chool. Again.

To say I missed this place would be the biggest lie I have ever said in my whole life. Actually, second biggest. Biggest is that Twilight is more interesting than Up and I was only being nice to Abby.

"I hope whoever invented school is proud of himself. He's mentally murdering children and teenagers," Sophie grumbles, resting her forehead on the metal locker door.

"Horace wasn't thinking about how people will ruin the education's system in the future," Colette says.

"Good going, Horace," Sophie snorts.

"Did any of you call or text Riley?" I ask them, putting my History textbook in my backpack.

"I was texting her on Saturday. She said that she's liking it there a lot and it seemed like she has already made friends," Colette replies.

"That's good. At least she's happy there," I comment, zipping up my backpack.

"Do you think she'll forget about us?" Sophie turns her head to look at me. "That she will have new best friends and stop calling and texting us?"

"We're not sure about that, Soph," I tell her, closing my locker. "We will be in contact with her all the time and call her whenever. She just moved. It's not like she will forget about us in a matter of days."

"Yeah." Sophie pushes herself off of the locker as the bell rings and we make our way to the end of the hall for the next class.

"I can't walk back home with you guys today," Colette informs. "I have this drama club meeting thing after school."

"Yeah, same. I have a science club meeting after school," Sophie says and they both look at me.

"That's okay. I'll walk home on my own," I tell them.

"We can just skip. It's not like one day is going to ruin everything," Colette shrugs.

"No, it's fine. You guys go to your club meeting thing and I will walk back home," I insist.

"What about getting a ride from Luke?" Sophie suggests.

"He has work right after. I'm not making him drive all the way to our neighbourhood, so he can give me a ride back home," I say. "Don't worry, guys. I'll be fine. It's just a thirty-minute walk."

"You say that like nothing can happen in a thirty-minute walk." Colette comes to a stop as so do we when we make it to my History class.

"Nothing will happen in that thirty-minute walk. I'll be fine," I convince them. "Now get to class."

"Of course, Principal Falls," Sophie says sarcastically.

"Oh God, no. That sounds so weird," I grimace.

"Yeah, I thought so too," Sophie shudders,

"Anyways...bye, bitch!" She grins, waving at me as she and Colette walk to their classes.

"Bye," I laugh, waving back as Colette rolls her eyes and gives me a smile and a wave.

I walk inside the class, half expecting Mr. Miller to be in there, but I'm not that surprised when I find his desk empty. I stroll in loops around the seats, just to annoy the people sitting on the chairs before I drop in my seat. I get out a book I've recently bought and start reading from where I left off.

A shadow falls over the words on the book and I look up to find Luke grinning at me.

"You're annoying," I tell him.

"Thanks for the greeting," he replies with sarcasm lacing through his voice.

"Hi–" I smile. "–annoying person," I drop the smile to give him an emotionless look.

"Hey, Cherries," he smiles, sitting down on the seat beside me and draping his arm over the back of my chair, then he leans in to press a kiss on my cheek.

"Get a room!" Zach says loudly, taking a seat beside Luke and everyone in the class turns to look at us.

"Get the hell over it, people," Luke rolls his eyes annoyingly and everyone goes back to what they were doing.

"You're an embarrassment," he tells Zach.

"You love me," he waves his hand dismissively.

"Unfortunately," Luke sighs.

"Should I get the both of you anything to drink and maybe some candles?" I offer teasingly and prop my elbow on the table, then I rest my head on my fist.

"Thank you, Leni," Zach responds with a grin. "I'd like a glass of wine. Anything you want, babe?" He turns to Luke.

"For you to shut up."

"That's a bit of a hard request, but I'm sure the pretty lady here can make it work," Zach winks at me.

"Stop flirting with my girlfriend." Luke pushes Zach's face away and I laugh as Zach gives him an offended look.

"Anyways," I start. "I forgot to tell you yesterday, but my dad wants to meet you." I tell Luke.

"Shit. Luke's dead," Zach chuckles.

"When?" Luke asks, ignoring Zach.

"Friday, I guess, since he didn't mention a day. He also invited your mum and the girls," I say.

"Is your dad a scary guy?" Luke questions.

"He is," I nod, laughing.

"You're really dead," Zach chuckles again.

"Shut up, dipshit," Luke glares at him, then he turns to me. "We'll be there at seven."

"Okay," I reply, giving him a smile and a quick kiss.

