KING LUCAS

CHAPTER 22

~1 month later~

Lucas sat down with his team on their usual table, he cheered with the rest of them as they watched Taylor chug down his eight box of milk, they were laughing hysterically as streams of white ran down his chin an onto his shirt. Their trophy sat in the middle of the table, as it had done this last week, it was tradition in the school to do so every time a team took home a big trophy.

Billy threw an empty box of juice on the head of Taylor, but that didn't stop him, instead he squashed the carton he just finished and open the next in line.

Billy scoffed, gaining Lucas' attention. "I don't understand how his asian ass can bear that much milk, I mean, his record is thirteen." He said, eating his taters, Lucas said nothing. "Are you going trick or treating tonight? That girl of yours is a real treat." He said with a playful smile, he gave up when his friend made no reply, Lucas stood up from the table, it was almost time for the bell. "Or maybe I'll see you at Owen's party, but remember... costume is mandatory."

Billy smiled and Lucas rolled his eyes, he took the trophy with one hand and removed it from the table, they paid him no mind, too worried about Taylor and his record breaking.

Since Lucas had won that trophy it was his responsibility to return it after every lunch, he headed for the doors when he heard a familiar chuckle, a smile formed on his lips as he pushed the doors open.

The trophy stood nice and tall and proud next to the others, he stood there for a while, watching old pictures of other varsity teams that had made Abigail Adams proud.

"He didn't make it." A soft voice said next to him, she grabbed his arm, resting her hands on his bicep.

"What?" He asked, frowning.

"Taylor didn't break the record, he snorted out most of his eleventh box." She said, looking at the pictures and awards with him. He chuckled, imagining the whole thing, at least Billy would be happy.

"Damn, I bet Julius that he'd finish fifteen." The bell rang and her hand moved down to grab his, she walked them to her class first, was it French she had at this time? He couldn't remember.

"I'll see you after school?" She asked, putting her arms around his shoulders and he nodded, leaning down to give her a kiss. "My place or your place?"

"You know I don't take girls to my apartment, my..." He began.

"Your mom is crazy when it comes to girls, yes, yes, you've told me before." She rolled her eyes.

"And yet, you keep insisting on it." He said, looking at her in the eyes where her glimmer shone, waiting for him.

"Fine, my place... now go, you're late." She said, standing on her toes and giving him a quick kiss, before entering her class.

On his way to History, he ran into someone dropping her books, "You idiot!" She said frustrated, he immediately leaned down to pick them, but he knew what was expecting him when he stood up.

"I'm sorry, Missy." He said, returning the books. "How are you?" He asked, casually, staring at the anger of her eyes, no light in them.

"Late," she responded angrily. "How's your girlfriend?" Missy asked, obviously annoyed.

"Jess is good, thanks." Missy forced a smile and continued her way. He had tried things with her, but turns out you can't ignore the boring side of people, so it all ended as quick as it had begun, he took her glimmer as a souvenir of their fling.

He entered History late, to the warm welcome of several eyes, including the blue eyes in front. She wasn't mad with him anymore, she couldn't be, he had seen her with Riley better than ever and he had even seen a guy in a vespa waiting for her after school. Still, he looked at Riley and back at Maya and sat in the furthest end of the class.

Days had been passing so eternally long, he couldn't bare them much longer, just a week more, he thought. Next week Maya was supposed to check on his pieces for prom, he had been working on them all month and soon the first two would be ready. He would show her that he had changed, that his relationship with Jess had made him less of an ass, this would be his ticket back in the group.

Finally he'd get some of that rush back, he was too greedy trying to take Riley and Maya at the same time and everything fell down on top of him. Now, he had lost a whole month due to "damage control", at least he had some fun with Missy and now with Jessica.

She was on the track team, he saw her running one day after working on his wood pieces. They connected immediately, he had already played the part of the boyfriend many times, but at least she was fun and beautiful and very smart, so he even enjoyed talking to her, but it always felt so forced and his relationship clock marked the end, just one more week, he kept thinking.

"I finished the homework for this week." Yogi brought him back.

"Oh, sweet, thanks Yogs!" He said looking at the paper but not really paying attention. Maya sat next to Sarah, drawing as always, as her partner did the assignment. Riley and Farkle were all smiles as he said something to her, Lucas grinned, the couple was still just holding hands when they walked the halls, according to his sources, but at least they were a couple.

"Is it okay?" The small kid asked, looking at his face, Lucas cleared his throat, eyeing the paper one more time.

"Yeah, yeah, it's perfect." Lucas said. "You should come to Owen's party tonight, there's someone I want you to meet, I heard she has a crush on you."

His partner blushed and stuttered his thanks.

At the end of classes he waited patiently for Jessica on the stairs. He saw Maya come out and behind her the newly formed couple, but they all heard a shriek of joy rushing past them, as they opened up like the Dead Sea to let pass a jumping Jessica, he frowned, Maya frowned, Farkle frowned, except Riley who seemed marveled.

She skipped the stairs in two long jumps and then jumped on top of Lucas.

"I passed the test! I passed the test!" She said, with a paper on her hand.

As his friends passed next to them, he and Maya made eye contact, it felt heavy and his heart began beating faster, but his view was blocked by his girlfriend and his lips found busy on hers, Maya looked away with something on her eyes he couldn't explain. Was it jealousy? But the scariest part was that he felt guilty.

