Idiot Chat ➳ m.c

What I Like About You

»Ashlee«

"Tell me all the things I wanna hear."

"Ashlee Alyssa Irwin!"

I was just chilling by my locker talking to Michael about the physics of unicorn magic when an angry big brother came storming up to me. I saw Calum trailing behind Ashton like a little puppy dog.

"What do you want Ash?" I groaned as I already knew what he wanted.

Ashton looks at my hair in disbelief. "What the hell happened to your hair? And why didn't you go home last night?"

Oh gee, because I was at my supposedly gay friend's house? I rolled my eyes at Ashton, he fretted over me more than our parents. He should really get a new hobby or something.

Michael twirled a strand of my hair, although my brother was shooting daggers at him - Michael didn't seem to notice.

Ashton went red. "Michael, I swea—"

Michael dropped his hand quickly, "No Ashton, I swear if you don't give it all a fückíng rest then...then...then..." Michael was at a loss for words, he was panting from his outburst. He had this stubborn glare on his face — he wouldn't back down from Ashton. Not today at least.

"You know what? I can't deal with this right now." Ashton waved his hand in the air as if to prove a point or something. He wasn't proving much — in my eyes, at least. Michael scoffed as Ashton sauntered down the hallway. I wanted to laugh too, although I had no idea what had just happened between the four...well... Calum didn't do anything, so at least the three of us.

The raven-haired boy took a step backwards, his dark eyes slightly watered. "I should go with him." He turned sharply. Too sharply. Calum bumped into a girl. She fell to the ground and the book she had been reading skimmed across the tiled floor. Calum immediately dropped to his knees in an attempt to help the girl up. "I-I'm s-so sorry," he stuttered.

The girl didn't care much that she'd fallen. Her blonde curls bobbed as she scurried over to the book — ignoring Calum completely. My eyes rested on the book she almost cradled in her arms. It had a plain cover, the pages were creased here and there, and the scripture on the pale pages was handwritten and smudged in various places from tear stains. The girl turned on Calum after she was assured the book was alright.

Her green eyes glared at Calum in anger. "Watch where you're going, Hood!" She rose from the ground. When she stood up against Calum, she looked really small. The girl was just over half of Calum's height. Her petite figure and fine skin contrasted Calum's easily, making both of them look out of place.

"I'm r-really sorry." Calum continued to be nervous around the small girl.

She just glared at Calum and proceeded down the hallway. A large sigh escaped Calum's lips. Michael swung his arm around Calum's shoulder; trying to assure him it was okay.

Calum shook Michael's arm off. "Michael, do you know who that was?!"

Michael shook his head, "no."

"My life is over." Calum ran a hand through his hair in vexation. "That was Beth Tyler."

* * *

"So the square root of sixteen is what?" The teacher asked from the front of the room.

The equation was set clearly on the board. Nobody dared to answer, most of the class probably hadn't been paying attention. Besides Noah, who sat in the back corner. His desk was full of notes, and his dark-rimmed glasses were pushed all the way up his nose. I watched as Noah quickly wrote down the formula and probably the answer— working through the equation in a matter of seconds.

"Michael, could you tell us the answer please?" The teacher; Mr Robinson, muffled through his greying moustache.

Michael's page — on the desk next to mine — was full of scribbles and numbers everywhere. It wasn't set out, as he couldn't understand the formula. Michael groaned as he started to write the number sixteen, then a two. He'd got lost by the time Mr Robinson cleared his throat.

It was hard, watching my best friend struggle through the math. Michael swore every day that if he ever had the chance to leave schoo,l he would take it without a thought.

"Michael, the answer, please?" Mr Robinson prodded for an answer.

4, it's four Mikey. Like the members of One Direction. It was their latest album, come on, Mike.

Mr Robinson laughed as Michael still hadn't given him an answer in over three minutes. "Don't tell me all that hair dye has soaked into your brain."

Michael went red as the class erupted in laughter, all except the back corner, full of the kids who cared for their work and were too shy to speak out or join in.

Michael pushed himself out of his seat and threw his notes over the floor. He then proceeded to storm out of the classroom. The room was silent as everyone stared at the door in shock. Nobody had seen that coming except me. I could tell when he was getting sick of things.

I bent down and shuffled Michael's notes together. I stuffed them in his bag quickly before running out after Mike. I didn't care if my classmates watched me as I followed Michael out the door. I was truly just worried about my boyf— best friend.

I caught up to him just outside the cafeteria. Michael was turned to face the lockers, his head resting against the white wall of metal. His face was scrunched up in anger and mental agony.

He slammed his fist against the lockers, causing a large bang from the rattling metal. "Why must I be so freaking stupid?!" His yells echoed down the hallway.

I dropped his bag and mine to the floor and hugged his back. I placed my right hand over his fist so he wouldn't hit the lockers again. "You're not stupid, Michael, you just need to work harder than some people to understand things."

"Exactly. That means I'm stupid."

I placed my head between his shoulder blades, we stood there completely still in the empty hallway. "You can still sing better than anyone in that room. Michael, everyone is good at different things. You're amazing." I reached up and kissed the back of Michael's hair, as it was the only safe spot I could reach to assure him.

Michael's breath hitched as he turned to face me. I let go of his fist. His face softened, and his fists were released. "Thanks, Lee." He smiled softly. His green eyes glinted. I liked how his left eye was half blue, which hardly anyone noticed, but I could see it easily.

The bell rang, causing students to flood the hallways. I pulled away from Michael so we weren't touching any longer. Michael's face dropped, so I rubbed his hand. The skin had split on his knuckles from the force he'd put into hitting the locker.

His hand curled around mine. "Let's go get some pizza, yeah?"

I nodded at him, smiling wide as we grabbed our bags and headed into the cafeteria.

[x]