Luke was sitting in his usual seat in one of the corners of the classroom staring at Clive and trying to get the other boy to look at him.
Clive hadn’t even spared Luke a mere glance since he entered Luke’s class. He was laughing away with a few of Luke’s classmates.
‘He didn’t wish me a good morning today.’ Luke thought bitterly.
Clive was the one boy in the entirety of their school to have ever approached Luke and although they weren’t the best of friends ( or even friends for that matter), Luke liked to think otherwise.
But Clive was everybody’s friend, there wasn’t a single person in school he didn’t know and who didn’t like him.
Luke on the other hand…
Luke wasn’t half as bad as people were made to believe! He just had a scowl permanently etched onto his face, all thanks to the perpetual headache he had from doing God knows what. He was just tired. Always.
It was a ritual now, every morning Clive would hunt Luke down, wherever the latter was and ask him how his day was or something along those lines.
Initially Luke didn’t bother dignifying Clive’s kindness with a response suspecting it to be some sort of sick joke and ignored Clive for the most part but over the course of time (and through Clive’s sheer determination) Luke had found himself somewhat fond of the boy and eager to see his ever smiling face.
‘It couldn’t be a joke,’
‘He’s too much of a sweetheart to do something like that.’ Luke concluded to himself with his eyes closed whilst shaking his head left to right.
“Alright?” A voice said before the noise of a chair being dragged on the floor sounded.
Luke didn’t even have to open his eyes to know who the voice belonged to.
He shot Clive a warm smile…well the warmest he could muster at least.
“Thought I saw a familiar face,” Clive said, now fully seated on the chair across from Luke’s.
‘But every face is a familiar face to you, Clive’ Luke thought but wouldn’t say out loud.
He just held onto the smile he initially had plastered onto his face.
“All good then?” Clive asked, his smile not wavering despite being fully aware of the fact that Luke wouldn’t respond with more than a ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
“Yeah.” The latter replied, struggling to keep the smile on his face.
Having nothing else to say and knowing Luke would contribute zilch to keep this conversation going, Clive decided to leave for his first class that would start in exactly 6 minutes.
‘No Luke! Think! You know he’s gonna leave! Think fast’ Luke couldn’t have Clive leaving! Not after all those practice sessions he had in his room. Yes, practising having a proper conversation with Clive.
“How was your weekend?”
Clive was caught suspended in the process of getting off the chair his eyes wide as he slowly turned to face Luke. Luke stared back, confused and unsure if he said the right thing.
Clive slowly turned behind him to make sure Luke had directed the question toward him and not someone else. He slowly turned his head back to Luke after making sure it was surely him Luke was talking to.
Luke started to worry, had he just ruined the only friendship he had managed to hold up for this long?!
It felt like decades before Clive slowly sat back down on his chair.
‘He…he is asking me right? He’s talking to me?’ Clive thought to himself as his brows furrowed in confusion not knowing what to make of this situation.
“I- I’m not sure…?”
It was Luke’s turn to have his brows furrowed.
“You’re not sure if you had a good weekend?” That was the longest sentence Luke had ever uttered on the school premises, he was proud of himself.
“What? No no no” Clive replied, shaking his head slightly in hopes of clearing his head.
“It was good. I had a good weekend” he said with a smile, a sincere smile, not that people could ever tell the difference with him.
Luke could.
Luke had never received this smile from Clive, he could tell there was something genuine about this smile and it filled him with a sense of accomplishment and pride.
Luke’s heart was racing, he felt giddy and high, not sure if it was due to the fact that he had had his first proper interaction with someone who wasn’t his mum or because of the warmest smile that was being sent his way by none other than Clive.
Their sweet moment was ruined as the teacher entered the room.
Clive quickly arose to his feet before placing the chair back in its place. He was a gentleman like that.
He looked at the teacher and back at Luke before taking his chances.
“Wait for me after school?” He said, not waiting for a response and not exactly giving Luke a say before dashing out the door.
Meanwhile…
‘I did it. I spoke. We had a conversation. Back and forth.’ Luke thought to himself smugly, still in a daze.
He hadn’t even begun to process what was told to him by Clive. But once he did…
“HUH?”
•••
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