My secret escape

Chapter 1

Michael's pov

"Wake up, Michael! You have school today", I hear my mom yell from the bottom of the stairs. I was already awake and I get up without replying. I put on a plain white, long sleeved shirt and some black skinny jeans, I get ready and then I make my way downstairs.
I don't want to go to school. School makes me nervous, nobody likes me anyway.
I stroll into the kitchen where my mom is making breakfast and I sit down at the table.

"Good morning sweetheart, how did you sleep?"

"Fine", I mumble.

She ignores my crappy mood(she's probably used to it as I'm always in a crappy mood nowadays, pretty sure she blames puberty) and puts my plate in front of me. I nod to her thankfully and shove my breakfast in. I then grab my bag and give my mom a quick hug. I walk out of the back door while I hear her yell "have a good day at school, love!"
I smile slightly, my mom is sweet. If only she knew...

I walk to school and look down as I enter the parking lot in front of it. Hoping nobody notices me. Making eye contact and talking to people is not really my thing. It used to be, but then as I got older it just vanished into thin air. I'm still not sure what triggered it. I just started disliking myself. I started noticing all of my flaws. Looking into the mirror isn't something I do anymore. I hate myself.
And then: people! I don't particularly like people either. People always let you down, they betray you or they leave. I'm not really getting bullied at school though, it's more like a locked out and made fun behind my back of kinda thing.

I'm not like others. I like punk music, I dress in black(not all black always, but still a lot of black), I dye my hair, I have tatts and piercings. Overall I'm just not done. I pull my sleeves down to my hands nervously and hold them there as I walk into the school. I let out a shaky breath. Why am I even still doing this? What's the point? I feel so sad and empty all the time. And then sometimes a panic attack drowns me. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it.

I'm still looking down as I walk towards my locker. I can hear people go quiet and I can hear them start whispering as I pass. I try to ignore it, but it's so hard. "Fuck up, fuck up, fuck up", I think to myself. I open my locker and grab the books for the first few classes. And of course I drop them. I have no time to look and see if anyone noticed, because I start to hear people laugh all around me. I quickly kneel down to pick up my books and I can feel myself turning bright red. Great. Just fucking great.
I quickly push my books into my bag and hurry to class.

I sit down in my usual seat, the one in the back right corner. That was so embarrassing, god I always mess things up. I can't do anything right. Can't I just go home sick today? It's not like anyone will notice that I'm gone. They notice when I'm here, but I'm sure they don't notice when I'm not here. Does that make me kind of invisible? Or just not important? I don't even know.

"Mr. Clifford?"

I almost jump up at the sudden interruption, I get ripped out of my thoughts by my biology teacher and blink a few times. I hadn't even heard the bell at the beginning of the first period. Then I notice a pair of tanned hands on the table next to me. I frown. Nobody ever sits next to m-

"Mr. Clifford?"

"Yes, yes Mrs. Hale?"

"You might not like my class, but I do expect you to pay attention, if that's too much to ask, please pretend to be paying attention. Thank you very much."

I don't like that woman. And neither does she like me. At least the feeling is mutual. I sit up straight, turn my head a bit to the left and take a quick glance at the boy that's sitting next to me.

Calum's pov

The boy next to me, that apparently carries the last name Clifford, appears to be a bit strange. He appeals to me though. He intrigues me. He seemed stuck into his own world just a few seconds back. I said hi to him when I sat down, but he didn't reply.
I didn't bother saying it again to get a reply from him and studied him instead.

With his bright red hair it's hard to not notice him, really. Another prominent thing about him is his eyebrow piercing. He has a beautiful pale skin.
No imperfections on it whatsoever, as far as I can see. He has this cute little nose, which sticks up a bit. And his slightly cracked lips are a rosy pink.
Right now, he's biting his bottom lip. Although I'm not sure why. I shrug and turn my attention to Mrs. Hale. I wouldn't want to be called out on my first day, would I now?

"Do exercises 6 and 7 now. You are allowed to discuss the questions with your neighbour", I hear Mrs. Hale say. I turn to Michael, only to find out he's already looking at me.

"Hi, I'm Calum"

"Michael", he mumbles.

Michael suits him. He looks like a Michael. It fits him perfectly.

"It's very nice to meet you. I moved here last week, I'm from Brisbane. I haven't met many people here yet."

"You don't want to get to know me, trust me."

I'm just about to ask him why not, when the bell rings. I see him stuff his books and notepad into his bag, after which he practically runs out.
I wonder what's going on in his head. And I'm determined to find out.

Hey, I don't know if anyone will actually read this. But yeah, this is my first story. If you read this, I hope you liked it so far. Suggestions are always welcome and I haven't really proofread it, so I'm so sorry if there are any mistakes! Have a lovely day xx