APRIL FOOLS ≠ calum hood

m o n d a y , m a r c h 1 s t

DAY 1
IRIS

I let out a quiet yawn and shut my front door quietly, swinging my bag over my shoulder to wait for Calum. He told me he would be here at 7:30, but he hasn't arrived yet.

We had texted over the weekend (his idea, not mine), and gone over our story and any details we may be asked about so that we both knew what to tell people. It seemed like we were doing a lot just to win this competition.

I hate school as much as the next person, but to fake a huge part of my life for an entire month just to earn a week off? It just seemed over the top. And I couldn't believe I agreed to it. But I did, and I'm not usually one to go back on my word, so here I am. But Calum isn't as bad as I always thought he was.

The boy pulls up outside my house at 7:37, top down on his car of course. It seemed like he never missed an opportunity to show that off.

"Hop in! Sorry I'm late, I stopped to get us coffee. One cream, three sugars?" He hums and hands it to me. I nod slowly at him, taking a sip and mumbling thanks. "You look confused. You mentioned it to me over the weekend. Kind of. It was when I called you and you yelled at me for calling you because you were in public. I heard you ordering your coffee,"

"Nice memory. But I actually didn't care that I was in public, I just didn't feel like talking to you." I shrug. So far Calum's been a nice guy to me, he really has, and I feel like I immediately wrote him off as a villain.

In my defense, he's done some questionable things throughout our years of schooling together. But I guess I underestimated him, he seems to have changed.

I hold grudges for a while.

"I would say that I'm offended, but honestly I get it." Calum chuckles. "But why not? Aren't I just your favorite person yet? We've been talking for three days, you should be in love with me by now, Iris." I scoff and shake my head, taking another sip of my coffee while he laughs to himself. Although nice so far, he's also a cocky asshole a good amount of time.

"Calum, you've been a top contender for my list of least favorite people for years."

"Wait, what? Why?" He frowns. I shouldn't have said anything. "Di- did I do something?"

"Let's see. Over the years you've done a number of questionable and rude things to me and I'm not the type to just forget something. Lately, not much. You seem to have matured I guess. But, in elementary school you'd pull pieces of my hair on the bus every day and once stuck a piece of gum in it, forcing me to chop off a ton of hair which was honestly not a good look. In middle school, you and your friends would constantly find it hilarious to say 'my friend likes you' and use me as a tool in your prank wars. Freshman year you laughed as you tripped someone so they fell into me, multiple times, and usually while holding drinks. Sophomore year you would shove your friends into me as I walked to class so I'd drop my books and my papers would go everywhere, and then last year, you asked me to go to our junior prom with one of your friends because they were too shy. A return of the middle school jokes and games. So forgive me if I'm still holding a few grudges from over the years."

Once I finish ranting, I take a deep breath and then a big gulp of my coffee.

Maybe I had more pent up aggression than I had originally thought. A lot of those things he did to multiple people, just to me an exceptional amount. To be fair I had a lot of classes with him during those years so I was just in the wrong place wrong time I guess.

But the bottom line is, he shouldn't have been doing that to anybody. Nobody should do those things.

"Iris, I am so sorry. My friends and I were really immature then. We'd just pick a quiet face out of the crowd and- wow I'm an asshole." Calum mutters.