'hat is the instrument used to measure earthquakes?'

I read the question and I write down 'Seismometer', smiling in satisfication to myself, then I turn the paper upside down on it's face. We had a Geography pop quiz today and I have to admit, I felt really proud of myself when I read the questions and understood what the quiz was blabbering about. I guess Luke's tutoring did really come in handy.

"Time's up!" Mr. Harris announces, rising to his feet. "Please pass your quiz paper to the front."

I hand my paper to the girl in front of me and Mr. Harris speaks up, "Alright, you may have the rest of the period free as I correct your quiz papers."

I turn to Colette, "Are you going to talk to Abby today?" She asks.

"Yeah. I'm going to see if she can help us. She'll probably have a few ideas," I reply and she nods, looking down at her legs as she plays with the loose strands of her black ripped jeans.

"What's wrong?" I ask softly.

"Mum called yesterday," she mumbles.

"What did she say?"

"She said that she's coming here on Saturday," she responds, sighing softly and brings her legs up, hugging them to herself.

"That's great, Colette," I smile for her.

"That's not it. She's coming to pick the rest of her things up. She is not coming to visit me," she slumps down, her chin resting on her knee and my smile falters for a moment before I give her a sympathetic smile and reach out to hold her hand.

"It's okay, Lottie. It's her loss anyways. She just lost the greatest daughter ever and she will only realize that when it's too late. All you need to do now is move on, just like she did. You need to move on from what she did, not forget her. Just accept it and you'll feel a lot better. Trust me," I claim.

"I just miss her so much," she admits in a low voice.

"It's okay to miss her. She's your mother after all, but you need to focus on accepting the fact that she moved on with her life."

"Okay," she nods, letting out a huge breath. "Thanks, Anna."

"Anytime," I smile widely.

"You know, you are really starting to look worse by the day," she comments in concern.

"It will get better eventually, Colette. It's just one week and then the nightmares will go away."

I hope.

*Ring*

The sound of the bell ringing pierces through the hallways and everybody rushes to leave the room to go to the lunch room. Colette and I walk to the front of the classroom loop-de-looping around the desks on the way out.

"Miss Falls?" Mr. Harris calls and I stop, whipping my head towards his direction.

"Yes, Mr. Harris?"

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" He requests

"Yeah sure," I answer.

"I'll wait for you outside," Colette informs me and I nod in response. She exits the classroom as I make my way to Mr. Harris' desk.

Please don't tell me I failed again. I got a headache from solving that quiz. I should at least pass.

"Miss Falls-"

"I failed, right?" I intercept, biting on my lower lip.

"Um...no, actually. You got an A on the quiz," he says, searching through the pile of papers and getting out one before he holds out to me.

"Really?" I beam, taking the paper from his hand and casting my gaze downwards at it.

"Yes, really. I suppose the tutoring lessons with Mr. Carter helped you understand," he raises his eyebrows in question.

"Yes, they did." A lot.

"Well, good job, Miss Falls," he says. "Your grades will definitely go up later on."

"Thank you, sir," I nod my head politely.

"You may leave," he gestures for the door.

I nod once more, then I walk out of the classroom. Colette pushes herself off of the wall when she sees me and I hold up the quiz paper for her to see it.

"Nice job," she smiles and holds up her palm, in which I high five it with mine.

"To the cafeteria."

Colette and I stroll to the lunch room and I push the double doors open. I look around the cafeteria until I spot Abby's table and we walk to it, as I make a list in my head of what I'm going to do.

1. Greet everyone.

2.Ignore Cameron's friends and their comments.

3.Ask Abby to talk to her for a minute.

4.Tell Abby about our fun fair problem.

5.Don't be an embarrassment.

"What are you mumbling?" Colette asks.

"A list."

"Of what?"

"You'll see." We finally make it to the table and I smile politely, "Hey, guys."

"Hi, Anna," Ruth smiles back.

"How are you doing, babe?" Greg smiles flirtatiously.

"Stop flirting with my sister or I'll beat your ass," Cameron glares at him.

