whoever let me take college level math is a BTICH bc i spent my week doing homework. Do people even care about calculus?? God this chapter is a mess I'll edit it after school
--

"Patterson, you in here again?" The teacher in charge of detention, a "nice" guy by the name of Mr. Johnson, gives him an unamused look. "That's twice in one day. Was lunch together not enough for you?” When Luke doesn't respond to the supposed joke, Mr. Johnson just sighs and gestures towards the door. “Come on, let's get you something to do. I have a faculty meeting in five.”

Luke grumbles quietly. The one thing he hates more than sitting around doing nothing in detention was when he actually had to do stuff in detention. Detention is for sleeping and drawing dicks on the desks, not work!

Mr. Johnson leads him out of the classroom, through the hall, and into another class. "Mark," he says, "Come on now. You and Luke here are gonna help me with some stuff. Here's some papers, here's two answer keys. Grade."

There was no further explanation or instructions. Mr. Johnson walks out of the classroom, leaving him and Mark alone.

Mark huffs, and grabs two red pens for them to grade with. "Here," he says, tossing one to Luke. "You that kid Dad always complains about in detention?"

It surprises Luke that Mark, whoever he is, isn't all that afraid of him. Normally kids freeze up or scatter like little cockroaches whenever Luke approaches. Then again, it could have something to do with Mark being built like a fucking tank.

He hides his surprise, though, and gives Mark a small glare. "Probably. You his kid that I always get compared to?"

"Hah, probably. I'm his only kid, I mean." Mark is unfazed by the glare, it seems, for he smiles warmly.

"You're a little shit then," Luke announces. "Stop being some goody two shoes. Your dad won't shut up about how I should be a good kid like you or some bullshit like that.”

"Hey, a guy's gotta do what he can to survive. You ever seen him angry? I got my ass whooped enough as a kid." Mark laughs, already done grading a paper.

Luke finds himself laughing softly as he looks Mark over. "True, true. I like your style, but I do have one question."

"Yes?" Mark looks at him curiously.

"What the fuck is that shirt?"

Mark looks down at his shirt, then shrugs. "It's a gorilla riding an elephant. What's your shirt, huh?"

Luke grins and points down at his own shirt. "It's me, bitch. I'm the devil."

"Hah, yeah right. Just grade the damn papers before my dad comes back." Mark rolls his eyes fondly and goes back to grading the papers.

Luke does as asked, feeling a little better about himself. At least he (kinda) made a friend today. A sane friend, for that matter. Maybe Jonathan would get off his ass about beating up everything he sees.

“Mark is a shitty name,” Luke says thoughtfully. He sets the graded paper on the desk, a big 37 written in red pen. “And this girl is shitty at math.”

“Oh? Then what would you name me?”

“Uh…. Gorilla. Because of your shirt.” God, how much has Jon rubbed off on him?

“That's reasonable,” Gorilla laughs. “I guess I'm a gorilla now.”

-

As per usual, Bryce is waiting for him when he leaves detention. Or, rather, Bryce waiting around was beginning to become the norm. Bryce had briefly mentioned his father getting a promotion, and everyone knows how his mother was busy with… whatever businesswomen do.

Basically, Bryce needed rides to and from school. He can't drive himself, because he doesn't know how, and his brothers are both across the country at some fancy college. And since Jon's driving was horrifying, it was left to Luke most of the time. Not that he really minded.

They walk out of the school and sit in Luke's car. Bryce is on his phone (big surprise, the kid’s always on Twitter or Instagram) while Luke digs through his bag for his keys. It's Bryce's giggling that makes Luke look up at him curiously.

“What's so funny Bryce?”

Bryce gives another giggle and sets his phone down on his lap. “Nothing, nothing. Ryan's just texting me. He's so bad at chemistry,” Bryce laughs.

“You have him for chemistry?” Luke is surprised by this. Normally, the only people who took chemistry were 12th grade nerds. Bryce is far from a 12th grader. He's… what, fifteen? Sixteen? Too young and far too immature.

“Yeah,” Bryce says. “I had to convince the entire administrative staff that I'm mature or some crap like that. And now I don't know what I'm doing. But that's not what matters!” Bryce slaps Luke's arm, probably for trying to get him off topic like an asshole.

“Oh? What matters then?” Luke knows he sounds like some sarcastic jerk but he's really focused on driving out of the school zone. Some people really shouldn't have their driver's license..

“I was gonna say that you and Ryan are, like, my best friends but I don't think so anymore,” Bryce giggles. “I think I'll just stick with Ryan.”

This makes Luke curious. What did Ryan do to replace him as Bryce's best friend? Probably something stupid, like give him an apple or something along those lines. He can't imagine Ryan doing much else. Does Ryan understand how to not act weird?

“He gave me some apple slices,” Bryce explains. “I tried to invite him to come play games with us tomorrow but he said no. Ryan said something about you not liking him. You got anything to say about that?”

Luke rolls his eyes. “I didn't do shit to him. Don't know what he's bitching about.”

“So you don't like him.”

