CHAPTER 10
~Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love,
the things you are, the things you never want to lose.~
:From the television show The Wonder Years:
****Luke’s POV****I extended the cone of ice cream towards her as she sat on one of the swings,
“One cappuccino flavored ice cream for you, missy.”HAH! You thought I'd give her the cyber poo flavor huh? GOTCHA. >.< Err... *cough* 
Uughh... putting that aside now....
Samantha looked up at me,
“Thank you!” she gladly said, and then in a blink of an eye, her
brows furrowed,
“W-wait. H-how’d you know I like cappuccino?”I looked at her closely…
So… She still doesn’t remember… Damn… What can I expect?
“Eh… Luke? Hello?”I sat on the swing next to her and licked on my ice cream.
“Coincidence?” 
“Coincidence my ass…” Samantha said,
“Come on… I think you have a lot of explaining to do--I can just feel it”"Ooh.. Some sort of fortune-teller? Can you feel vibrations coming?" I jested.
"Come on silly!" 
I looked down at my feet …
Dang, I silently wished that.... at the instant that I would introduce myself,
not all of the memories she had about me would start flooding her thoughts…
I wouldn’t like it if all would come down crashing over her… Because I’m not ready yet if she’ll remember
‘that’ incident too…. But hell, I wouldn’t want it either if up to now she still wouldn’t know who I am...
Here goes nothing, I thought.
****Samantha’s POV****What is he thinking? I thought.
Wow, he’s taking too long to respond… Luke might be thinking of something really important.
“I a-am errr…” he stuttered.
“Eh?”“I am Luke Richens…! Single, and available!”My jaw almost dropped,
“I didn’t ask for that, idiot! I asked why you know that I like cappuccino when this is the very first time we ever had ice cream together!”Luke laughed,
“I know, I know, hey, take it easy….! And by the way, this isn't the first time we actually had ice cream together.”I looked at him.
"And that means?"....Luke suddenly went into mute mode again. -___-
I felt myself becoming aggravated,
so I stomped on his right foot
(again)—I can’t help it!
Luke yelped,
“Jeeesus! Why’d you keep stepping on that foot!? It could always be the left side!”“So you want me to step on the other one, okay then I’ll do—”I started to lift my feet but he stopped me,
“I was just kidding! Sheesh, don’t kill my feet. I’ve still got so many plans…!”"Puh-lease, answer me seriously, even just for once.” I said, licking on my ice cream.
Seconds passed, and he still didn’t say a thing…
Feeling more frustrated, I stood up. Maybe he might be just one of those
stalkers I have… Or whatever!
Waiiiiit. That’s not a good thought—and that was a little bit
boastful—but yes, I do have stalkers, and some are frightening…
Even so, by his looks, he
wouldn’t go that sort of way… And in addition, he doesn’t like me…! Would such a guy just keep on teasing and playing around with someone as a sign of
liking?
…As a result of that thinking that he doesn’t like me, I felt a sharp pang in my heart.
Gaaaah. What’s this feeling?GAAAAAAAAAAH. THE HELL! THE HELL! (*Hades’ gates are about to open, I bet.*)I guess I should just leave… and I started walking off slowly.
Suddenly, he grabbed my hand.
“Yo, don’t leave.”“But you’re not talking! So I guess I should just—”“I’m just frightened.”“Eh? Of what?” I asked, looking around jokingly.
“Juuust….”Luke let out a big sigh.
“…..okay, you—Samantha, and I, we were childhood friends back when you were still in Kingston and…”Then, Luke closed his eyes as though something was going to hit him.
I was perplexed. He looked funny, and did he just say he was scared?
Gaaawddd, this guy is bloody confusing.
“And… That’s all…?”Luke nodded.
“…that’s all.”I
laughed my heart out, and the funny thing was, Luke looked like he was relieved. Because of laughing too much, I dropped my ice cream—but I didn’t care much.
“Why the bloody hell are you scared?! And if you are a friend of mine, you should have just said it right from the start! I would have appreciated it when you said so… really. Why’d you have to keep it in?” I exclaimed as I tried keeping in my laughter.
Luke grinned and gulped down the ice cream in one swipe,
“It’s nothing… nothing.”I sighed,
“Well, I did remember that you did say you came from Kingston when you first came to class, I just sort of forgot to ask you—”Luke broke me off, looking straight at me.
