Chapter 29 Aria
If someone ever writes a handbook called How Not To Start Your Morning, my day could go on the cover. Because nothing ruins your semi-decent mood like walking into the PE gym hallway just in time to see Luca Hale looking like he’s about to commit a felony on the basketball team. I didn’t even get a chance to process anything before I heard it:
“Say it again,” Luca growled, loud enough that the guys on the team immediately shut up.
The tallest one—Derek, I think?—held his hands up like Luca was a ticking bomb. “Bro, calm down. I was literally messing around.”
“Then learn better jokes!” Luca snapped.
The air was tense, electric, and honestly? Stupid. Testosterone-and-bruised-pride stupid. Luca stood there like a dark storm cloud in a hoodie. The basketball guys shuffled awkwardly, glancing between each other like they were waiting for someone to break the stalemate. Someone who definitely wasn’t me except somehow it was me.
Luca’s gaze flicked to me and the second our eyes met, his whole expression shifted. Derek followed his gaze and spotted me. “Ohhh,” he dragged out, nodding like an idiot. “Makes sense now.”
Luca’s head snapped back to him so fast I almost heard a crack. “Finish that sentence,”
“Nope,” Marcus said immediately. “We’re good, bye!”
And just like that, the entire team scattered like pigeons running from a toddler.
I blinked. “What was that?”
Luca didn’t answer. He just exhaled like he’d been holding his breath for an hour and ran a hand through his hair before finally facing me.
“You okay?” he asked.
“You’re asking me that?”
“You looked tense.”
“I looked tense?” I gestured wildly. “You looked like you were about to choke Derek with his own shoelaces!”
“He deserved it.”
“For what?”
He shoved his hands into the pocket of his hoodie like he didn’t trust them not to start swinging.
“He made a comment,” he answered.
“About what?”
He hesitated. The kind of hesitation that usually means this is going to annoy you, Aria.
“About you,” he finally muttered.
“About me how?”
Luca’s jaw tensed again. “Doesn’t matter.”
“Oh my gosh, that is the least helpful sentence anyone has ever said.”
He stared at me with that intense, unreadable expression that always made me feel warm and unsettled at the same time. “It mattered to me,” he said quietly.
And yeah, okay, that did something to my chest but also: nope, not letting him get away with vague possessive boy nonsense. I hoped this wasn’t about the kiss we've been avoiding.
“So your solution is to threaten to fight the team?” I deadpanned.
“They started it.”
“This is literally Monday morning drama. Nobody is starting anything serious.”
“You didn’t hear what he said.”
“Then tell me.”
He gazed at me for a long moment before sighing. “They said…” He grimaced. “They said you were into me.”
Oh.
“And that you were only at the last game to watch me.”
Oh.
“And that if I screwed up, you’d dump me.”
OH.
My cheeks went hot like someone turned a heat lamp on my face. “That’s—that’s stupid,” I said. “We aren’t even dating.”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “But it pissed me off.”
“You didn’t have to react like that.”
“I know.”
Before I could figure out what to do with that, someone walked in beside me with the enthusiasm of a Grammy winner.
“Wow,” Nora announced, eyes wide. “What did I just witness? Luca Hale almost body-slamming the basketball team? I swear this school is a reality show.”
I groaned internally. Nora was one of the few people at book club who actually talked to me outside meetings. She was loud, chaotic, and allergic to silence basically the opposite of me. But somehow, she was also nice.
She peered between me and Luca like she was trying to figure out which one of us set something on fire.
“I leave for like two minutes to grab my water bottle,” she said, “and suddenly three dudes are speed-walking past me whispering, ‘Bro he’s crazy, bro chill.’ And then I walk in and you’re standing here like someone pressed pause on a soap opera.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Nora—”
“Aria,” she whispered dramatically, “was this a jealousy fight?”
Luca stiffened. I considered evaporating. Nora nodded to herself like she had solved a true crime case. “It totally was. Oh my gosh. This is better than my Wednesday night TV shows.”
“It wasn’t,” I muttered.
“Then why is Luca looking like he wants to break someone’s kneecaps?”
Luca muttered gritted his teeth, “I don’t break kneecaps, nerd.”
“You could, badboy.” Nora chirped.
He stared at her and she beamed back. “Okay, anyway,” she went on, shoulders bouncing with excitement, “I’m just saying you’ve officially entered the sports-drama social ecosystem. Congrats.”
I groaned again but when I glanced to the side, Luca was watching me. Nora noticed. Of course she did. “Ohhhh,” she sing-songed, then whispered to me, “Girl. GIRL.”
I elbowed her lightly. “Stop.”
“You stop!”
Luca shifted, like the air was getting too tight around him. “I should get to class,” he said, which was his trademark I’m about to lose the last 2% of my patience line.
Nora waved at him like they were best friends. “Bye, jealousy badboy!”
He froze for half a second then he walked away. Nora turned to me slowly.
“So when are you telling me everything?”
I sighed, leaning against the lockers. “There’s nothing to tell.”
“Lies,” she declared confidently.
I made a helpless noise.
She slung an arm around my shoulders. “Don’t worry. I won’t make it weird.”
“You already are.”
“Yeah, but in a fun way.”
And despite myself, I laughed because maybe this was what normal high-school life felt like—book club mates teasing you, drama in the hallway, and messy mornings that weren’t life-or-death.
And even though Luca’s jealousy had just caused a minor a meltdown, I couldn’t ignore the truth buzzing under it: He didn’t like other people talking about me, the idea of anyone getting close, and he definitely didn’t like the idea of me being anything but safe even from things he couldn’t control.
I exhaled slowly. Things between us were getting messier, thicker, and more complicated by the minute. But walking with Nora toward class, listening to her rant about the track team starting a feud with the cheer squad, I felt something else too.
Something almost normal. Whatever normal meant now.
AUTHOR’S NOTE:
HELLOOOO MY LOVELIES🤭,
This chapter was PEAK high-school drama and I LOVEDDD writing it. The chaos is just beginning. The jealousy is not even pretending to be subtle anymore. And the fact that Aria is out here trying to act normal while Luca is one annoyed comment away from flipping a bench? ICONIC! Plus today was the Grammys and I enjoyed every moment. Who's your favourite winner?
If you’re still reading, still screaming internally, and still rooting for these two emotional disasters—thank you!!. You are the heartbeat of this story. See you in the next chapter, muah 💋💋.