"Dude, I'm not bothering her. Let her be. Am I bothering you?" Greg turns to me.

"Um..."

"See? Now leave her alone," he glares back at Cameron. "So, are you still single?" He wiggles his eyebrows at me.

"I am," I nod my head slowly.

"Well, I'm always there if you need me," he winks.

I laugh, "I'll make sure I remember that."

"Leave her alone, Greg," Zoey scolds him.

"None of your business, Zo-ey," Greg emphasizes her name, mispronouncing it and I chuckle slightly.

Zoey rolls her eyes and Abby speaks up, "What's up?"

"I need to talk to you for a moment," I tell her.

"Sure," she stands up, then she whips around and points at her friends, glaring intensely at them, "If any of you peasants touch my food, I will cut you in pieces and ship your limbs, so that you will have to go on a scavenger hunt around the world, looking for your bones and organs."

Abby turns her body back to me and Colette and smile sweetly, "Let's go."

"Okay! Calm your watermelons, Tracy Barlow!" Greg shouts at her and she gives him the finger in response as she walks away.

Colette and I look at each other and snort, then we follow Abby. "So, what is it?" She asks us as soon as we come to a stop.

"We will be performing in the fun fair," I say. "But there's a slight problem."

"We don't how we are going to handle the booth and perform at the same time and some people may get suspicious," Colette continues.

"Oh, you guys don't have to worry. Everyone will be caught up with your performance and if anybody asks about you, I'll come up with some excuse," she smiles and clasps her hands together.

"You sure about that, Abby? Last time I checked, you aren't really the best at making up excuses," Colette claims.

"I'm not going to take this personal, assure you and head back to my table," she points at her table with both index fingers and walks away.

"Don't forget, Abby!" I yell after her.

"I won't!" She yells back.

"Let's get to our table." Colette nods in agreement and we stride to our table. I take a seat between Luke and Riley, as Colette takes her seat between Sophie and Zach.

"Guess who got an A on the Geography quiz?" I hold up my quiz paper. Hey, I don't get to celebrate this a lot. I think I have every right to brag about my Geography grade and even frame the paper.

"But you suck at Geography," Riley knits her eyebrows in confusion.

"I know," I smile at her, placing the quiz paper in my bag.

"How?" Sophie wonders in disbelief.

"The idiot next to me," I gesture to Luke.

"I think I deserve a thank you, Cherries," Luke smirks.

"How about...", I think about it for awhile, tapping my chin,"...we go to that diner/arcade place later today? I have nothing to do and it would be nice to hang out for awhile. It will be a thank you gift for helping me and we can get dinner later. My treat."

"If you wanted to take me on a date, you could have just said so," he raises an eyebrow.

"Either a yes or a no, Carter. My offer doesn't last long," I cross my arms.

"I would be honored, Cherries," he gives me one of his cute smiles that reaches his eyes. Now that I'm noticing, Luke always has bags under his eyes and I wonder if he ever sleeps. From yesterday's conversation, he sounds like he's used to staying up all night.

"Where's our invitiations?" Zach asks in a fake hurt voice.

"You guys could come, of course," I smile. "But I'm not paying for you," I add quickly.

"It's fine, Leni," Zach grins. "You kids have fun."

"Not too much fun though," Alex teases.

"Don't," Luke and I say at the same time, shaking our heads.

Sophie chuckles, "I saw you talking to Abby. Did you tell her?"

"Yeah, she said she will help us by making up some excuse. I don't trust her excuses though. Abby's excuses usually contain being abducted by space gnomes."

"It runs in the family," Riley mumbles and I glare at her before I grab her half-empty water bottle and throw it at her, which hits her forehead.

"Ow!" She rubs her forehead. "Bitch," Riley narrows her eyes at me.

"I love you too," I grin and the guys laugh.

"How do you know Abby?" Zach asks, pointing a French fry at me before he pops it in his mouth.

"She's my cousin," I get my food out of my backpack and unwrap my turkey sandwich.

"Wut?" Zach pauses midway of chewing on his food.

