I'm Not Perfect (Michael Clifford)

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

~CHARLOTTE’S POV~

“Wow, the second boy I have walked in on you with today. Someone’s busy.” Lauren says, a tinge of hatred in her voice and a devious grin on her face.

 I can’t believe she would do that, I really thought I was warming up to her.  Now she just had to go and ruin it as always, everything always gets ruined. There is an extremely long awkward silence which causes my brain to go into overdrive. I start getting really worked up about what anyone was going to say next. What was going through Michael’s head right now? He is going to hate me, he is going to get the wrong idea about me. I sit up and scoot down the bed away from Michael. He is going to go into one of his moods again, that’s always a great time.

“Who was that boy again?” Lauren asks with a smirk. “Calum, was it?”

I don’t have the guts to answer, I just sit in utter silence. I give Lauren the biggest death stare that I can conjure up. She just sits there, my look not fazing her at all, her devious smirk is as strong as ever.

“Calum was here with you?” Michael asks, a hint of pain in his voice. I look over at him and sadness is written all over his expression.

“Yeah…” I trail off. “He was here because I needed someone” I finally admit.

“So, you ask for his help over mine?” He says, starting to raise his voice.

“Michael, are you serious? I have known Calum for 3 days, and you for 2. I barely know either of you, and I only have Calum’s number. Who else was I supposed to have be here for me?” I argue.

“I don’t know, anyone but Calum.” He says, the words sting me a bit, I thought they were best friends.

“What’s so bad about Calum? I thought you guys were like brothers?” I ask

“We are, but right now it’s another story.” He says standing up from the bed. By now Lauren was sitting in her desk chair watching all the drama unfold.

“What’s so different about now? How is today any different?” I ask starting to get angry and raising my voice a bit.

“You’re the difference, Charlotte.” He says turning away from me. How do I make a difference? What have I done in the minimal 3 days that I have known them? I don’t even know how to react, so much has happened today it is too much for my brain to handle. I can’t even wrap my mind around what has happened in the past 10 minutes. The next thing I know I hear a door slam, I look around the room and Michael was nowhere to be seen. I look over to Lauren’s desk and she is still sitting there with that stupid smile off her face.

“You can wipe that smirk off of your face now, you’ve gotten your point across.” I say covering my face with a pillow.

“What point?” She asks, sounding honestly confused.

I move the pillow away from my face. “You know, the fact that you hate me.” I say.

“You really believe I hate you?” She asks before chuckling, and I nod. “I don’t hate you Charlotte, I’m just jealous”

“Jealous? Of what?” I ask looking her in the eye.

“You, Charlotte.” She says, shocking me. “ You are so gorgeous, and you are getting attention from two guys. I had drama with one of them, I’m not going to say names but you will probably figure it out anyway. You are everything I have ever wanted to be.” She admits.

“I honestly don’t understand why you’re jealous of me, I am a worthless nobody. It is so difficult to make friends, I have social anxiety, and you just ruined one of the two friendships that I have made here. Thanks for the favor, Lauren.” I spit at her.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know it was that was an issue. I was just playing around, but It seems like I have done more than that.” She says, sounding honestly sincere.

“It’s okay, I’ll work it out.” I brush it off, trying not to make her feel bad. She just told me something that I would never expect anyone to tell me, I can’t just pretend it didn’t happen. I need to lighten up on her a little bit, I don’t think she is as bad as she makes it seem.

I lay down on the bed and grab my phone off the table, I have a message from a friend from home that I barely ever talk to so I just ignore it. I open up my messaging and start to type a message to Calum, it takes me at least ten minutes to put the right words together. I finally get up the courage to press the send button.

*Hey Cal, I had a nice time today :)*

I sit in the suspense and wait for a response. After doing everything I can to pass the time away I finally hear a beeping noise. I jump back to my bed and take the phone out from under my pillow. I turn on the screen and see an new message from Calum.

*So did I, we need to do that more often.*

So I quickly type a response.

*Yea that’d be really nice, I need a friend around here.”

Right after setting my phone down I hear the chime and I open the message, and reply as fast as I can,

*Well now you have me to take care of you*

I smile at the thought of having someone to always be there for me when I need them.

*Thanks Cal. Speaking of friends, can you please give me Michael’s number?*

*Uhm, sure*

The next message is Michael’s number, I quickly add him to my contacts.  I sit there for at least twenty minutes contemplating whether I should text or call or even try to have a conversation with him. So I decide to clear my thoughts by turning on a bit of music. I reach over and grab my headphones off of my desk and turn on The Script. And of course the song 6 Degrees of Separation just coincidentally came on, just making the whole mood of things so much better. After listening to the song all the way through, my thoughts start taking over. Michael is probably so pissed at me and I can’t control it at all. And it is all Lauren’s fault, but she just spilled this whole huge confession on me without any warning at all. So much has happened in the very few days that I have been in Los Angeles. I really need some sleep but I also need to solve all of these problems. I glance over at Lauren’s bed to see her sleeping away, now I can do what I need to do

The only way to do this is to call Michael, I go to his contact and stare at his number for a few minutes before I can get the courage to press the green button. I finally do it, it rings once, it rings twice, but after the third ring it stops,

“Hello?” says a groggy morning voice,