant, what is this place that we're going to, idiot?"

"You'll see."

"I'm going to ignore that this sounded creepy in my mind and say okay," I tell him honestly.

He chuckles. "Don't worry, Cherries. I'm not going to kidnap you."

"That's what all kidnappers say," I mumble.

"If I was a kidnapper, would I agree on being friends with you for three straight months?" He questions. "Three seconds into this friendship and I would have been annoyed by your ass."

"Feeling's mutual, buddy," I respond, smiling widely.

It's not. I wanted nothing but to be Luke's friend.

Kind of.

He was really an annoying person. Still is.

"What are you talking about? I'm the most amazing best friend ever."

I can't help but smile at 'best friend'. I mean, if he's not going to like me back, the least I could do is appreciate the fact that we're best friends.

"Who's lying to you?" I place my hand on my chest, mocking concern. "Is it Zach? Is it Alex? Tell me who's lying to you, you don't deserve to be going through this."

"You're hilarious," he comments drily.

"One of my best qualities," I raise my chin in the air in pride and he lets out a laugh.

Fifteen minutes later, Luke pulls up in front of his house, turns the car off and gets out of it. I get out of the car as well and follow Luke. He gets out his house keys and unlocks the door, pushing it open and holding it for me. I mumble a thanks before I walk inside the house.

"I'm home," Luke announces, closing the door with his foot.

"Same." A guy with light brown skin and black curls pokes his head from the kitchen, grinning.

"Holy shit, what are you doing here?" Luke asks him in surprise.

"Uh, this is my girlfriend's house too, you know? It's not like I'm here for you 24/7. I get it you love me, but dude I'm taken," the curly-headed guy replies, walking out to stand in front of us.

"Very funny, Aaron. I meant, what are you doing in California?" Luke questions.

"Visiting Lara and her family, of course," he says in a 'duh' tone. "I missed you, you little shit." He grabs Luke in this bro-hug thing that guys do.

"Yeah, yeah," Luke rolls his eyes with a smile, hugging him back.

The guy's eyes then slide to me, noticing that there is someone beside Luke. "And who's the beautiful lady?" He quirks an eyebrow.

"Aaron, this is my friend, Cherries. Cherries, this is Clara's boyfriend, Aaron. Don't mind the flirting. We're used to it," Luke says.

"Your name is Cherries?" Aaron asks.

"No, it's just a nickname. I'm Anna," I smile widely and stretch out my hand.

"Nice to meet another beautiful woman in the Carter's household." He takes my hand and presses a kiss on the back of it.

I blush at the compliment and smile. "Thank you."

Clara appears at the top of the stairs and she gives us a smile. "Hey, Anna. I didn't know you were coming over." She walks down the stairs and over to us. Somehow she looks different and her face is kind of glowing.

I wave at her. "Hey, Clara and Luke is supposed to be taking me somewhere, so I came with him before we head off."

"Got it," she smiles, then she grabs me in a hug. "I missed you. It has been like, a month since I last saw you."

"I missed you too," I hug her back.

"Where's Luna?" Luke asks.

"She's at her friend's house for a sleepover," Clara replies, pulling away from me and Luke nods.

She turns to Aaron. "Babe, did you get me the peaches?"

"Yup, in the kitchen." He kisses her cheek and this time, I don't internally 'aw'.

Luke raises an eyebrow at me in question. "What? They're cute," I defend.

"Gross," he grimaces, then he turns to Clara. "I thought you don't like peaches."

"The baby does," she shrugs.

Baby?!

"Um...what baby?" I ask.

"I almost forgot to tell you. I'm pregnant," Clara smiles excitedly.

Holy freaking crap.

"Really?" My eyes widen.

"Yup. Four weeks now," she pats her stomach.

"Oh, my God! Congratulations! I'm so happy for you!" I hug her tightly.

She laughs and hugs me back. "Thank you."

"How are you taking the fact that you're pregnant at a young age?" I ask her.

"Well, it's not really a young age. A lot of women get pregnant at twenty-two," she replies.

Clara is twenty-two? Seriously, why am I late at figuring things out?

"You're twenty-two?"

"Yeah. You didn't know?"

"No, you look so much younger," I say.

"Younger?" Luke snorts. "Almost everyone who met her assumed that she's in her thirties."

"Guilty," Aaron raises his hand.

"Believe it or not, this idiot here thought that I'm thirty years old and called me 'ma'am'," she rolls her eyes.

