"Mr High and Mighty didn't come to school today."I ignore Reece's statement as I collect my lunch from her outstretched hand, averting my eyes not to look at her. I fear she might just see the truth of what I am hiding by just staring into my eyes.And she is really good at it."Hey Alicia, are you really ok? Why did you bounce off the cafeteria this afternoon? I couldn't even—""I am fine Reece." The edge is thick in my voice.I think I am fine. In fact, I don't know.Fuck! I hate this! I am used to having control over my feelings. Over my thoughts. Always willing them to do the right thing just the way things are supposed to be done.But right now, to be really honest, I don't know what the hell is going on with me, and it is driving me crazy.And I am supposed to hate Luke Evans, even if we agreed to be friends just for the sake of the project. I mean it's not like it's something serious or has any meaning attached to it.He is just so damn good at wrecking havoc into people's thou
I alight from the car when it stops me in front of Shutter Pictures, Tyler's photography studio. I pay the driver my fare and without even waiting for him to drive off, I turn and hurry towards the door entrance of the studio.I halt when I see Luke's bike parked near the entrance, the bike's plate number giving it away.So he is here?!I steady my breathing as I continue to the door. When I reach it, I push it open and enter, coming face to face with Tyler.He pauses in shock when he sees me. A smile slowly wears off the surprised expression on his face."Hi Alicia. Glad to see you once again."We hug, and after few seconds of patting each other's backs, we pull apart."I am also glad to see you Tyler.""So, what brings you here?""Well, uhm, I am here to look for Luke. This is the only place I could figure out he could be in. He wasn't in school today, and I just saw his bike parked right outside. Is he here?"It takes a moment before Tyler says anything, and I wonder why the need f
The curvy blonde grumbles and stands, lifting up the lacy material of her bralette to cover more of her perky full breasts. Her shoulder shoves me back as she walks past me, but I withhold myself from yanking off all the hair strands from her head.When the door clicks shut behind me, the urge to relieve my shaky feet bubbles up inside me. I want to sit down on the chair near the door side, but I also want to get out of this wretched room. I can't stand Luke's eyes piercing through me, tearing me apart like I am nothing."Is Tyler around?" He asks. My guts twists into painful knots of disbelief.So he is going to act like nothing just happened?No problem. Maybe it will be simple for me this way too."Uhm, he left to get something from the supermarket down the street."I adjust my bag over my shoulder."He said you came to get the pictures for the project."He nods. "Yeah. Yeah I did."I want to tell him to show me the pictures. I want to see how I look, to see if I am truly the beauti
"Alicia, what's going on?"I slam my locker shut, still keeping my lips sealed at Reece's question, which she has been asking me time and time again ever since I got to school this morning. I really don't feel like being in school today, but I am a student, so what choice do I have?"I am fine Reece." I finally blurt out."No you are not."If there's one thing to also know about Reece, it is the fact that she can be persistent. And also quite persuasive. Just then, Camilla saunters towards us, twirling a band of her hair with her finger. She is flanked on both sides by Megan and Hasley, two other cheerleaders with banging bodies but zero relationship skills.Megan got dumped by Jace, her whirlwind summer romantic sex fling who is also the captain of the basketball team in school. Hasley is a different kind of bitch. She changes dicks of all sizes at least five to seven times in a week.Camilla started hanging out with them more often after the summer break, or let me be specific: she s
"Alright everyone. Pens up!"I groan as I tick off the correct answer to the last question in my test sheet. Miss Oregon decided to give us an impromptu Literature test today of all fucking days.Is today really that cursed for me?!"Alicia, gather up all the test sheets."Tiffany and Greg are literally glaring at each other, Tiffany's hand pulling at Greg's test sheet. My eyes let go of the silent war drama occuring between them as I stand, closing my pen and picking up my test sheet.Luke stretches his test sheet to me like I am some servant made to run his fucking errands for him. We haven't glanced each other's way since morning, let alone said any word to each other, and now he thinks he can just shove his test sheet into my hands?Hell fucking almighty NO!I ignore him and walk to the front. I hope he gets the memo that just because he is my seatmate and some stupid ass badboy doesn't mean he gets to maneuver standard class protocol.Emily, the fair pretty brunette of our class s
My mouth is still covered, the assailant's palm still muffling my screams, his other hand pressing me to the wall.The room is dark, so dark that I can't see anything.In a split second, the hand pressing me to the wall leaves my shoulder, and I hear a flip sound. I flinch when a bright light suddenly lits up the entire room, piercing through my eyes.I blink a couple times, adjusting my eyes to the light's intensity.And to the face of my assailant.I freeze.Anger starts to boil up inside me, and with all the strength I can muster, I crush the numbness in my bones by pushing him off me."Luke! Are you mad?!"My heart is slamming against my chest. Slamming in anger. Pain. Madness. Surprised fury."Alicia, we. . . . .we need to talk."I can hear the faint footsteps and giggles of students walking down the hallway outside, apparently heading to the cafeteria for lunch but oblivious of a girl trapped in this room with a boy that is just the definition of insanity."We don't have anythin
