WRONG NUMBER / CH

chptr 2

"Oi, Calum. Wake up." Luke's voice early in the morning was an irritating and unwelcome sound for Calum, who barely had sleep. He had spent the night tossing and turning and just thinking about this stupid Leia girl. Damn her and her sad words.

Luke jumped on his bed, causing the mattress to sink with his weight and disturb Calum's sleep. Dick, he thought inwardly. Luke slapped his arm a bit too hard. Calum groaned which, roughly translated from sleep language, meant fuck off you prick.

"Dude. Your phone's been buzzing like crazy," Luke observed. Calum's eyes flew open and he sat up almost immediately, catching Luke's hand reaching for his phone. The blonde boy blinked at him and frowned. "Whoa. What was that all about? Who's textin' you?"

Calum didn't reply. Instead he shook his head and waved Luke off, swiping the screen and seeing almost ten messages sitting in his inbox. This girl was crazy.

Luke craned his neck to get a glimpse of this mystery texter, but Calum stood up and began stretching. He shooed Luke away, telling his friend that he needed to change.

"Is it a girl?" Luke was clearly interested in the prospect of Calum hiding something from him, which meant he was embarrassed. As a best friend, he felt it was his duty to mock him about humiliating things.

"Fuck off, Luke." Calum shut the door on his face and leaned his back against the door, scrolling through the flood of messages.

from: unknown number
couldnt really sleep

from: unknown number
i was thinking all night

from: unknown number
that you hadnt replied yet

from: unknown number
so i asked myself why i even bother trying when u obviously dont want anything to do with me anymore

He almost sighed in relief. This girl better had realized that what she was doing was useless. He didn't want to have to deal with telling her the shameful truth and having her blabbing her apologies pathetically. It would be painful to watch. He waited patiently for the next texts.

from: unknown number
but u know something?

from: unknown number
i guess it gives me comfort that ur not completely out of my life yet

from: unknown number
im sorry if im being annoying

from: unknown number
but im hanging on a thread here

from: unknown number
i miss you so much.

from: unknown number
its ok that u wont reply

from: unknown number
just want u to know

from: unknown number
i'll always be waiting for you.

At that point Calum wasn't sure that he could even handle how bad he was feeling for this girl. He knew it was wrong that he was giving her false hope, but he couldn't bear the thought of crushing someone's day by telling them the only person they care about is probably gone forever. He thought about his choices:
A) I tell her that she has the wrong number.
That would probably end in indadvertedly taking a girl's hope and smashing it into pieces in front of her. Plus, a lot of really depressing apologies by the looks of it. No, he didn't need heavier things to think about.

But then there was B) Just don't reply.
It was cruel, yes, but he didn't want to go through talking to some stranger about her messed up personal life. That might seem really insensitive, but frankly he didn't give a damn. Allow this girl to dream a little bit, what's the worse that could happen?

He could also block the number, or maybe just change his, but that was too much work. Besides, he couldn't deny the curiosity he had for this Leia girl. How old was she? Who was Anna? Her sister? Her best friend? Her girlfriend?

Another text popped up, distracting him from his thoughts.

from: unknown number
gotta go to school. bye. high school sucks balls.

Ah. So she's around the same age as me. Calum pocketed his phone and hoped he was making the right decision.