I rounded the corner of the school hallway, my shoes scuffing the faded purple and black tiles. It was the first day back from spring break and the thing I wanted to do the least was be here in a crowd of people I've known since the 6th grade. I pushed my way out of the group, walking by myself to my second period.

It was my junior year and luckily for me, it was over in a month. After transferring to a private school my freshman year, being home schooled sophomore year, and now back at my original school that I was supposed to be at all along, all I wanted was for it to actually be all over with. I was 17 and ready to get my life going.

I approached the door to my AP chemistry class, groaning as a group of underclassmen girls who I had a rough back story with came giggling out of the classroom. Their three blonde heads came closer to each other, whispering as they passed me by, then the second my back was turned to them they started throwing insults towards me. I stopped in my tracks, curling my hands into fists and whipped around to face them. Or more of their backs.

"Hey!" I shouted, catching other people's attention in the hallway. The middle girl, Kara, who used to be my best friend throughout middle school and freshman year turned around, the others following her action. Her eyes widened as I walked towards her, anger evident in my face. Just as I started to open my mouth, I spotted a familiar mop of wavy brown hair turning the corner to join my class.

"I don't know what is up your ass." I growled, taking my attention away from my friend as he noticed the scene that I was making. "But middle school was three years ago." I added staring her down as her friends looked between each other, unknowing of what to do. Kara stepped closer to me a plastic smile spreading across her face.

"And are you going to do anything about me?" She cocked her head to the side, looking me up and down. I instantly shoved her shoulders back with more force than I intended, nearly knocking her down to the ground. I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist, tugging me back from the scene.

"Get off me, Ashton." I spat, elbowing him in the stomach to pry him off of me. I went back to Kara and left Ashton yelling at me about getting in trouble and how she wasn't worth it. I stood right in front of her, staring right into her darkened blue eyes.

"Get a grip, you dumb bitch." I raised my voice, by this time a crowd had formed at the other end of the hall, watching our every move. "You and your minions are washed up pieces of trash." I narrowed my eyes at her, then back at her friends who were pulling her back and were soon running off in the fear of getting in trouble.

I watched as the hurried back around the corner, the group of people continuing on to get to their classes. I smirked to myself as I felt accomplished for actually being able to tell her what I've been wanting to for the past few years. I spun around on my heels, instantly running into a chest.

"Ashton, watch where-Oh." I expected to be standing in front of my best friend, but it seems that I ran right into my chemistry teacher. I glanced over his shoulder, seeing Ashton shaking his head at me as he watched the whole thing. I switched back to my teacher's displeased face that was covered by mostly his beard and a pair of 1980s glasses.

"'Oh' is right. You can take yourself down to ISS." He waved me off as he had for every other time I've been sent to in-school-suspension. He turned his back to me, leaving me with my mouth halfway open. I shut it quickly as Ashton walked over to me, gripping my backpack that was weighing down my shoulders.

"Smart move, Andy." I rolled my eyes at his protective state. "What's this, the sixth time this year?" He stared down at me, shaking his head again at me. "You might want to get going before you get in anymore trouble, I'll be outside the ISS room after school." He sighed, turning his back to me just as the bell rang, signalling that class had started.

I crossed my arms over my chest, trudging my way across campus just to get to the classroom I'd be sharing with about ten other people. Usually stupid freshman boys who used some type of racist/sexist slur in class. My shoes tapped along the floor as I reached the classroom, not even bothering to knock anymore. This was my sixth sentence here, but about my 12th or 13th day in here.

"Emerson." The older man called out to me as I quietly shut the door. "Nice to see you." He gave me a thin smile as I walked to his desk. "It's not my preferred place to see you here, but I see you're back the day after break." He was the usual teacher here and he was actually quite nice depending on the conditions we were in.

"You too." I sighed, watching as he ruffled through the stacks of work he had.

"Your schoolwork will be dropped off soon and lunch is at 12:15." He informed as I clung onto the straps of my backpack. "Small group today, sit anywhere you want." He offered, gesturing out to the twenty or so desks that were occupied by four boys and one other girl.

I squeezed through the thin rows of desks, sitting in the back corner behind one of the boys. His stare was heavy on me as passed him, huffing as I tossed my book bag to the floor and sat down.

Luckily for me, Mr. Hill had been extremely lenient on the rules that we were supposed to have. As long as we got our schoolwork done for the day, we could talk or listen to music or have our phones out.

I sighed as I dug through my bag, realizing I had forgotten my headphones at home. I leaned back in my chair, propping my feet on the metal basket of the blonde kid's chair.

I impatiently tapped my thumbs on my desk, yet not as loudly as the kid in front of me. My irritation grew as the volume through his earbuds did which was about to drive me insane. I'd been sitting here for 5 minutes and I began to wonder if I could even make the next 6 hours.

My mind darted away from the blaring music as Mr. Hill's chair squeaked against the floor.

