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After school, he walked out with Ashton toward the car. Calum approached the two and grabbed Michael's arm. "Hey, uh, Michael... Can I talk to you for a second?" Fear flashed in the black-haired boy's eyes. "Without Ash. No offense Ashton but it's important."
"Go ahead, Mikey. I'll wait for you in the car." Ashton shrugged.
He didn't really care and felt no offense. The curly-haired boy thought the two had been close friends for awhile and thought Calum needed to talk about something personal with Michael and didn't want someone he just meant knowing.
Michael, on the other hand, was nervous. He had been beaten up by Calum before and was terrified. He followed the Maori silently behind the school. The uncomfortable familiarity of the place where he was just beaten up at last week made him almost shake with fear.
The bruises still hurt him.
"I just want to say something." Calum starts.
The black-haired boy didn't say anything. He let the brown-haired boy continue and cautiously looked around. Michael hoped it wasn't a setup and Luke would be coming to help Calum beat the shit out of him.
Calum continued. "I wanna say that I'm sorry." He let out a deep sigh. "I'm sorry for calling you names, for beating you up, and for doing anything that made you hurt or uncomfortable."
'Being here makes me uncomfortable' Michael thought. This is probably a setup. Calum never apologizes to anyone.
"You're probably not going to forgive me, but I hope you will." Calum finished and looked at him in hope.
Michael bit his lip and stared Calum in the eye. "W-Why are you a-apolog-gizing?"
The Maori looked at him in disbelief. The brown-haired boy didn't know what to say. Why wouldn't he apologize?
"A-After all this-this t-time..." Michael coughed, his vocal chords not being used to being used. "Y-You f-f-finally say s-sorry."
Calum looked confused. "Because, Michael, I truly am so-"
Michael cut him off. "N-No y-you aren't."
"Excuse me?" Calum scoffed. "I apologized, what more do you want?"
"W-Want you t-t-to mean it." The black-haired boy mumbled. "Y-You're n-not apolo-logising f-for me... Y-You're a-a-apologising for y-your sake. F-For Ashton..." Michael sighed, seeing the confusion on Calum's face. "I-If Ashton w-wasn't here you'd still b-be mean t-to me..."
"I'm sorry." Was all Calum could say. He knew it was true, Michael knew it too.
The shorter boy leaned against the brick wall. "S-Should go..." He looked to his left to see the familiar blonde stalking over with a smirk on his face. Michael whispered. "...even m-more n-n-now...b-bye..."
He started running, literally for his life. Michael heard shouting from behind him and saw Calum and Luke fight.
The black-haired boy hopped into the passenger seat. Ashton didn't say a word about Calum needing to talk to him. Instead, they talked about food.
And at that moment Michael was content. Ashton was happy. Luke was the one that got the bruises that day. Calum, for once, was disappointed in himself.
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