"Her name is Abby Falls, you bright spark. What do you think?" Colette rolls her eyes.

"You're Cameron's sister?" Alex's eyebrows shoot up.

"Yes," I answer slowly as if I'm talking to a child.

"You didn't know?" Sophie questions.

"No, not really," Alex responds. "They don't look like each other," Zach joins.

"Are you blind? They literally have the same damn face," Luke tells him.

"Well...they–just shut up," Zach mumbles and I let out a laugh.

"Are you really going to perform at the carnival?" Alex asks.

"Yeah," I affirm.

"Fun fair," Colette corrects.

"Ignore her," Sophie rolls her eyes.

| | | |

"Hello. Anne speaking," my mother's voice comes from the phone.

"Hey, mum," I reply.

"Hey, sweetie. Why are you calling me? Is there something wrong?" She panics.

"Mum, no, I'm fine. I just wanted to tell you that I'm coming home a bit late today," I tell her.

"How late?" She asks.

"Eleven?" I turn towards Luke, raising an eyebrow in question. He takes his eyes off of the road for a moment, glancing at me and nods his head.

"Who's there with you?"

"Luke," I respond, biting my lip. Here it comes.

"Really?" I can almost hear the smile in her voice.

"Yes. Really, mum." Sometimes I wonder if I have a teenage fangirl as a mother.

"Where are you going?" She asks in excitement.

"That arcade place, three streets away from our house."

"That's great, honey. Have fun. Be careful and don't do anything stupid," she states.

"When have I ever done anything stupid?" I ask her, grinning slightly and Luke chuckles.

"All the time, Annalyn. All the time," she sighs.

I cackle, "Don't worry, mum. I'm not going to do anything stupid." The car comes to a stop when the red traffic light appears.

Luke looks at me and snorts. I glare at him and bring up my foot to kick his arm. He glares back and pats his black sweater, dusting my shoe print off.

"Alright. I have to go," mum says. "Bye, baby. I love you."

"I love you," I sing and hang up, then I slip my phone in my pocket.

"That sweater is expensive, you know?" Luke says.

"That's not my fault." Feeling annoyed by my hair flying around and out of my ponytail, I take it out of the ponytail. Big mistake. My hair gets in my mouth and my eyes.

Luke closes my window and the window behind me, making the wind reduce a bit. I flatten my waves down and put my hair up in a bun. Even though, I look like an egg with a bun on, but I'm hoping this is one of the those times that I do an accidental so-freaking-wow ones.

"Thanks," I tell him.

"No problem." Luke opens the windows again, letting the air in and I stare out of the window.

The houses and buildings rush by, their colours blending in with the wind. They fade into each other like the way that fleeting colors of the dusk began to fade away. The car starts slowing down and I notice that we are right outside the arcade. Luke parks the car and he pulls the key out of the ignition, turning the car off.

Luke opens the door and gets out of the car as I do so as well. We walk to the arcade and I push the door open, then I hold the door for Luke.

"Aren't guys supposed to hold the door open for girls?" He asks.

"Yeah, but that's sexist, so you can either walk inside, or I can simply let the door close in your face."

"Aren't you feisty?" Luke's lips curl into a smirk and he walks inside the arcade.

"You have no idea," I let the door close behind us.

For about an hour and a half, Luke and I go around the arcade playing every game. Luke didn't want to play at first, but I did everything to convince him to play with me. He agreed after a lot of pleading and begging. Although Luke didn't give a crap if he wins or not, we still had a lot of fun.

To be honest, it's nice to hang out with Luke. Seeing him not minding to have a bit fun, makes me kind of happy. I honestly have no idea why do people refer to Luke as a bad boy, he seems to me just like any other guy who lives a normal life. Maybe he had a bit of ups and downs in his life, but he's like any other person. Only with a dash of gorgeousness. Or maybe five dashes of gorgeousness. Okay...ten. His looks are not humanly, or maybe it's just me who sees that.

"So, what next?" Luke asks, as he watches the yellow tickets roll out of the slot in the machine.

