Just Saying

C H A P T E R 3

Mikhaela's Point of View

Maths went by rather slowly, if you ask me. So did my second period. English. But I am glad that today is the first day of school 'cause the teachers didn't hand out any homework.

Now here I am, sat in my Arts class waiting for lunch to arrive. I stare at the wall clock.

11:58, it read.

In two minutes tops, the bell rings. The teacher dismisses us. I stood up from my seat, slowly keeping my things. I hiked my bag on my shoulder and took a look around. I was one of the last people in the classroom.

I shrugged to myself and made a beeline for the exit. I took a step outside and saw Tommy leaning against the wall, arms crossed. His lips stretching into a smile when he sees me. He straightens his posture and throws a small wave.

"Give me that," He says, grabbing my bag then slinging it on his shoulder. I roll my eyes playfully.

He cocks his head to the direction of the cafeteria as if to say let's get going.

We walk towards the destination side by side. His arm around my shoulders, pushing me towards him. My arms encircling his waist.

We continued our walk in those positions, not minding the odd stares people were shooting us. We reached the cafeteria, almost immediately an arm shoots up and signals us to approach them. - it was my brother and his mates.

We went over to them. I sat on the vacant seat beside an asian-looking guy - Calum - while Tommy sat in front of me, beside the bandana-wearing one - Ashton.

"Hey Mik. Thomas." Ashton greets, his dimples popping out. I grinned back while Tommy gives a curt nod.

He turns to me and says,

"I'm gonna get us some lunch. Pizza and a soda, yeah?" I smile widely at him whilst nodding. He scrunches up his nose and gives mine a tap before leaving.

He always does that when he leaves. It's like his way of saying 'I'll be right back' or 'I'll see you soon'. He started doing it when we were in third grade.

We were just hanging around his treehouse back in London, where our other friend, Will, resides. We were a trio in the early days but on a particular friday, Will and his family moved to Bradford. The reason why is still unknown to both of us until now, actually. Since he wasn't around anymore, it was just the two of us. We didn't think of replacing Will because of this small bit of hope that he'll come back one day. Because of that, Tommy and I grew considerably closer. It started out as us giving each other nicknames. Mickey is what he calls me since my name is Mikhaela and it also sounds like my brother's alias, Mikey. I, on the other hand, call him Tommy. We're the only ones who call each other by our nicknames. People mostly call me Mik, and they call Thomas, Tom, which makes the whole nickname thing special.

Then after the nicknames came the secret gestures. He'd peck my forehead as his version of 'I love you' - Not in that way, though - while hugging him after he does that is my version of 'I love you too' . Another gesture that we use is poking our tongue out when we find something funny. Another is when we boop each others nose as our way of saying 'goodbye' or 'I'll see you later'. We have lots more but mostly use those three.

Whack.

I snap back to reality, grabbing spot where I was suddenly hit. I turn to face the culprit and gave him a hard glare.

"What the actual heck was that, Michael?" He shrugs, taking another bite of his pizza.

"You've been staring at Tommy for a full minute now, so I had to do what I had to do." Luke snickers, while Calum makes kissy noises.

I roll my eyes at the two idiots.

"Tommy and Mickey sitting on a tree, K-I-"

"Don't call us that," I cut Ashton's chanting. He gives me an odd look as if asking why.

"It's only used between Tommy and I," I mutter, a blush suddenly creeping its way up my cheeks. As quickly it appeared, it went away.

Either they hadn't noticed or they got tired, the teasing vibe vanishes as if it wasn't there.

Then Michael speaks up,

"Ryder was here this morning." A few profanities were exchanged between the four aussies.

"Ugh, why was the doüchebag here?" Calum asked, disgust clearly on his features. Then all of a sudden the whole table erupts into a gossip fit.

I groan, resting my head on the table.

"What's all the ruckus about?" Tommy speaks up. My head snaps back instantly as if it was an instinct.

"Was that reflex?" Luke asks so softly it was barely audible.

Tommy sits on his seat, placing the tray in between us. As if on cue, the four aussies went back to their normal selves. Their topic on a game of footie.

"They had no more regular pizza so I just picked out a couple of pizza rolls." He hands me one then pops another in his mouth. I bite into mine, nibbling a bit here and there.

"So, what was all the noise about before I came?" He asks, leaning forward then resting his face on his palm which was resting rather nicely on the table.

"Well, Michael brought up the Ryder incident then suddenly the four blokes broke into a gossiping fit." I summed up, leaving the part where they teased me.

He raises a brow, a smirk finding it's way on his face.

"Bloke?"

"Oh shut up. It's not my fault I had two Brit friends. One being annoying as heck and the other being a total sweetheart." I state, poking his right cheek.

"Yeah, Will could be an annoying bum sometimes." I stifle a laugh.

"The annoying one was you actually, but that's not my business." I shrugged, popping another pizza roll in my mouth.

He rolls his eyes,

"You've always been a bad liar but your sarcasm makes up for it. Maybe it was a bad idea introducing you Ki Hong." He mutters the last part to himself.

Ki Hong was and is still one of our dearest friends. He is a bit older than the three of us but he's a pretty cool guy. And to be honest, his sarcasm is on point - and maybe it rubbed off on me, who knows. He's currently back in South Korea studying college. At least that's what Tommy told me. Other than Will and Thomas, Ki Hong was also a close friend of mine. We were close enough that he taught me a few Korean terms like hyung which is used by guys to address older guys. Oppa which is used by girls to address older guys. Saranghae which means I love you. And Annyeong which is hello.

When I learned those terms, I started calling Ki Hong, oppa. Hyung on certain occassions. Don't judge me.

"Hey! Don't say things like that about oppa." I tsk'd, shaking my head in fake disappointment.

He chuckles, grabbing another pizza roll.

"But on a more serious note -" He stops to bite into his pizza roll.

"- you're boyfriend's a d!ck. Just saying."

--
And there we have Ki Hong, Will, Calvin and Daddy :)