Close As Strangers // Calum Hood

Chapter 15 - Bad influence

Calum's Point of View
-One month later-

The tour had put it's tracks on me, I was tired almost all the time. But just a little less than three weeks left and then we have the Australian leg of the tour and then I can sleep all day. I mean, I don't have an Ivy to come home to anymore, so I might as well sleep off the jet lag a couple of days when I come home.

I was just about to fall asleep when my phone rang. I rubbed my eyes with my thumb and index finger and looked at my phone. I didn't recognize the number on the display but I answered anyway.

"It's Calum."

A girl's voice answered on the other end. "Oh, hi. It's Leah, Ivy's best friend."

"Hi Leah." I said slowly. I didn't know Leah too well but I've met her plenty of times together with Ivy. They are like peanut butter and jelly, always together.

"I'm sorry if I woke you up or something. I'm not really sure of where you are and I'm not too good at all the time zones either." She laughed nervously.

I sat up in the bed. "I was just about to fall asleep but it's okay. What do you want to talk about?"

"It's Ivy..." She sighed. "I'm worried about her."

When she said those wors, worried about her, something inside me kicked in. My heart started to hurt and suddenly I felt a bit sweaty. What had happened to her, was my first thought.

"What have happened?" I said between clenched teeth. I had to restrain myself so I wouldn't scream it out loud.

"I don't really know. Or, she is very weird."

"Wait what?" I was very confused by what Leah was saying. "Is something wrong or not?"

"Something is definitely wrong but I don't really know what  it is." She sighed. "I suck at explainations. But here's the thing, the guy Ivy met on her birthday..."

The guy she cheated on me with. I clenched my teeth together even more. It felt as if tiny, tiny needles pierced through my heart when Leah mentioned it.

"...his name is Theo and after that night she didn't see him until two weeks later right before her art exhibition was going to open. I thought that nothing was wrong with that but then the last month she has just been really weird." She took a brake to take a deep breath.

"At first she was just gone a few weekends and I couldn't get a hold of her on the phone. Then she couldn't drive me to school as much anymore. And now she has started to skip classes in school. It's like now when her art exhibition is done and have opened and because the school holiday is coming up, that she doesn't care anymore. And the first few weekends she was always unnaturally happy and always had so much energy but now she's just constantly tired like she always would have a hangover." I could hear her swallow.

"Calum... I think Ivy's doing drugs."

I gasped. "Ivy... doing drugs? No, it can't be. She wouldn't do that."

"She hasn't exactly been herself since you left. So yeah, I actually think she could do that." Now I heard that Leah was crying. "I'm just so worried about her and I don't know what to do or say to her."

"Wow, Leah, take it easy. I understand that you are worried about her but right now I think you're the only one who can help her. Even though I would call her and try to help, I'm pretty sure that she wouldn't answer me." I ran my hand through my tousled hair. "It's you or Savannah and if I'll be totally honest, I don't think her mom would care so much. And Ivy would definitely not listen to her."

There was a pause on the other end, like if Leah was nodding. "You're right. Sorry if I bothered you, I just needed someone to talk to about this." I could still hear her crying.

"It's okay Leah, you didn't bother me." Then she hung up.

I put away my phone and fell back down on the bed. I was going to kick that dude's ass when I come home. My jaw was hurting because I had been pressing my teeth together so hard.

Even though I was very tired, I had trouble falling asleep. The only thing I could think about was Ivy. My Ivy. Please don't do anything stupid.

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Ivy's Point of View

Leah was waiting for me by my car when I exited my house.

"I noticed that you skipped your art lesson this afternoon and the english lesson... again. What the hell is up with you!?" Leah made some wide hand gestures when I approached her.

I patted her shoulder. "Relax Leah. It's my life and I do whatever I want with it." Leah had been a real pain in the ass the last weeks, always 'looking out for me.' It seems like she hasn't realized that I can take care of myself.
"Don't you, relax me!" She almost shouted at me.

"God, you don't have to be such a pussy about everything." I rolled my eyes.

"Sorry if I'm worried about you." I saw tears in her eyes.

"Well you don't have to be, cause I'm perfectly fine." I pushed myself past Leah and slid into the car's drivers seat. I turned on the engine and backed out on the road but I managed to turn a little too much because I crashed into something. I looked behind the car and saw that I had drove into our garbage can. The only thing on my mind was who cares, before I gassed away from my house while Leah just stood and stared after me with a surprised face expression.

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Author's note:

I'm bored so I'm uploading a chapter today as well. Wow, so many filler chapters in a row xD but this was also an important one.

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR READING, IT MEANS REALLY MUCH TO ME! Don't forget to vote or comment something nice if you like what I'm writing! xoxo