"You guys are so cute; it's disgusting," Zach grins.

"Nobody asked for your opinion."

Zach opens his mouth to say something, but Luke starts coughing, not normal coughing. More like loud and violent coughing.

"Are you okay?" I ask softly. "Do you have a fever or something?" I place the back of my hand on his forehead to check his temperature.

"Probably just a cold," he clears his throat.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm fine, Cherries," he assures me.

Mr. Miller finally walks inside the classroom and starts the lesson. During the whole class, I keep glancing at Luke in concern. He definitely doesn't seem fine. I don't want to pressure him into thinking he's not doing fine, but I'm worried about him.

Maybe I'm overthinking. It could be just a cold like he said.

| | | |

"Your homework for tomorrow is to analyze chapter ten and chapter eleven from The Time Machine. Make sure you get all the main points and you have to extract at least three figures of speech from the two chapters!" Mrs. Porter tells us and the bell rings, indicating the end of the day.

Everybody rushes up to leave and the girls and I follow after everyone has left. I wave goodbye at them and they wave back, then we separate our ways as they head to their clubs and I head to the exit of the school.

A slight breeze of wind hits my face as soon as I step outside and the sun's brightness gleams in the sky. I stroll through the parking lot until I notice Luna and another girl standing not so far, then the girl shoves Luna and I find myself already walking over to them.

"Hey, Luna," I say. "What's going on here?"

"Hey, Anna-" Luna replies in a small voice.

"Who's that? Your babysitter? I wouldn't be surprised. A child like you needs a babysitter," the girl sneers. "I bet your father killed himself because he was tired of your childish actions. I bet that's why you don't have any friends."

"First of all, don't talk to Luna like that. Secondly, she does have friends, but you wouldn't know because they wouldn't associate with idiots like you. And lastly, I suggest for you to mind your own business because you see that?" I point at the broken security camera that the school installed a long time ago. "That's a security camera. That means that the principal can see every single thing you do and you will get kicked out of this school faster than weekly garbage."

"Whatever," the girl rolls her eyes before she walks away.

Kids.

"Are you okay?" I ask Luna.

"Yeah. Thank you." She looks down at the ground.

"Don't ever let anyone talk to you like that. She has no right to treat you that way."

"I told her to leave me alone several times, but she wouldn't budge," she replies.

"Did you tell Luke or Clara or your mum?"

"No," she shakes her head. "They don't know."

"Luna, you should have-"

"I know. I know. I just didn't want them to stress over my life because they're all busy with their own. Clara is expecting a baby in seven months and she's studying for her finals. Mom is busy with work and Luke has to focus on his work, his studying and his college life," she says.

The whole family is selfless as heck.

"You're being bullied and you didn't tell any of us?" Luke's deep voice comes from behind us and we both turn around to find him standing there with an eyebrow raised and his arms crossed.

"Um..." Luna trails off.

"Get in the car," he says, opening his car door. "Both of you," he adds, getting inside the car.

"But Clara-"

"Clara is at the doctor's for her prenatal care checkup," he tells her.

Luna and I look at each other before we rush to get inside the car; me in the passenger's seat and Luna in the backseat. Luke puts the key in the ignition and turns the car on.

"Am I in trouble?" Luna asks.

"That depends." He twists his body around, placing his hand at the back of my head rest and looking back to pull out of the parking spot.

"Are you mad?" She questions.

"I'm pissed off," he corrects her as he drives away with one hand over the steering wheel. "Why didn't you tell me, Luna? I get it, you don't want to tell mom or Clara, but why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you're always busy. You have so much to do and I'm not just going to tell you that I'm being bullied, so you can stress over that too," she tells him.

"She fucking brought dad into it. Don't you think it would have been a good idea if you told me?"

"I was handling it just fine," she argues and I glance at her through the mirror to see her crossing her arms stubbornly.

"Yeah, that was–"

"Luke, stop attacking her. Luna didn't do anything and besides, I already told that girl to mind her own business," I turn to Luna. "If she does anything else, you will tell me. Okay?"

"You pretty much told her off and she's also really scared from the principal because she suspended her before, so I'm sure she will stop annoying me," Luna giggles and I smile.

"You want to know something?" She nods in response. "That security camera is not even working."

"No way," she says, scooting to the edge of the seat. "So, the principal can't really see anything?"

"Nope," I shake my head.

