The Pull of Destiny (47 page)

I stared down at my lap,
knowing that everything Aunt Kelly was saying was the truth. Being around Luke
had
already been more trouble than it was worth. He’d already gotten me into
trouble with Nate and now that I knew that he’d just been using me, it was time
to cut him loose. That didn’t stop me from feeling torn about the whole
situation. How could he have done this to me?

“I was just supposed to help
him with his list,” I mumbled. “I didn’t expect that it would blow up into so
much drama.”

“He made his own drama,” Aunt
Kelly said adamantly as I looked at her. “Luke knew
exactly
what he was
doing when he asked for your support. He knew you wouldn’t be able to resist
helping him with his list because- you’re Celsi. You see the good in everyone.
And having him use you like that then turning his back on you is just cruel.”

I brushed away a tear as the
front door opened and a drunkenly singing Nate crashed into the apartment.
Back
to my reality.

Two days later, Dalton School
canteen.

“You know, I’m actually
surprised that Luke hasn’t apologized yet,” Shazia mused, dunking a cookie into
her milk carton while Robyn looked on in amusement.

“Calories,” she mouthed
across the table to me when Shazia wasn’t looking.
Dammit.
Just the
mention of
that
name made me lose my appetite. And hadn’t we already had
this conversation, back when Luke had called me a slut?
You should have just
left it at that. Why the hell did you have to agree to help him with his list,
girl?

I shook my fork in Shazia's
direction. “Can we please just not talk about that guy?”

“You’re gonna have to talk
about him
sometime
,” Robyn said breezily as I stared at her, one eyebrow
raised skeptically. “Let your anger out.”

“What anger?” I asked,
stabbing my jalapeno popper savagely with my fork.
What, me angry
? I
wasn’t angry. Nothing to be angry at.
Stab, stab, stab.

“You’re killing the poor
popper. And don’t act like you don’t glare every time someone says Luke.
Because you do. And you grip whatever’s in your hand so tightly that your
knuckles whiten,” Shazia pointed out.

Immediately, Robyn, Shazia
and my eyes looked down at my hands, which were respectively gripping my knife
and fork so tightly that my knuckles were almost white.
Not an easy
accomplishment.

I let out a breath.
“Whatever. He hasn’t apologized coz there’s nothing for him to apologize for.”

“Uh, I can think of several
things he needs to apologize for. That ugly ass t-shirt he’s wearing today, for
example,” Robyn said around a mouthful of lettuce, pointing shamelessly in
Luke’s direction as he and his posse walked into the canteen. He was laughing,
joking and no doubt acting the fool as usual as Ahmed, Wendy and Denise milled
around him. And meanwhile I was just sitting here, feeling sorry for myself.
Why
am I giving him the satisfaction?

Shazia slapped Robyn’s arm
down and turned to me, wiping away her milk moustache. “That’s Ahmed’s
t-shirt,” she giggled.

“Why is Luke wearing Ahmed’s
ugly ass t-shirt?” Robyn asked curiously.

Shazia wiped her hands on a
napkin. “He stayed over last night. Something about him having a fight with his
dad.”

That was news to me.

“And I’m sure you played
video games all night and bonded,” I said bitterly, frowning down at my milk
carton. Why hadn’t Shazia told me that Luke was staying at her place? Why did I
care so much?

“Actually, I didn’t say a
word to him, even when he said hi to me,” Shazia replied calmly, patting my
hand. “I’m on your side.”

I gave her a grateful smile
and she smiled back. “Sorry,” I muttered.
Great.
Now I was overreacting.

“So am I,” Robyn chimed in.
“Even though he
is
gorgeous. But that doesn’t excuse him from being a
douchebag.” 

Shazia nodded in agreement.
“If he doesn’t apologize then he’s a fool,” she said heatedly.

Shrugging, I stared down at
my brutalized jalapeno. “Why should he apologize? He was just saying what was
on his mind. Anyway, I don’t want to hear anything from him.”

“That’s going to be kinda
difficult.” I shot Shazia a confused look and she jerked her head to the left.

Luke and his party had taken
up camp a table away from us, being as loud and obnoxious as usual. I rolled my
eyes to the ceiling.

“I can handle this. I just
won’t look in that direction,” I murmured, almost to myself, as I took a sip of
my chocolate milk, almost feeling his eyes boring holes in my back.
I’m just
imagining that.
I had to be. Luke wouldn’t be looking at me, not after what
he had said. He was probably glad to be rid of me after ‘sticking to him like
glue’.

“That kid is totally
undressing you with his eyes,” Robyn said in her blunt manner, awe in her voice
as she stared in Luke’s direction. I swallowed hard. Why was he staring at me?
I wasn’t going crazy or imagining things, Robyn had noticed it too!

Shazia peered in Luke’s
direction. “Oh, yeah, he’s totally staring at you.”

“I don’t care,” I mumbled.
Do-not-look.

And I didn’t. I just wanted
to eat my lunch then get out of the canteen and away from Luke’s presence.
Is
it just me or can I smell Irish Spring? It’s just you.

Unfortunately, ever the loudmouth,
Robyn had something to say about it.

“Hey, Luke!” she yelled, her
piercing voice cutting into my ear.

I cringed, my eyes fixed onto
the boring lunch table in a strident attempt not to look anywhere in Luke’s
direction.
Please don’t let him talk…
Because if he did talk, if I heard
that freaking insufferable (but still really sexy) voice, I would snap and
Shazia and Robyn would have to hold me back. I knew that some people at Dalton
talked about me and I really didn’t care. But Luke… I thought I had meant
something to him.
It’s not your fault.

“What?” the jerk drawled
lazily, his hands no doubt jammed into the pockets of his jeans. I breathed
deeply, in through my nose, out through my mouth. Hearing his voice for the
first time since the incident was hurting. It just brought back memories of
what he had said about me.

