LUKE.

Regardless of her height and petite frame, Ari Quiroz was someone not to be messed with. She was tough as tits and took no bullshit from nobody, even if that so-called bull crap didn't exactly exist. At least in my mind it didn't. When Ari went on her rampage today and had me pinned up against the locker, she mentioned something about me calling her real early in the morning. The only problem with that theory was that it never happened. I never called her this morning, nor did I have her number to begin with. 

Or so I thought. 

I went through my recent call list on my phone and bright as daylight at the very top of the list was Ari Quiroz and a crazy face emoji next to her name. Either she stuck her number into my phone the night she held it hostage or someone else did, because I had no recollection of ever saving it into my contact list. What was still a mystery to me was the idea that I apparently called her. 

"Hey you okay man?" Jake asked, giving my back a hearty pat. 

"I'm breathing," I replied, sass coating my tone. I rubbed my neck.

"Little Tokyo needs to be punished. You should report it," Jake suggested, starting to walk down the hall to homeroom.

"It wasn't that bad. I can let it go," I told him.

"She needs to be taught a lesson," Jake pressed, "she can't get away with this."

"Dude," I started, stopping his pursuit into the classroom, "it's cool. I'm over it. It's just a misunderstanding, that's all."

Jake stood staring at me with a curious expression. I knew what he was thinking: how the hell could I be defending Ari? Honestly, I didn't have an answer. If this were last week and Saturday night's adventure never happened, you wouldn't even have to tell me twice to report Ari's hot-headed acts. It wasn't like she and I were best friends. We were acquaintances - meeting under unexpected and very odd circumstances. 

And those circumstances have been photographed by some creepy loser who had nothing better to do than take advantage of my drunken state. That creep was pathetic and though he or she sent somewhat of a threatening text message, I felt no danger - just something I could laugh about later. 

"Whatever man," Jake exhaled, shaking his head sheepishly, confusion dripping from his face. I watched him walk away from me and into the classroom, leaving me standing awkwardly by the door frame. Sighing, I walked through the door and took my normal seat in the back with Jake and our other friends.

The rest of the school day went by slower than the pizza delivery guy on your hungriest pursuit for greasy heaven. Period after period seemed longer than the next and I found myself staring at the stupid, ticking clock for more than half the class period.

Don't even ask me about notes - normally I'm pretty adamant about taking organized notes during lectures but on this day, all I really craved was copious amounts of junk food, the big screen TV and maybe my penguin onsie. I sounded like a girl on her period going through a breakup, but if I had the luxury of using "hormones" as an excuse to lay in bed with a tub of ice cream, then I would happily welcome a mother nature's gift - it wasn't that much blood, right? 

When the last bell rung and the student body filtered out of every classroom and practically ran out the campus doors to their salvation, I went to room 250. Second floor, across the hall from the boy's restroom, and overlooking the campus quad, room 250 was my mother's torture chamber a.k.a. the humble abode of her Geometry and Algebra 2 teachings.

I walked into the empty classroom, decorated with various brightly-colored math posters, school rules, and a 6-foot cardboard cutout of Albert Einstein. Everyone has a celebrity crush, I get it, but my mum has an odd obsession with the man who's famous for E = mc2. If Liz Hemmings grew up in today's generation, I promise that she would run a Tumblr blog dedicated to him - talk about stuck in the fanzone again and again.

The cutout stood at the front of the classroom in the corner by the bookshelf, where I found my mum placing her teacher edition textbooks into the empty spaces. The whiteboard was filled with algebraic equations and student examples in a variety of colors and penmanship. I don't know if it's because my mum is a math teacher, but quadratic formulas, geometric theorems, and differences of squares ran through my veins. This being said, math was no longer on my agenda to graduate-- the highest level of math taught at Percival Shores High was calculus BC which I completed my second year of high school back home in Sydney. 

"Mum? What did you need?" I asked, plopping into the front desk. 

"Luke," she began, turning around, "I've been trying to get ahold of you all day. You're not answering your texts."

"No cellphones allowed in class," I reminded her, a smirk growing on my face, as I pointed to the yellow poster to the side of the class, "rule number one, remember?" 

She didn't appreciate my sass, and I knew this because she glared at daggers my way as she folded her arms across her chest and stuck out one hip. 

"Luke Robert Hemmings, what am I going to do with you?" mum shook her head, as if my comment was a complete bother to her existence. 

