Alphabet Boy • cth

1

"Always aiming paper airplanes at me when you're around."

K A T E

I had a love/hate relationship with school.

I hated that there were nerds, freaks, the popular group, the group everyone hated, the semi-decent people, the asians, the fuckboys and the athletes. I just hated how everyone had labels over them and treated their label so sacredly as if it were their birth name.

I was a good girl and a teacher's pet, which meant I also loved school. I got good grades, I made it into all the highest classes and knew that I could get into a good university. I guess you could classify me as one of the nerds - but there was a difference.

Whilst the nerds spent their Friday evenings on Skype, comparing minecraft servers and giving each other math problems (I've participated a few times), I usually join in with everyone else on their weekends, going to parties, getting smashed and well - having sex. I liked my lifestyle, in fact I loved it.

The thing that bothers me is that no one really knows this, except the other girls and boys who do the same thing as me. The nerds think I'm popular and the popular people think I'm a nerd. There's no winning.

So, it was a Wednesday today - two more days until I could unleash - and I was sitting in childcare class, frantically scribbling notes into the bottom of my book. Most of the people in the class at the moment were girls, while most of the boys were taking woodwork classes, although there were about six boys spread around the room. It was a seating arrangement.

My glasses kept sliding down my nose as I wrote in the bottom of my book and it was pissing me off, so I took them off and decided to go blurry for a while. "Kate." I ignored the person behind me who said my name and continued writing. I'm at school. School isn't meant to be fun. School is a place for learning.

"Kate," they hissed again. I dropped my pen and whipped around to glare at the person behind me, narrowing my eyes when I saw Calum Hood. He was just like me. Nerd by day and the biggest fuckboy you'd ever meet by night. He smiled at me when I turned around, but I didn't change my pissed off expression before I turned back around to face the front.

"Kate," he whispered again.

"What. Do. You. Want?" I hissed.

I was angry even before he threw the piece of paper at me, but once it hit the back of my head, I was fuming.

"Open it," he whispered. I gritted my teeth and bent down to pick up the paper airplane. I turned to face him, holding it up in my hand. He nodded eagerly, smiling widely, which raised his glasses a little on his face. I glared at him, staring right into his eyes as I slowly ripped it in my hands.

"No," I said firmly, dropping the ripped paper onto his desk. You might think I'm a bitch or whatever, but I swear I'm not. I'm a nerd/slut (what do you call that? Is there a word? A slerd? A net?) which means I've crossed my fair share of absolute assholes in my lifetime and Calum Hood just so happened to be one of the most infamous.

His smile dropped just as quickly as it had come and I smiled sweetly, turning back to face the board where the teacher was now drawing what it looked like when a baby's first teeth come through. I began to write it all down, feeling a little guilty when I heard Calum sigh heavily behind me.

I did not feel guilty, however, when he began to kick my chair. "Can you not?" I asked, grumpily, turning to look at him again.

"Why do you keep looking at me, babe? You like what you see?" I scoffed and rolled my eyes, although the blush on my cheeks would have been undeniable. He wasn't wrong. Now, had anyone else heard what Calum just said or the way that we talk to each other, they'd be gobsmacked. Absolutely shocked. Because we were known specifically for not keeping up with trends and not being flirty or even remotely capable of human interaction. We were known for speaking like we stepped out of a Shakespeare playwright and spending lunchtimes studying Quantum Physics.

"Keep on dreaming, honey," I whispered to him, nodding when he curled his top lip.

"Hey come on baby girl, don't be like that. I can make all of your dreams come true." I guess other people would find this exchange pretty funny. This boy with curly hair, round glasses, his shirt tucked in and his top button done up with his socks rolled all the way up and this girl with her dress reaching her knees and her socks rolled over perfectly, with her hair in two braids. The two nerdiest looking people talking like complete animals.

"You're calling me baby girl now?" I raised an eyebrow. "Do I have to call you daddy?" I snorted when he immediately sputtered and his glasses nearly fell off.

"Mr Hood and Miss Gilmore, mind telling the class what's distracting the both of you?" I gasped and spun around, fumbling to pick up my glasses so that i could see her properly and I heard Calum shuffling behind me.

"N-nothing, Miss. We've been comparing notes," Calum stuttered, his lisp ringing loud and clear. I heard a few of the popular girls chuckle at the back of the room and I nearly rolled my eyes, letting my other side shine through. The teacher turned around and wrote on the board again, making me want to kick something that I nearly got in trouble because of Calum. He just made me so mad.

I guess we're a little like Hannah Montana. We live a double life. Our parents don't even know about our second, less nerdier life. I keep my room as clean as possible and everything is always organised, I do my homework in the living room where my parents can see, as soon as I get home and then I go for a run. They think I have my whole life planned out and that everything is so easy for me - right at the tips of my fingers.

But they're so so wrong. I always sneak out of my window and get to the nearest party - if there's nothing on, I just go for late night walks and do whatever. Maybe join in with the late night Youth Club if I'm feeling up to it. Not to mention, my fashion sense is completely different to what I wear around my parents.

When I was eleven, I had to go to a dance and I had to wear this stupid blue dress with weird wired frills at the bottom. It went to my knee. There was nothing I could do to change the dress, but my mother was also making me wear these stupid black flats that were miles too big and a stupid black flower in my hair. I brought a backpack with me and when I got there, I changed into some blue converse and took the flower out. I got in trouble when she saw the photos, but it was totally worth it.

I remember Calum did the same sort of thing. His mum made him wear a red bowtie and suspenders with fancy black shoes. He changed into black converse and took the bowtie and suspenders off. We had to dance together that night and the teachers took photos and put it in the year book - I think it was only because we had the same type of shoes.

I clenched my jaw when I felt Calum kick my chair twice in a row. What on earth could he want now?

"You owe me for saving your ass just now, Miss Kate."