Rescue

Chapter Six: Calum

“So what do you want to do this project on?” Astrid asked.

“Aren’t we supposed to do it on the book?” I asked.

            Astrid rolled her eyes.

“What do you want to do with it?” Astrid asked.

“What can we do with it?” I asked.

“We can work with anything on the list.”

            I sat down in the beanbag chair in the corner of my room and sighed.

“I really don’t want to do this.” I said.

“It’s our final project though,” Astrid said. “And we don’t have long until the end of the year.”

“Yeah, but we have like a month and a half to do this.” I said.

            Astrid shrugged and sat down in the beanbag chair next to mine.

“Did you actually want to work on this or was it just an excuse to talk to me?” Astrid asked.

            I smirked.

“You might never know.”

            Astrid smiled and rolled her eyes.

“So tell me,” I began. “Why is it that your family chose to move to Australia?”

“It was for my dad’s work. He got a promotion or something like that and we were forced to move out here."

“You don’t seem too happy about all this.” I said.

            Astrid shrugged.

“I’m alright. I mean, Riley and I didn’t go to the best school and we didn’t live in the best state and we only had two other friends and so leaving them kind of sucked, but that’s really is. It’s hot here, but the weather isn’t too bad and we live within walking distance from the beach and thanks to Riley running into Ashton now we have a few possible future friends.”

“What do you mean by possible future friends?” I asked.

“Well Ashton is Riley’s friend, I think anyways, but I’ve only talked to him twice and then Abbie is our friend, but Gianna and Michael have only been around once and so we haven’t talked to them very much and Luke is kind of in the middle because I haven’t really talked to him and Riley has because of school but then at the same time they haven’t really talked about anything except for school.” Astrid explained. “So, I mean, all of us could end up being friends, but right now it’s just… possible.”

“You missed someone…” I said quietly.

“Who?” Astrid asked.

            I frowned.

“Me…”

“I didn’t miss you; I left you out on purpose.” Astrid said.

“Oh…”

“Are we not friends already?” Astrid asked.

“Yes, we are.” I said.

“Exactly.”

“What?” I asked.

“We’re already friends so we can't be friends in the future.” Astrid said.

“What?” I asked, more confused than before. “We’re friends now so we can't be in the future? We can't be friends later on?”

“No, no, no, no, no!” Astrid cried. “That’s not what I meant!”

“Then what did you mean?” I asked.

“Okay, let’s try this again.” Astrid said.

            I nodded for her to continue.

“Let’s take Michael, Riley and I have only talked to him once so I’m not sure if we’re friends with him or not. We’ll probably talk to him more in the future so there’s a chance that we will end up being friends with him in the future. Now let’s take you, you and I are already friends so it’s not maybe, it’s definite.” Astrid said.

“Okay, that makes sense.” I said. “I think…”

            Astrid laughed.

“Sorry, I’m not always the best with words.”

“It’s alright, we’re friends and that’s all that matters.”

            Astrid smiled.

“Yeah, I guess it is.” She said.

            I smiled.

“Hey, are you going to come to the concert we’re playing at this weekend?” I asked.

“I wasn’t invited.”

“I’m inviting you now.” I said.

            Astrid laughed.

“I’ll see if Riley wants to go and let you know.” She said.

“Do you two do everything together?” I asked.

“Almost everything, but we also just moved here so our parents aren’t going to let us go out alone, especially if it’s with people they’ve never met before.” Astrid told me.

“I can come meet them, Ashton will too.” I said.

“Do you not want Riley to come?”

“No, it’s not that, I’m sure Ash will invite her anyways.” I said.

            Astrid laughed.

“Yeah, you’re probably right.”

“He really likes your sister.” I said.

“So it seems.” Astrid said.

“So what do you say?” I asked. “Will you be there?”

“I don’t have a ticket.” Astrid said.

“Baby, when you’re with the band you don’t need a ticket.”

            Astrid laughed and I smiled. I like when she laughs; her whole face seems to light up and her eyes shine even brighter than usual.

“Okay, okay,” Astrid said. “I’ll be there.”

            I smiled.

“Awesome.” I said.

            Astrid laughed.

“Yes,” she said. “Indeed it is.”