"Can anybody tell me the answer to number 3?" the teacher asked, looking out at the sea of blank faces staring back at him.

    Luke took pity on the Spanish teacher and raised his hand.

    "Yes, Luke?" He sighed in relief, hoping that someone would want to answer. Students hated answering questions, but there was always those couple good kids who would do what they were asked.

    "It translates to 'El estudiante fue a la biblioteca.'." Luke said in a flawless accent. He noticed a few people from Ashton's crew sitting around him, laughing at him for answering. He didn't care. He liked answering questions sometimes. It reminded him that he might not fit in well here, but one day he was going to go somewhere where none of these fools would follow him. 

    "Yes, that's right, thanks."

    Luke tuned out the teacher, and instead looked at the people nearby. Class had just started, but nothing major had happened today. This was his last class of the day, there was no way he was going to get away with a day free of bullying. Even Ashton and his crew--they were the worst of his tormentors--hadn't so much as looked at him. He expected everything to be worse after what happened with the tutoring thing yesterday, (which went fine since Mr Peralta stayed with them the entire time) but Luke hadn't seen Ashton all day.

    Luke looked up as the door opened. Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

    "Ashton, you're late," Mr Boyle sighed. Ashton smirked and threw a slip of paper on the teachers desk.

    "Had to help Coach with something." he shrugged easily, nodding to his buddies who were sitting in the back corner of the room.

    Luke was also sitting in the back corner, but on the opposite side of Ashton's friends.

    The blonde haired boy did a double take as he watched Ashton walk down the aisle and sit in the seat next to him. Again.

    "Sup," Ashton nodded at him before putting his bag over the back of the chair and sitting forward.

    Deciding to ignore him and hope for the best, Luke returned to listening to the lesson. He picked up his pen.

    Only he found it difficult to concentrate on the lesson when the most popular kid in the school, and also his personal tormenter was sitting on the bench next to him, sharing a table with him. Every time Ashton would shift in his seat, move his arm, or fix his hair, Luke would flinch. He knew Ashton couldn't do much to him while they were in class, but he was still wary of the brunette.

    A few minutes went by before Ashton leaned over into Luke's personal space.

    "How are you today?"

    All Luke could do was gape at him. Ashton had never said anything nice to him in his entire life, and then he said that?

    Luke just blinked while Ashton smiled slightly down at him. He shuffled closer. Luke moved the opposite direction.    

    He expected the jock to get upset that Luke didn't want him near, but he just shrugged and looked forward. Luke took a couple shallow breaths before doing the same.

Ignore him like you always do. It doesn't matter that he's trying some new way to hurt you, just let it go and when you get home, you can go online shopping retail therapy.

Luke continued answering questions when the teacher asked and no one else volunteered. 

    "Do you have the answer to number four?" A hushed voice whispered to him. Luke looked over and saw Ashton leaning toward him, shifting his page over for Luke to see. "I'm confused, can you help?"

    Still in shock, Luke just tipped his paper over for the jock to copy off of.

    "Thanks," he smiled. He had dimples, Luke noticed. He didn't often see Ashton smile, as the taller boy was often scowling at him, and when he wore those sinister grins, the dimples didn't shine like they did in this moment. Luke thought he would have a heart attack if he saw Ashton smile like that with one of those sparkle TikTok filters. The boy would be absolutely stunning. "You're pretty smart, you know that?" Ashton commented before getting up and volunteering to write the answer to a problem on the board.

    Luke was aghast as he sat there, confused as Ashton walked away. He was still confused and sitting there with his jaw wide open when he came back. Ashton smirked.

    "Open any wider and you'll catch a dick in there," he snickered which caused Luke to snap his mouth shut and huff. He rested his elbows on the desk and put his chin down so he was almost lying on the table. He couldn't wait for class to be over. Ashton seemed determined to give him whiplash with the comments he was making.

    "Wow, you've got nice penmanship."

    "Hey I think my sister has that skirt you're wearing."

    "I never would have thought of that, you're brilliant."

    "I've never seen a man wear that many sparkles,"

    And it went on all class, Ashton would whisper things to him, some nice things, and then some awful things. The class just dragged on, Luke couldn't tear his eyes away from the clock which made time practically stand still. When the final bell rang, signaling Luke's freedom, he actually ran from the room.

    "See you tomorrow Lukey! Get home safe," Ashton said as he walked out of the room. Luke just shook his head and continued away. He needed a nap.

***

Sorry this one is a bit short, I wrote it in the car on the way to tubing yesterday lol. What's Ashton up to? Kinda acting a bit strange, isn't he? 😒

Hope you're all doing well! ❤️

~ashtonfortherwin