My hand is already at the door handle, but Luke's hand grabs my arm, spinning me around to face him."Alicia listen to me, please."His pleading voice fills me with even more spite."Leave me alone Luke!" I jerk my arm away from his grasp, the force making a teardrop fall from my left eye. "I don't want to listen to you! I don't want to listen to anything you have to say! You are so fucking insane Luke! Don't you get it?! I don't want to have anything to do with you anymore!"Another teardrop falls on my left cheek. My voice is cracking, and I can feel the bile swelling in my throat, forcing me to cry. I bite down my bottom lip. I don't want to cry. Especially in front of him. His silence is suffocating, and I struggle to breath. He leans closer to me, his hands falling limp at his sides."You don't mean that. You don't mean any of what you just said."His voice is calm and low, but the meaning in his words twists my belly.Because he is right.I look away from him.I really do not me
Luke's hands slide up my shoulders to the back of my neck, his thumb and index finger arching at my chin as he kisses me back with a passion that equals mine. I feel the tip of his tongue teasing along the seam of my bottom lip before it slips into my mouth. I moan when his tongue graze the tip of my own, passing on the minty scent that seems to be rushing in torrents to the back of my brain.I grip his shirt tighter, feeling like I am about to burst into flames here and now. My legs are weak, and I am scared that I may not be able to withstand this sweet torment for long. As if sensing my thoughts, Luke grabs my thighs and lifts me up. My legs wrap around his waist, and I marvel at how my body just clings to his.He turns us around so that my back presses to the wall that was behind him, never breaking our kiss. My arms wrap around his neck for support, and I arch my body to his, feeling his hands as they roughly caress my back. Bolts of electricity zap down my spine, and I moan, lovi
What?!" I gasp.The breeze whips through Luke's hair, blowing it across his face. His hand pushes it back."Yeah. There is this lady called Sienna that I started seeing quite often with my dad since like three months ago. She is pretty, jovial, and I thought she was just one of my dad's friends. But this week Monday, my dad came out to me about his true relationship with her. I was paralyzed with shock to the point that I couldn't do anything that day." "You said you found out this week Monday?" I interrupt, my mind going through a puzzle."Yeah."The dots connect. Shit. "So that was why you weren't in school that day?" I blurt out, my realization hitting me with a bang.He nods. "The news fucked up my head so bad that I couldn't bring myself to come to school that day. I spent most of that day at Tyler's studio. I wasn't expecting to see you there later that day. I also wasn't in my right frame of mind." He sighs deeply. "I still feel a bit pissed at myself that I reacted so bad towa
This is cruel. This is so cruel. So cruel that I feel like dragging my fingers through my hair. So cruel that it reminds me of my own pain. So when Luke was grappling with his mum's death, I and Sarah were being whisked around from court to court to listen to my parents yell and throw curses at each other and to listen from judge to judge asking Sarah and I which parent we would want to stay with. Why do we have to suffer for the shitty things our parents did? We didn't force any of them to bring us into this world. The least they could have done for us was to try to be better for us."I passed the night at my uncle's place. I stayed in his house a couple more days, and then on the third day, in the morning, my dad showed up at my uncle's house, looking normal. He begged me to come back home with him. My uncle, who was his elder brother, beat him up so badly and had the police arrest him for trespassing his property. It was a tough, ugly scenerio to watch. During my mom's burial, my da
He goes super still and silent at my question for a while, but just when I begin to think that he may not answer me or do anything, his hands on my back and face leave my body. He steps back a bit from me and lifts his t-shirt up over his head, exposing his naked torso to me. My eyes go directly to the tattooed date on the left side of his abdomen.15. 05. 2012.I am not given enough time to ogle at it because Luke turns around in silence, his inked back facing me as he walks to a space on the clearing a little bit far from the motorcycle. I watch his hard muscles flex with each movement. They flex harder when he settles down on the mowed grass. He drops his t-shirt to his bosom, staring afar at the blue water crashing its waves to the rocks.I wonder what is going through his mind right now, but I know that whatever it is must definitely be related to my question earlier. His silence lures me to join him there, and I do. I walk over to him and settle down beside him on the grass. His
