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All I Need

"Mom! I'm home!" Luke called as he walked into the small house where he and his mother lived alone ever since he was twelve and his father left them for a 28 year-old blonde named Sarah Ross.

He turned the corner into the kitchen and found his mother scrubbing a pan in the sink in front of a small window which over looked their backyard.

She looked up from the pan and smiled at him, "Hey, Honey. How was school?" She said wiping her wet hands off on her old, worn-out jeans.

"Same as usual," He said taking the pan from her and took over the job of scrubbing. "We've got a Humanities project from Mr. Lang, and tomorrow he's giving us partners. But other than that, it was the same."

"Let me clean the pan, Luke." She said reaching for it.

"I want to do it. You work hard enough as it is. It's the least I could do."

"You should be out with friends, not here worrying about me."

"What friends?" Luke mumbled.

After his father left he started to keep to himself. Especially after his friend Ricky Carlson moved away. Even now, five years later, he still found it hard to be around anyone.

His mother sighed, "I wish you would make an effort to have at least one friend." She said sadly.

He knew she worried about him and his solitary way of life in and out of school and he hated to see her sad, but how could he tell her that his father leaving and then Ricky moving made him loose all faith in people staying with him? The only person he knew he could count on was her. But him being so alone hurt her and in turn he hurt for making her hurt.

"Hey, I have a Humanities project with a partner." He told her reassuringly, "Who knows? Maybe I'll make a friend."

---

Erica Gilmore was a 16 year-old from NYC. Today she, her father, and her brother were moving into their new house at Miller, Georgia.

"Erica, you need to get your stuff up to your room." Her father said, "I know that it's been rough lately, but there's no way to go but forward."

The past year had been really hard for her. First, her mother was killed in a car crash. Then, her brother came home every day with a busted lip. Later rumors started that Erica was a skank and gave it up to over half the football team which of course was a lie. But, when it seemed nothing worse could happen, her father lost his job with a major publishing company. After reavaluating the situation and seeing no other solution, her dad decided it be best to move and start a new life away from New York and everything they ever knew.

As Erica unpacked her boxes of items and clothes she wondered how things could go so wrong in such a short period of time. It didn't seem right to have to go through so much. Didn't fate have other people to bombard with crap like this?

She carefully unloaded a box of picture frames onto her dresser. Pictures of her and Codi, her kid brother. Codi and their father. Her and the one friend she had left, Richelle. And then came the picture of her mother. It was taken in the winter so she was wearing a heavy gray sweater that belonged to Erica's dad. It said 'I heart NY' on it and a navy blue hat. Her cheeks were pink from the cold and she had on a huge smile that made her green eyes seem to dance. There was also a light snow falling so there was tiny snowflake in her long, soft brown hair.

Erica touched her mother's face with her fingers and a tear ran down her face, "I miss you, Momma." She whispered softly.

There was a knock on the door and she looked up, wiping off her cheek, "Come in."

Her father poked his head around the door. "How's the unpacking going?"

She smiled faintly, "Okay I guess. Just a couple more boxes is all I've got left."

He sat down next to Erica and looked at the picture she was holding and smiled sadly, "I miss her, too."

She tucked a strand of brown hair behind her ear, "It just doesn't seem fair. None of this does."

"Loosing her was hard. We all know that. Coming here is hard, too. But we had to do it. You were miserable, Codi was miserable, I was miserable. This is probably the best decision we've made since, well, since we lost her."

"I understand, Daddy. I'm not mad about coming here. I wanted to get out of New York. As far away from it as possible."

He patted her back and smiled, "I'm glad you agree with me on this." He stood up and walked to the door. "Don't forget," He said before closing it, "You're starting school tomorrow."

School. In New York, the word would have made her want to crawl in a hole and die. But for the first time in months, the word did not repulse her. For the first time in a long time, she was happy.

---

"Okay," Mr. Lang instructed the class, "I'm going to pair you all off. The groups are: Scott and Jane, Brad and Will,"

Luke scribbled in his notebook not really wanting to get paired up with one of the Neanderthals that were considered his classmates. He had better things to do than talk to an idiot about a project he could damn well do just fine by himself.

He looked up when he heard his name.

"Luke, you're with-" Mr. Lang was interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Mr. Lang?" Mrs. Brown, the secretary, said walking into the classroom followed by a girl. "We have a new girl for your class. Her name is Erica Gilmore."

Luke looked at her and found that this Erica Gilmore was not like the other girls.Sure she was pretty. She was tall with wavy light brown hair and piercing green eyes.But there was something about the eyes. They looked sad, almost pained. Like they had many secrets and fears that couldn't be shared.

