put your arms around me

Calum was excited to be attending a new school - mostly because, even though it was an entirely new school, Luke would still be joining him. Their parents had agreed when Calum’s parents decided to move that Luke’s family would move, too, and Calum couldn’t be more grateful for it, because it meant that he didn’t have to start a new school alone and, best of all, it was his best friend who’d be there with him. Their parents had even decided to get houses near each other, which was why he and Luke were walking to school together. “How do you think the first day’s gonna go?” he asked, arching a brow as he peered at his friend while they walked, shifting his backpack on his shoulder as he spotted the school up ahead. “I’m betting five minutes in there and we’ll immediately be branded.” He grinned jokingly, though he was hopeful that, overall, the day would go well.

Lucy absolutely hated school. It was the embodiment of torture - not a single day went by where she could actually enjoy herself. Most of the other students tended to find a way to torment her and her only friend, Rory. Those who didn’t torment them didn’t really do anything to help, though. Pausing as she approached her locker, she stared at it for a few moments, feeling a nervousness well up in her. Ever since the year before, when somebody had rigged both hers and Rory’s locker with paint that fell on them when they opened their lockers, she was more careful about opening it. Taking a breath, she stepped to the side as she opened it, just to be safe, and felt a sense of relief flood her when nothing came out, and she quickly tried to get her textbooks out to avoid being caught in the middle of the hallway by any of the braver bullies.

Luke felt like, with a new school, came a new opportunity. He had Calum to thank for that - when his parents decided to move a few hundred miles, to Sydney, Luke's family followed suit, because the two had been inseparable since toddler-hood, and it seemed almost unfair to separate them now. Their new houses were only two streets apart, which means the Hemmings and Hood boys could cause as much mischief as they wanted, without much getting in between them. Although Luke had promised his parents he would behave in school, and despite his bigger, better plans (which, of course, featured Calum), he told himself he'd at least try. Hearing Calum's question though, Luke grinned. "I've got a good feeling, Cal." He smirked slightly with that. "I think we'll be just fine." He adjusted his own bag. "But I'm betting five minutes in there and we'll already have detention."

Rory punched in the code for her locker and mentally prepared herself for the worst case scenario. "Oh god," she murmured to Lucy, almost holding her breath as she quickly opened the door, exhaling in relief when nothing happened. Every single day at this school was beginning to take a toll on Rory, and she knew it was the same for her only, and best friend, Lucy. "I hate this." She murmured quietly, not wanting anyone to hear her, not wanting to draw attention to either of them, because they already seemed to have targets painted on their backs. As the hallway began to get busier, Rory grabbed her text books for the day, willing to carry the heavy load so she didn't have to come back here in between classes, her heart pounding in her chest with the anxiety. Rory used to love learning, and a small part of her still did, but every person at this school, those who watched on as they were tormented and those who did the tormenting, ruined the whole experience.

Calum grinned slightly as he listened to his friend, nodding slightly, looking forward to the possibilities that came with being somewhere new, meeting new people, seeing new things. “Probably. You’ll probably go out of your way to make sure we get detention within the first five minutes,” he joked with a laugh as he headed up the steps to the school building, pausing at the doors with a grin. “But, it’d be one hell of a first day, I’m sure.” His grin broadened and he opened the door, heading inside first, peering around at the school, almost amazed with the size of it.

Lucy shifted, grabbing as many of her books as she could, putting those she couldn’t carry into her backpack instead, though she nodded slowly to Rory’s words. “I know what you mean,” she murmured quietly, chewing on her lip anxiously as she peered around, worried about anybody coming up behind them to try anything. “I can’t wait to get out of this school forever.” Closing her backpack, she adjusted it on her shoulders, hating the weight, but finding that she didn’t really have any other options. Looking to her friend, she offered a weak smile. “Ready to get to class?”

Luke grinned with Calum's words. "Don't expose me like that, Cal." He teased, shoving his best friend inside, although following his lead quickly as he looked around. "This place is huge." Luke murmured in awe - and it was, by comparison, a lot bigger than their old school. Looking around, Luke felt eyes on them and he looked down at his acceptance letter, which told him the location of his locker, and walking beside Calum confidently, Luke led the way, pausing when he saw two girls by their locker, almost dumbfounded when he saw one of the duo fiddling with her backpack. Holy shit," he murmured, almost pouting when he saw her prepare to leave.

Rory struggled with the weight of her books slightly, but refused to give in, nodding instead to Lucy's words. "Yes ma'am." She smiled, shifting uncomfortably. Listening to Lucy's words, Rory sighed. "Me too, it won't be long now." She reassured, pausing as one of the most popular boys of their school came over, trying to ignore him as he grabbed Lucy's backpack and knocked Rory's books out of her arms, laughing the whole time as he spilled the contents of Lucy's bag onto the floor before walking off with his friends.

