Learning To Fall

eight

Lillian's waiting at the table when I get home.

"I hope you learned your lesson," She says, and I simply nod. "Speak."

"Yes, mother. I learned my lesson," I state in a monotone voice.

"Good. And also?" She asks, when I go to walk up to my room. I turn and raise my eyebrow in response. "That boy. Calum, I think his name is?"

"Yeah. What about him?" I ask defensively.

There's a glimmer in her eyes, and I know that I've already lost. She succeeded to get my attention, and she knows it. The step monster brushes her brown bangs out of her face before answering.

"He's a bad influence, and I don't want you hanging out with him." The she devil states, and my stomach churns with anger this time.

"Too bad." I state before I realize it. I really need to work on controlling my mouth. Lillian purses her lips.

"Excuse me, young lady?"

"I said too bad. Calum is my best friend, he gets straight A's. I'm not going to stop hanging out with him because he made me late to work once!" I exclaim, and I know by now that I've woken up the whole house.

"If you're not going to abide by my rules, you can leave my house." She snarls, and I glare at her.

"This isn't your house."

"What?"

"This isn't your house!" I yell, and she flinches away. I smirk in reply.

"Andy, what do you think you're doing?" I hear a voice ask from behind me. I turn to see my dad, groggy and only half awake. Lillian starts talking before I even get the chance to open my mouth.

"Jack, baby, you won't believe what she was saying. She came in all upset and she started yelling about how I'm not really part of the family, and she even told me that you don't love me. I just, I thought we could be a happy family," Lillian tears up, and I look at my dad to see if he believes her. The look on his face says he does. I shake my head in disbelief.

"Andrea Gemma Rogers," My dad begins, but I shake my head. I didn't want to hear what he had to say.

"Don't." Is all I say before going up to my room, passing Elliot's on the way. It takes all of me not to break down once I get in there.

And then I see him.

"Calum, what the fuck?" I whisper, looking at the boy on my bed.

"I felt bad for making you late, so I've been here waiting for you to get home. I was thinking about having a movie night?" He asks, with an innocent face. I know he heard that whole argument, and I was thankful that he wasn't mentioning it. He knew that I hated talking about things.

"What movies do you have?" I ask, coming over and sitting next to him on my bed.

Calum lays out Pitch Perfect, Catching Fire, and some of his Teen Wolf seasons. I look up at him with a smile. "Teen Wolf isn't a movie, Cal."

"I know, but I also know how much you love the show. So, what do you say?" The maori boy asks. I smile and lean my head on his shoulder.

"I say you're the best, Cal."

>>

Calum and I drifted off sometime during season two, and I wake up pressed against his chest. My hair sticks to my sweaty forehead as I twist around to look at the time on my phone. The clock reads five a.m., and I close my eyes again.

The next time I wake up, someone's poking my cheek. I open my eyes to see Calum, straddling my waist and playing with my face. He smiles and his cheeks become rosy.

"I've been doing that for the past five minutes, how did you not wake up?" He asks, and I smile up at him before reaching up and messing up his curly locks.

"Get off of me, you weirdo," I laugh, and he goes back to sitting next to me. I sit up and look over at him. "What time is it?"

"Twelve," He answers. "Can we go get food?"

"Yeah, just let me get dressed," I say before looking over at him. "Where did you park your Jeep?"

"Down the street in front of Mrs. Linwood's house." Is his reply as he leaves my room to go to Eli's, probably to ask for a change of clothes.

I open up my dresser drawer and pull out a white Blink 182 sweatshirt, and grab gray leggings from the bottom drawer. After changing, I pull up my hair into a ponytail and put on my converse.

Calum opens up the door wearing a grey pullover and black skinny jeans with holes in the knees. I raise my eyebrow in realization that those are his own clothes.

"Did you pack a bag and leave it in Eli's room?" I ask, and he nods. I grab my wallet before closing my door and walking into Elliot's room. He looks up from his video game and raises an eyebrow.

"Do you want to go to Wendy's with Cal and I?" I ask, and he furrows his brows.

"The nearest Wendy's is 35 minutes away."

"Exactly. Do you want to come?" I ask again, and I can see him thinking.

"No, but catch some Pokémon for me," He smiles, and I laugh a little before closing his door and going back out to the hall. Calum and I make it to his Jeep in the next five minutes, and once we're in there he begins to talk.

"Are you okay?" He asks. I simply nod in reply. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, Cal. I'm okay. If I wasn't, I'd tell you. Getting over him is just way too hard, and just the thought of spending that much time in a place where he could talk to me and I can't run away from it makes me anxious." I admit. I can see Calum nod out of the corner of my eye.

"He's a dick, just saying." Cal states, and I smile. The corner of his eyes crinkle when he smiles, and he looks over at me. "And you dealt with step monster last night, too. I'm proud of you," He says, reaching down to squeeze my hand. I smile and look out the window.

"Just drive, Hood."