stoical - l.h.

nine

***the phone numbers in this chapter are all fake, just letting you know***

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I'm sitting on my bed, bored out of my mind, when I hear Calum calling me from his room. The call isn't frantic, but a little whiny, as if he needs me to do something for him. Sighing, I get up and head over there anyway, since doing anything would be better than laying down and doing nothing like I was. I open the bedroom door and walk into the hallway, turning to walk to Calum's room. His door is ajar, and for only the second time total, I enter his bedroom. The first time, I was waiting for him to give me a calculator to borrow and he told me to wait in his room while he dug through his backpack to find it. This time, I'm not sure what I'm here for.

His room is simple, much like the one I'm using. I suppose it's a little on the boyish side, but really it's just classic. Wooden floors, off-white walls, blue flannel-print comforter. It isn't as messy as last time, I realize, so I suppose he's cleaned up since I could barely see the floor last time. There were t-shirts and jeans and sweatpants strewn all about, but now there's nothing. Just the light wooden floor, and Calum.

I spot him sitting in the center of his bed, presumably working on some homework since I see a textbook out on his lap. I move into his room more so that he can see me. It smells like some sort of cologne, and it's familiar, but I can't identify why. The smell of it makes me a little nauseous, and I hope that whatever he needs me to do is quick.

"What's up?" I ask casually.

Calum picks his head up from what he's working on and smiles over at me. "I need help with this math."

"You need my help?" I ask confusedly. "Aren't you in calculus? I'm only in pre-calc this year."

Calum shakes his head and furrows his brow. "So? Just help me."

Sighing again, I let out a groan. I shuffle closer to his bed, but I'm seriously not in the mood to do math. I take back what I said before. I'd rather be laying doing nothing than even thinking about math.

"Do I have to?" I plead. "I don't even know how to do that."

Calum laughs and points out that he hasn't even shown me what I have to help him with yet. Suddenly, Calum is getting up from the bed, and he makes hi way to his door without acknowledging me. He ignores me when I ask what he's doing, and he shuts the door. For what, I don't know, but I guess he just needs real quiet to do his freaking calculus or whatever.

"Why did you shut the door?" I ask, laughing hesitantly. "Can't I just help you with the math later? I'm too tired right now."

Calum shakes his head and, before I can realize what he's doing, he wraps his hand around my wrist and pulls me forward so that I'm closer to him. I try to wrench my wrist away from him, but his grip only becomes stronger and more intense when I struggle away.

"Calum, what are you doing?"

He shrugs, still the same Calum that I've been learning to trust over the past few days. He doesn't say anything, and I try to pull away again. This time, the tightness around my wrist really starts to hurt, and I express my pain. He still does not let go.

"Seriously, let me go." Already I find myself getting choked up, though I wish I wasn't. I just want to walk out of this room and pretend like he didn't start any of this. Is that so much to ask for. "Calum, what the hell?"

"I just wanted to ask you something," he finally says.

"Fine! Just let me go!" I exclaim, trying and failing yet again to get away. I feel tears already beginning to fill my eyes. I blink rapidly to make them go away, but they don't.