Chereads / Changed / Chapter 3 - 3. Karma's a bitch!

Chapter 3 - 3. Karma's a bitch!

Luke

Luke was pretty sure he'd done nothing wrong as the girl cursed at him. Twenty minutes ago she was more than happy to talk to him and flirt with him. After those twenty minutes she was cursing him in some other language that Luke didn't understand one bit.

He was hanging around with his friends after school when the girl showed up. Her name was Allison maybe, he couldn't remember. His friends and he were sitting near their cars and talking when she passed by. His friends whistled as she passed by but then she only looked at him, winked and walked by.

Luke stood up from the bike he was leaning on and jogged to catch up with her.

"Hey beautiful." He smiled at her.

"Hey handsome." She flirted back.

"I've never seen you around here. Are you new in town?" He asked her.

"Yes I am." She answered with a hint of a Spanish accent.

"Where are you from?" Luke asked her, jamming his fists in the pockets of his leather jacket. A slight breeze had picked up. The girl was wearing a sundress that was blowing slightly around her legs due to the breeze.

"Barcelona." She answered with a wicked gleam in her eyes. Luke didn't know what that meant but he played along.

"What's your name?" He asked.

"Maria." She smiled again. The girl was giving him so many signs Luke didn't even feel like she wanted to talk to him rather than jump his bones.

"Pretty name for a pretty girl." He smiled at her.

"So where are you currently living then?" He asked her.

"I live down the street. Where do you live?" She asked him.

"I live wherever you tell me to." He steered her away from the question. Telling people where he lived was not something he liked to do. He lived with his mother in an apartment near the edge of town.

Luke had done some pretty stupid things in his eighteen years and didn't want anyone tracking him down to where he lived and posing a threat to his mother. His mother was the sweetest person he knew. She always looked at the good in people and always asked him about his friends never coming over. He always managed to steer conversations like those and made sure she never had to struggle anymore than she already had.

His mother had raised him alone since his father left him. Whenever he asked her about him, she would get a look of nostalgia in her eyes and smile and tell him that she didn't regret ever sleeping with the guy because he gave her a son she loved most. As said before, she always looked at the good in people.

She had fallen in love with a stranger and had gotten pregnant with his child. Somehow she never mentioned a name and whenever Luke had tried to pry the information out she'd shooed him away.

His nameless father had helped her through pregnancy and then said he'd needed to leave. He'd left her before she could ask why and he'd never come back. She'd never remarried and had worked at the hospital as a nurse to pay off the bills and take care of her son. She sometimes worked the night shift to get extra money for taking care of the two of them.

Luke had tried working in shops to look after them but he somehow had a penchant for pissing off people within a second of meeting them. Then he'd gotten into some shady stuff to procure money for their bills hence named the school's resident bad boy. He'd also managed to piss off the baddies in town but had kept them from locating his sweet sweet mother.

Even his friends didn't know where he lived and he sure as hell wasn't going to tell this girl where he lived. What was her name again? Melissa maybe?

He continued talking with her, asking her about moving in and what school she would be attending. Turned out, she was going to be attending the same school as him. And would be named as one of his conquests if they ever slept together. And then she'd learn his reputation and she'd hate him like the rest of them. Great! He made it a point to not sleep with this girl.

The breeze had turned into a strong wind that had the tree branches growing like crazy. The girl was also talking non stop about her place back home and quite frankly boring Luke to tears. His attention turned towards the trees which had begun to sway with the wind. And then something weird happened.

Somehow he saw everything happen in slow motion as it happened. The tree a few steps ahead swayed so violently with the wind that a branch broke and fell right in front of where they were walking. The girl, what was her name again? Madison, was it? stumbled back and would've fallen down if it hadn't been for Luke.

He caught her and somehow his hands and prevented her from falling backwards. In all of the motion Luke's hands came to rest on her chest as he caught her from behind. The moment the haze of the accident lifted and the girl realised what was happening and where Luke's hands were, she immediately broke out of his hold. She pushed him away and started cursing at him in Spanish probably he assumed and yelled at him so loud that people passing by were staring at them.

"Come on Emerson was it? I didn't intentionally touch you like that." He reasoned with her.

"It's Maria you jackass!" She screamed at him and then again started to curse in Spanish at him.

"Alright, look I'm sorry if you felt violated or anything but I assure you I didn't mean to." He raised up his hands in surrender.

The girl however didn't seem to understand his reasoning and was going on and on about how he was a jackass.

Granted he was one but he didn't mean to violate her boundaries at all. Even for a bad boy there were lines he didn't cross. Though most girls at school would call him crude and disgusting but he never did anything out of line with them. He gave up on the girl listening to him and forgiving him and huffed out in response.

