Sell Me Out (a 5SOS Fanfic)

14: Skipping Class and Family Issues

ZOE'S POV
"A surd, is an irrational number whose square root is not an exact value." Mr Berry's voice boomed from his place at the front of the class room. "Can anyone give me an example?" He asked as his bright eyes scanned the now extremely quiet room. "Zoe? How about you?"
I can't believe we have to study surds. Again. I mean we did this last year, we know what we're doing!
But nevertheless, I responded. "The square roots of 2, 3, and 5 are surds, but the square root of 4 is not." I answered, trying to sound cheerful.
"Perfect! Thank you Zoe!" Mr Berry beamed, "Now can anyone tell me-" And that's when I zoned out.
I know, I know, Zoe Greene: perfect student, doesn't disrespect teachers, pays attention in class, actually does homework, bla bla bla.
Well you know what? Who cares? Who gives a flying rats ass how good of a person I am? Apparently no one, because if they did, they would've noticed the more than slight decline in my attention span, more than slight decline in my completed homework, and of course, who could forget, my sudden hatred for school.
But no. They just keep saying 'it's been a month', 'she's in a better place', 'you've got to let her go'.
Yeah, well I call bullshit.
A month is nothing compared to the lifetime she could've had.
Nothing compared to the life I have to live without her.
The life we have to live without her.
That's not even the whole problem.
It's my dad.
He's been in and out over this past month but I haven't seen him properly in 2 weeks. Since the week after the funeral.
I don't think him and my mum have even spoken since, heck! I'm not even slightly sure when they last spoke!
She says he's away for work, and so does he, but something feels, off, about the whole situation.
But, I guess I'll have to figure that out later, since the middle of math probably isn't the best time.
Deciding that I needed a break to sort out a few things, I raised my hand.
"Yes Zoe?" Mr Berry asked, turning his attention to me.
I cleared my throat a little, "May I please go to the bathroom?" I asked, quieter than I expected.
"Of course." He says with a nod, before turning back to the board to continue with the lesson.
I scooped my phone up off the desk and put it in the back pocket of my jeans, an headed out the door.
Just before I closed it, I saw Calum give me a worried look from his seat at the back of the room. I shot him a reassuring glance before closing the door.
***
CALUM'S POV
Zoe didn't come back til just before the bell went, meaning she was "at the bathroom" for 15 minutes.
The whole class began packing their things away as the bell rang.
To be honest, I'm not exactly good at reading emotions, but even I could tell that Zoe wasn't ok.
Michael nudged my shoulder as I picked up my bag and put my phone in my pocket.
"I'll uh, see you at the table in a few minutes I guess." He said quietly.
I looked at him confused so he tilted his head in Zoe's direction, telling me that I should go talk to her. "Oh! Right, yeah ok." I muttered quickly before walking over to Zoe.
She looked up and saw me when she put her bag on her back.
"Oh hey Cal!" She smiled, walking out of the classroom. When we got outside she stopped and turned towards me at the top of the stairs, "Is everything ok Calum?"
"Me?" I asked surprised, she nodded, "Yes I'm great, I was actually going to ask you the same thing." I replied, raising my eyebrows.
She shuffled awkwardly on the spot and played with the hem of her shirt before looking back up at me with her beautiful hazel eyes. I stepped towards her and held her hands in mine.
"Zoe? Are you ok?" She dropped her gaze a little, and let out a sigh.
"I'm alright, just having a few family, uh, problems." She admitted, "But everyone has those so it's all good. Right?" She looked up at me for reassurance.
I nodded, "Yeah, every family has it's ups and downs, I'm sure it will work itself out with time." I told her.
"Oh thank god! I thought everything was going to hell, but I guess not." And suddenly there was a smile on her face, "Alright, I'm hungry let's go to lunch." She let go of one of my hands and dragged me down the stairs to our table.
I spent the whole break talking and eating, but at the back of my mind was the worry that Zoe's family problems were more serious than she was letting show. But, if she didn't want to tell anyone, that's her choice, and I can't force her hand.
***
ZOE'S POV
"Bye Zoe! I'll see you tomorrow!"
I spun around to give a wave and a quick 'see ya later' back.
I could swear I could feel someone right behind me so I turned back around to see Bree and Jade standing there.
"Hey guys, how was science?" I ask, making conversation.
Jade sighs in exhaustion and defeat, while Bree let's out a groan of disgust, "I don't know why we're still revising the same shit!" She complains.
Jade and I simply shrug.
"Is she in your science class?" Jade asks.
I look around confused for a bit.
"Who? Oh Jess, yeah. Is she still dating Jackson?" I move the conversation onto a new topic.
"Yup, as far as I know." Bree responds.
I just nod, and we've arrived at my bus stop out the front of the school.
"This is where I leave you." I say extremely dramatically, with my hand over my heart and everything!
"Farewell my beloved." Jade says while walking to her bus, reaching her hand out jokingly towards Bree and I. And that's when we all lose our shit.
"No but seriously I have to go, my bus is about to leave." Jade says.
"Bye Jade!" The two of us say before her head disappears in the crowd of students.
"Zoe, uh Calum came to talk to me after lunch..."
Uh oh here we go...
"And he said that you were havering a few, um, family problems. So I'm just asking you now, is there anything you want to talk about?"
Dammit Calum! The last thing I need is Bree worrying about me too much.
I look down at my red converse quickly before looking back up at my best friend, "Nope, everything is all good, I'm sure it will blow over soon enough." I brush it off, trying to convince myself more than anyone else.
"Alright, as long as you're ok." She replies, "That's your bus, I'll see you tomorrow, call me if you need anything. See ya Zoe!"
"Bye Bree!" And I hop on my bus for the 5 minute trip, with no one to annoy me and-
Shit.
Tyler.
***
Strangely enough, Tyler didn't bother me, he just sat up the back with the seniors, because he's sooooo cool. Ugh.
Today wasn't too bad actually. I mean, I got a bit upset in Math but I just 'went to the bathroom', in other words I went and sat on the back oval and read a book on Wattpad. I was only gone for 20 minutes, and Mr Berry is nice and would totally understand that I'm having slight family issues.
But, they might be fixed now!
I walk around the corner so that my house is in sight, and my dad's car is in the driveway!
I start speedwalking, not caring if I look like an idiot.
When I get to the start of the driveway I start running, which -trust me- is not something I enjoy doing.
I'm a metre away from the door when I hear voices on the other side.
"You can't just come waltzing in here whenever you bloody well please!"
No. No no no no no no no!
"Rach just listen to me please-" My dad's voice was cut off by my mums,
"No Tom! I've had enough!" I could hear her crying in-between words, "You're hardly home, we have a daughter to take care of for gods sake! You always get back from work late, drinking with the boys, working overtime, I don't care why! I want to know before you get home at midnight!" She paused to take a breath.
"Rachael please-" My dad took his chance but it was stolen back again.
"Tom! No. Just, stop. Please." She fought back, sounding defeated.
"I love you." Was all my dad said before I heard him walking towards the door. So I did the only thing I could think of.
Run.
***
I only ran for about 5 minutes, so I was a few blocks away from my place. I called Bree and asked what she was doing, trying to hide the disappointment in my voice when she said she had to go out to dinner for her grandmothers birthday. Of course she said she could stay home but since she hardly ever sees her grandparents, I let her go.
My next idea was to text Jade.

