Almost Alice » l.h

1.7

Ross wasn't even in school and Luke had to leave at the beginning of photography to go to anger management classes. I didn't mind just hanging out with Calum but I knew he'd just bombard me with questions about what happened with Luke. The only reason he'd kept his mouth shut about it was because Amy was usually with me and told him to "shut the fuck up" or Luke was with me and told him to "mind your own damn business".

"So are you his girlfriend or not?" Calum groaned desperately.

I shook my head.

He looked at me with wide eyes. "You said no?! Fuck, Luke must've been-"

"I couldn't say no because he didn't ask." I told him calmly, taking the lens cap off my camera.

"So then what did happen?" Calum asked.

"He asked me on a date and I said yeah." I shrugged, eyeing him playfully. "Why are you so concerned about this? Do you actually have a crush on me?"

"You wish, Ackerman." he laughed, rolling his eyes. "No, I just feel invested in this since I'm now your best friend."

I rolled my eyes and laughed. "My best friend? Says who?"

"Says me since I'm the only one you told about your little Hannah Montana secret. And speaking of which, I wanna hang out today."

"Like, with me?" I asked, a little surprised by this.

He nodded. "I want to see what you're really like. I'll bring you and your sister home so you can get changed and then we can go to the mall or something. I just want to see what Alice is like. I'm curious."

"Well if you're expecting blue dresses and pot smoking caterpillars, you'll be very disappointed."

He shrugged. "I'd only assume you'd be like that since your name is Alice but-" he paused to sigh dramatically, "-whatever."

-

Calum waited in the living room with Amy while I went upstairs and changed. It was kind of weird actually wearing some of my own clothes for once because I'd gotten used to wearing my sister's grunge-looking clothes but I wasn't complaining that I could actually dress how I wanted.

I put on a pair of white lace high waist shorts and a dark blue crop top. I didn't really know what to wear for shoes so I just went with my white converse. I brushed my hair again and re-did my makeup to look more natural - I didn't really like the dark winged eyeliner all that much - and then went downstairs to see Calum.

"Wow," Calum smiled when he looked up and saw me coming down the stairs from the living room, "you look like one of the cheerleaders."

"Is that a good thing?" I asked.

He shrugged. "It's different. And you're still gorgeous so don't worry. But it's like I can actually see your real face now."

"What was wrong with her makeup before?" Amy quizzed, crossing her arms over her chest and raising her eyebrow.

"Nothing." he replied quickly, taking my arm and dragging me out the door. "C'mon Alice, time to go. Bye Amy! I'll have her back by when I feel like having her back!"

"My curfew is ten." I told him as we got in his car.

"Yeah yeah, don't worry, I'll have you home before ten." he promised, pulling out of the driveway.

I looked out the window and chewed on my lip. "Where are we going? I don't want anyone from school to-"

"I'm not dumb enough to hang out in town." Calum chuckled. "We're going to meet Mikey at this-"