notepad ; malum

08

Calum walked out of the doctors office, a bright smile on his face and the cast removed from his arm. The part of his arm that had been covered by the cast was slightly paler than the rest of his body and resembled a raisin vaguely because the sweat trapped under the cast had made his arm wrinkle. 

Joy was waiting outside the office. She stood up and smiled when she saw her son walk out. She hugged him tightly and he hugged her back, feeling so free that he could now properly use his left arm. 

They drove home together and the first thing Calum did was text Luke and Ashton, inviting them over to hang out and mostly play video games until late at night. He thought about inviting Michael as well, but he probably wouldn't even reply to Calum's text, let alone come to his house.

The three of them hung out for a good couple hours before Luke and Ashton had to go home. Calum wrote to them both that he would actually be attending school the next day and the two seemed a lot more excited than Calum expected them to be. He didn't really understand how much of an impact a boy who couldn't speak could be to ones day.  

 Calum went to bed that night, trying to come up with reasons why Luke and Ashton would need him at school so badly. 

+

When Calum walked into school the next morning, lots of people said hello to him which he was definitely not use to. It was probably just because Calum hadn't been to school in a while, but it gave him a warm feeling inside. 

Something that gave him not such a warm feeling inside was the stacks of homework his teachers gave him from the days he'd missed. Luke said he'd help him with the English homework which he probably needed. 

Calum glanced over at Jace during English class. He looked like he was about to fall asleep. He'd look even better with a black eye, Calum thought. 

Gaining a sudden burst of confidence, Calum ripped out a piece of paper from his notepad and scribbled down a note about Jace meeting him after school, behind the school near the dumpsters. He tapped Jace's shoulder then slid him the note, a satisfied grin stretching across his face. 

Jace gave Calum an utterly confused look as he began to read the note. Then he started to laugh, which made Calum's confidence boat sink to the bottom of the fucking ocean. 

"Whatever, mute." Jace snickered under his breath. He seemed more alert after Calum had gave him that good laugh. He shoved the note in his pocket then leaned forward on his desk. 

Calum looked to his side when Luke tapped his shoulder. "What was that about?" He whispered to Calum, but Calum just shrugged and began to copy down whatever Ms. Blue had written on the board. 

When the end of the school day came, Calum was already waiting behind the school where the dumpsters were. He had his backpack hanging off his shoulders and his notepad clutched in his hand. 

He cleared his throat slightly when he saw Jace approach. He was alone, much to Calum's luck, and had the smuggest smirk on his face. "Sorry I'm late, mute. I was too busy fucking my boyfriend." He taunted and Calum could physically feel his blood boil. 

Jace finally stopped walking when he was in front of Calum and Calum took a deep breath. This was going to be extremely awkward, embarrassing and anti-climactic. He held up his notepad that he'd already written on in advance. 

'You're a conceded, rude whore and you don't deserve Michael.' 

Calum hadn't known where the words came from when he was writing it. He just let his heart do all the thinking and didn't think over anything.

Jace read the note and cocked up his eyebrows. "Those are some rude words for such a little boy." He teased, then smacked away Calum's notepad. It skid across the pavement, sliding half under the dumpster. 

Calum whimpered. He felt completely defenseless now without his notepad. He felt like an old man who'd just had his cane taken away or an acoholic who'd just had his drink taken away. Reality was setting in; this was a horrible idea. 

The first hit came as a surprise to him because he was too busy thinking about how his notepad was completely out of reach. It was a punch to the stomach and it knocked the wind out of Calum, causing him to heave over. 

Next was a knee right to the nose; Jace obviously wanted to take advantage of the fact Calum was bent over and lifting his knee only a little bit would hit him square in the nose. But Jace took it the extra step further and grabbed the back of Calum's head, bringing his head down as his knee ascended upwards until the two violently made contact. 

Calum felt a familiar thick, red substance drain from his nose as he queasily stood back up straight. He used the sleeve of his, unfortunately, light grey sweater to wipe the blood away from his upper lip. 

"You gonna go call for help?" Jace asked, jutting out his lower lip in a mocked pout. "Oh, wait. That's right, you can't." He laughed, his pout curling into a smirk as he stepped forward and grabbed hold of Calum's shirt collar. "That's going to make this all the more fun." 

Hits came from everywhere. After a while, Calum's body started to numb and he couldn't even tell where the hits were coming from anymore. Some point in between the punching and the kicking, Calum had started to cry but he never remembered crying. 

It seemed like centuries until Jace actually stopped. Calum was left on his bum on the pavement, one of his eyes nearly swollen shut, bloody nose, fat lip and he was probably covered with bruises under his clothes. 

The first thing Jace did after he stopped was laugh. He fucking laughed. "You're so weak, it's really pathetic." He grinned, cracking his knuckles and flicking his fringe out of his eyes. "Almost as pathetic as Michael." 

Calum looked up at the brown haired boy, confusion crossing over his features. "Oh, Calum," Jace laughed again. Calum thought his laugh was annoying. "You think I actually like that attention seeking whore? Please, he's just a good fuck." 

Calum wanted to lunge up and smack Jace for saying that about Michael but he couldn't seem to move; everything hurt too much. So he just looked down at his lap and took slow, angry breaths. 

"Cat got your tongue?" Jace rudely joked, kicking the end of Calum's shoe and Calum just winced. Jace laughed again. Calum wished he could fucking choke Jace so he wouldn't laugh anymore. 

Jace began to walk away, leaving Calum alone on the pavement. "Get ready for a fun couple weeks, mute." He called back, before fully disappearing around the schools corner.