Confidence- Cashton

Chapter One

Calum was 16. He was nothing special. He was told that his whole life, and he always believed it.

He would go to school, which was hell for him, and come back home to the only place he felt safe. It was a routine. On the weekends he would just lounge around his room and maybe get to spend some time with his best friend Michael.

Today was just like other days. More school, more boredom, more awkward silences, more torture, more bruises, and more hugs.

Calum took a deep breathe of the fall air and pushed his weak body off of his squeaky mattress. He made his way over to the blue dresser and slung a large blue sweater over his bruised torso. He pulled on the rest of his school attire and grabbed his backpack, which was heavier than his liking.

The aroma of bacon making him gag, due to him not eating for a day or so. He knew it was wrong. He knew that it wasn't good for him. But what was the point? Nobody would be affected but him.

"Bye mum!" Calum called, waltzing towards the oak door. It wasn't that he necessarily cared that he was leaving his family for a couple of hours but he just wanted to let them know hat he was going to at least try and make them proud. Hes been trying for ten years  now.

The maori boy kept his head down when walking down to his school, never making eye contact with anyone. He was afraid to. He was afraid once his brown eyes connected to anyone elses, he would get hit again. Calum was really trying to avoid that this morning.

He had successfully made it to school safely and waddled over to his locker, opening it and grabbing his drama books.

"Cally!" Calum's best mate, Michael, screamed.

Before Calum could fully turn around, he was tackled in a suffocating hug. "G-Good morning Michael." Calum breathed out. He returned the hug before pulling away.

Calum felt a sharp pain in his lower torso. The boy groaned, causing Michael to gasp.

"Oh Cal! I'm so sorry! I completely forgot about your bruises." Michael frowned, beginning to feel guilty.  He would never purposely hurt Calum. He hated seeing him in pain.

"I-Its fine Mikey." Calum stood up straight and picked up his book that had fallen to the floor during the painful hug.

"I'll see you later Cal. Gotta get to class." Before Calum knew it, Michael was gone in the crowd of people that filled the hallways. He always hated when the hallways were full like this. More people means more attention, which usually ends badly for the poor boy.

Calum hung his head low, walking towards his first class. It was drama. Drama was Calum's favorite class. He liked pretending to be someone else, anyone else but himself.

"Hey faggot!" Calum jumped slightly. He knew who it was, he was just afraid of turning to look at the boy.

Finally, he turned and looked at the tall boy. His hair was in its usual style, swooped up into a blonde quiff. His lip ring very pronounced in his smirk. "H-hi Luke."

"Aw! Is little Calum Hood going to cry?" He teased, bringing tears to the kiwi's eyes.

"N-n-no I'm not" Calum stated weakly. His voice cracked, making Luke throw his head back and laugh.

"You're such a loser" Luke snickered and threw a hard punch into Calum's chest. Calum took it. He was used to this behavior from the attractive blonde.

Luke continued to throw punches at him. Luke didn't stop until he threw one last punch right into Calum's jaw, causing him to fall to the ground and break into tears.

"Get to class. You're already a screw up, don't fuck up your reputation even more." Luke hissed. He was gone to class by now.

Calum wiped the tears from his face and limped to class, doing his best to look okay.
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The lunch bell rang. Calum couldn't wait to see Michael. He wasn't going to tell the blue haired boy what happened, but he usually never did voluntarily.

"Hey bro." Michael smiled wrapping his arm around Calum's shoulders in a friendly matter.

"Hi Mikey." Calum smiled lightly.

Michael looked down at Calum's face and furrowed his eyebrows. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing Mike."

"Don't lie to me Calum. I can tell when somethings wrong." Michaels words brought back Calum's memories, Calum beginning to whimper softly.

"Was it Luke again?" Michaels face frowned down at the crying boy in his arms.

Cal nodded shakily, crying even harder.

"I'm so sorry Cal." Michael cooded, holding Calum tightly against his chest.

Calum's tears began to slow down and he pulled away from Mikey's hug. "I love you Michael. Thank you for being here for me."

Michael smiled, feeling sorrow as he starred into the maori's bloodshot eyes. "I love you too Calum. I'll always be here for you."

Calum smiled and hugged Michael once more. "Can I hang out at your house today? My family is kinda tense right now..."

"Ya. That won't be a problem. Let's go get lunch. I heard they're serving pizza."

SURPISE!! I have a good feeling about this book tbh. It's gonna be rlly coot. ^_^