Be Your Everything

f i f t y t h r e e

"Luke!" I march outside to find the boys right where I left them. As soon as Luke sees what I'm holding, all of the color drains from his face, admitting his guilt before he does. Under any other circumstances, I'd ask him what's wrong, but I want answers and I want them now.

"What's up babe?" He asks with forced composure. He's doing he's best not to let his nerves show, but every passing second makes the truth clearer.

"What are you doing with my notebook?" Calum asks me. His face is neutral, despite the fact that he's clearly annoyed that I took his journal without permission.

"Sorry, I was snooping," I admit in shame. "I saw it on your desk and I was curious."

Calum glances at the page and smiles ever so slightly. "I don't mind."

All three of the boys look uncertain of what to say or do next, while Jo just looks more confused than ever.

"Len, can we talk about this inside?" Luke gives me his best puppy dog eyes, but I'm in no mood to put up with this. The longer he avoids the question, the more I doubt him.

"No!" I hiss. "You're going to tell me why the lyrics to Be Your Everything are in Calum's notebook. Right here, in front of everyone."

Luke looks between me and his friends, weighing his options while he stalls for time. Ashton and Jo share matching looks of discomfort as they watch the scene unfold, but Calum looks happy to see me and Luke arguing like this.

"Luke, why did I find the lyrics in Calum's handwriting and not yours?" I press impatiently. I narrow my eyes and stare him down for what feels like forever, until someone finally breaks the silence.

"Because I wrote it for you," Calum says from behind me, "not Luke."

Hearing it out loud, the news shocks me even more than I expected. I barely even register the sound of my own gasp in my ears. I don't know what to say or do anymore. All I know is I'm heartbroken... and relieved.

"I've been working on this song for you since you first came on tour. Whenever I was disappearing, that's where I was; not with Kat. I got stuck on some of the chords while I was writing, so I asked Luke to help me out." Calum speaks slowly and carefully, weighing his words as he treads lightly. "Then at some point, he figured he could claim it and use it to win you over."

"You wrote this for me?" I don't know which part of that surprises me the most. I believed that Luke loved me because I thought that he wrote this song. I staked our ability to have a real relationship on it, and he was willing to lie and go behind his best friend's back to get what he wanted, to get me.

Calum walks over to me and Luke with a stone cold expression, and I can't decide who I'm more upset with: Luke for lying about the song, or Calum for.... well, everything else that has led us to this point. Luke makes no effort to speak or to even react at all, which only makes me angrier at him.

"All this time, it was Calum who wrote it..." I look up at Luke in disbelief. "Don't you have anything to say?"

"Why bother?" Calum cuts in before shoving Luke's chest. "He's probably just gonna lie again. I doubt he's told you anything but bullshit since he stole you from me."

"Shut the fuck up," Luke snarls back. "Elle, I had to-"

"BULLSHIT YOU HAD TO!" I scream, unable to contain my anger any longer. Any heartbreak I was feeling a moment ago has now been replaced with rage. "All this time, you've done nothing but lie to me! You were just trying to pin in on Calum so I wouldn't see that it was you that's been lying this whole time."

"No I didn't!" Luke insists, his eyes telling me otherwise.

"Oh no?" I challenge him. "You're the one who told me that Calum was hooking up with Kat. You knew that I would break up with him if I believed the rumors so you told me they were true."

"Seriously?" Calum steps forward and takes a swing and Luke, but misses. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"Wait, break up?" Ashton interjects. "So you guys were hooking up this whole time?"

"Yeah, because Elle and Luke aren't really dating." Calum snaps with his eyes locked on Luke. "They never were."

"I knew it!" Ashton says triumphantly, but I cut back in before he can go any further. He looks disappointed by the news, but I'm more concerned about calling Luke on his crap than Ashton's opinion of me.

"Luke's been aware of it the entire time," I point out. "He just decided to lie to everyone else to get his way."

Luke opens his mouth to speak, but I'm not about to let him talk his way out of this. My rage takes control of me, and before I know it, everyone is in a screaming match. I move between yelling at Luke and Calum, who are in the midst of their own argument.

"You're so manipulative! You made me think you were the only person I could trust so that I wouldn't question you. I don't even know you."

"Yes you do!" Luke insists. "I only lied about Calum and Kat because he's not the right guy for you."

"That's not your decision to make!" I shout back. "Our relationship has been a lie from day one! We agreed to be friends and play the part in public because you were already screwing Jo, but as soon as I find someone-"

I'm cut off by Ashton connecting his fist to Luke's cheek, which shocks everyone else. Jo runs over and stands between them before Ashton can take another swing, but by now, all 5 of us are in a full-blown screaming match.

The fighting rolls on and on, and eventually, we all end up making points that we've already previously brought up. Calum, Luke, Jo, Ashton and I all have our own grievances with one another. Our own secrets we've kept from the others. Secrets that we can't seem to move past. Secrets that have led to us having it out right here on the beach, during what is supposed to be an enjoyable time together.

"Hey!" Someone yells over all the competing voices.

We all fall silent and turn to look at Michael, who's looking at us in shock and bewilderment. I'm not sure how longs he's been standing there or what he heard from our arguing, so I just wait for him to say something else.

"What the fuck is going on?" He searches our faces for some sort of explanation, but no one dares to speak up now that we've been called out.

"I'll tell you what's going on." Jo walks around the group and plants her hands on her hips. "We're having a group meeting. Right now."

"Where is everyone else?" Michael asks innocently, but none of us had been paying the slightest bit of attention to the rest of the group since the shit hit the fan. I'm just glad that Heather isn't here.

"No idea, but right now, I'm more concerned about you guys." Jo takes a deep breath and looks at Luke. He looks so guilty, it's written all over his face. "We've all been keeping secrets from each other, and now, it's tearing everyone apart. So here's what we're going to do. Ashton and Luke are going to start a fire, while Elle and I go grab paper from inside."

Jo looks at me for understanding, and I nod. I'd do anything to get away from this mess for even a minute. The boys all look annoyed that they have to stay around each other, except Michael, who's just trying to figure out what in the world is going on.

"No one is going to talk until we come back, okay? You boys get along, or so help me, I will go classic Modest Management on your asses." She nods at me as a signal to follow her inside, and I gladly rush in behind her.