"i still can't believe you went out with him yesterday." scoffed luke, slinging his bookbag over his shoulder. sam followed behind him, picking at her fingernails, bored with her best friends complaining. 

"chill, luke. it's not like we did anything. we just got lunch." sam had decided to keep the hand holding out of the conversation she had with luke yesterday, knowing good and well he'd either make a sex joke or become irritated. 

luke shrugged, pulling sam in close to prevent her from walking head on into a freshman. "still." he mumbled. "i was all alone at lunch. it wasn't fun."

sam laughed. "yeah, you act like i was thrilled to go out with michael too. we ate pizza. do you know how much pizza i've eaten in the last couple of weeks? way too much, lucas, way too much."

"that's not my name!" groaned luke, bumping her with his hip. she bumped him back, making the lanky boy stumble a bit. "besides, you can never eat too much pizza, samantha."

"yeah, you can never eat too much pizza, samantha." mocked a voice from behind the two. both of them jumped when a hand clapped onto their shoulders, causing them to twist around and come face to face with michael. "i love pizza. in fact, it's pizza day in the cafeteria today."

"no one asked you, clifford." said luke, shoving michael's pale hand off of him. sam reached across michael, who had now wedged himself between the duo, and slapped luke's stomach in her way of saying 'be nice.' he whined and rubbed the spot, rolling his eyes. "sorry, that was rude." luke deadpanned, now sitting down at their table in the lunchroom. 

michael's arm was still slung across sam's shoulder as he sat on the stool next to her. "'ey baby, how you doin'?" he asked in a joey tribbiani voice. sam giggled at his lame impression and shrugged, pulling out her lunchbag and digging through it until she found her fruit cup. 

"i'm doing fine, thanks. how are you?" she responded, lifting the wrapper on the cup and sipping the juice from it before pulling it all the way off. 

"i just found out i'm failing math." he pouted, sliding his arm off sam's shoulder and pulling out a progress report from the pocket of his jeans. "and you're in calculus, yeah?" sam nodded. "so, could you like, help me sometime?" he asked, licking his lips, a smile overtaking them.

(michael didn't really care that much about his grade, he just wanted an excuse to spend more time with sam. and if doing math with her was the only way it could happen, then so be it. he'd learn some math.)

sam shook her head, pointing across the table at luke, who was looking around the lunchroom with a bored expression. "oh, i'd be glad to michael, but maybe you should ask luke. he's like, a math genius. his mom used to be a math teacher, so he's really good at it. he's above me in math courses. taking AP statistics." she suggested with a smile on her face. "i'm sure he'd be happy to help."

"what?" luke whispered, whipping around at the sound of his name. "you want me to tutor him?"

"i can hear you, ya know." michael said smugly. he knew luke didn't like him, but he didn't really know why. he hadn't done anything to the kid, and when they first met luke seemed all for michael and sam possibly getting together. michael didn't know what caused luke's sudden shift in attitude towards him, and it bothered him. he felt like luke despised him now just because he spent a little time with sam when he wasn't around.

luke's eyes cut at the blue-haired boy. "yeah, sure. i'll tutor you." he suddenly smiled, toying with his lip ring. "i'll just get sam to give me your number, i gotta go." he bid the two goodbye, gathering his belongings and leaving the cafeteria without even eating. sam's eyebrows pinched together in confusion as she turned around to watch him leave, wondering where he had to go. he hadn't said anything earlier about having to make up any work. 

"that was weird." she muttered, brushing her hair out of her eyes and going back to eating her tangerines. 

"mmhmm." michael hummed. he wasn't exactly thrilled that he wasn't going to spend more time with sam, but maybe now he could get on luke's good side and find out why he seems so cold towards him. "does he not like me or something?"

sam put down her food and thought for a moment. "well, i don't think he's too fond of you, but he hasn't ever explicitly told me that he dislikes you. ever since you, ya know, just threw a pepperoni at my face he's been kinda funny about it. but i think he was mad about it only 'cause i was mad, and well, he's my best friend and stuff, so he wanted to protect me from the monster that is hades from hercules." she giggled, her hand going up to michael's hair once more to run her fingers through it. "it's already fading from the dark blue to baby blue, it's so pretty looking."

"wanna know what else is pretty looking?"

"sure, what?"

"you!" exclaimed michael, extremely proud of how smooth he was. 

"ha, funny. thanks. but seriously, i think once luke realizes that i'm over that whole pepperoni incident, he'll get over it too. he's just being a good friend. maybe this tutoring thing can help him  see what little good there is of you." sam teased, sticking her tongue out in a childish manner. 

"i was hoping you'd tutor me, that way we could spend more time together and you'd realize just how much you truly love me." michael pouted, leaning his head on sam's shoulder. she laughed and pushed him off, cleaning up her trash and throwing it away. michael trailed behind her, sneakily placing his hand in hers again and internally screaming at the fact that she didn't pull away. 

they walked through the hallways together, chatting as they weaved in and out of the crowds and around the slow walkers. they had about ten minutes of lunch left, so they decided to go wait it out in front of sam's locker until the bell rang for third period.

sam and michael walked by a deserted hallway, michael talking sam's ear off and telling a story about how one time he got a cut right in between his eyes that was so deep it left a teeny scar, and his friend calum laughed his ass off at him because he looked so silly, but then he got one too. sam just happened to look down the hallway in time to see luke's red flannel flash by before he ducked into a classroom. she shook her head, thinking nothing of it, and guiding michael back to where her locker was.

"i know, right! and so then--" michael said, being cut off by the shrill bell. the smile fell from his face and he scowled, standing up from where the two were sitting on the floor and dusting off his black pants. he turned around, wiping at the back off his jeans. "do i have anything on my butt?"

"is this just to get me to look at your butt?" inquired sam, chuckling. "but no, you don't."

"your turn!" michael said, hoping she'd do the same thing. all she did was slap his chest, telling him to go away. "you suck." a childish pout fell onto his lips as sam pushed at him when he tried to hug her, thinking that since they've casually held hands around four times, he may as well be able to hug her too. 

"you really suck, clifford. go on somewhere."

"i'll text you!" he called from halfway down the corridor, cupping his hands around his mouth to make his voice louder.

"i won't respond!" she yelled back with a large smile on her face.

luke, from the opposite end of the hall, frowned.

a/n; let's see how many references nicole can make in one chapter. boutta get muke af yall