"Okay lady, you don't want to listen then fine! Don't listen but you can go on shouting at the top of your lungs because I'm out of here." He yelled over her shouting and walked away from there. The girl still didn't stop yelling obscenities at him. Luke ignored her and walked to The Brew where the rest of his friends were hanging out.

"Hey what happened to the girl?" One of his friends asked him as he took a seat at their booth.

"She didn't seem interested." He answered vaguely. He picked up a bunch of the fries from the plate in the middle and munched on them as conversation continued around him. From the place he was sitting he had a perfect view of the door that jingled every time someone walked in. A girl he recognized from his class walked in but couldn't place her name. She walked to the bar stools and took a seat ordering her usual from the barista. The barista handed her a large cup of coffee and went back to working.

The door jingled again and this time a boy he recognized, Sam Jackson walked in looking like he wanted to murder someone. However, he didn't talk with anyone. He just gave his order to the barista, collected it from the counter and then went to sit in the booth farthest from the door.

The wind outside had ruffled his hair into a mess and not one he usually favored. Luke excused himself to go to the washroom and checked himself in the mirror. He fixed his mess of a hair and then almost turned to leave when Sam Jackson barged into the washroom. Luke knew Sam played football. He himself played lacrosse.

Sam walked to one of the sinks and bent down to wash his face. Sam blew out a long breath and seemed to be really frustrated as he leaned on the counter with his head bowed down.

"Bad day?" Luke asked.

"You have no idea." Sam muttered.

"I know right? It's as if today was meant to go wrong in every way possible." Luke mumbled.

The temperature in the room started going up. It became unbearably hot inside the bathroom. Luke looked around the washroom to realise that it was only the two of them in it. Luke shrugged off his jacket as it became really hot. Sam however didn't seem to mind it. He was still standing still with his head bowed down.

"Hey man are you feeling okay?" Luke touched Sam's shoulder. Sam shrugged off his touch and backed away.

"Stay away from me." There was fear in Sam's eyes.

"Dude are you okay? Do you need anything?" Luke stepped closer to him.

"Just stay away from me. You can hurt yourself." Sam stumbled backwards.

"Hey calm down." Luke raised his hands and a strong gust of wind rattled all the doors of the bathroom stalls.

"Stay away!" Sam yelled.

"Alright. I'll stay away, just calm down." Luke stepped back. The doors to the stalls started banging against the walls and the temperature seemed to be vying for control.

The door opened to the washroom and the girl from the counter walked in letting the door close behind her.

The moment she realised what was happening with the temperature and the banging doors she cursed, "Oh crap."

"This is the boys bathroom." Luke told her.

"Are the two of you experiencing weird things since morning?" She asked them. Sam stood straight and faced her.

"What weird things?" He asked her.

"I don't know. Anything out of the ordinary." She huffed in frustration.

"Weird how?" Luke asked her. She shrugged and then laid her palm on the black tiled wall beside her. A layer of ice started spreading across the wall and both the boys stared at mesmerised by it.

The girl took her hand away from the wall and then looked at the two of them expectantly.

"I set a tree on fire by throwing an apple at it." Sam shrugged. The girl blinked at him. Then the two of them turned towards him.

"I think I broke a tree branch with wind." Luke shrugged.

"Are you sure it wasn't the weather?" Sam asked him.

"How were the doors banging then?" The girl asked.

"That wasn't me." Sam answered.

"I'm really sorry but I know your name yet can't seem to remember it. What is your name?" Luke asked the girl.

"It's Grace." She replied and then looked at the two of them.

"Can we talk someplace?" She asked them.

"Sure." Sam agreed and Luke shrugged as if to say why not?

"I'll meet you guys outside. I need a minute in here." Sam sighed.

"Alright. We'll wait for you outside the restaurant." Grace nodded and the two of them walked outside.

As they rounded the wall that shielded them for the restaurant Luke froze.

The girl-whats-her-name-again was in the restaurant this time and he knew without a doubt that she'd start yelling in Spanish again if she saw him again.

"What happened?" Grace stopped beside him.

"Eh I think we should check on Sam no?" He looked at her hopefully.

She looked back at the entrance and saw the girl who glanced in their direction and narrowed her eyes when she spotted Luke.

"Ah, girl problems huh?" Grace sighed and looked at him with a raised brow.

"Hey in my defence I didn't do anything wrong this time. She didn't even listen to what I had to say." Luke defended.

"Well what's the plan because she looks ready to come and murder the shit out of you." Grace pointed out. Luke looked back at the girl-whatever-her-name-was. She was getting out of her seat to come and fire away at him again.

"Back to the washroom?" Grace asked helpfully. The girl got up.

"Yep back to the bathroom." Luke turned around instantly and he opened the door to the washroom door and froze at the scene he saw.