Good girls are bad girls, right? |A Calum Hood fanfic

Chapter 15

Two days had past and the group of seven was inseparable. They did everything together. Zoe even thought Luke and Yasmine had something going on. It was 8am and Zoe was already up and fully awake. Calum was still asleep though. He had stayed for those days to keep an eye on her and sort of 'bond' even more. 

Zoe had made coffee for herself and walked around the kitchen. Then she saw it. The letter she had left almost a week ago when her gran was here and annoying her boyfriend. She set her cup of hot coffe down on the counter and took the envelope in her hand. She stared at it. 

"Zoe Ella Valentine" it said and then her address. 

She got nervous and debated whether or not to open it. She bit down her lip and carefully opened it. She was a bit curious as well. Normally, she'd never get mail. Slowly, she took the piece of paper out and a small logo was visible. It was the Harvard logo. She applied for the school about a month ago. She didn't think she was good enough to get in that school, but Elise wanted it that way. Zoe unfolded the paper and read it. A lump in her throath made it impossible to breath. 

"Your abilities do not match the properties a student in this school needs." That was the sentence that haunted through her mind. She didn't get in. All she could do now was imagine how Elise would find out and punish her for not being smart enough to fit into the school. Tears started to brim in her eyes and she didn't make the effort to hold them back. Teardrops fell on the piece of paper, leaving a wet stain. 

She took the piece of paper in between her fingers and ripped it in thousands of pieces as tears kept streaming down her face. This was her breakpoint. She collapsed on the kitchen floor, the shreds of paper surrounding her. She curled up into a ball. A sad, crying ball of failure. She pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her forhead on them whilst she sobbed. She then felt a pair of warm, strong arms pick her up. Without hesitating, she wrapped her arms around his neck and sobbed into his neck. He softly put her down on the sofa, without saying a word to her. Calum figured that he would ask later what's wrong when she had calmed down a bit. He walked back into the kitchen and grabbed her cup of coffee she had left on the counter. He handed it to her and pressed a soft kiss on her forehead. He then sat down next to her and let her cry for a little while. He was still tired, but he didn't mind. She could wake him at 4am to talk about anything. 

"Now tell me, baby. What's wrong?" He asked very softly. His voice was still filled with sleep, so it still sounded very husky. Zoe sobbed a couple more times before taking a deep breath to try and explain what happened. 

"A-A couple months ago, I-I app- I applied for Harvard. Elise... She-She had told me to do that, but I-I didn't get in. I'm not-I'm not sm-smart enough to b-be in the s-school." she stuttered in between sobs. 

Calum held her even closer to his body and tried to comfort her. He stroke her shoulder with his fingertips oh-so softly and kissed her temple while she cried even more. 

"She's gonna hate me and punish me." Zoe brought out. 

"No... No, baby. She isn't. She can't do that. I'll be here by your side. You will never see her again and she will never be able to hurt you. I promise you, baby. I promised your gran I would never let anyone hurt you and I'm gonna stick to that promise. I will be here forever." He told her.

Zoe calmed down a bit.

"Forever?" She asked as she wiped away the tears. He looked into her red, puffy eyes and smiled softly.

"And always, baby." He whispered and connected their lips together.

Zoe knew he meant it and she also knew he'd stick to that promise. If there's something she had learned from the past month, it would be him keeping his promises. Still now after about a month, she still felt all tingly inside whenever he touched her or kissed her. With every 'I love you' he had spoken out she fell more and more in love with this guy. He had changed her life forever and he would keep doing that until the day she died. That's all she knew and that's all she needed to know.