Hey Atkins... Are you doing anything...?

Since I thought I'd be texting her for a while, I sat down on the edge of the footpath.

DING DING

1 New Message
Jade: Hey Zoe! Yeah I'm at Luke's place, why what's up? Is this about what Calum told me today???

Seriously?! Did he tell the whole world?!

He told you that...? Well, yes it's about that... My parents had a fight before I got home but I heard it and freaked...

And wait for another reply.
My phone buzzed and a notification came up.

Jade: Oh my god Zoe are you ok?! I can come by you place if you want and we can talk or something?

'No that's not right Zoe, you can't just summon your friends whenever you want.' I tell myself.

No I'm not at my place... I left when I heard my dad heading towards the door... And no it's ok, I think I'll go back...

I got more worried ok's, are you sure's, and stuff that that but eventually I was off the ground and walking. But not to my house.
***
I knocked on the door three times and waited for an answer.
When it opened, it revealed a girl about my height, dark skin, dark brown hair just past her shoulders, and I knew immediately who it must be.
"Hi, uh, you're Mali right?" I asked somewhat awkwardly.
She nodded and smiled at me warmly, "Yes I am! And you must be Zoe? I picked my brother up from lunch the other day and he wouldn't shut up about you." She giggled, probably trying to embarrass Calum. "Actually, I was asking questions and he was telling me to shut up, but, same thing!"
I actually found myself laughing, despite my current mood.
"Sorry I'm blabbing, I'll get Calum for you, come on in." She welcomed me into the front hall.
She walked over to the stairs on the right hand side of the hallway.
"Calum! Someone's here to see you!" She yelled up the stairs.
There was a faint, 'Be down in a sec' as a reply and Mali came back to stand with me, "I'm sorry, I don't mean to sound rude, but are you alright?" She asked me.
I just kind of nodded and told her that I was having some family dramas, and she left the conversation at that, probably because there were footsteps coming down the stairs.
"Mali who is i-" He stopped halfway down the stairs and gave me a questioning look, and he knows why I'm here, "Zoe, hey. Are you ok?" He ran down the rest of the stairs and starting walking towards Mali and I.
"I'll leave you guys for a bit..." And Mali was off down the hallway to some room that was unknown to me.
It wasn't until then that I realised how long I'd been trying not to cry, I stepped forward and rested my head on Calum's shoulder and soon his arms were around me making me feel safe. I tried to stop crying but it wasn't working, they just kept pouring from me and onto Calum's grey t-shirt.
I giggled a bit, "Sorry, I've ruined your shirt... There's mascara on it..."
I heard him laugh too, "It's ok, it's a pyjama shirt, it's got a spaghetti stain on it somewhere..." He trailed off, making me laugh more.
"How about we ask my parents if we can heat up a pizza, get some drinks, and go to my room and watch the best show in the entire world?" He asked, stepping out of our hug but keeping a hold of my hand.
"Sounds good."
So he introduced me to his parents, we heated up a pizza, got some soft drink, briefly talked about what happened with my parents, and had a Supernatural marathon until it was around about 10 o'clock.
"I should probably be going home... I reeeeeeally don't want to but if I don't tell my mum where I am she'll think I'm dead..."
I'd texted earlier telling her I was at Calum's house for math tutoring, but there was no way she'd let me stay the night.
I checked my phone and saw I had a message.
From my mum.

Hi sweetie, no one will be home tonight, so if you want to stay at a friends place you can. Love you xxx

Oops, she sent that 2 hours ago.
I sent a short message basically saying sure I'll stay at a friends place, Calum went and asked his mum, and so with Mali's help, we set up a bunch of pillows in the loungeroom, and watched another episode of supernatural, before we fell asleep on the blow up mattress surrounded by a billion pillows.
***
A/N
Sup bitches!
Sorry that I haven't updated for you guys in a while, I am legit the laziest person to ever sleep on this earth (Coz I don't really do much else).
Well that's it really...

Carry on my wayward noodles
-Tess xxx