“Wait… And do you remember me? Like... Truly...?” I gulped. He was acutely gazing at me.
“Err… I don’t...”
****Luke’s POV****I don’t know if I would get
sad because he doesn’t completely remember who I am… or if I would be relieved that he doesn’t remember
‘that’ incident of our past…
Samantha might have seen the look on my face because she said,
“B-but I had f-flashbacks of some incidents recently where a c-certain boy was talking to me… or something… And b-by now, I think it really is… you…”I think I am mostly
miserable, now that I hear what she was saying—sure, I felt thankful that Sam’s starting to remember some things now, but it pains me to think that she can’t remember some other things yet about us—we’ve had a lot of memories together, other than
‘that’ dreadful incident... I should have expected this—but blimey, it
hurts, I guess.....
Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m
talking trash. You can’t understand it fully… But you’ll soon understand… But not too soon I hope, or
Ms. Author would get mad.
“I’m sorry,” Samantha said swiftly,
“I’m sorry I can’t seem to remember you… It’s just that, since I moved here, I can’t remember much of Kingston… I tried, and tried, but I just can’t, it’s weird and—”I slowly approached her, and put my index finger on her lips to silence her....Our faces were inches apart....
“Shhh… No more talk. I understand, I really understand, Sam…”
****Samantha’s POV****I felt my heart pounding faster than before…
Gaaaawwwd.“Sisttteeeeeeeerrrrrr!” a screeching voice suddenly echoed out of nowhere, and true enough, it was Mark—Erica and Cindy were trailing behind him.
They stopped in their tracks when they saw me and Luke in that sort of position—Mark’s eyes were
bulging yet again, while Erica and Cindy were just staring at us in amazement.
Cindy giggled,
“Sorry for disturbing the two of you…”Luke and I broke apart, and I could feel myself blushing more than ever—but hey, we weren’t really doing
anything—these guys are overacting—but then again, why am I blushing and why were we (Luke and I) looking like ultimate fools who are sort of caught red-handed….
“H-hey…!”Mark seemed to be out of words so Cindy went and
‘comforted’ him.
Erica who seems to find the moment pretty entertaining, declared,
“Mr. Solar was looking for you guys… There’s some sort of a little gathering, and he wants everyone to be there especially the representativessss… Soooo… You guys want to come over or… is it better if we’ll just leave you alone, pretend that we didn’t see… So that you guys could get on with what you left off?”Luke looked at me, and then to them,
“No, no… and… S-sure, no problem.”~~~~~~~~~~
While we all walked back towards the beach, Mark shouldered me,
“Ouch!!!”“Why’d you stolen him froooom meeee?!” he hissed.
“Oh, you were so sloooow.” I joked as I embraced Mark.
Erica and Cindy stepped back so they could walk at the same level with me and Mark—Luke was walking ahead of us.
“Just what the hell was going on back there?” Cindy inquired.
“Oh, I j-just learned he was a childhood friend of mine… And... You guys are exaggerating.” I responded.
Erica jolted my thoughts,
“Hello… He was touching your lips or something…! It’s like some sort of telenovela flick! If you ask me, it’s more like, the two of you were some sort of childhood sweethearts!”I felt butterflies in my stomach—that’s impossible!
Or were we?Gaaawwwd. Memories—what the hell is the
use of my brain and all its so-so parts if I can’t seem to remember such trivial details?!
Thinking about it, everything was such a blur, I still wanted to ask more…
I looked at Luke’s bare back as he walked at the forefront—
he’s such a mysterious guy—a really mystifying one. But I’m shy to ask more; he was very disappointed when I didn’t remember entirely who he was and what are the things that happened between us… So if I’d continue to bug him… well, I don’t want to see that saddened face of his anymore.
I was abruptly brought back to reality by Mark’s shrieks,
“I’m heartbrokeeeeen!”
“Oh gimme a break! I was just kidding! Nothing’s going on! You were not slooooow!” I exclaimed.
Mark giggled,
“No, don’t kid. I should be the one who’s flippant here, sister... Nigga, I should say good luck to youuuuu and to both of you,” and he embraced me.
Eh? Good luck?! For what???!!!