"She looked so scared," Luna laughs.

"Well, I tend to have that effect on people," I joke, turning my head to look at Luke. He looks at me for a moment and chuckles before he fixes his gaze back on the road.

"How about this..." I fully twist my body around to look at Luna, "if you don't have anything to do, we can have a girls' day on Saturday and Clara can join us if she isn't busy. It will be the just the three of us and we will do anything you want to do. Watch Disney movies, do face masks. Anything you want."

"Really?" Her eyes light up in excitement.

"Yup," I smile.

"I'd love to," she nods her head in enthusiasm.

"Feeling left out here," Luke pipes up.

"Last time I checked, you aren't a girl," I raise my eyebrow.

"You didn't check anything. You could be my guest and do though," Luke teases with his lips pulling in a small smirk.

"You did not just say that while I'm here," Luna grimaces and I chuckle.

I lean into her. "Your brother is a very hormonal person," I whisper, purposely making my voice loud enough for him to hear and she giggles when she sees the empty look on his face.

"This reminds me of something," Luna says, her eyes widening. "I should tell you about it."

"No, shut up," Luke glares at her through the mirror.

"I have to tell her. She's your girlfriend and I'm your sister. It's my job to embarrass you," Luna grins.

I raise my eyebrows at her. "You know about us dating?" I question.

"Luke told us, of course," she replies. "You should have seen him when he rambled about you, but anyways let tell me you the story of Luciana Alycia Carter."

"Okay?" I arch an eyebrow in question.

"For years in our family, every time the second child was born, it would be a girl. It went on like this for five generations or something, so mom assumed that this big guy right here was going to be a girl and she decided to name the 'girl' Luciana Alycia Carter," Luna says and I snort.

"You could imagine everyone's surprise when they saw that the baby has a penis and not a vagina," she laughs and I burst down laughing.

"Yeah, yeah. Very funny. This is the last time I'm picking up the both of you together from school," Luke says with a dry face.

"Now don't be upset, Lucy. I'm sure the color pink was going to look good on you," I tease him and Luna starts laughing harder.

"You're annoying."

"I wouldn't really be your girlfriend if I wasn't annoying," I state and lean over to kiss his cheek.

Luke rolls his eyes with a smile and takes hold of my hand with the one resting on his thigh, then he brings it up to his lips and kisses the back of it, making me smile.

"Aww, you guys are so cute," Luna comments.

"You said something about Luke rambling about me?" I recall Luna's words.

"Yeah, you should know that too," she grins widely and Luke groans.

"He was like, she's so amazing and beautiful. Her eyes are this gorgeous chocolate color and I don't even like chocolate, but she makes it likable and her hair–holy shit, her hair; she could turn a damn guy on with her hair and there's always those two cute dimples that appear in her cheeks whenever she smiles and her freckles are so freaking adorable– only he didn't say freaking because we're talking about Luke here–and she does this cute pursed lips thing whenever she's curious about something and her voi–"

"That's enough revealing for you today," Luke interrupts, looking embarrassed and I notice that we already made it home.

"But I didn't get to the best part."

"Bye, Luna," he states, giving her a stern look.

"Meanie," she sticks her tongue out at him. "Bye, Anna!" She waves, getting out of the car.

"Bye, Luna," I wave back at her and she closes the car door, then she skips to their house.

"Did you seriously tell her all of that?" I ask him, smiling widely. If my crying system wasn't so messed up, I would have been shedding tears right now.

"Well if I didn't, she wouldn't have annoyed the hell out of me by saying all of that." He leans his head back on the head rest.

I stare at him before I lean over to him and press my lips against his. He moves his lips with mine, cupping my face, then we pull away after a few seconds.

"Is that a thank you?" He asks.

"Yup," I answer lowly.

"Can I get another one?"

"One last small one because you need to get to work," I tell him.

"I don't mind." He tilts his head and connects his lips with mine again before I pull away from him after awhile.

"I'll see you tomorrow," I smile.

"Do you want me to pick you up in the morning?" He offers.

"Yeah, sure," I nod. "Just text me when you're done with everything in the morning. Oh and also text me when you get home this evening."

"Will do," he affirms. "Bye, Cherries." He kisses my cheek.

"Bye, idiot," I grin, opening the car's door, getting out of th car and walking to my front porch, then I enter my house and close the door behind me, hearing the sound of Luke's car driving away.

| | | |

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