Calum grinned at his friend, rolling his eyes jokingly. “It’s not my fault!” he joked lightly, grinning when Luke shoved him but, peering around the place, he gave a low whistle. “It really is. Who would have thought, yeah?” Grinning back at his friend, Calum was looking forward to the school year. But, peering around again, his gaze settled on a pair of girls, but, before he could properly acknowledge how gorgeous one was, he spotted somebody knock her books from her hands and, frowning, he moved over quickly. “Oi, asshole,” he called before flipping him off, though he quickly crouched to start picking up the books. “Here, let me help with that,” he told the girl, offering a weak smile. “You alright?”

Lucy offered a weak smile to Rory, nodding slightly. “Each day that passes, we’re a day closer to getting away,” she murmured quietly, trying to be hopeful, despite that the other students in the school tended to suck away any hope she had of escaping this awful place. She blinked, though, when she felt her backpack get taken from her. “Give it back,” she quickly said, but she frowned when he knocked Rory’s books out of her arms and dumped her bag. Her jaw clenching, she could feel her eyes burn with tears of frustration and she crouched, moving to help Rory get her books while she worked on putting her own things back into her bag.

Rory crouched to pick up her books, blinking to stop her tears from falling, not wanting to seem weak - it would only fuel the fire further. Scrubbing at her face, she paused as someone crouched in front of her that wasn't Lucy, and looking to a dark eyed stranger, Rory blinked in surprise. "Oh, thank you." Rory ducked her head a little bit, gathering her books from the floor and from his arms, and although the pile was heavy, she was determined to not return to her locker today. "I'm fine, really. Used to it." She promised, lifting her gaze to study him. He must of been new, she'd never seen him before. "You new?"

Frowning when Luke saw the girl he'd been admiring have her backpack ripped from her hands, the contents being spilled onto the floor, he looked around to see no one else intervene and decided he'd be the one to do it. "Oi, you, smart ass." He caught the boy's attention, flipping him off. "Your Mom should of swallowed you!" Luke glared at him, watching as he left, and Luke decided to direct his attention onto more important things. Crouching down to help Lucy, he helped her gather the rest of her things. "Are you alright?" Luke asked, looking to Lucy with a concerned glance. "Here." Luke took her backpack gently, carefully placing things inside in an organised manner. "I'm Luke," he introduced with a smile, trying to show her he wasn't hiding cruel intentions. Seeing the tears behind the beauty's eyes, Luke pursed his lips. "This happen often?"

Calum felt his expression soften, his heart breaking a bit with hearing that she was used to being treated like this. “You shouldn’t have to be used to it,” he told her quietly as he watched her, “You don’t deserve to be treated like that.” He frowned to himself, wishing there was more he could do for her, to help her, because none of this was right. Shaking his head, he offered a weak smile, hoping that her change of subject would help her deal with such an awful morning. “Yeah, I am. I’m Calum.” He watched for a few moments. “Is there anything else I can do to help?” He hoped there was - God, he’d do anything to brighten her day, to help her through all of this.

Lucy tried to focus on gathering her things, even when she noticed that somebody was helping her. She chewed hard on her lip to bite back her tears, her emotions, and only lifted her gaze when she heard the guy helping her question if she was okay. For a moment, she was stunned, finding herself taking him in, admiring him, but she ducked her head when he worked on organizing her things. “I’m fine, thank you,’ she murmured quietly, clearing her throat a bit to try to hide the way she wanted to break down. “I’m Lucy.” Hearing his next question, though, she ducked her head a bit. “You could say that.”

Rory listened to Calum's words as he spoke, and she couldn't help but shift beneath his gaze, because he was certainly someone that would be considered popular and superior at this school, and Rory had learned that she didn't deserve to mingle with such students. "Well, thank you, Calum." Rory offered a weak smile then, her voice still barely above a murmur. "Uh... could you walk me to class?" Rory shoved her books into her bag - perhaps Calum could be a pretty good bodyguard.

Luke noticed, almost instantly, that the poor girl was struggling to fight back tears, and Luke found himself wanting to scoop her into his arms and protect her from any asshole that tried to get to her, because she didn't deserve such treatment. "You sure?" Luke asked softly, having arranged Lucy's things to a neat, organised pile. "Lucy, hi." Luke offered a sweet smile. "Well, instead of saying, maybe I should do something. Do you mind if I walk you to your next class?" Luke stood up then, offering a helping hand to Lucy, her backpack over his shoulder. "I'm new, I don't have a reputation to fuck up if I knock someone out." He winked.

Calum smiled slightly when he heard Rory’s words and he should his head slightly. “It’s nothing to thank me for,” he assured her as he took her in, moving to help put her books in her bag, wanting to help as much as he could, because he hated that she was being tormented so much by such asshole students. She certainly didn’t deserve it - hell, nobody would deserve that kind of treatment. “Yeah, of course I can walk you to class.” He grinned broadly as he watched her. “Who knows, maybe we’ll end up sharing the class.” He shifted, motioning. “Just lead the way.”

Lucy nodded slightly, trying to keep herself together. The last thing she wanted was to show weakness around those assholes. “Yeah, I’m sure,” she said quietly, watching him, though she blinked with his offer, surprised, because she didn’t understand why he would put himself in that kind of situation. “You don’t have to,” she told him quickly, worried, “I just… If you do that, you won’t be able to make any friends, and new students need friends…”