Mr Hood (Calum Hood AU)

Part 5 - The Ride Home

The car in the media thing is the car Calum, or Mr Hood, drives.  

In the car we all sit quietly for a good five minutes.  Mr Hood turns on his stereo and a song by All Time Low starts play.  Holy shit, I love this song.  “My ship went down, in a sea of sound.  When I woke up alone I had everything.  A handful of moments I wish I could change and a tongue like a nightmare that cut like a blade.”  I sang quietly to myself.  This is seriously like my favourite song, ever.  “You know All Time Low?”  Mr Hemmings asks from the backseat.  I can hear the surprise in his voice.  “Yeah, they are one of my favourite bands.  Like ever.”  I turn to face him with a huge smile on my face.  “That’s weird.”  Mr Hood says beside me, but I choose to ignore him and his stupid comments. 

“What other music do you like?”  Mr Hemmings asks, seemingly very interested.  “I like a lot of music, loads of variety and stuff.”  “Shoot.  I won’t judge.”  He smiles.  I chuckle.  “Okay then.  I really like All Time Low, You Me at Six, Fall Out Boy and some Linkin Park and Green Day.  I couldn’t live without Boulevard of Broken Dreams.  But I like Drake, Chris Brown, Eminem.  And then, One Direction, Justin Bieber, the Vamps and Jack and Jack.  And Halsey, is bae. There are also people on YouTube that are like amazing.”  I tell them.  “That is a lot of variety.  I agree with some of them.”  He chuckles.  “Thanks.  Most people hate my music, they feel like if you like One Direction you can’t like All Time Low and Green Day.  It pisses me off.”  I say, feeling really annoyed at how people react to my music. 

“Who do you like from YouTube?”  Mr Hood asks.  “Like, Lennon and Maisy, Conor Maynard – I know he is kind of famous but I like his covers better.  Then Alex Goot, Boyce Avenue, and just loads of people.  There are so many amazing people on there that could definitely get signed.  I remember my dad was going to sign this band a few years ago but then he got the memo that they had decided to stop pursuing it.”  I tell them, I remember my dad was really excited about them.  But then he got into the car crash a few months later.  I guess there was a reason for him not to have signed anybody new.  He was a big music producer and people still know him now. 

“That sucks.  Wait- your dad is a music producer?”  Mr Hemmings asks.  “Yeah, well, he was.”  I say emphasising the ‘was’.  “Did he get another job?”  Mr Hood asks.  I try to hold back the tears.  “He died a few years ago.”  I tell them.  Going quiet, I don’t like talking about it.  Like I am fine now, but I feel weird talking about them in past tense.  “Shit, Summer I am so sorry.”  Mr Hood says.  “So, is it just you and your mum?”  Mr Hemmings asks softly.  “No, she, erm, she died in the crash as well.”  I tell them.  “Fuck.  Luke stop talking!”  Mr Hood shouts at him.  I just turn to look out the window. 

We drive in silence and I just stare out the window but I can feel my two teachers’ eyes on me.  As if to make sure I amn’t going to cry or try and jump out the car.  “So, how was first day back?”  Mr Hemmings says as if to avoid the awkward silence that had filled the car.  “Dude.”  I hear Mr Hood say quietly to him, as if to tell him to shut the fuck up.  I clear my throat and look back out in front of the car.  “It was alright.  Very eventful.”  I say with a small smile on my face.  I have always said, if you look the part, you can feel the part.  “How was your first day as a teacher?”  I ask, trying to fill the silence of the car.  “Mine was alright.  Everyone was really nice and the girls kept trying to flirt with me.  Nobody else thought I was a student though which made me kind of sad.  I don’t look that old do I?”  Mr Hemmings chuckled from the backseat.  I laughed at the memory that seems like it was from such a long time ago when really it was only like 9 hours ago.

