cryptic ⋙ calum hood

22. Cassie

please read the authors note at the end :)

I tried talking to Parker that morning about breaking up while we sat in the school parking lot, but he had gotten so angry with me. He was smoking a cigarette, a new habit he had picked up recently, and asked me to pull up my sleeve. I did, confused, and he put his cigarette out on my right wrist. That might have been the loudest I’ve ever screamed.

“You’re mine, got it? You’re not leaving me,” he said darkly as I nodded and whimpered, tears escaping my eyes. He wiped them away before kissing my forehead. “Let’s go inside.”

I couldn’t ask the nurse to clean the burn because I couldn’t think of an excuse, and I didn’t have anything with me to clean it myself. I just ended up grabbing a band aid from the nurse before English class. Parker stopped me and told me he was sorry, and that I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone. It’s not as if I would anyways.

I was genuinely terrified of Parker. He would physically hurt me and then act so sorry, the look in his eyes that of a sad child. His mood swings and general possessiveness of me were so unbearable. I couldn’t wait to end things.

I didn’t know how to get out of this relationship. What do you do with someone like Parker? I was scared that if I told anyone, they wouldn’t believe me. I felt so lost.

At lunch, running into the boys was the last thing I had expected. Andrea wanted Calum, but I did, too. I wasn’t okay with it, but I had to be. I was stuck in my relationship with Parker and, honestly? Calum deserved much better. I wasn’t stable. Andrea was prettier and she had never taken a blade to her own skin. She talked once, about how she couldn’t understand it, and how the thought of it made her queasy. She was normal and everything a boy could want.

I told Calum I had to see a teacher quickly after school while I actually hid in the girls bathroom for a little, making sure Parker left so he wouldn’t see me getting into Calum’s car. His grip on my waist earlier had left a bruise, and I’m sure that was his exact intention.

By hurting me, he understood that he was making me fear him, and in turn I wouldn’t be able to leave him. I washed my face with cold water and pondered my situation, before finally deciding to emerge from the bathroom and make my way to meet Calum.

He was sat inside, on his phone when I knocked on the passenger side window. He looked up and grinned while I got in.

“Hey, Cass.”

“Hey, sorry I couldn’t stay too long during lunch,” I apologised sincerely. I felt bad not being able to sit with the boys, and felt uncomfortable that Andrea had tagged along. I didn’t like the fact that she had won the boys over. Then again, who wouldn’t be won over by her beauty and charm?

“No problem,” he smiled and started driving. I messed around with the stereo a bit in the quiet.

“Where are we going?”

“A town over,” he told me calmly. I cleared my throat awkwardly.

“James’ town?” I referred to his brother.

“You got it,” he nodded.

“Are we- are we visiting him?” I asked softly. I sometimes failed to remember that I wasn’t the only broken one.

“No, we’re not. I just know this place over there,” he smiled a bit again. I nodded and returned the gesture. He pulled up to a playground, parking and taking my hand when I met him on the sidewalk. He led me a couple of streets over and onto a trail that took us into the woods. I didn’t hesitate at all with Calum. I felt so safe as his warm hand engulfed mine and we came out to a little clearing with logs place in a semi circle.