The game | Calum Hood

Explanations, Phone Calls and Confessions

"Come in." I mumbled, fixing my hair as I heard a knock on my door. "Hey Cal." I forced a smile, but it dropped when I saw his face.

"Hi Riley." He squeaked, his voice cracking and quiet. His eyes met mine and my heart sunk. The charming flirty guy had gone, and a small timid boy was left in his shell.

"Riley, it wasn't my fault." Suddenly, I saw tears rolling down his cheeks as he walked towards me. I opened my arms and let him fall into them and he dug his head into my neck.

"What wasn't Cal?" I mumbled into his head, rubbing my hands through his soft hair.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He nodded his head and sat down with me on the bed, lifting his head from my neck revealing his red puffy eyes.

"I swear it wasn't my fault Riley, but they won't believe me." He whispered, his voice weak.

"Hey Cal," I cooed, pulling him towards me. "It's ok, start from the beginning, tell me what happened."

"They sent me a scholarship Riley, they said that I was the best player that they had seen in years. I was ecstatic, going to that academy was a dream come true."

"The football one?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?" He asked, confused.

"Word got around. Anyway, you got a scholarship..."

"Yeah, and it was going great. I met this guy Ashton, and we became great friends, and he was friends with the guy I shared a dorm with, Noah. But I wasn't used to not being able to pick my friends, usually I could pick because everyone wanted to be friends with me, but there, I was just the same as everyone else. Actually, people became quite jealous, which made it even harder. So I had to be friends with whoever would be friends with me and they were my best bet. But then, they started going out every night, and I don't know what it was that they kept bringing back."

His voice began to faulter, his eyes dropped. "I told them to get rid of it, and they assured me that they would, but it just kept coming, until one day we had a surprise dorm inspection. We both got suspended and questioned, but Noah blamed it all on me. And Noah's dad was the vice principal so they believed him, and I got expelled."

"That's why you're back." I muttered, it all becoming clear.

"That's why I'm back." He confirmed, nodding his head. "The rest of my stuff arrived this morning."

"Oh Cal, I'm sorry." I tried to soothe the upset boy, but he was almost inconsolable. "I didn't realise."

"It's ok, I didn't think it would affect me this much, but this morning was almost unbearable. Mum and dad refuse to speak to me, they believe the school, and it's totally ruined any dreams I ever had of being a professional. I dropped out of school for that academy, now I have nothing. No full time education, a wasted year of my life, and I'm back where I started. Nobody will want me now."

"I want you cal." I blurted out, before ever thinking. "I'll always have a place for you."

"I know Riley, you're too good for me." Calum spoke softly. "Hey, you asked me to come over, what did you want to see me for?"
"
Oh it doesn't matter that much anymore," I sighed, standing up and glaring at the piece of paper in the bin.

Calum stood up behind me and spun me around, tilting my head up with his finger. "It does matter, clearly," he smiled, "you listened to me, I'll listen to you."

"My dad came back yesterday, that's why I ran off to Michael's."

"Your dad?"

"Yeah, my parents met at school, and fell apparently in love. My dad got my mum pregnant, and was pretty hands on during the pregnancy, but mum found out just after I was born that he had been cheating on her with a girl from work. They were only 19 and I guess my mum didn't want to take him back. I can't say I would either. He disappeared and nobody heard from him or his new girlfriend, it was like he had disappeared from the Earth. Then, when I was 14, he came back, but I went and lived with Karen, Michael and Daryl for about a year and only saw mum when he wasn't with her. He did his old trick and got mum pregnant again, then left before the twins were born. Mum refused his money, but then she began to drink and bring random men home once the twins were born. My aunt Karen came to live with us, and Michael came most of the time too, which is why we are so close, he's more like a brother. Then mum drank less, and Karen needed to focus on her family, so she left us again, but money became tight. I graduated from high school and took a full time place at the sport shop, mum lost her job and we were living off basically nothing. Then yesterday, I came home to find my mum and the blonde haired guy sitting at the table, and I spun on my heels and left, then mum told me this morning that they wanted my blessing to become a couple again. She told me that they weren't going to rush anything, but that my dad wanted to see me. He left me his number because apparently he had his reasons for doing what he did. Mum wants me to do it for her, but I don't think I can see him Calum, he means nothing to me."