Luke snickers. "Still one of the funniest stories in the history of couples."

"She's the one who came demanding to speak to the manager when I worked at McDonald's, so I thought that she was some middle-aged woman with three kids," Aaron explains.

"I was looking for a job, you dummy," she tells him.

"I realized that later," he adds, grinning sheepishly and I laugh.

"I'm going to go eat because the baby and I are hungry," Clara says. "It was nice seeing you again, Anna. We should hang out sometime later."

"Definitely," I agree, smiling.

"It was nice meeting you, Anna. We shall meet again soon," Aaron says, reaching for my hand, but Clara grabs his hand and starts dragging him away,

"Come on, I'm hungry and we're going out later."

"But I'm tired," he whines as they both disappear in the kitchen.

"Let's go, Cherries," Luke tells me and heads to the stairs.

I follow him up the stairs until we reach his room and we walk inside it. It's just like I remember, only messier than last time. Forest green walls, posters of musical bands on them, Polaroid pictures hanging on the wall with dates on the bottom white part of it, stacks of books on the floor and clothes scattered on the bed. The wooden, brown guitar stands in the corner of the room untouched and collecting dust, as if it's a ghost.

If a person with OCD lasted in this room for five seconds, they would burn the whole house down. Luckily, my room's condition is a replica of Luke's, so I'm not that bothered by the messiness.

"Sorry about the mess," Luke says, taking a pile of his clothes off of the bed and throwing it on the floor.

I take a seat on the bed. "It's fine," I reassure him. "My room is like that everyday."

"Laziness or not giving a shit?" He questions as he opens his closet and looks through it.

"Both," I confirm, laughing and he chuckles, turning around with a shirt in his hand, while checking it. "Can't say I don't relate."

"My mum gets annoyed by it because I'm a 'lady' and a lady is supposed to keep her room clean, so I guess I'm not a girl after all," I joke and Luke lets out a laugh as he gets out a long-sleeved white sweater and closes his wardrobe.

He takes the beanie off of his head and tosses it on the desk. "I'm taking my shirt off," he tells me.

Wait.

"Um...what?" Before I can process what's happening, Luke reaches to the back of his neck and takes his shirt off.

I squeal, covering my eyes. "At least let me get the message through my mind!"

"Sorry," he chuckles and I peek through my fingers to see a shirtless Luke. I slowly remove my hands and place them on my lap.

Luke doesn't have the muscular type of body that lots of guys manage to sport. He has well-toned abs and his biceps are a bit muscular, but he doesn't have a six-pack or anything. His back muscles flex and the black ink on his back makes it look as if the branches of the inked tree are moving as he grabs his sweater and puts it on, then he rolls up the sleeves to his elbows.

Luke raises an eyebrow at me. "What?"

I raise an eyebrow back. "What?"

"You were staring," he says.

"Usually, ugly things attract more attention than beautiful things," I reply, lying (of course).

"You know, Cherries? You can just admit that I'm attractive. I won't mind," he smirks.

"And boost your already galactic-sized ego? No, thanks."

"I still won't mind," he responds.

"I do," I tell him, smiling.

"So, you and Jennie are friends now?" He opens a new topic.

"I guess. We started texting the other day. She's a pretty fun company, to be honest," I say.

"Did she tell you?" Luke asks.

"Tell me what?"

"About her life in Washington?"

"No." I frown.

"Jennie and I never slept together, Cherries. We never even hooked up," Luke informs me. "Jennie didn't even sleep with any guy in this school."

That's why I never trusted rumors.

"So, she's a virgin?" I question.

"In a way, yes," he answers hesitantly.

"And you...?" I trail off, not knowing how to finish the sentence.

"I only had sex with Fiona," he tells me.

I don't answer and stay quiet. "Do you miss her?" I ask him lowly.

He's caught off-guard by the question and his eyebrows shoot up in surprise. He's thinking about the answer, his face expression tells. I wouldn't be surprised if he did miss her. Fiona and Luke had an unbreakable bond and I knew that her cheating on him broke him, just like it did to me with Seth.

I almost hated Fiona for what she did. For hurting Luke. For hurting me. For not feeling guilty about what she did, she just apologized and left as if all she did is accidentally break a glass, pick up the broken pieces and throw them in the trash bin. She just didn't realize that's what she really did.

"I don't," Luke responds truthfully.

| | | |

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