before the pain | luke (JATP)

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"It's been a week! A week and you have already been to the principal's office again Mila" Her dad yelled, looking at his daughter like a mess of disappointment. Mila sighed, she didn't know what to say or do. The email had been sent and soon her mom would stand in front of her and make Mila wave goodbye to every dream she ever had about becoming a writer.

"Dad listen! It's just Miss Bone! Okay, she sends me almost every class!" Mila tried yet every excuse didn't seem to matter, the door opened and in came her mom with fire in her eyes as they looked at each other with death around them. Mila leaned back in her chair knowing what was coming:

"This is your fault, you know that right?"

"My fault? You were the one showing her romantic comedy when she was five!"

"That does not mean she would write love letters, it's all your writing getting in her head!"

"Or it's the influence of a bad mother!"

Mila took an apple and walked to her room, with the sound of her parents yelling at each other in the background. They would never listen, they would never understand. She placed herself on the red, taking a bite of the big green apple. "Love letters?" She whispered to herself with a soft smile. "They really think I'm writing love letters in the middle of class Elijah!" Mila looked at the character sketch.
She leaned back onto her bed, her pillow-soft going against her head, making her feel tired.

When the yelling had stopped, her two parents soon stood in her doorway, looking at their daughter half-asleep on her bed. "What are we going to do?" Mrs. Garcia spoke, walking over to her daughter, taking off her shoes and placing her better on the bed, to place the duvet over her.

"She had always been like this Sophia, why would she begin changing now?" Mr. Garcia said, looking at his ex-wife with a sigh, leaning his head against the doorway. Mrs. Garcia looked at her daughter one last time before they both walked down into the living room, opening a bottle of red wine as they spoke to each other.

"But look at her room, it's so dark and scary. Not to mention you two haven't been in church since the start of summer break Andrew" Mrs. Garcia took a sip of the red wine as she bit her lip thinking. "This all started when you and I-" Mr. Garcia stopped his sentence not wanting to finish it, Mila's mom didn't answer him either, they both stood in silence, sipping from the wine glasses.

"Maybe you should move back in?" Mr. Garcia whispered slowly, this made Mila's mom drop her glass filled with the red wine that now was all over the white carpet in the family's living room. They both didn't care about it, they looked at each other not knowing what to say or do as the red stain dried in the carpet.

As Mila woke up the next morning, she didn't expect to see her mom in the kitchen making breakfast. "Mom?" Mila asked confused, seeing her mom's pancakes in the place where her dad normally puts a piece of toast. "Goodmorning Mila, slept well?" Mila's mom asked, smiling as she took a sip of her coffee. "I made your favorite blueberry pancakes" Mila sat herself down in her chair, not knowing what to say or do.

"What are you doing here?" Mila finally spoke, not knowing if she was happy seeing her mother or wanted her out of the house. Before the divorce her mom would make breakfast every single morning, she would drive her to school having packed lunch and when Mila came home, her mom would be the first to hug and kiss her.

"I asked her to move in again" Her dad answered as he walked into the room, sitting himself down and taking a bite of the pancakes. "You what?" Mila asked, in her voice, you could hear the confusion. Memories of their divorce kept running in her mind.

"I said yes... of course, we wanted to hear you about it first" Mila's mom smiled that sugar-sweet smile Mila knew all too well. The smile she gave when her mom said everything would be okay, that she would see her again, that the divorce didn't take her away.

"I'm going to be sick," Mila said, not touching her breakfast she took her things and walked out the door, she took her bike and began biking to school as she always did, she started that when the divorce happened.

Her mom didn't drive her... The sound of her panic breath and fast walking shoes made her not realize she still had her pastel blue helmet on, she came to her locker 272 openings it, taking a deep breath.

"You okay?" Mila gasped, getting a shock by the voice of Luke, she sighed looking into his eyes who smiled gently back into hers. "You okay Mila?" You could see the worry in his face as he looked at her. "Yes... I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?" Mila asked, taking out her history book.

"I don't know, maybe this?" Luke took off her helmet, Mila closed her eyes and slowly began fixing her hair that had been ruined by the helmet. "I just didn't have the best morning," Mila answered, biting her lip. She felt weird, the only thing she wanted was to run, tell Aera everything that happened this morning and cry out at her shoulder... but in front of her wasn't Aera... in front of her was Luke.

"You want to talk about it?" Luke asked, still holding her helmet in his hands, Mila smiled slowly wondering if he cared or he was just polite. "It's okay" Mila answered, her eyes being focused on her shoes, Luke sighed slowly, he gently placed his hand on her shoulder.

"I mean it Mila, you can always talk to me... both in school and on Sundays... I might not know you... but I'm here" He answered. His heartbeat fastened as her arms went around him and embraced him in a hug.

He smelled of peppermint toothpaste and she smelled like coconuts. As she hugged him she couldn't help but wish his scent was honey. She kept wondering if Oliver had seen her sad, would he care? Would he tell her the same? Would he hug her back as Luke did? In all these thoughts Mila slowly backed away from the hug looking up into Luke's eyes, he smiled still worried about why she was acting as she did.

"Do you want me to follow you to class?" Luke asked, Mila sighed and shook her head, she didn't want him to be bothered. She closed her locker, he looked up at the number "272... I'll make sure to remember that" He smiled, she didn't say anything, she just faked a small smile to him and walked to her classroom. Placing herself down beside Alex, who too looked worried at her.

"What happened? You look like you have seen a ghost" Alex whispered as the teacher walked in, Mila shook her head. "Worse... I saw my mom"

Alex of course didn't know why this was a big deal, he would be delighted to see his mom. But he didn't say anything, he didn't ask her why it was a big deal, he didn't want to make her feel worse. The teacher began talking about the cold war, and in the middle of the class another note once again landed on Mila's notebook, she looked at Alex who smiled gently back at her.

Wanna eat lunch with me? 

 She thought she would feel alone without Aera, but somehow the boys had made her feel welcome. Reggie always smiled at her in the hallway, Alex made sure he sat beside her in every history class and today Luke helped her, Bobby... well Bobby was acting weird, of course, she didn't know why, but a small smile formed on her lips as she read the small note from Alex. She looked over and saw his eyes staring back into hers as she slowly nodded his smile grew.