Letting Reality Begin

Chapter Three - The Art Of Forced Smiles

Clutching their boiling hot drinks in their hands, Callum Aston and his best – girl – friend, Lillian Deverall, settled down on a wooden picnic bench on the green outside the aging main building of the school. Callum’s hands felt like they were on fire – he was resisting every temptation to drop it on the ground – but at least they weren’t freezing the hell off. He took a large gulp of his cappuccino, which scorched his tongue and throat, but he managed to smile a Lillian.

“I’m going to have to savour this cappuccino,” he said, “because Chantelle is going to force me back onto those disgusting skinny lattes by tomorrow.” He shivered in disgust. “I bloody hate them.”

“Then just don’t drink them, sweetie,” advised Lillian, as if it were that simple. He wished. “Nobody is forcing you to.”

“You mean no one is forcing you. Chantelle forces me,” said Callum, a little sadly, as he downed the rest of his cappuccino. He saw Lillian wince slightly and he knew that she was probably just glad that he was only downing cappuccino and not his usual drink of choice – vodka. “Oh God!” he exclaimed, suddenly jumping up. It was probably just the caffeine kicking in, but whatever. “I forgot to tell you something, Lil. It’s seriously big news. I can’t believe I forgot about it.”

“Oh really? Let me guess...” Lillian pretended to look thoughtful, as she elegantly sipped her mocha. “You broke up with your girlfriend – whoever she might have been? It’s hard to keep up with all of them at the rate you’re going. I’m pretty sure that you’re going to have gone through all the girls in Europe before your twenty-first birthday comes around.”

Callum sat down in utter defeat. “I deserved that,” he said, his mouth curling up into a slight smile. Lillian was always making jokes about all of his girlfriends – who rarely lasted more than a month. He sort of wished he was like his best mate, Jacob, who had a girlfriend who he was obviously deeply in love with. If only the girl he liked, liked him back – which she obviously didn’t and never would. In that way, anyway.

“Yep, you did, my man-slag of a best friend. But anyway, I was only kidding. Getting back at you is practically my favourite hobby,” said Lillian, fondly, grinning at him. Now that was a lie. Lillian’s favourite hobbies included being nice, freaking over Logan all the time, being pretty, being popular, achieving top grades and many more. Getting back at people wasn’t high on that list. “Now what’s the ‘seriously big’ news then?”

Callum started to get excited again. Not because he was personally excited about this happening, but because it was massive news. If Heather Franklin was a research facility, then they would’ve just encountered the biggest breakthrough yet. “There’s a new boy in our form,” he explained. Lillian stared back at him with a blank expression. OK, so a new boy coming in wasn’t all too exciting – all new kids got written off as Nobodies. End of. Callum quickly added, “And according to Dean, Chantelle is automatically making him a Popular.”

That was when Lillian choked on her mocha. Callum instantly got up and starting hitting her on the back. “Ow!” she winced, in pain. “No offence, Callum, but that really hurt.” She shook her head as Callum backed down, feeling embarrassed. “Anyway what were you saying?”

“You heard me.”

“I don’t think I heard quite correctly, Cal,” she said, doubtfully, as she threw her now empty paper cup with perfect accuracy into a nearby bin. No wonder she was one of the best players on the netball team. “Repeat what you said again. In English.”

“I think you heard perfectly, Lil. I’m not messing here,” insisted Callum.

Lillian scrunched her face into a confused frown, which – if Callum was seeing correctly – was mixed in with a hint of excitement. “Are you sure? What’s so good about this new guy that would make Chantelle make him a Popular on his first day?”