“You lose something on
Celsi?” Robyn continued.

Beside me, Shazia muttered,
“Wow,” as she watched the show. I wanted to turn and look too but I knew I
would immediately be assailed by the smartass grin on Luke’s face and I didn’t
want to deal with it.

Always wanting to put her two
cents in, Wendy snorted snidely. “Oh please. Luke doesn’t stare at clinging
groupies.”

I gripped my fork so hard
that it started to bend.

“Don’t rise to the bait,”
Shazia whispered across the table.

I shook my ponytail back. “I
won’t. I’m going to be the bigger man and let kids be kids,” I said haughtily.

“Don’t you mean ‘bigger
woman’?” Shazia asked. I glared threateningly at her and she raised her hands
in submission. “Your way works too!”

“It would be interesting if
he
did
apologize. Then you could take a dump on him.” Robyn focused her
scatterbrained attention back on us, and then wrinkled her nose. “Not a real
dump, of course. But- you know what I mean.”

“I told you I don’t want him
to apologize,” I said, wishing they would drop the Luke subject already. I
didn’t want to hear his name again, but somehow I knew that wasn’t in the
cards. “That’s why I’ve been avoiding him ever since that day.”

Oooh. Wrong thing to say.

Robyn’s eyes brightened
immediately. “You didn’t tell us you were avoiding- that’s probably why he’s
staring at you! He probably wants to say sorry but you haven’t given him the
chance!”

“And I won’t give him the
chance,” I said wearily, gathering up my stuff. I just needed to be alone for a
while. Ever since my crying fit, Shazia and Robyn had been mollycoddling me to
the extreme. It was sweet of them to care so much but I needed to gather my
thoughts in peace and quiet. I couldn’t even relax at home, not since Nate kept
getting drunk and picking fights with me whenever he saw me.

“Where are you going?” Shazia
asked, looking up as I stood.

“I just wanna be alone for a
bit, guys. Just to clear my head.”

Shazia nodded, the look on
her face telling me she understood, even as Robyn shot me a puzzled glance.

“Hello, we’re having lunch,”
she said, waving to her plate, which had an unappetizing looking salad just
sitting there.

Shazia placed a hand on
Robyn’s shoulder. “Let her go, Rob,” she said softly. “She just wants some time
alone.”

I smiled and gave them both
clumsy hugs while they were still sitting down. Then I walked out of the
canteen without looking back and went to the one place where I knew I would
find peace- the music lab.

The Music Lab

Or should I say the one place
where I
thought
I would find peace.

Pretty much the instant I sat
down at the piano, running my fingertips over the worn keys and getting ready
to lose myself in the bliss that only piano playing could give me, a rush of
cold air washed over me as the door opened. Instinctively, I swiveled in my
seat, my eyes narrowing as I faced Luke, who was pushing the door shut with his
back, a smile on his face.
Who does he think he is?

“You’re
really
hard to
get alone.” He stepped forward, a self-confident grin on his face as I slowly
got to my feet, my eyebrows raised in pure and utter disbelief. Evidently, he
couldn’t see from my face that my pulse was jumping in my throat with anger,
but even
he
wasn’t blind enough not to see my hands balled into fists by
my sides.

In a soft, dangerous voice, I
said, “Excuse me?”

The idiot was still grinning
at me like everything was fine and dandy. He took a couple of steps towards me
and I was positive that he knew I was mad, but was choosing to ignore it.
If
you don’t get the hell away from me, we’re going to have a situation on our
hands.

“Hey, you.” He casually
leaned against the piano, hiding a yawn with the back of his hand. I stared.

What the hell is he on?
Was this some attempt to get
back on my good side to humiliate me further? Were Ahmed and Wendy giggling
just outside the door, ready to come in and yell ‘in your face’ at any
unprecedented moment? Was I just going loco? Why was Luke acting like
everything was fine between us when nothing was?

I blinked rapidly. “What are
you doing here?”

The question
begged
to
be asked. Luke being here didn’t make any damn sense at all to me. And he
continued to not make sense as he opened his mouth to reply, shrugging.

“Well,
excuse me
for
wanting to hang out with you.”

My lips tightened. “Get out.”

“What?”

I jerked my head in the
direction of the door. “You heard me. I don’t want to be in the same room as
you and I’m not leaving, so get out.”

The smug, ‘I know you’re just
playing so I won’t budge’ look on his face made my insides boil. “Wow,
someone
got up on the wrong side of the bed,” he drawled huskily, smirking as he took
another step closer to me. I took two steps back.
If he touches me I’ll
scream.

“Are you stupid? Do the words
‘I never want to talk to you again’ mean nothing to you?”

Luke shrugged again. “I
thought that was just the heat of the moment,” he joked, his dimples popping
into view.

I gave him serious stink eye.
This was actually funny to him, wasn’t it?
Gag.

“It wasn’t.” Scowling, I put
my hands on my hips. “Get out of my sight. Leave me alone forever.”

I thought I made it clear
enough, but...

He raised his hands, palm up.
“Okay, I can see that you’re still mad at me,” he started, striving for a calm
and reasonable voice even though I could see a smile tugging up his lip.

“Oh really?” Quick as a cat,
I grabbed up the music sheet book off of the top of the piano and gripped it in
both hands.
Pick your weapon.
I was just doing it largely for show; I
didn’t
really
want to hit Luke over the head with it.
Well, okay, I
do.
But I wasn’t going to.
Yet.
“What gave you that idea?”

Luke started laughing as I
glowered at him, wishing I could shoot sparks of fire out of my eyes that would
burn that horrible t-shirt he was wearing in the process. “Put the book down
before you hit me with it.”