BOY ; malum

❝ one ❞

calum hood.

✧

he walked quietly to the bathroom trying to avoid anything that made noise or might've woken up luke in the early hours of the morning.

each day, calum rose forty-five minutes before his best mate to use the bathroom and get ready before luke was even out of bed and maybe it was the slight fear that lingered that his best mate might hate him if he saw what calum had to go through in the mornings. though, luke's successfully gotten calum out of twenty-three battles with his binder and still counting.

you see, calum was born biologically female yet from a young age he believed he was different. when you're that young though parents tend to brush it off as a "tomboy phase" and that is exactly what calum's parents did. but, because they loved their daughter they would do anything to support her.

it wasn't until middle school, when calum decided to cut off his long, dark brown hair that fell just below his waist, that his parents noticed he was uncomfortable. he started wearing looser clothes and hiding his hair under the assorted amount of beanies he stashed away. they refused to question calum and themselves about it and left it be.

it was freshman year of high school when calum finally came out to his family. he remembered quite clearly what he wore that night; a pair of black skinny jeans and a very very loose band tee he had stolen from his best mate, luke, and his hair had been cut short. once again courtesy of luke. he shuffled awkwardly on the balls of his feet trying desperately to get his family to understand that he wasn't fucked up, that it wasn't merely a phase, that this is who he was and if they didn't like it that they could let him go.

and that is exactly what they did.

so, three years later, calum stood in the tall, floor length mirror checking over his outfit one last time before reaching under his shirt to situate the binder underneath.

"you know, if you keep acting like a narcissistic ass you aren't gonna get any breakfast on your stomach."

he turns around quickly pulling his shirt over his stomach. luke smiled soft as he looked over his best friend. "but i will say you do look nice."

calum smiled a soft, shy smile as he pushed past luke mumbling a soft "thank you." he headed towards the kitchen and tugged at the jeans on his legs ruffling his hair after. he grabbed his books from off the table and shoved them into his bag turning away momentarily to grab his water bottle from the fridge and a poptart from the cupboard.

he waited patiently for luke to finish getting ready before heading out the door with his best mate locking the door behind them. they walked quickly to the bus stop knowing they only had a few more
minutes to make it there before it pulled off without them.

"you know," luke started to speak his words broken up slightly as he was out of breath. "this would be so much easier if you would just get your license. we wouldn't have to rush to the bus stop every morning."

"or," calum chuckled as he glanced over at the lanky boy, "you can just get up early and stop taking ages to do your hair." he shrugged softly smiling as he took his first step onto the bus, happy that they made it with a few seconds to spare.

they sat together in their usual seats setting their bags in their lap as the bus pulled off. calum fidgeted with his fingers before he spoke up in a small voice. "besides, you know why i'm waiting to get my license." luke nodded at the small boy's words before nudging him gently as he apologised.

they rode in silence the rest of the way as they listened to music from calum's phone, an earbud in each of their ears. luke fell asleep on the short ride as calum watched the colours pass outside of the window. he nudged luke gently to wake him when they pulled up to the school.

the pair made their way off the bus and parted when they got into the building having seperate classes up until after lunch. calum put the other earbud in his ear as he walked down the hallway to his first period class where he slid into the desk and immediately laid his head down.

calum always slept in class which was odd to some because he was in the top fifty in his class, number seventeen to be precise. everyone wondered how he managed to get merely perfect grades a majority of the time when all he did was sleep. he was awoken though, about twenty minutes later, when the heavy door to the classroom banged open.

a boy, much taller than him with bright red hair, stood and shuffled a little when he heard the door slam open. he was obviously new to the school, or just plain dumb, if he didn't know about the heavy doors. calum tilted his head as he watched the boy make his way back to the teacher's desk handing him a slip of paper and discussing with him quietly what's happening.

as soon as calum dropped his head, it shot right back up as he heard his birth name come from the teacher's mouth. "you can sit next to calista. the seat's open next to her." calum swallowed roughly as the words drifted to his ear knowing the teacher practically hated him and used the two out of spite.

the red-headed boy looked at the class looking around before catching eyes with calum then the only seat next to him in the back of the room. he raised his pierced eyebrow as confusion overtook the boy but he made his way back there anyways sitting next to calum.

"is, uh," the boy murmured softly as he sat, "is she absent?" he asked his cheeks heating up just a little. calum scoffed softly before looking back down at his work ignoring the young lad. the red head wasn't sure what the issue was but nonetheless he pulled out his notebook scribbling down the notes on the board quickly.

calum couldn't deny that the boy was insanely good looking. he was just highly offended with what he said. of course, he couldn't have known anyways what calum identified as. only a select handful of teachers respected his decision and mr. callaghan was not one of them.

he glanced over at the red head before mumbling softly to him. "it's actually calum," he licked his lips nervously as he spoke, "and i'm a guy."

the red head looked up at him with a small smile on his lips. "i kinda figured that much." he spoke. calum  wasn't sure why but it made a warm feeling rise in his chest. "i'm michael. it's nice to meet you."

michael dropped his head back down to finish up his scribblings leaving calum to tilt his head softly. a small smile spread on his lips before he laid his head back down facing away from the other lad to hide his smile. it was only fifteen minutes past nine and calum could already chalk this up to a relatively good day.