"That's great babe." He said, pushing all his thoughts away. "C'mon, let's go." He put her on the floor and they walked to his car, fingers intertwined, he tried looking for Maya but she was gone.

"See how good I look on this?" She said, staring at herself on the mirror.

"You're not going as Slave Leia." He said, making eye contact with her reflection, she did look gorgeous in the bikini.

"You could be Han Solo." She offered, they had already discussed this a week ago when they where picking out their costumes.

"Babe, we already have costumes." He said, pointing at the bags to his left. "And I'm not going as a space pirate."

"You're just jealuos that every guy is going to be looking at me." She said, putting her hands on her hips.

He stood up and walked behind her, wrapping his arms around her, he looked at their reflection, they looked happy, both smiling, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

"You're right, I don't want any other guy looking at you." He said, resting his head on her shoulder and kissing her cheek.

"Fine..." She said after some seconds. "We'll use your stupid choice."

"Stupid?" He asked, taken aback. "Baby, it's a classic."

She rolled her eyes and entered the changing room once again. He paid the man for both costumes and waited for Jessica on the car. She came rushing out of the store.

"I didn't realize how late it is." She said, out of breath. "We better eat at my place, I texted my mom, she's going to order your wings."

"Yes!" He said with a smile, while turning the ignition, "you're the best."

"I know, now drive." She replied.

Shortly after, they reached her apartment building where his wings awaited. She had showed him the place on their first day and it turned out to be the best chicken wings he had ever tried.

Jessica's mother was really nice, she liked Lucas a lot, but why wouldn't her, the first time he met her, she was wearing scrubs, but her shoes were covered in mud and he recognized the smell.

"I'm sorry," he had said, "are you a veterinarian?"

She was delighted by how he had delivered Belle when he was 12 and the rest of his stories about Pappy Joe's farm. Now she lit up every time she saw him, he had heard about her work at the zoo like he actually cared about it.

"Lucas put your other hand on you belt, yeah, just like that– okay, smile!" She had taken about ten different pictures by then. "Just one more."

"Mom, no, you can make a whole album with the ones you took. We're leaving, baby can you grab my coat?" Lucas did as he was told and opened the door for his girlfriend, he said goodbye to Jessica's mother and finally headed to the party.

Owen's apartment was not as big as Gabbie's, but it was large enough, the place was packed, not only with seniors but people of every class was here. He pulled Jess as he made them way to the kitchen to fix her some drinks.

"You don't want anything?" She asked over the loud music, he denied with his head. His drink had popularized among the school, he could see several people holding red cups filled with the green drink, his girlfriend was one of them.

They danced a little, she refilled her cup again, then they went touring the apartment. The halls were filled with horny students and girls dressed as naughty whatevers. On the balcony, they were passing a joint, and there was probably a couple fucking in the bathroom.

When they were back in the kitchen, to grab another drink, she stopped him and kissed him long and deep, she tasted like rum and blue curacao but he didn't complain, someone else did.

Maya was standing next to them, Lucas looked down to her bare legs, his eyes climbed up slowly to her face, her brow lifted. She was dressed like a sexy nurse, he swallowed hard, trying to pay attention to what she was saying.

"You're next to the bottles." She said, pointing behind them to the counter with the alcohol.

"Sorry," he said, pushing Jessica to move, but making her annoyance clear.

"I think you should spend the night at my apartment," she whispered to his ear, but it was loud enough for Maya to hear. What was Jess thinking?

The blonde girl practically fled after that, with her cup on hand, but he felt terrible. He said yes to his girlfriend's proposal, one more week, he thought.

While Jessica was taken away by her friends a naughty devil came looking for him very drunk. "Wanna give her the horns?" She asked with a wicked smile, he politely declined and went looking for Billy.

"Three!" He heard a crowd scream, "Four!" And more shouting, he reached the living room and finally found his friend playing a duel with no other than Maya Hart. "Five!" They kept going, the crowd cheering them on. The game was quite simple, one person had to challenge another to a duel, he would then pick a liquor and they would begin doing shots at the same time until one of them gave up or died.

They had chosen tequila, which he knew was Maya's go-to liquor, but this felt like a bad idea all over. He left the room, just as the crowd went nuts to annouce the winner, but he didn't have to look back to know who had won, although there never was a real winner.

"Yogi!" He said, calling the boys attention. "Come here man!" He yelled over the loud music.

"Hey, Lucas!" Yogi replied, he was dressed like soldier, his skin painted army green.

"What are you?" He asked.

"I'm a little toy soldier." He said with a smile, Lucas laughed, it was a really good costume. "What about you, decided to take the mantel?"

"I think it was time I accepted it." He answered, fixing his hat, he spied a tall blonde at the end of the hall and made for Yogi to follow him.

"Hey Darby." Lucas said to the girl, interrupting her conversation. "There's someone I wanted you to meet," he pointed at Yogi, "Yogi, this is Darby my lab partner, Darby this is Yogi, a friend of mine." They both flushed, but the small guy started talking and he knew his job there was done.

It was late and he didn't know what to do, so he turned around and decided to look for Jessica. On his way back, someone snatched his vest, he found Zay stopping him.

"Zay?" He asked, confused. "What do you want?"

"It's Maya, she needs your help."

TO BE CONTINUED