“Hey!  Don’t ask me.  I thought you were a new student.”  I tell him and he just laughs.  “Yeah, that was pretty funny.  Your friend’s face was priceless.”  He laughs even harder at that.  It was true, Sasha was so confused and embarrassed, and it was amazing since she is usually the smart one.  “Yeah, I think she thought you could be her little project.”  “Project?”  Calum asked.  “Yeah.”  I giggled as I tried to find the proper way to word this.  “Sasha, she likes to… find people to help throughout the year.  She builds their confidence and helps them to improve themselves.  Then when they are really cool after a few months she is the one they turn to because she liked them from the beginning.”  “That is pretty smart.”  Mr Hood chuckles.  “Wait- that is from How I Met Your Mother!”  Mr Hemmings shouts.  “What?”  Mr Hood asks.  “It is pretty much what Barney does when they join a gym.”  “Oh my god!  So it is!”  I laugh.  “That girl!  Made it sound like her own genius idea!”  I say absolutely amazed at her, stealing something from TV.  “I was really impressed at first.”  Mr Hood chuckles from the front seat. 

We turn off the main road and onto the beach front.  “Where are we going?”  I ask confused.  “Your house.  This is the only way I know how to get there.”  “Oh, okay.  You could have asked.”  I chuckle.  He never said anything so I just assumed he knew how to get there.  “There’s our house!”  Luke shouts as he points out the window.  I turn to see it.  “Whoa.”  I say under my breath.  They live in a really big beach house.  It is beautiful and white.  There are so many windows, it must get amazing natural light.  “I know.”  Mr Hemmings giggles.  “I like our new house Cal.”  “Same here, man.  I is so much better than the last one.  Even if it was in LA.”  “You lived in LA?”  I ask shocked.  I would never leave if I lived there.  “Yeah, we both went to uni over there.”  Mr Hemmings clarifies.  “That is so cool.  I love LA.”  “You have been?”  “Yeah, I went last year for a spring break.”  “By yourself?”  “Yeah, I know a couple people out there so it was fine.”  “That’s cool.”  Mr Hood says.  “Yeah, I never wanted to leave but I had to.”  “How come?”  Mr Hood asks.  “I needed to come back for school and my brother.  He is all I have now, so I don’t want to leave him.”  I explain to them and they nod.  “I really am sorry about prying before.”  Mr Hemmings says sympathetically from the backseat.  “It is fine.  I just- I really don’t like talking about it.”  I inform them and Mr Hemmings smiles at me. 

We turn into my house and I smile and thank them.  “Thank you so much for the ride.  You didn’t have to do this.”  “I know.  But it is my fault you stayed behind after.”  He shrugs.  “Well I had to suffer the consequences of… whatever I did.”  I giggle.  I turn to look at Mr Hemmings.  “Are you sitting in the front or staying back there?”  I ask with a smirk on my face.  “Just going to-”  “Sit in the front you ass.”  Mr Hood cuts him off and he lets out a loud sigh.  As he unbuckles his seatbelt and opens his door.  He comes round to stand beside me. 

“Okay.  Well, see you tomorrow Mr Hemmings.  And you too, sir.”  I smirk at Mr Hood.  “See you tomorrow Summer.”  Mr Hemmings chirps from beside me.  “On time please, Miss Thompson.”  Mr Hood groans from the front seat.  “Hmm, can’t make any promises.  I might be held back again.  But I can promise I won’t hit you in the face this time.”  I chuckle and he laughs.  “I should hope that was a one-time thing.”  “I am sure it will be.”  “And try and make a decision about the team!?”  He shouts as I start to walk away.  “Will do!”  I shout back as I walk to my door.  Mr Hemmings jumps into the front seat and by the time I am in the house they are still sitting out there talking, I think. 

The car ride was not as awkward as one would assume.  I learned somethings about my teachers and they did about me too.  I hope they don’t pity me or anything.  I don’t like to feel like a broken child, because I am not one.  Yes, my parents died, but I don’t need any special treatment for it.  I check my phone for the time and see I should be getting ready for tonight.  It is the back to school party.  Tom holds one after we start back for every semester.  It gets a bit tiring, but everyone seems to enjoy it.  I just hope that I don’t drink too much.  I do have school in the morning.