I'm Supposed To Hate You ||Malum AU||

Chapter 33

"I haven't seen Michael around his posse in a while." Calum told Ashton randomly during Spanish. "Do you know what happened there?"

"Luke said they had a disagreement that ended in a fight. Apparently Michael gave Miles a black eye and burst Felix's lip but Luke got a bit carried away while telling the story so it could be a slight altercation of the truth."

"Do you know what they fell out about?"

"I'm pretty sure one of them said something homophobic or something. It was either homophobic or racist." Ashton explained, doodling in the margin of his jotter. "Why do you want to know anyway?"

"Well, I was just curious because I hadn't seen them for a while. I think we've been getting on so well recently because he hasn't been around them. They made him worse, it was always around them that he took the piss the most. They encouraged it."

"Are you defending Michael Clifford's actions? Are you feeling okay?" Ashton chuckled, placing a hand on Calum's forehead. Mrs Gonzales spotted them and sent them a warning glare. Calum pushed Ashton hand away, rolling his eyes.

"No I'm not." He whispered in response. "I'm simply stating a fact. He was worse when he was around them. I mean, he was always a dick but they made him more of a dick."

"You're backtracking." Ashton teased.

"I am not."

"Care to share your obviously very important discussion with the rest of the class boys?" Mrs Gonzales exclaimed, standing in front of them threateningly.

"No Miss." Calum answered quietly, keeping his eyes on his desk.

"I thought not, but I look forward to hearing it in detention tonight. Now get back to work and be quiet."

Calum slumped back in his seat, sighing angrily.

"We weren't even talking that loud." Calum muttered to Ashton.

"I swear that woman has fucking bat ears or something." Ashton replied. Mrs Gonzales glared at them again and they quickly got back to work, scribbling away furiously in Spanish.
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At lunch, Ashton brought up the subject of Michael's posse again, as Calum's questions had peaked his curiosity. He didn't see them sitting at the table next to Michael where they usually sat, in fact he couldn't see them at all.

"I haven't seen Miles, Harry or Felix for a while, has something happened to them?" Ashton asked.

"Ashton I told you, Michael had a disagreement with them." Luke replied before he took a sip of his drink .

"Oh yeah, what was the disagreement about again Michael?"

Michael lifted his head up, dragging his attention away from his phone.

"Hmm?"

"I was just saying I hadn't seen Miles and that for a while and Luke said you had a disagreement." Ashton summarised.

"Yeah, we did." Michael shrugged, turning his attention back to his phone.

"What were you disagreeing about?"

"Miles might have made a racist comment." Michael replied, not looking up from his phone screen. "So I punched him."

"A racist comment? He can't have made it about you, you're both white.

"Racist comments are still racist even if the person you say them to is the same race as you." Michael replied, finally looking away from his screen. "And I never said it was directed at me."

"Who was it directed at?"

"You're asking too many questions Ashton."

"I'm just curious."

"Curiosity got me a black eye Ashton, you're heading in the same direction."

Calum but the inside of his cheek guiltily, avoiding Michael's gaze that was very obviously on him. If he had to be honest, Michael had a point. Sometimes people don't want you to pry and you need to respect that. Michael had to learn that the hard way.

"Okay, sorry." Ashton said, his cheeks flooding with colour. Michael sighed loudly, keeping his eyes on Calum.

"If you must know, it was directed at Calum."

"Me?" Calum frowned, tilting his head in confusion.

"Yeah you. I'm not going to tell you what they said, because I don't want anyone else to hear it, especially you." Michael explained uncharacteristically serious. Everyone at the table was listening and most had a look of confusion on their faces, almost identical to Calum's. They were all staring at Michael, who was scrolling through his phone again.

"What?" He said, looking up at the multiple faces staring at him.

"You beat someone up, in Calum's defence." Thomas said incredulously. "You, beat someone up for Calum."

"Yeah so?" Michael shrugged, his eyebrows furrowed together. He didn't understand why it was such a big deal.

"That is the last person anyone here expected you to defend." Thomas explained.

"Okay, me and Calum may not get on great but I wasn't going to stand there and listen to them say those things. Calum is a person, a human being just like me and you and nobody deserved to be spoken about like that ."

"Not to ruin your moment Michael, but you call me Asian all the time."

"Yeah, I do, but what they were saying was a lot worse than stating that you are not Caucasian."

"Neither am I," Thomas added, raising his hand in the air. "I am actually Asian."

"We noticed mate." Luke said, making everyone at the table laugh. They all went back to their lunches, allowing Calum to think about what Miles had possibly said that was so terrible for Michael to fall out with him.

"Are you okay?" Thomas asked, leaning over the table to speak to him quietly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I've just never experienced anyone being racist before and- well I'm in shock that Michael defended me." Calum told him, fidgeting as he spoke.

"I think we all are, and don't worry about the racism thing. You should be proud of your heritage and don't let the haters get you down. Your race doesn't define you, your personality does. Take it from someone who's dealt with this before." Thomas said comfortingly, looking Calum directly in the eye so he could see he was sincere.

"Thanks Thomas." Calum smiled. "I needed that."

I attached an image of what I imagined Thomas to look like. I'm sorry if he isn't what you pictured.

Hope you enjoyed. See ya next week