Paper Moon ☓ Hood [ON HOLD]

2%

'cause i know im good for something

i just haven't found it yet.

☾

Marcaline let out a huff, causing Asher to glance over at her. She showed Asher the text from her mum stating that she couldn't pick her up after school today because she was bringing Alex to training.

"Do you want one of us to take the bus with you?" Asher asked, her voice laced with concern. Marcaline shook her head because she knew it was out of their way and they were only asking out of kindness. She was glad to have friends as lovely as them but she knew when their actions were fuelled more from sympathy than anything else.

"Is that him?" Asher's sudden change in tone brought Marcalines attention to who Asher had a finger directed to, but looked down once more when she saw who it was.

The rose colour that soon tainted her cheeks confirmed that it was in fact the boy she had encountered earlier. Monique's head perked up at the mention of a potential male in Marcaline's life because, well, god knows how long it had been.

Asher promptly spilled everything she had heard about Marcaline's morning in rushed whispers to Monique, though no one could possibly hear them amidst the loud chatter of everyone else in the lunchroom.

All the words falling from Asher's mouth were brought together in a haze because Marcaline's attention was kept on the boy with a smirk playing along his lips, along with the unpredictable crowd he sat with. The soccer team's howling laughter were a huge contrast to his quiet manner, and she could tell when he made a smart remark because they triggered the sniggers of the boys around the table.

Oddly enough, he seemed to fit in with them. While Marcaline came to this conclusion, the boy had just finished his lunch and rose from his seat to make his way to the bin, Marcaline coming into his line of vision. There was a little hiccup in his paced steps when he found her studying him, but he soon recovered and threw a wink in her direction to play it off. A rosy hue coloured Marcalines cheeks once again when she realised she had just been caught staring and tuned back into the conversation of her friends, hoping her actions had gone unnoticed by everyone else.

"So apparently he's new here but he walks around acting like he owns the place. No one knows why he moved but apparently he came from -- did he just wink at you?" Asher had frozen in the middle of twirling one of her curls and let out an exited giggle.

Marcaline just shook her head furiously and sipped at her drink, until she was interrupted by a loud scraping of a chair beside her.

An uncomfortable silence settled at the table as the very subject of their conversation began to make himself comfortable and pick at the threads of his jumper. After a few minutes Marcaline realised that the stolen stares from the boy were not a figment of her imagination and chanced a look at him only to find those same warm eyes she met that morning.

"What's your name?" he piped up. A bit of the fear Marcaline unconsciously held chipped away once she heard his voice was not as harsh as before.

"Her name's Marcaline, why are you sitting here?" Monique was to the point but even she couldn't hide the wary tone in her voice.

"Can I call you Marc?" he pressed on. Marcaline only shook her head in response, still trying to figure out why of all people he had chosen her to pester.

"I'll call you Marc."

Marcaline let out a sigh and turned away from him again, suddenly taking an interest in the patterns of the rain that trickled down the glass of a window. She refused to become affected by this boy she had only been aware of since that day.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Asher was never ever rude the slightest, but the fact that he was upsetting Marceline made her feel the need to speak up.

"Calum Hood, the dickhead that nobody likes and has nothing more to him at all except a good leg." he replied to them sarcastically. Apparently he had overheard a little more of the three girls' conversation they had realised, and Asher instantly dropped her eyes to the table as she remembered when she had told the others what she had overheard.

"Right. And why are you here?" Monique was the first to recover.

"Well, your friend here seemed to take particular notice of me and I couldn't help but come over to see what's up. Isn't that right Marc?" a smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth and he seemed to have gotten over what Asher had said pretty quickly.

"She told you not to call her that."

Marcaline felt helpless against the stares of the three people looking at her and silently begged that someone would take the attention away from her.

She was then saved by the literal bell and almost jolted out of her seat, more than happy to relieve the stress of having the limelight for a bit, no matter how short. She quickly gathered her books and slung her bag over her shoulder and hastily made her way to her next class, momentarily forgetting about her friends left at the lunch table.

"I guess I'll see you around Marc."

She could almost hear the small grin on Calum's face and beat herself up over the fact that she had become infatuated with the arrogant boy.

☾

"Marc" as in "Marse" not "Mark" ok guys no cALUM DOES NOT HAVE A WEIRD BOY NAME FETISH