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Chapter 24

Calum's POV:

On the last Friday before I'm going to visit my mom one last time in Sydney, Alaska somehow manages to talk me into sitting with them at lunch. It's the first time I'm eating in the cafeteria, and I don't really like it. Too many people, not enough space. It's also very hot in there because of all the people, and they don't sell anything good either, so it doesn't take me too long to realize that I, in fact, hate it.

"I've barely even seen you around since school started," Ashton says before he takes a bite off his taco baguette or whatever. I respond with a short hum and a nod.

"What are your plans for the vacation?" Alaska asks me with a smile and looks at me from across the table. Ashton is next to her on one side, Luke on the other and Michael is sitting next to me.

"I'm going to Sydney one last time before my mom moves here too," I say. I haven't told about the whole moving thing, mainly because I haven't talked to them (and why the heck would I tell them anyways?).

"Your mom is moving here?" Alaska asks wide-eyed. I bet she wasn't expecting that one. Neither was I when my mom told me.

"Yeah."

"So you're, like, going to live here?" Michael asks.

"Yeah."

"Wow."

"Yeah." After that, they continue their conversation while I sit in silence. I don't have much to contribute with, so I just shut up. I've grown familiar with just listening anyways. It's pretty fun to listen to others sometimes, actually. When you just listen, you catch up on so much you wouldn't have if you were talking, like the small comments people make under their breaths and their facial expressions.

"So Calum, have you made any friends here? You know, other than us," Ashton says. They consider me their friend? Why?

"I haven't really talked to anyone except in class when the teacher makes us," I mutter and shrug. For some reason, they find it amusing and let out small laughs, but I fail to see why.

"Let's fill you in then." Michael grins and takes a look around while Alaska chuckles lowly. I don't even bother saying against him because I realize that I'm going to be going to this school for a while, so I might as well learn who's who.

"Do you see the girl over there?" Michael asks.

"There are a lot of girls in here Michael, you have to be more specific," I reply, causing him to chuckle.

"The one with the blue hair," he adds.

"Uhm," I mutter as I look around. "Oh, yeah."

It isn't very hard to spot the bright blue hair, and at first the girl has her back to us, but she turns around after a couple of seconds. She's way paler than the girl next to her, but then again the girl next to her looks like she fell asleep in the sun for a couple of days. The blue haired girl has a nose piercing and several ear piercings, and to be honest, she looks pretty cool.

"That's Hailey, she's like super awesome," Michael explains, earning agreeing nods from the others.

"And the group who just walked in are complete assholes," Alaska says. "I'm usually not the type of person to say these kind of things, but this is an exception."

The group consists of maybe four boys and five girls, all of them wearing expensive clothes, and the looks on their faces scream that they think they're better than everyone. I already dislike them. Not that I like anyone else here, but some I dislike less than others I guess.

"Oh oh, that's Maria, her uncle owns the most popular nightclub in Oslo, so people suck up to her all the time," Ashton says and nods towards a blonde girl only three tables away. She's not close enough to hear us, fortunately.

"That includes these a.ssholes," Alaska chuckles and leans back in her chair while she motions between the three boys. Luke blushes slightly, Ashton chuckles and Michael grins widely.

"We're trying to get her to recommend our band to her uncle," Michael explains, still grinning.

"Even though we suck up to her once in a while doesn't mean that we're only using her, though. She's actually pretty cool," Luke tries to defend while scratching his neck.

"That's true," Ashton says with a nod. Yeah right. I laugh quietly and look over at the girl, Maria. She looks like the annoying, clingy type that constantly wants attention. I don't like those people, they take up too much of the energy I don't really have. 

They continue telling me about people throughout the lunch until Luke says that we should go back to our classes before they begin. The others say goodbye and wish me a nice trip and I thank them briefly. I get up and grab my jacket, and surprisingly enough I'm thinking about how not-so-terrible the lunch was even though I was in the cafeteria when someone pokes my shoulder from behind. I turn around and see Alaska standing there.

"Can we just talk quickly before we go back to class? Alone?" she says, and even though I don't think I've done anything wrong my heart starts pounding just because of those words. It's not like she's going to break up with me (mainly because we're not a couple) and she's not going to slit my throat either (I hope), but that makes me even more curious as to what she wants to talk about. I mean, when people say this, s.hit is about to go down for real.

"Sure," I say nonetheless and follow her out of the cafeteria. My palms get clammy and the pounding in my chest becomes more evident, but I try to ignore both as she stops by some lockers and turns around to look at me.

"Okay, so I have a question that has been bugging me for a while now and I just need to get it out. You know the time we kissed, right? Do you, like, ever think about it and stuff?" she asks quickly, never really meeting my eyes.

I take a second to think about my answer. The truth is that I haven't really thought about it much, but what if I hurt her by telling her that? Maybe she has been thinking about it a whole lot and I crush all her hopes and dreams? But wait, the biggest question is: why do I care? Because I actually do, but I can't quite understand why. I take a small breath and decide to go with the truth. It's the right thing to do, right?

"The truth is that I enjoyed it then and there, but I haven't really thought a lot about it ever since," I mutter. I was half-way expecting her to become sad/mad, but instead I can tell that relief washes over her.

"That's great because that's exactly how I feel too. I haven't been thinking about the kiss itself, but about whether you have thought about it or not, because I felt really bad thinking about the fact that the kiss might have meant something to you and just..." she rambles and lets out a sigh. "I'm glad we cleared that up."

"Me too," I say, even though it isn't really true. I hadn't been thinking about the fact that it could have meant something to her at all, and if she hadn't brought it up I would probably never have thought about it either. I just assumed that it wasn't important since we haven't talked about it more than one short time (and clearly I was right).

"Alright, I have to get back to class now. Have loads of fun in Sydney and I'll see you when you get back," she smiles. "Oh wait, when do you come back?"

"Next Saturday."

"Great, have a safe trip!" she smiles and gives me a hug before she leaves and I return to class once again.

~~~

So this is a pure filler chapter, but I just had to put something here so yeah I'm sorry guys this story is just one f.ucking big filler story when I think about bc I feel like all my chapters are fillers but oh well 

Also I'm sorry this chapter is late but *insert usual excuses here* so yeah

Tell me what you think :)

Ily guys