The Pull of Destiny (51 page)

Shazia appeared to agree. “I
knew he loved you!”

I shook my head swiftly. “No
he doesn’t,” I protested. “He just- he wants-.”

Shazia grinned knowingly.
“What? Even
you
can’t make excuses for this. He has nothing to lose and
you to gain. It’s the cutest apology ever!”

Really?
Excuse me while I
squee.

“I’m not gonna stop talking
till you accept my apology, Celsi. So till you come to the PA room, I swear I’m
gonna sing.”

“What are you still doing
here?” A random blond junior walked up to me, his hands in his pockets. “Go
accept the man’s apology!”

I gaped at him. I had no idea
who he was, yet he was talking to me like he knew everything that had gone
down.

“But-,” I started wildly,
just as Luke launched into a spirited rendition of ‘Grace Kelly’.

A tiny girl with raccoon eyes
popped up beside me. “He’s obviously sorry! If a guy as hot as Luke did
something like that for me, I’d be there in a heartbeat!”

My eyes widened as a host of
people swarmed down upon me, everyone talking at the same time.

“-forgive him.”

“He sounds sorry.”

“It’s Luke Astor, dude!”

I took a deep breath. Okay,
okay, I’m going,” I announced, like it was even anyone’s business if I went to
the PA room or not. “If only to put a stop to this nonsense.”

As I hurried towards the PA
room, the sound of applause reached my ears. Like it or not, Luke had succeeded
in turning me into a school celebrity, even though it was only for now.
I am
not
enjoying my 15 minutes of fame.

I found the school technician
sitting glumly outside the PA room, a coffee mug in his hand. The door was
closed.

“What’s going on? I asked,
even though I had a feeling I already knew.

“You tell me! I go to get a
cup of coffee and when I get back, some crazy kids taken over my base and tells
me he’s sorry, but if my name isn’t Celsi I can’t come in.”

I smiled despite myself.
Classic Luke all the way.

“I think he wants to talk to
me,” I said delicately.

The technician’s eyebrows
rose comically. “You mean you’re Celsi?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

He pushed me to the door.
“Well, get in there, then! What’s a guy gotta do to apologize around here?”

Funny. Everyone’s on Team
Luke, huh?

Knocking on the door, I
wearily said, “Luke, open up. It’s me, Celsi.”

Luke stopped singing (thank
God) sounding excited, said, “She’s here! I hope she doesn’t have a weapon.
Last time she tried to hit me with a book. And let’s not forget the incident
with the pencil...”

“If you don’t open the door
I’m leaving!”

“I’m there, wait a sec.”

There was a click as Luke
unlocked the door. He opened it and, wrapping his fingers around my wrist,
pulled me in and closed the door behind me.

I pointed immediately at the
microphone in his hand.
First order of business.
“Turn that thing off.”

He immediately flicked the
switch off and put the mike on the table. “Sorry, I got used to using it,” he
said, smiling apologetically.

Putting my hands behind my
back, I looked at him. “Well, I’m here.”

“CiCi- what do I have to do
to make things right between us?” he asked morosely, biting on his bottom lip
nervously as he looked at me.

“Oh, I don’t know. Not go on
the PA and spread my name all over school, that’s for sure,” I said coldly.
“I’m sure I didn’t tell you I wanted my business out in the open for everyone
to know.”

“That wasn’t my intention,”
Luke started.

“Coulda fooled me.” I turned
to leave. “Way to humiliate me, Luke.”

My hand was on the door
handle when Luke put his hand on my bare arm to stop me. I swiveled around, my
skin prickling.

“Wait.” An endearingly
confuzzled expression darted onto Luke’s face as he looked at me. “You were mad
at me coz I couldn’t tell my friends that we were friends. Now I tell the whole
school and you’re still mad? I thought that’s what you wanted?”

I sighed. “Luke, you’re
missing the point. We’re not friends anymore.”

Hurt was visible in Luke’s
eyes as he swallowed. “Please, CiCi. Don’t be like this. I’m sorry. I’m
so
sorry. I’ll even get down on my knees-.”

Alarmed, I shook my head as
he started bending to get down on his knees, looking up at me all the while.
“Don’t,” I said quickly.

“I’m fresh out of ideas,
though.”

I looked at him, noting the
crestfallen look on his face as he kicked the table with his sneakered foot. If
this was an act, it was the best I’d ever seen. He sure
looked
torn up.
But could I trust him? I didn’t need to be hurt by Luke again.
Fool me once,
shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
The phrase didn’t even go up to
‘fool me thrice’ and for good reason- nobody let themselves get fooled three
times by the same person.

“Luke- did you really mean
what you said about not caring about what your friends think?” I asked suddenly,
twisting a piece of my top between my fingers.

For some reason, I just felt
the need to know. I knew that the wisest thing to do was just leave, but I
couldn’t, stupid me. Looking at Luke’s face made me want to hug him, but since
I definitely wasn’t going to do that, my next option was to ask questions.

Luke laughed humorlessly,
spreading his hands. “Celsi, I don’t give a fuck about what they think right
now.”

“Why? You’ve known them for
way longer than you’ve known me.”

“I know.” He shrugged. “But I
feel like I’ve known you forever. I feel more connected to you. You’re just-
you’re just right.”

Wide eyed, I looked at his
serious face. What does he mean, I’m just right?

“I can’t go through something
like this again, Luke,” I said, almost in a whisper. “It hurt.”

“I’m sorry, CiCi. It hurt me
too. When you started crying-.” He swallowed hard, reaching out to grasp my
hands. I let him, looking into his sincere eyes as his fingers brushed across
my knuckles. “I felt like scum. I hate doing that to you, Celsi.”

“Can I ask you a question?”
Luke nodded. “Are you just apologizing so that I can keep your secret about the
aneurysm?”