"So did you summon me here so I could stare at your students' pathetic attempt at finding X or..." my words faded, giving my mum the cue to answer. 

"You left Ari's washed shirt at home, even though I left it right on the kitchen counter next to your Coco Puffs," mum stated matter-of-factly. "Plus I reminded you via post-it note on your bathroom mirror and told you when I walked out the door this morning."

"Mum, I legitimately forgot this morning," that was a lie. Truth was, I didn't want to give Ari back her shirt in front of the student body - they would talk. 

"I swear Luke, it was as if you left it at home on purpose to avoid confrontation... though rumor has it that Ari Quiroz and you were in a heated showdown this morning?" 

"It was not a heated showdown," I imitated, "it was a simple misunderstanding." 

"I heard she won this misunderstanding," mum mocked, stifling a laugh. She would be on Ari's side. She might as well call herself Angelina Jolie and adopt the Asian.

I opened my mouth to rebuttal my mum's theory, though it was the truth, but before any words could leave my lips, I was interrupted by a new set of vocal chords. 

"Miss Hemmings, the office sent me a note last period saying that you needed me?" 

Ari Quiroz was the last person I wanted to be in the same room with. Despite the fact that I've seen her several times today in class, she and I were on different sides of the room and on different spectrums on the social chain-- we don't interact. 

"Ah yes sweetie," my mum's nice to her, of courser, "the shirt you let Luke borrow has been washed, though it seemed like it slipped through his mind to bring it to school."

"Oh it's okay, I have plenty of them," Ari explained with a smile. I rolled my eyes at her disgusting attempts to butter up my mother. 

"I have it right here," mum pulled the red shirt out of her school bag, "I was able to run home earlier since my lunch and free period are back to back." 

"Thank you so much Miss Hemmings," Ari said, taking the shirt out of mum's hands. "Well, I better get going."

"Yea, good idea, you demon child," I mumbled under my breath. Both females turned in my direction and I slumped further into the desk. 

"Actually wait a sec Ari," mum said hastily. 

Ari turned on her heel, "yea Miss Hemmings?" 

"Luke has something to ask you," mum turned the tables on me, and I didn't know where the rat's ass she was going with this.

"Uh yea, can you apologize for harassing me this morning?" I raised a brow, staring down the little Mexican-Asian-hybrid thing in front of me. 

"Lucas!" mum bellowed, "remember the deal we had?"

Sweet baby Jesus, I forgot.

"Really mum? Do I have to?" I pleaded through gritted teeth. 

"Yes Luke, you do. Or you can tell your guitars and amps goodbye for a month," Liz Hemmings is queen. 

I groaned annoyingly, giving my attention to Ari, "do you want to go out to dinner with me this Friday?" 

"Blondie say what?" Ari was stunned, and I don't blame her. If I asked myself out, I'd be pretty surprised too. I mean come on, I'm beautiful.

"Your response tells me that you don't want to," I quickly responded. I turned to look at my mum, "well it looks like Ari doesn't want to go, and we can't force her into anything." 

"Luke, you didn't even try," mum sighed-- she was done with my bullshit. "Ari," she started, rapidly morphing her annoyance to kindness, "will you do my son the honors of accompanying him to dinner Friday night? It'll be on my tab. It's the least I - Luke - can do as a thank you for taking care of him last Saturday."

Ari eyed my mum with an expression I couldn't quite read. At first impression, it seemed as if she felt sorry for my mum; sorry that Liz Hemmings had a mistake as a child. Ari was judging - I could tell. Mum however, stared at Ari back with puppy dog eyes, and her silent pleas seemed to do the trick. 

"Uh, yea, okay. I'll go out to dinner with Luke," Ari announced. My jaw dropped. What the hell? She was supposed to say no.

Mum sighed with relief, "thank you so much Ari. For everything. Who knows, you two may actually have fun."

"Not likely," I grumbled, rolling my eyes at my mother's stupid statement. 

"I'll let you get going. I'll see you in class tomorrow," mum was beyond ecstatic at the moment.

As Ari walked out of my sight, I dropped my head to the desk, bouncing my skull up and down on the pseudo-wooded table top. A loud, drawn out exhale filled my ears.

"Luke, why can't you have a more positive attitude about this whole thing?" mum questioned, "at least act like you're excited, since you're so good at pretending; like how you pretended to forget Ari's shirt this morning."