"I'm running to get some copies, please stay on task." He sighed, grabbing a few papers and shutting his laptop.

My eyes lingered on him until he left the room, shutting the door behind him. I snapped my head back to the obnoxious tapping mixed with the muffled sound of what seemed like an early 2000's rock band.

I kicked one of the legs of his chair, causing him to flinch. He spun around to face my agitated expression which fell the second he locked eyes with me.

"Can I help you?" He mumbled, his eyebrows furrowing at my crossed arms then back up to my stare.

"Can you please stop tapping on your desk? Or turn down your music? Preferably both." My voice was demanding, but I was beyond intimidated.

Besides the obvious fact that he was a trouble maker, as to why he was in ISS, something about the gleam of his lip ring and deep voice practically scared me. But then those things were counteracted by how soft his blue eyes had looked in comparison to the dark red flannel he had on, or how his fair skin had a subtle flush to his cheeks.

"I'm not tapping." He smoothly told me, looking me up and down once again.

"But you were." I swallowed after I spoke, his tone not helping how intimated I was.

"Am I now?" He asked, cocking his head to the side.

I quickly shook my head, "No."

"Okay then." He answered, a smile slowly pulling at the corner of his lips. He ran the tip of his tongue over his piercing, causing my attention to be pulled towards his lips. "So, Emerson, why are you-"

"How do you know my last name?" I snapped, breaking my focus from the ring.

"Mr. Hill called you that." He stated, blinking a few times at me. I raised an eyebrow at him and leaned onto my elbows on the cold desk.

"Don't call me that." I nodded my head at him which he instantly returned.

"Okay." He softly said, peering down at my intertwined fingers then shifted in his seat to face me even more. "So why are you in here?" He questioned.

"I yelled at some girl in the hallway." I sighed, remembering that what happened what pretty stupid.

"A bit vague." His lips pulled into a displeased frown.

"'Get a grip, you dumb bitch.'" I used air quotes around the words, letting my hands fall back to the beige desk.

"Nice." He let out a breathy laugh, constantly looking between me and the floor. "Was that it?"

"I went on about something else that I don't remember, but my chemistry teacher got me." I explained, watching him ruffle his hair which made me think about the state my own appearance was in.

"Mr. Phillips?" His voice ran through my ears, snapping me from my thoughts.

"That's the one." I told him, nodding my head him again.

"I have him for physics." He groaned. I let out a short laugh at the sight of his irritation.

"I heard that class is shit." I scrunched my nose, feeling for the kid as he rolled his eyes.

"It is."

"And-wait, what's your name?" I pointed to him even though it was obvious he was the only one I was speaking to.

"Luke."

"Luke." I repeated, his name rolling smoothly off my tongue. "And Luke, what are you in here for?" I gave him an easy smile as I crossed my legs under my desk.

The corner of his lips tugged downward as his eyes barely became bigger, giving an awkward smile of some sort as he flicked his gaze to from me to the ground.

"Smoking on campus." He chuckled, not caring that he had gotten in trouble.

"Been there, done that." I admitted. My mind flashed back to the time where I had gotten out of my car in the morning and had just thrown the cigarette butt on the ground by my car, immediately bumping into a furious older woman. "Caught by the fragile lady with the raggedy red hair?" I asked, trying to mimic her height with my hand.

"Mrs. Anderson." He said, leaning onto the wall that he desk was pushed against.

"Her." I clarified, pulling out a notebook as Mr.Hill walked back into the room. "You know just about every teacher at this school, don't you?" I lowered my voice, glaring over at the teacher then over to the four other younger boys who looked like they were about to fall asleep.

"I've been sent to detention or ISS by just about every single one. I'm still working on the band teacher, though. He's kind of oblivious to everything." He joked, sitting up and writing down a few things on his paper to look like he was busy.

"I know, I stole bongos out of the band room freshman year." I silently laughed as his face brightened.

"So you're the one whole stole the bongos?" He bit back his bottom lip, trying to force back his obvious smile.

"You're in band?" I quickly asked. The whole entire band had hated the person whole stole the small drums and they had still yet to figure out it was me. So thinking that Luke was in band made me speculate a sudden hatred towards me.

"Nah, one of my friends has been in his guitar class since freshman year." He explained, tapping his fingers along my desk.

"Emerson, Hemmings, please get back to work." Our heads snapped in the direction of Mr. Hill's voice, a rush of guilt running through me.

"Sorry." We sheepishly said in unison.

Luke turned back around, shaking a hand through his messy blonde hair again. I tucked a strand behind my ear, inhaling deeply and preparing for the next few hours that would drag on.

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A/N:

OK I COULDN'T WAIT TO POST THIS SO HERE U GO I'LL PROBABLY BE UPDATING THIS REGULARLY SINCE I HAVE THE NEXT 2 WEEKS OFF SO YAY