howl // c. hood

one

"hello? earth to grace, come in, grace," jackson said while waving a hand in front of my face. unknowingly, i had spaced out again, which was a pretty normal occurrence. but most of the time when i spaced out, they were like flashbacks or memories.

i blinked and focused, "sorry, sorry, i'm back."

he laughed, "where were you this time? venus or saturn?"

i rolled my eyes in false annoyance, "shut up, jackson. what was it that you were saying?"

he sighed, "i was talking about calum hood and his fabulous ass."

"when are you not?" i giggled.

calum hood; my gay best friend's straight crush. he was the star football player, as well as his other two mysterious friends michael clifford and luke hemmings. and like every star football player, every girl was pining after him. just a side glance could make any girl go wild and her heart racing. i thought it was rather annoying, but i wasn't too proud to admit he was gorgeous. even though he was only eighteen, he was still pretty fit. it was almost like he belonged on teen wolf.

"but it's true, baby, just look at it," he said eyeing the boy's ass like a piece of meat as he passed our table. i stared at calum hood with only curiosity. no one knew anything about him really, he mainly just stuck with his friends. "it's so... ugh, hunny, i need to find me a man like that." i watched the boy send us a sideways glance and give me a smirk, to which i rolled my eyes.

i shook my head, figuring it was just my imagination, and then i turned to my friend and laughed, "you just need a man, jackson. that's it."

he sighed. "it's true. there just isn't enough selection in high school. no one wants to come out," he pouted.

i shook my head, "we've got less than six months until we graduate, you can live through it."

"i don't think i can go on, though, baby," he said dramatically, holding a hand to his heart, "the pain of being lonely is just too much."

"you're such a drama queen," i sighed. "my problematic fave."

he grinned, "oh, i know." he looked up at the clock and then to me, "let's go, baby, we should start going to class before the bell rings."

i nodded, picking up my binder and water bottle, "okay."

while walking out of the cafeteria, i felt eyes following me out, so i spared a glance around the room. only one pair of eyes were sticking out, and those were calum hood's. i shook my head. there was nothing that i could offer him, so i didn't know why he was staring at me. his behavior didn't go unnoticed, either.

when jackson and i were out in the hallway, the gay boy turned to me with a big smirk on his face, "so why is calum hood suddenly interested in you, huh?"

i quirked a brow, "interested in me? what the hell gave you that genius idea, jackson?"

he rolled his eyes, "you know, the smirk and him staring at you. watch him try to talk to you in psychology."

"he's not going to, not when he has michael clifford to talk to in that class," i said. "those two are inseparable, even compared to luke hemmings."

jackson just shrugged, "we'll see, baby, you know i have a sixth sense with these things."

"maybe," then the bell rang, and i sighed, "i'll see you after class."

"have fun, baby." we went our separate ways, and i went into my psychology class.

seeing as i was the first one in the class, i took a seat in the very front. i didn't like sitting all the way in the back, especially since i couldn't see the board from that far back and psychology was one of the most important classes i had this semester. i put my binder on the desk and then grabbed a book from the bookshelf.

as i backed up, i bumped into someone and stepped on their foot. i jumped, dropping my book and letting out a gasp. i turned quickly, "i'm so sorry!"

when i turned, i saw calum hood laughing and shaking his head. "it's all right, should have seen you backing up, it's my bad," he said, a grin present on his face.

"oh, no, it was my fault, sorry,  i, uh, yeah, sorry, i'm just--i'm just gonna, yeah," i blabbered out, my cheeks painted red as i went to sit down. fortunately, not a lot of people were in the classroom to witness my embarrassing run in with calum hood.

the teacher stood from his seat at the front of the room, not waiting for the bell to ring or any late students. "good afternoon, please remember that there is no eating in this classroom, and let's get started with the lesson, shall we?" i pulled out my psych notebook and a pen, turning to where we left off last time. "today, we're going to be talking about drugs, which i'm sure you all know a lot about, and how they mess up the human mind. and at the end of class, you're going to pick from a deck of cards to figure out your partners for this upcoming project."

upon hearing that there was a project, half of the students groaned and complained. i simply rolled my eyes and finished titling my paper.

"without further adieu, let's get started," he said. "what are some of the words that come to mind when you think of the word 'drugs'?"

a few students raised their hands. they all said things like addiction, marijuana, cocaine, mood swings, drug dealers and hella money. i wrote down mentally ill.

"does anyone have anything different?" the teacher asked. "come on, don't be shy, we're all friends in this room."

tentatively, i raised my hand.

"ms. headley! yes, what did you write down?" he beamed.

"uh, m-mentally ill?" i stuttered out.

"yes!" he shouted, making me jump. "there we go! now, can someone tell me how drug addiction could be considered a mental illness?"

and from there, the class launched into a full debate of mental illnesses and drug addiction. it was pretty interesting to hear the different sides, but my mind wasn't focusing on what everyone else was talking about. it was focused on the pair of eyes i could feel burning holes into my back. i knew it was calum, i didn't even have to look back at him, but i just wanted to know what his sudden interest in me was. i had remembered how it was when calum hood, luke hemmings and michael clifford had first come to the school. all of the girls were in an absolute uproar that three hot australians were roaming the halls with schedules. that was sophomore year.

"okay, class! now is the time for what you've all been anxiously waiting for," mr. santiago said, and i turned my attention back to him. "so! you all will be pulling a card from a deck. here's how this works, if you get a queen of spades, you are partnered with a queen of clubs; if you pull a five of hearts, you're partnered with a five of diamonds. does everyone understand? please say you do." every nodded or monotonously said yes. "brilliant! okay, i'll start coming around."

when he came around to where i was sitting, i pulled an ace of hearts and fiddled with the card while i waited. by the frustrated sounds coming from the other students, it was fair to say that most of them weren't partnered up with who they wanted. i was curious as to who i was paired up with until a chair was scraped against the floor quickly, and i turned to see calum hood maneuvering a chair to face me.

"how ya doing, partner?" he asked with a grin on his face.

oh shit.