It Ain't Me, Babe. 》cth

Chapter 4 》"I'm not the one you need"

"Norah, what's the hold up?" Michael pounds on my bedroom door.

I groan and roll over in bed to check the time. Shit, we're supposed to leave for school in ten minutes. Oh well.

"I'm not going." I answer, snuggling back into my pillow.

Michael opens my door and flicks the light on.

"Hey!" I complain, shielding my eyes with a pillow. Michael plops down on my bed next to me and yanks the pillow from my face.

"If I have to go to school, then you do too. Get your ass up, sister." He says lovingly. Even though it doesn't seem like it, it's times like these when Michael and I bond. He's an ass, but he's my favorite person in the world. My twin.

"I don't want to Mikey." I whine.

"It's only the second day, Norah. I think you need to." He chuckles, pulling a pair of skinny jeans out of my dresser for me, and picking up my backpack from the floor to sling over his shoulder. "I'll be waiting in the living room with coffee when your ready to go." He shuts my bedroom door behind him.

Well now I have to go since Michael was nice to me. I drag myself out of bed and get ready as quickly as possible, doing the absolute bare minimum to make myself look presentable. When I'm finally somewhat good, I run down the steps, careful to not trip, and pry the coffee cup out of Michael's fingers.

He rushes me out the door, and we manage to make it to school with time to spare. Luckily, my brothers band of idiots aren't waiting for us when we pull into the parking space. I'm glad, I don't think I could deal with them this morning.

"Michael, what am I supposed to do about this competition?" I say out of nowhere. Wow, that's weird, I never ask for my brother's advice.

"I dunno Nor. Calum fucking hates you." He grins at my situation, and I can't help but grin back.

"I know, and I hate him too." I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose.

"Well, it should be a fun year. I'm excited." He chuckles, taking the key from the ignition and getting out of the car. I follow, even though I'd rather go back home. As odd as it may seem, Michael is what's keeping me going today.

》》》》》

I perch on the bleachers, observing everyone exercising as a team. I chuckle at the idea that two people are able to get along that well. So far today, I've avoided Calum. The bad thing is, we have this class together where we are supposed to be working together. Too bad that's not going to happen.

Calum is on the other side of the gym, stretching out by himself. He lacks a partner unlike everyone else. I am the only person here in absolute refusal to work. Even Michael is trying to do push ups. Good for him.

I observe Calum from my spot in the bleachers, he's just a person. What is it about him that makes him such an asshole? From here he seems okay. If I didn't know any better, maybe I would try to be his friend. But I've known Calum for far too long to even give that a second thought.

I notice the way his back muscles flex through his tight t-shirt, and immediately reprimand myself for noticing. Ew. Come on Norah, this is Calum we are looking at.

The sad thing is, from all the way over here, where I can't hear his smart ass mouth, he's quite attractive. Of course, that is something about him I would never notice because his rude personality cancels out any good looks he may have. That's unfortunate for him, he'll probably never find anyone.

"Clifford!" I jump at Coach Perry's shouty voice. I knew it was only a matter of time before he noticed that I wasn't participating, and something tells me that Michael being nice isn't going to be enough to get me through the rest of the day.