Give me Michael - Malum AU

.4.

When Calum's mum went home that night, she was very concerned about her son ditching school, even though it was just last period. He could have told her the real reason why he had skipped, but let's be honest, where was the point in it? His mum had always hated Michael and his family. They were this kind of rich family thinking they worthed ten times better than anyone. To the brunette, Michael wasn't like that, he just had to pretend to, so everything was alright within the Clifford family. It was clearly not Joy — his mother — point of view. That's why, telling her what happened wouldn't help him nor Michael nor his mum's friendship with the Clifford.

So, when Joy yelled at his son for ditching school, he first thought at telling her he was sick... but he clearly didn't seem to. Finally, he made up an excuse about how he was a teenager and how he needed to experience life and everything. Saying the woman didn't like that answer was an euphemism and she privated him of his phone for the night, not wanted to be too strict either.

The blond, during that time, had said goodbye to the tan boy and went home. He felt sorry for his best friend and found it unfair that he had been grounded whereas he had good reasons for skipping. However, he also understood Joy point of view — because the reason Calum had given her was not acceptable at all.

The aussie boy looked at his phone, discovering twelve text message unread. Most of them were from his mum but one caught his attention. It was from someone unknown. As Ashton read it, a smile appeared on his face.

Hey, it's Luke Hemmings, your partner for the music project you know? I was wondering if you had some free time this weekend so we could work a little together?
Have a good night.

The boy had given his number to Luke at the end of music class. He didn't know a lot about him but so far, he liked the person the blond seemed to be: an happy, kind and funny teenager. He answered that he would be really happy to work with him on saturday afternoon but not after 5PM since he had plans for the night. After doing so, Ashton read the text messages from his mum and felt guilty when he saw how worried she was. He decided to call her, even though he was almost home.

"Hey mu-"

"Ashton, dear, where are you? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, mum, everything's fine and I'm on my way. I'm sorry, I went to see Cal and as it was an emergency I totally forgot to send you a text. I'll tell you more when I'm home. See you in 5."

And with that he hung up. He hurried to get home and entered the house. His sister Lauren and his brother Harry were both on the sofa, watching the tv. As for his mum, she looked relieved when she saw the young man passing the door, but at the same time, a bit angry.

"We will talk about it just after diner, but for now" she raised her voice so the kids could hear her, and said with a more cheerful voice, "everyone come here to eat!"

Dinner was fine that night. Discussions and laughs had filled the room. Harry told his family about how proud he was of himself for learning a new tune at guitar while Lauren talked about her day at school. Ashton, however, was pretty quiet, even though he was trying really hard to talk with his siblings. At the end of dinner, he cleaned the table and while his mum was doing the dishes, he brought Harry to bed.

"Ashy?"

"Yeah little man?"

"You're okay? You haven't really talked to us tonight." Harry pouted. The older felt bad. Even his brother knew something was wrong, and his was so little.

"I'm okay little man, I just have... a lot to think. You will understand when you'll be my age. Now, off to bed, go go go!"

The younger smiled, and Ashton felt lucky and happy to have a brother like Harry. He kissed his forehead and switched off the light. He headed downstairs to the kitchen where his mum was. He didn't know what he was going to tell her. He had always been close to his mother, perhaps was it because he hadn't a father and was "the man" of the house? Anyway, he didn't want to talk about secret that wasn't his, bit he didn't want to lie to his mum either.

He coughed to let his mum know that he was there and leaned against the door frame. His mum turned around and looked at him, still with a bit of anger but also with softness.

"You can't just go to your friends after school without telling me and come home at 7:30 while you should have been here at 4 or 5. I know you're almost an adult, but as long as you live in my house, there are rules and the first one, is to not worrying me like that anymore. Never again, do you get me?!"

"Yes mum, I'm sorry. I just... i had other things in my mind and I really forgot to tell you but I swear it was the first and last time it happened."

"Okay. Now, do you wanna talk about that 'emergency'?"

That was the thing with Anne-Marie. She could be worried and angry, but would remember every single things her children told her and ask about them if she thought it could triggered them. The three children were her babies — even though none of them was a baby anymore — and she only wanted to protect them.

"I'm just... worried about Cal. We got that project to do for Music, and we got partner and his is Michael and they're not friends at all anymore, you know? And Calum misses him and... yeah... The situation is pretty shitty and I just don't want him to go back to how he was when Michael ditched him..."

He had hesitated before telling her that, but speaking his heart out with his mum always helped. It was as if she could fixed everything. She looked at her son with sympathy.

"I know their relationship is more than complicated, and that it's probably hard for him to work with Michael but he will be fine. He has you and you're an incredible friend. Besides, something will necessarily comes out of their work, good or bad, but Calum will learn from it and move on. Don't worry to much about him getting bad again, instead, make sure to keep him as happy as you can."

Ashton nodded, a small smile across his face. He loved his mum so much! He held her thightly and let her know about Calum's coming over tomorrow night and him going to Luke's during the afternoon. When he reached his bedroom, a real and bright smile spread on his face.

From: Luke

I was thinking, tomorrow instead of working we could get to know each other? Since we have to cover or write a song about 'us'... so if you agree, how about we meet at the park?

Of course he agreed, Ashton really wanted to learn to know the blond.

Hey guys!!!
First of all... MERRY CHRISTMAS! (Even though I'm a day late...)
I hope you've had a lovely day with all the people you love and also some great gifts :)
Then, I also hope that you like this chapter. This one is not my favorite at all, but I couldn't come with something better, so I'm sorry... but I'll work really hard on the next one!
Thank you all for reading!
All the love
xx