Fragile Bird 》5SOS AU

four

CALUM

Maths and European History were not subjects I wanted to start the day off with.

Thankfully we had Chemistry next and I was hoping I had a decent lab partner this year cause last semester, my partner didn't pay attention and we nearly died.

Okay so maybe I'm overreacting but my partner wasn't paying attention and added the wrong chemical to our beaker and it exploded and there was purple foam all over the place.

"Calum!" I heard a familiar voice call as I walked into the lab. It was Luke.

"Hey Luke." I sat beside him and Della sat across from me. He smiled and then looked at Della before quieting down.

"Oh yeah, Luke this is Della, my sister. Della this is Luke." I introduced the two and they both smiled slightly and waved. I chuckled at their shyness and took out my textbook.

"Welcome back everyone. Good summers I hope." Mr. Gibson greeted the class and pulled out a sheet of paper. "I've assigned your lab partners so when I call your names, move to a table and go through the syllabus together. Jenna Logan and Sara Reece."

I waited patiently for my name to be called but I couldn't help but notice the scared looks on Luke and Della's faces. I sighed and hope they each got someone good.

"Alex Gaskarth and Niall Horan, Tay Jardine and Ashton Irwin, Luke Hemmings and Calum Hood." I let out a sigh of relief and heard Luke do the same. The two of us have worked on many projects together so we'll be fine.

"Jack Barakat and Louis Tomlinson. Don't make me regret this boys. And last but not least Adelina Hood and..."

Mr. Gibson didn't get to finish his sentence cause the door swung open and a dyed blue haired boy walked in. I smiled and gave a small wave. "Ah, Mr. Clifford. Lovely of you to finally join us. Miss Hood, this is your lab partner, Michael Clifford."

Michael shuffled over to the bench Della was sitting alone at seeing as everyone had moved seats. I could see it in her body language she was uncomfortable, most likely from the teacher calling her out.

Michael sat down and smiled at her as Mr. Gibson started organizing papers and stacking them on his lab table at the front of the room.

Della smiled shyly back and before I could continue watching the interaction between the two, Luke poked me. "Oh yeah sorry." I said and turned back towards him to go over our paper.

DELLA

Michael was cute and I liked his hair.

He sat down beside me and took his textbook out of his bag. Then he turned to me and smiled.

"So, you're Adelina Hood. Cal's new sister. He didn't mention you were so pretty." Smooth, Mr. Clifford, smooth. I felt my cheeks heat up slightly and I just bit my lip.

"It's Della for short." I said as I preferred the nickname. Michael had a thoughtful look on his face before nodding.

"Okay, Della. Let's go through the syllabus." He said and moved the sheet in between so we could both read it.

As I read about the lab rules and safety precautions, I felt Michael's body heat radiating off of him and I felt a little warmer in the air conditioned lab.

"How is your first day going? I heard a lot of people talking about you, the new girl." Michael asked quietly but kept his eyes trained on the sheet. I shrugged.

"Better than I expected. What have you heard?" I questioned and drummed my fingers on my thigh out of nervousness. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Michael's lips turn upwards. "Just people talking about how you're Calum's sister and how pretty you are. Nothing bad really except for a few jealous girls. But it seems you have the attention of nearly everyone in our year."

"Oh." Was all I could say. I didn't know how to feel about people talking about me. I continued drumming my fingers until a warm hand stopped me.

I finally looked at Michael. He didn't let go of my hand and just settled it on my thigh and kept his eyes on the syllabus.

"You're a lot like Luke. He has anxiety and he does the same thing when he's nervous. Sometimes Ashton jokes that he should've been our drummer. You don't have to be nervous around me Della." He explained and squeezed my hand lightly before quieting down again.

His words seemed to calm me down somehow and I could feel the blood rise to me cheeks again as we continued reading for the rest of the class.

Michael didn't let go of my hand, even when Mr. Gibson came around the classroom to hand out worksheets. Instead he caressed the back of my hand with his thumb.

I could barely concentrate and I knew this class would be hell for me.

Damn you Michael Clifford.

-

I dropped chemistry in high school but I would gladly take it if it meant hand holding with Mikey. :)

Anyways, what do you think? Comments are welcome.

-Cristina