Betting on You

18

e i g h t e e n

It was friday when Luke finally had me cornered.

"Can you move?" I huffed after attempting multiple times to by-pass him, yet he remained like a statue in front of me, not caring that people could see us.

Not caring that people were staring.

"Don't you think you've avoided me enough?"

I pretended to think, "Mmm, no, not more than usual."

Anger and annoyance flashed through his eyes and he shifted his weight from either leg before he glanced around to see passersby throwing us a few glances, "I'll go to Harmony."

At the threat, a baffled expression accompanied my furrowed brows, "Excuse me?"

"I'll go to Harmony," he repeated. "I realize that I can ask her and give her an excuse to talk about you."

My anger flared, "That's neither of your buisness."

"It became my buisness as soon as you took your shirt off in front of me." He snapped, and I had to glance around.

"Will you keep your voice down?" I snapped right back, the bell to fifth period ringing. I had just finished working on the social science package assignment with Jared and had taken a walk to my locker to switch out a few of my books for my final two classes; English then Chem, both of which I had with Luke. When I had closed my locker, Luke had been there to confront me, refusing to move out of my way, "Can you move? We have class."

"Which neither of us are going to until you talk to me," he almost seemed to be begging, but I looked away from him, noticing the halls filling with passing students on their way to their next classes as well, "Why won't you just talk to me?"

"Oh like how you talk to me?" I countered, completly defensive, "How many times have I asked you questions that you've neglected to tell me because it 'wasn't my
business'? This isn't your business!"

He stepped closer then, his eyes dark and his voice low amongst the sea of students, "You took a blade to your f*cking body and never told me," he sounded hurt but why? We hadn't been acting like friends for the past three years, "Maddy... please just explain this to me. What the hell has been going on?"

A part of me wanted to tell him. Tell him what happened, tell him why I did it, tell him how it happened and how I got to such a low point in my life. But it was because of him. He was the reason. He was what happened. He was why it happened, and I knew that I just couldn't tell him that.

When I glanced around at the students bustling around us, I remembered that we both had a class to get to, "Please move. Please. Or else."

I could feel my eyes swim with desperation, begging him to let it go. It was a lot for him to find out, but the explanation was something that would break him, and I was already broken and enough to deal with.

But he narrowed his eyes, "Or else what?"

"Or else.. or else I'll cry."

He scoffed then, "Yeah? And what's your crying supposed to do? Scare me?"

Instead of a verbal response, I steeled my shoulders and began to stare straight at him, unblinking. He awaited my words but they never came, and after about a minute or two, he waved a hand in front of my face, as if he were trying to gain my attention.