“No, no,” Luke argues. “I don't not like him, but I don't like him either. I like him about as much as I like Tyler. He's… he's fucking weird! He looks like the kind of guy to like say he likes oatmeal cookies!” Luke doesn't really know any other way to explain his thoughts to Bryce.

His message gets through to Bryce, thankfully, because Bryce’s face immediately scrunches up in disgust. “Eww. Do you really think that little of him?”

“Yes.”

“That's a shame,” Bryce says. “It's gonna make returning his hoodie tomorrow morning really awkward.”

This makes him pause, fully turning to face Bryce now that they're parked outside Bryce’s house. “What?” Luke doesn't understand. What the fuck is that supposed to mean? He's not actually gonna make Luke return the hoodie, right? He has every intention of skipping school tomorrow because of a presentation he failed to prepare for.

But to his horror, Bryce pulls a light grey bunny hoodie out of a plastic bag, handing it to Luke with a smile that's much too bright to be innocent. “Yup! Ryan gets here every morning at 7:45, his first class is World History in room 163, and his locker is 381, in the upstairs wing. You have fun giving his stuff back!”

Bryce exits the car so fast Luke is surprised he didn't just jump out the window. He looks at the empty seat, then at the hoodie thrown across his lap and sighs.

Boy, was he gonna have fun tomorrow.

--

Luke doesn't like bunnies. He hates them, actually.

He also hates Ryan for wearing this stupid bunny hoodie in the first place. He kinda hates Jon for insisting he return the damn thing, and he really doesn't like Bryce for being a sweetheart and washing the hoodie "because it's the nice thing to do."

But he mostly hates bunnies. Especially the bunny standing in front of him, the bunny named Ryan. He hates bunnies because they're the reason he's here bright and early on three hours of sleep and absolutely no caffeine in his system.

Ryan isn't even paying attention to him. His back is turned, and he's staring at his locker intently. Luke is thankful for this. He doesn't even know what to say, or how to get his attention. Then again…. Maybe it would be a bit easier if Luke wasn't standing across the hallway.

(It has just now occurred to Luke that he's not actually within any distance for a good conversation. Who the fuck just has a casual chat while standing on separate sides of the fucking hall?)

Luke moves a little closer to Ryan. He decides to stand a few lockers down from him, watching him struggle to open the damned thing. To make matters worse, Ryan didn't even know he was here! Luke takes an extra step back just in case someone thinks he's a stalker.

He doesn't know how to do this. He also doesn't know why Bryce made him do it. It takes Luke's tired mind a few moments to stop running in circles and finally sort out a decent plan.

“Hey, Ryan, here!” Luke tosses the folded up hoodie at Ryan's face without thinking. Actions say more than words, or something like that. There's some logic behind this.

Ryan sputters out little bits of words and sentences, fumbling with the jacket on his face. When he finally gets it off, he turns to Luke with an annoyed look on his face. “What the shit?”

“There's your hoodie,” Luke says bitterly. “Now you have it back.”

Ryan looks amazed. Luke can't quite figure out why, but to be quite honest he doesn't give a shit. “Wow, somebody's grumpy. Who pissed in your coffee?”

“Nobody,” he snaps in response. “I haven't had any coffee yet.”

“I can tell. Do you wanna go with me to get some coffee, or do you have other people to snap at?”

Ryan's response makes Luke feel a bit guilty. Here he is, returning a hoodie in the bitchiest way possible, and this fucker tries to buy him a coffee! He's starting to think Ryan isn't human.

Still, regardless of Luke's attitude or Ryan's species, he takes Ryan up on his offer. They walk out of school and across the street to a little Mexican restaurant where they sit at a booth together and wait.

“Are you feeling better now?” Ryan watches in amusement as Luke sips his coffee. He ordered himself a plate of fajita tacos, with plenty of rice on the side.

Luke nods, too embarrassed to speak.

“That's good,” Ryan chuckles. “Don't worry. I get grumpy too when I'm tired.”

Luke looks over at Ryan, who's giving a sheepish smile in that dumb hoodie of his. The sleeves are rolled up to his elbows and the ears are flopping over his face. It's hard to imagine Ryan ever being grumpy, especially like this. “That's hard to believe.”

“Well it's true,” Ryan giggles. He pauses to eat some of his rice and then grins excitedly at Luke. “Thank you for returning my hoodie by the way. I figured this is the least I can do to thank you.”

Luke isn't sure if Ryan is aware that he doesn't need to thank Luke at all. Isn't it common courtesy to return lost items to their owner?

“I mean, for not letting me die in the hallway,” Ryan quickly explains, seeing the confusion on Luke's face. “It really was nice of you. Even if you kinda scared me back there.”

“It's no problem,” Luke says. He takes another drink of coffee, not sure what else to say.

Ryan must not know what to say either, for their conversation fades away into silence. They simply sit and eat, listening to the workers chatting and the faint buzz of a radio playing in the background. It's calm and peaceful. Almost too peaceful.

So maybe that's why Luke is a little flustered when Ryan smiles at him. It's a cute smile, and Luke never did figure out how to react to cute things. He smiles back though, because it's a polite thing to do.