"as soon as Cry Baby came out to play
all of his friends ran away"

Luke was used to being alone.

At home, he often found himself in his room as Mum filled her sippy cup with the demon liquid again.

She was too drunk to make Luke lunch again, so he sat alone and hungry at the edge of the playground.

His friend Calum had decided that sitting under a tree by the younger kids area was weird, so he had stayed in the cafeteria with the other teenagers.

Luke liked to watch the younger kids though. They were filled with so much innocence and no knowledge of the world's darkness.

They were lucky.

Luke felt a thump on the ground as someone sat down next to him. He looked to the right, his scarred blue eyes meeting bright green ones.

"I've seen you sitting here a lot," green eyed boy said.

Luke shrugged, looking away from him and looking down at his feet.

"Why don't you come to the cafeteria and sit with the rest of us?"

Luke shrugged again, pulling his pink sweater sleeves over his hands.

"You wear really bright clothes for someone who likes to blend into the crowd."

Luke sighed quietly, pulling a book out of his bag and opening it.

"What are you reading?" Green eyed boy asked.

"The Eye Of Minds," Luke mumbled, continuing to read.

"Oh, I've read that. My Auntie bought me the series for my birthday because I have the same name as the main character."

"Michael..." Luke mumbled, looking back at the green eyed boy who he knew as Michael. He nodded.

"Yeah, thats my name. So now maybe you should introduce yourself," Michael said.

Luke bit his lip.

Surely an introduction wouldn't mean they had to be friends for life. If Luke just let one more word slip out of his mouth, everything would be okay.

"L-Luke."