Innocence

IV

I walked slowly through the metal gates, exiting the school with Calum's words still running through my mind.

"We're both dreamers, Crystal."

And of course, the bell rang like a minute after he said that and I couldn't even find the words to respond. I beat myself up over it in Maths and HASS, wondering why I hadn't demanded to know the more complicated details of being a 'dreamer'.

But hey, wasn't Break 2 supposed to be an option?

No.

Because Calum had apparently gone home and I had no idea if it was a coincidence or if he'd decided he didn't want to deal with my annoying questions about everything.

My bet was the latter.

Now I was exiting the school gates and wondering whether to go straight home or to stick around for a while.

"Hey Crystal!" I heard a yell and I recognised the voice immediately but I couldn't put my finger on it. I turned around and spotted a young brunette girl pushing her way through the mobs of people. I recognised Zoe almost immediately.

Okay so she didn't go home... that must mean Calum just wanted to ditch school.

"Do you know where Calum is?" she asked me, looking around for a moment before turning her attention back to me. "I assumed he'd be with you."

So he didn't tell his sister he was leaving. For some reason, that made me more suspicious and I wanted to know what was going on. I wanted to know everything.

"Apparently he went home," I answered, running a hand through my blonde curls. Zoe's eyes widened before her neutral expression turned into a scowl.

"What an ass," she groaned. I nodded in agreement and Zoe raised one eyebrow at me. "Are you agreeing that my brother is an ass?"

"I am definitely agreeing," I murmured back humorously. "We were meant to talk about things at Break 2 but he decided to ditch me."

Zoe chuckled before walking across the road, and going in the opposite direction to my house. When I didn't follow, she turned to look at me.

"I'm walking home and since my brother knows where you live, I don't see any harm in showing you where we live. Now keep up."

I rolled my eyes as she kept walking, trying to keep up with her while texting my mum that I wouldn't be home because I was hanging out with Calum.

I shoved my phone in my back pocket and watched Zoe walk along the footpath. She looked so confident and comfortable with herself, I was almost jealous. I could definitely see her being popular at this school.

"So how long have you lived in Greenfield for?" She asked me.

"I've lived here for a few years, I used to live in this other town though-" I paused, realising I didn't know the name of the old town I used to live in. "It's slipped my mind but I'll get back to you on it. Where did you move from?"

I already knew the answer but there was no harm in being polite.

"Calum and I kinda lived on the outskirts of Las Vegas, it was really nice. I had a boyfriend and lots of friends, and then Calum told me we were moving here and he ruined everything."

"I bet that sucks, did you have to break up with your boyfriend? And why did Calum move here?" I frowned, trying to piece together information from her side of things instead of Calum's half answers.