cryptic ⋙ calum hood

Epilogue.

The girl fiddled with the hem of her dress, chewing on her bottom lip and incessantly touching her short, dark hair. She held the cake her mother had baked and frosted to perfection in her hands, and her body instantly relaxed when the familiar boy opened the door.

“Hi, Mrs. Brooks, it’s really nice to see you again,” Calum smiled sweetly at the woman as he shook her hand. “Cassie,” he grinned at her, taking the cake from her hands and kissing his quickly in the process. “Come in,” he motioned for the two to enter his home.

“It’s lovely to see you again, Calum. I’m happy it’s under better circumstances,” Mrs. Brooks smiled at her daughter who was practically leaning into Calum. Calum smiled again, and looked down at Cassie.

“So, who baked this cake? The same girl that burned ramen two weeks ago?”

Cassie gasped playfully and gave him a slight shove.

“Shut up!” She whined as Calum’s mother entered with a huge grin on her face. She greeted Mrs. Brooks with just as much warmth as Calum had, and Mrs. Brooks found herself realising how happy she was that Cassie had found herself in the arms of someone so caring, with such a caring mother.

“Cassie!” She pulled the girl in for a hug and earned a laugh, then turned to Mrs. Brooks. “Hello, It’s so lovely to finally meet you! I’m Joy. My husband, David, would have loved to join us, but unfortunately he’s away on business.”

“Linda,” Cassandra’s mother introduced herself briefly with a smile as Joy led her to the kitchen. Calum, who had also disappeared into the kitchen to put the cake away, came back to find Cassie smiling at photos on the wall. He went and wrapped his arms around her waist, causing her to jump a bit. He rested his head on her shoulder and she smiled while looking at him from the corner of her eye. Cassie spun her way around in his arms, wrapping her arms around Calum’s neck.

“You were nervous,” Calum smirked at her.

“Was it really that obvious?”

“You looked like you were going to be sick,” he laughed and moved one of his hands to play with the ends of her hair.

“I thought I was,” she groaned, “I was worried my mum would be weird.” Calum rolled his eyes in response and twirled a strand of her hair around his finger.

“What’s up with your dad?”

“He’s coming for his stuff on Wednesday,” Cassie began, “and we had to pay extra for breaking our lease on the house, but it’s fine. My mum and I are moving into this really nice apartment we found.”

“Are you upset?” Calum brushed his thumb over Cassie’s cheek.

“Extremely. I hate my dad,” she scoffed.

“Me too,” Calum shrugged with a smile. “Anyone that hurts you is an enemy of mine.”

“You’re lame,” Cassie stuck her tongue out at him, but inside she was melting at his words. To mean that much to someone was something new to her, and she wasn’t sure if she’d ever get used to Calum treating her like she was special.

“You love it,” he grinned and she giggled, kissing him quickly.

“I have court next week.” Cassie gulped.

When Cassie had gotten back to school, Parker had been furious with her, and she had been nothing short of terrified.

“Where the fucking hell have you been?” Parker grabbed Cassie’s wrist roughly and pushed her into the lockers behind her. She winced at the pain and squinted at him while thinking of what to say.

“I’ve been-”

“Excuse me, what’s going on? Cassie, are you alright?” The two teenagers turned their attention to the woman speaking to them, and Cassie was extremely relieved to find her maths teacher.

“Yes, everything’s fine,” Parker said through gritted teeth.

“I saw you push her,” the woman narrowed her eyes at Parker. “Head to the principal’s office. Cassie, you come with me.”

“No, I’m not going anywhere,” Parker was growing angrier and Cassie wanted to plead with her teacher to leave it.

“There are serious consequences for assaulting another student. Let her go.”

Parker removed his hand from it’s grip around Cassie’s wrist and she rubbed it with her other hand.

The school had been informed about Cassie’s hospitalisation, and so Cassie, for the first time, decided to just tell the truth. She explained briefly that she had been having trouble with Parker, and when her mother got involved, she confessed to how serious things had seriously been. Her mother was heartbroken that she had been so consumed in her own life, and had been neglecting her daughter entirely. Cassie’s father had been furious, but had blamed her for it. That was the final straw for her mother, and the two of them decided a divorce would be best.

“Don’t be scared,” Calum leaned his forehead against hers. “I’ll be there with you. He’ll get what he deserves.”

“You’re too good to me,” Cassie brushed her nose lightly against his and Calum smiled before kissing her.

“No one’s too good for the best,” Calum whispered.

“I love you. I’m not an easy person to deal with, and I’m not always okay or sure of how I feel, but god, do I love you,” Cassie kissed him. “I’m sure of that.”

“I love you too, Cass. You’ll get through all of this eventually,” Calum waved his hand in the air, “and I’ll be with you every step of the way.”

“Dinner’s ready!” Joy’s voice came from the kitchen doorway, causing the two teens to break apart. Joy’s face held a smile as she disappeared once more. Calum held his hand out to Cassie and she took it happily.

“We’ll be okay, Cassie, I promise.”

GIF OF ASHTON THROWING HIS DRUMSTICK AT CALUM TO THE SIDE LIKE I SAID

wow you guys its over?! this story has taken me about a year to finish, and this has been the worst year of my life, but you guys have stuck by me and wow. I'm getting all nostalgic and sad omg.  this story is going to go through some serious editing as this was my first story on wattpad (i promise my writing has improved) and i really doubted it and wanted to delete it but you guys have been so rad and supportive. 

cassie was a character very close to me and personal issues, and so this story is close to my heart. I really did consider making this story end not so happily, but I wanted it to end positively to show you that you can make it through.

i really advise you all to take care of yourselves and get help if you deal with things similar to cassandra. i love you all very much and wouldn't want any of you getting hurt. if you'd like, you lot can also come to me.

if you’re not feeling your best, check out the following link ive created for support: http://unnoying.tumblr.com/support

just because this is over, doesn’t mean its the end of us! i have other stories you can check out :-) i’ll be reposting constellations (ashton) and if you want to check out snapchat (luke) thatd be awesome!

i love you all so so much, thank you so much for everything i cant explain how much you all mean to me ahh! 

-ara