Then it hit me.

I rose up from the desk, rounding the front and ran through the aisle of desks. My mom shouted after me, but I ignored her, continuing out the classroom door. My shoes squeaked against the white, linoleum floors as I raced down the hallway towards one of the staircases. Thank God this was after school and halls were virtually empty, otherwise I'd be colliding with more than half of the student population - like seriously, I was already as tall as a fúcking ficus, could they not see me? 

I entered the school's large car park, the heat radiating off of the asphalt beneath my feet. Squinting against the sun's rays, I scanned the vicinity. I walked aimlessly through the lot, only a few cars sprinkled through out the stalls. On the verge of giving up, that's when I spotted a head full of long, silky red hair wavering in the light September breeze. 

I ran across the way towards Ari, the sun beating down on me, making a simple trek turn into death. I slowed down my steps, approaching the demon child who stood by her car - an old silver Honda. Panting and trying to catch my breath, I leaned forward, resting the palms of my hands on my bent knees. Looking up, Ari lifted her shirt up her body and over her head, only leaving her in a pair of distressed shorts and a neon-colored sports bra.

Oh, well then.

"What are you staring at? Creep!" 

I shook off the distraction that was Ari's body and sauntered closer. A scowl painted her face as she threw her hair into a ponytail. 

"Creep? Me? You're the creep! Why are you stripping in the middle of the school car park?" I retorted.

"Not that it's any of you business, but the air conditioning in my car broke. So until it's fixed, I'm driving around shirtless and with the windows rolled down," she explained, irritation oozing from every word. 

"We can pretend," I declared, choosing not to respond to her last explanation. Ari cocked her head to the side, clearly confused at my random string of words. 

"Pretend what, Hemmings? That you aren't a dickwad and the source of my lack of sleep?" Ari sneered. She slipped into the driver's side of the car, turning the key in its ignition. The engine purred and the speakers immediately blasted Sugarcult's Pretty Girl.

Nice taste in music, Quiroz.

The windows rolled down and I suddenly leaped at the opening, causing Ari to jump in her seat, "what the fúckballs is your problem? You're such a skeeze. Will you please leave me alone? Can't believe I actually have to sit and have a meal with you."

"That's what I meant by pretending. I'll leave my house for a few hours, you and I can pretend we had a quaint dinner at some place We can come up with a lame story how the waiter spilled the food all over you when you asked him for his number... I'll even split my mom's money with you," 

She chuckled reluctantly, "oh hell no Hemmings. We're going to dinner."

"What? Why? Clearly we can't stand each other, so why eat together on a Friday night when we can separately go out-- well, maybe just me since I actually have friends and a social life," 

"Fúck you in the butthole douchebag. And we're not pretending. For your mom's sake, we're going to dinner. Even if we have to sit awkwardly for a couple of hours, we will do it for your mom," 

"Why the hell do you care so much about my mum?" I questioned. 

"Because she's a nice woman Luke," Ari stated, her tone suddenly softening, "so you are going to pick me up at 6PM Friday night, we will have dinner, try to have a civilized conversation, and when your mom asks how it was, we'll have somewhat of a nice and true story to tell her, okay?"

"Okay," 

We just Fault in Our Stars that shit. Which I will never admit I watched and cried ballsacks because, well no one needs to know that my feels were wrecked afterwards. 

"I'll see you in class Hemmings," Ari said, before switching her attention to her pre-drive procedure. Seatbelt, hand break, sunglasses. She drove off, maneuvering the car through the lot and out the campus gates.

I turned around, walking towards my own car not too far from where Ari previously parked hers. As I got closer to the black Audi that shined so nicely, I noticed two figures leaning against it. Jake and Katie. The duo glared at me.

"What the hell were you doing with her?"

//

I love Liz Hemmings. She's so wonderful <3 And who else is excited to see the Luke & Ari dinner? Raise your hands! I already have it all planned out and I can't wait to start writing it. 

Anyway, hope you all liked this chapter. I really liked writing it. Thanks so much for reading... but side note, how the heck do you get your stories noticed by more people? Not that I'm not grateful by the readers I already have, because it's much appreciated, buuuut it'd be nice to have more-- especially because I do work hard writing them. But regardless, I will update as soon as I can. Thanks again for reading!

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