Secret // Calum Hood

7

Calum

Mondays.  I freaking hate them.  It’s the end of the weekend.  It’s the start of a long, intense week of school, soccer practice, and responsibility.  None the less, I got up on the dreadful morning and dressed quickly into my usual jeans, Vans, and a t-shirt.  Today, I had chosen my favorite Nirvana t-shirt that I borrowed from my best friend back home, Luke.  I thought about what him and the guys were doing right now.  We had all formed a band together, but now that I don’t live there anymore, we’re kind of on hiatus.  I sometimes used to get scared that they would just replace me.  I didn’t want to be in the way of them getting discovered.  But they insisted that they are never going to replace me, and that we’ll always be a band, even if we aren’t playing anymore.  My old neighborhood isn’t that far from here, but it’s certainly far enough away that I have to say no to the daily garage practices.  Besides, I chose to come here for soccer, so I guess that’s what’s more important to me.  I think.

 

I met Derek outside, his car rumbling in a smooth sounding way.  Derek and his family have a lot of money.  I suspect that’s one of the reasons Janie is “getting to know him”.  I mean, Derek has known her longer, so it’s not really my place to judge, but I do know my instincts.  

 

“Hey,” I greeted as I put on my seatbelt.

 

“Hey.  So I never got to ask you.  How was the partner time with Elena?” he asked, a goofy, lopsided grin on his face.  

 

I sighed.

 

“Not good.  She just randomly quit and ran out on me.  I’m so lost,” I complained.

 

“Well that’s what you get.  I hear she doesn’t work well with anyone,” he said.

 

“Well how could she be when everyone seems to hate her?” I asked.

 

“Still, she could be nicer,” he said, returning his eyes to the road ahead and pulling into the parking lot of the school.

 

What Derek just said didn’t make sense.  Why was Elena expected to be nice when people weren’t nice to her?  With the exception of me, of course.  I’ve been nice to her, and she still wasn’t pleasant.  But the other people…

 

“Speak of the devil,” Derek laughed as we walked our separate ways.

 

I looked in the direction he was looking, and saw Elena hurry into homeroom, her head down.  I sighed again and made my way to homeroom, knowing I would have to face her sometime.  I remembered what Mom said about showing her kindness, even if she was being difficult.  I decided to go ahead and try my best as I sat down in my new seat that was next to Elena.  Ms. Brown assigned us to sit next to our partners to make working time easier.  

 

“Hello,” I said to her.

 

She slightly turned her head towards me and gave a small nod.  I figured that’s the best I would get from her, so I kept my mouth shut until it was time for class to start.  When the bell rang, and announcements were finished, Ms. Brown went to the front of the room to give instruction.  She told us that today, we were supposed to read our poems out loud to the class.  The poems were supposed to be about how we really are, compared to how other people see us, tying in with the whole semester’s theme on stereotypes and prejudice.  My stomach jolted.  Although I was the main songwriter for my old band, I was not good at reading poems aloud.  When we would perform the songs I wrote, no one but us knew who wrote them.  But in this case, everyone would know it was me, and I wasn’t comfortable with that.  But lucky for me, I didn’t go today.  But Elena did.