I stare back squarely at him, gulping hard. "Even if you wish you could take it back, the sad news is you can't, Luke, because I love you too."My somersaulting heart gradually stops thumping so hard, and I feel like a huge burden has just been uplifted from my chest. Luke blinks hard at my confession, the action making a single tear drop from his right eye down to his cheek. He wipes it away quickly as his eyes squint back at me, crease lines appearing on the top of his forehead. He takes a step back away from me, shaking his head. A sad chuckle escapes from his lips."You don't have to fucking lie to me that you love me just to make me feel better, Alicia. I do not want your pity. What I want is your complete honesty with me, at least I deserve that."My heart shreds. Why is everything crumbling so fast? I love him. Why can't he see that? I know exactly what I feel for him. It is crazy. Exhilarating, and I know for sure that I did not leave my fucking house just to come all this way
The wind whips through my hair roughly, wheezing past me in sharp gusts as Luke races down the road with a speed that steals every of my exhaling breaths away. I love the cool sharp feeling of the wind blasting my face, but what I love more is how the blowing wind carries Luke's scent to me.Gosh I love this. I love him. I still hate myself for having to deny the truth to myself for this long.We race past various cars and road signs, and I feel my eyes nearly popping out of their sockets when I catch the view of a set of hills outside town.The truth is that they are not just some ordinary set of hills that I have never seen before. They are the same set of hills that Luke and I visited the day he showed me his art studio for the first time. The blue water waves are splashing at the thick rocks beneath the tall cliffs, their crashing beauty reminding me of the awe I felt when I saw them for the very first time that day.I know Luke is taking us there. I can feel it deep in my guts.I
"Mr Douglas?" I croak out, still finding it very hard to believe my eyes.What the hell am I seeing right now?! What the freaking hell is going on here?!"Alicia what are you. . . . .what are you doing here?" He stutters back at me, his blue eyes bulging so wide that I can clearly see the shock and discomfort shimmering in them.Wait a minute.I turn my eyes away from Mr Douglas and place them right back at Luke, who is now staring at me like I just caught him gorging on a forbidden box of sweet milk candies. That is when I see it. Notice it. For the very, first, time.The resemblance is there. Fuck! It has always been there. In their identical deep blue eyes and perfectly sculpted jawlines. The rest of Luke's facial features look softer, feminine.And I figure out instantly that he may be sharing those softer features with his mom, who I am just finding out today, is dead.God. Why the fuck does no one in school know about them? Just how much don't I know about Luke Evans?The tensi
"Hey Alicia, how are you?"Tyler's voice is the first thing that greets me immediately I step out of the cab that drops me in front of his studio, which was of course the first place that popped into my mind to go search for Luke.I just hope he is here."I am cool." I reply, looking around the premises. My doubt begins to poke my insides when I don't see any sign of Luke's motorcycle parked around. "Have you seen Luke? Is he here?" I hurriedly rush out the questions.Tyler shakes his head. "No. He is not here." He corks his eyebrows at me, looking me over, two thin lines creasing at the top of his forehead. "What is going on Alicia? You look. . . . . .tensed."Tensed is an understatement. He should see how torn apart and messy I look inside."It is just. . . . ." I take in a short breath. "I have been searching and calling Luke, but he has not picked any of my calls.""Yo, what happened between you two?"I scratch the back of my neck in impatience. "It is a long story Tyler. Please, d
I climb out of the bathtub and wipe my wet body quickly with my towel. When I dash into my room, I glance at the clock.It is just 8:45am.Sarah must be very tired and probably asleep right now, so I will just drop her a note.I quickly go through my skincare routine of applying my body lotion and my facial cream and serum. Next, I throw on a black tank top and blue jeans shorts. The sun is surprisingly hot this early in the morning, and the last thing I need now is to feel sweaty in big clothes.I brush my hair and pull it up into a messy bun. After applying some powder and lip gloss with some perfume, I pick up a pen and tear out a sheet of paper from my rough book to scribble down a note to Sarah, to inform her that I will be leaving to go see Luke. Done, I grab my sling bag lying lazily on my bed and tuck in the note, my phone, my spare library key, and some cash from my drawer into the bag.I glance at the clock again. 9:02am.I look back at myself in the mirror and gulp in a bre
To my Dearest Readers, Thank you all so much for coming this far with me on this story. Your support and perseverance with this book gives me enough strength to continue this story, and for that, I am really thankful. Sadly, it is with great pain and helplessness that I write to you all today to inform you guys that I won't be able to update this story for some period of time. My school exams are choking me right now, and in order to keep giving you guys the best of this story, I have to clear my papers first so that my brain will be relieved and stable enough to keep on giving you guys the best. I am so sorry for whatever inconvenience this may cause any of you, but I promise to bounce back and smother you all with lots of delicious chapters. I love you all, and I also value your feedbacks, ratings and endless support. I am really glad to be on this ride with you all. You guys are the real MVPs. With so much love, Lora Ashley.