"How about...," I pause and rip the tickets out. "...Dance Dance Revolution?"

"I don't dance, Cherries," he crosses his arms.

"You do now," I hand him his tickets and grab his free hand with mine, dragging him to DDR.

I put a couple of coins in the slot and the game starts. I choose a random song and as it loads, I stand in the middle of the right dance pad. Luke stands away from the dance pad, staring at me with his arms crossed.

"Luke, come on," I signal for him to come.

"No. No. I'm good," he steps back, holding up his hand.

I sigh, then I get off of the dance pad and grab his hand. I pull him to the left dance pad and I stand on the right one. Two characters appear on the screen of the game and the music starts playing. I follow the moves and the signs that scroll down, while Luke just stands on his side and 'MISS' keeps popping up on the screen.

"Come on, Luke. It's just one round," I tell him, jumping and moving around as I watch the word 'PERFECT' popping up on the screen.

"Just one round?"

"Just one round," I repeat.

He groans before he goes on with following the moves and the guide arrows. He kind of dances limply at the start, dragging his legs around, but then he dances along and we both move in rhythm. I laugh at Luke as he struggles to do a move. We switch places in the middle of the round and another two 'PERFECT's appear on the screen.

This is the only type of dancing I can do. The hip-moving type of dancing is from spending too much time dancing with myself late at night. I can't slow dance; nobody was there to teach me how to do so. Salsa? Nope. Tango? Nada. Any type of dancing that I don't know about? Hindi.

The round finally ends and two 'MARVELOUS's come into view. I breathe heavily and try to calm down my beating heart. Wow, I am really out of shape.

"Fuck...this crap needs a lot of energy," Luke pants and I nod in agreement.

"We should go eat now," I tell him, my words coming out in ragged breaths.

"Hell yeah."

I get off of the dance pad and look at the screen to see our score, "Look."

"You called?" Luke turns his head to me.

"No, you idiot. I meant, look as in with your eyes, not you," I tell him.

"Your accent makes it really hard to tell the difference," he says.

"There's a difference between Luke and look, how is–oh wait, it really is hard," I frown. "Anyways, we got the highest score," I point at the screen, where there are two scores in blue and orange and there is #1 Personal Record on the bottom of the screen.

"I did quite a great job," Luke brags.

"The 'I don't dance' guy is talking."

"I don't remember saying that," he denies, the corner of his lips tugging upwards a bit.

I smile and roll my eyes, "Come on, idiot. Let's go eat," I bump my hip with his and walk to one of the free tables.

| | | |

"This might sound weird, but," I say, "do you ever sleep?"

"No, not really," he replies.

"Why not?"

"Insomnia and shit like that. It doesn't matter to me anyways. There are a lot of amazing things in the night and people miss out on those by sleeping and partying." Luke circles the top of the glass with his finger with his gaze downwards on it.

"But you don't mind the partying thing. You told me that you had a party at your house before."

"That was once and I only did it 'cause I was stressed out then," he explains, almost mumbling out as if he didn't want to open that subject.

"So, you enjoy the night more than the mornings?" I ask, playing with my straw.

"Yeah," he answers. "I'm guessing you're more of a morning person?"

"I am," I nod my head with an affirmative, remembering the same conversation from years ago.

"Mornings are beautiful and everything, but...let's face it, Cherries, all the good stuff happens at midnight," he comments.

"How would you know?" I ask him.

"Because we met at midnight," he replies with a small grin.

I stare at him with disbelief and slowly smile, "You noticed that too?"

"Kind of hard to miss out, when a girl with an Australian accent bumps into you and spills the cherry cola all over your shirt at exactly twelve in the morning," he says with a lazy smile.

I grin back, "Cinderella must be real jealous of me," I joke.

"No doubt," he chuckles.

"Do you think I'd look great in blue?" I question, tapping my chin.

"If you're aiming for a 'tree in blue' kind of look, then yes," he gives me a smirk.

I gasp dramatically, "that's mean," I say and he laughs in response.

| | | |

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