It makes sense in a twisted
kind of way.
I was the only person who knew about Luke’s aneurysm and he had made me mad.
Who knows, maybe I was vindictive and hurt enough to let it slip in a
conversation with a well know gossip (think Robyn) who would in turn tell the
whole school! So, in an attempt to do some damage control, Luke was trying to
apologize so that I could see that he was sorry and not spill his secret. I
knew he was sorry- you couldn’t look at his face and
not
know that he
was sorry. But just because he was apologizing didn’t mean that he hadn’t meant
what he had said about me.

The look on his face when I
asked that question made me feel like a dope for even thinking about it.
Obviously, the thought hadn’t even crossed his mind.

“No. Absolutely not,” he said
with such conviction that I knew that he wasn’t lying. He let go of my hands
and picked up the microphone, looking at me over his back. “I can even announce
it to the whole school if you want.”

Honestly, his propensity for
using that thing is starting to alarm me.

“No, don’t!” Snatching the
mike from his hands, I put it back down.

“I don’t care if you tell
everyone I’m sick as long as you’re still my friend,” Luke told me fervently.
Pure
sweetness.
“I don’t care about the list anymore; all I care about is you
forgiving me. I’m not apologizing because I’m scared you’ll tell everyone about
my aneurysm, I’m apologizing because what I did was wrong, stupid and cowardly.
I feel like a tool. And I-.”

Celsi hates holding grudges.
I stared up at Luke as he
talked and decided. How could I stay mad at a guy who would hold a PA room
hostage just to get his slightly screwed message across? Humiliating as it was,
it was still genius.

“I believe you,” I said
softly, biting my lip.
Celsiana Sawyer, this better not come back and bite
you in the booty.

“-because you- what?” Luke
stopped talking, scratching his head.

“I said I believe you,” I
repeated. “And I accept your apology.”

If you’ve ever seen the sun
come out from behind clouds to brighten the day, you’ll know exactly how Luke
looked when I said those words.

“You do? Really?” he asked,
sounding like he couldn’t quite believe it. I wondered if I could pinch him and
get away with it.

Rolling my eyes but secretly
chuffed at the slow grin of unadulterated happiness that was spreading over his
face, I said, “Well, it’s not like I have a choice. You
are
holding the
PA room hostage.” Smiling, I added, “And you look sorry.”

“I am! I really am! But- wow.
Damn. You sure?” Despite the smile on his face, he looked totally unsure. Last
time I checked, he was the erratic one, not me!

I tossed my head. “Luke, I
can backtrack on this decision any second.”

“No, don’t! I just thought-
this is so awesome!” Impulsively, he threw his arms around me in a
bone-crushing hug. “Thank you! I’m so happy!”

So happy that he tried to do
a little dance with his arms still wrapped around my back and tripped over a
wire on the floor. He barreled into me and I fell with a thud on my back, my
head not hitting the ground by an act of divine providence. Luke fell on top of
me, laughing elatedly as his warm, comforting scent surrounded me.

“Are you okay?” he chuckled,
his minty breath fanning over my face.

“I think so. Stop laughing.”

That only made him laugh
harder, his body shaking and sending vibrations through mine. “I’m sorry, but I
always wanted to do that to you! Think of it as payback!”

“Luke...” I said, trying for
a warning tone but sounding breathless instead. He was lying right on top of
me, his eyes looking directly into mine. It was a scarily intimate position to
be in.

“Celsi,” he murmured in
response, his eyes on my face.

My body started to tingle
with reaction as his hands, which had been on my hips, slowly roamed up my
sides and to my neck as if to hold me where I was.
What’s going on?
His
eyes were still fixed sexily on mine, a mischievous light in them, but wasn’t
there something else? I stared wide eyed up at him as he bent his head lower,
his warm, muscular body pressing against mine. His bottom lip grazed mine and I
drew in a shaking breath. This wasn’t a mistake. It was really happening. Luke
wanted to kiss me and God help me- I wanted him to kiss me. Just as our lips
touched tantalizingly, the door burst open and Luke jerked back.

“What the hell is going on in
here?”

Oh, no. Principal Herman.

“Get off of her, kid,” the PA
technician growled, pulling Luke off of me to his feet. I blinked as Principal
Herman extended his hand to help me up, and then glared at us both.
Too many
things to process. Not fair.

“I fell,” Luke explained,
fighting to keep a grin off his face. Didn’t he realize we were in trouble?
This was surely grounds for suspension. Adding fuel to the fire was the fact
that we had been found in that incriminating position. God, what would Nate do
to me if he found out? And how could I tell Aunt Kelly I got expelled?

Principal Herman ignored
Luke, turning to me. “What was he doing to you?” he asked.

“He tripped over a wire and
fell on me. I was trying to get him to leave this room,” I explained, hoping
against hope that he would believe me. We had done nothing wrong. Well, I had
done nothing wrong.
Luke- a whole nother story.

“You’re in deep trouble,
young man,” Principal Herman snapped, his cheeks reddening as he turned back to
an unrepentant looking Luke. “You’re lucky I owe your father a favor or I would
have expelled you.” He pushed Luke through the open door. “Go wait for me in my
office. You’re overdue for a bunch of detentions.”

Luke turned to give me a
happy grin before sauntering off. Principal Herman gave me a scrutinizing look.
“Are you sure he didn’t do anything to you?”

I nodded. All I wanted to do
was leave the room since the technician was wiping his microphone and crooning
softly to it. This was too much strangeness for me to take in one sitting. “He
just fell, Principal. I swear. He would never do anything to me.”

Apart from try to kiss me
when we’re in weird situations.
What was up with that?

Appeased, Principal Herman
nodded. “Okay. Steer clear of him. He’s bad news. You can leave.”