"Well Ms. Gilmore," Mr. Lang said, "I was assigning partners for our Humanities project. You can be with Luke Quinlin." He said pointing to Luke.

Luke just faked a smile as she walked up to the empty desk in front of him.

'This is going to be interesting' Luke thought sarcastically to himself as she slid into the desk.

---

Erica turned to Luke after everyone was paired up, "So, what is this project about?"

He ran his hand through his thick black hair, "It's supposed to be about a current event that is happen in our world and how it effects people."

She nodded, "Do you have any ideas?"

"Some."

As she listened to him list his ideas for the project she noticed that he seemed on guard the entire time. Like he was re-enforcing a wall that was already strong enough to withstand a hurricane. He was very stand-offish and at times quick tempered but through it all she could see the signs of a facade. A facade she herself knew very well.

---

By the end of the week Luke was surprised how well he and Erica worked together. On Friday when giving their project, it was by far the best in the class.

And now that it was all over, Luke had a strange feeling. He was upset. Upset that they were no longer working together. And being upset scared him. He had tried to give her the cold shoulder. To not give a damn about her. But there were those eyes. The pain he saw there. The secrets he knew they kept. The way they were scared. They seemed so much like how he felt. And in that, he was now looking at this turning of separate ways, and wanting more.

---

It was two weeks after the completion of the project and Erica still couldn't help but think about Luke. They hadn't talked since and she could tell that he didn't want to be around her and it was kind of strange. But the weirdest part was that he kept looking into her eyes as if searching for something.

"Erica!"

With a jump, Erica turned around to find one of her classmates David Bana walking towards her. Something about him always made her skin crawl and now for about a week he wouldn't leave her alone.

She lowered her head, "Hey, David."

He ran up next to her and smiled, "What's wrong Gilmore? Don't you want to talk to me?"

She clutched her books to her and started walking faster, "I've got to get to class."

He grabbed her arm, "C'mon Gilmore, talk to me."

She pulled her arm but his grip got tighter. "Let me go!"

He smirked, "C'mon Gilmore, let's have some fun!"

She started to cry, "David, let me go, please."

He took hold of her by the waist and forced her into the janitor's closet. "Now come on, this is going to be fun."

"Let me go!" She yelled as he shut the door. She kept on begging but he would not let go.

---

"Luke."

He looked up from his Lit book, "Yes, Mrs. Danes?"

"Could you get me some pencils from the office, please?"

"Sure." He said getting up and walking out of the classroom.

He was making his way down the hall when he heard a muffled crash and a familiar voice crying, "David, stop it! You're hurting me!"

Luke knew in an instant that it was Erica. He also knew that she was in trouble because nothing good ever came from David Bana. A scum among men.

Luke rushed around the corner to where he heard the crash come from, and sure enough he heard more muffled cries coming from the janitor's closet.

He tried to open the door but something heavy was pushed up against it, but with another try and more force, the door came open.

"Holy-" The scene in front of him was greatly disturbing. David had a wild look about him and his pants were undone. But the worst part was Erica huddled into a ball on the floor. Her shirt was ripped off and she tried to tug it around her.

"What the hell is going on here?" Luke could feel the anger creeping through him and every bit of his being loathing this man standing before him.

"Ah, c'mon, Quinlin. I was just having a bit of fun!"

He nearly slapped David. How could he say that? "And you think this is fun?" Luke said gesturing towards Erica, who was still shaking.

"Lighten up, Quinlin."

"I'll lighten up when you leave."

David smirked, "I'm not leaving until I'm finished here."

"You're not finishing anything." Luke hissed.

He tried to push Luke out of the way, "Yes I am." He laughed, "And after I get finished I might let you get some of this, too."

That was it. Luke could take no more of this. With a force seldom seen outside of a boxing ring, Luke punched David full in the face and sent him crashing to the floor as well as into a shelf.

Luke pulled him up by the collar of his shirt, "Like I said, you're not finishing anything." He said throwing him out of the closet and hurriedly shut and locked the door.

He knelt down next to Erica, "Are you okay?"

She nodded, "Thank you, Luke."

He took off his jacket and put it over her shoulders. "It was what anyone in their right mind would have done."

She pulled on the jacket and zipped it up, "I'm just glad you came, 'cause he would have-" She stopped and buried her head in her arms.

He placed a hand on her arm, "If there's anything else that you need, tell me."

She lifted up her head and wiped her eyes, "I think that right now, all I need is a friend."

He smiled and helped her to her feet, "And that's all I need."