Shy // Calum Hood

*•Stalker•*

Calum's P.O.V.
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I snuck over to Bailey's locker as usual, hesitantly sliding the note into one of the slits. This was it. This was the note asking her to meet me after school today.
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When the note disappeared into the metal door, I took a deep sigh before swinging my head around and scanning the area intently. It's probably just me being paranoid, but I'm pretty sure someone has been following me every time I do this. I just have this gut instinct which demands to be felt.
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I scanned through the crowds to try and suss out any abnormal behaviour, but everyone seemed too fascinated in their own lives. I shrugged to myself, deciding that I was only imagining things and wandered over to the place I normally met Bailey.
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I leant against the rough brick wall, fiddling with my thumbs as I awaited her arrival. My mind playing over what I would say to her later on, already regretting asking to meet. What if she got scared off? There were so many ways that it could go wrong and my mind was highlighting every last one.
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I began to turn around, wishing to take back my letter but I was stopped by a small hand on my shoulder.
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"You better not be ditching me Hood." She laughed as I swung my head round to meet her adorable grin.
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"Wouldn't dream of it." I replied, lightly chuckling also.
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"Good, can we pretty please stop by my locker to see if there's another note?" She begged as usual.
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"I guess." I pretended to act uninterested, although I suppose that was pointless due to my invite.
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When we arrived outside her locker, she dove into it like any other day as I watched her eyes light up at my writing.
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"I can't believe it." She mumbled, almost to herself, her eyes lighting up immediately.
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"What?" I pretended I was clueless.
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"He wants to meet me!" She squealed excitedly.
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"Crap . . . He wants to meet me." Her attitude changed as she grew nervous.
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I watched confused as her fingers began to tap against the letter repetitively before I understood. She didn't know it was me, and she still can't talk to anyone else.
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"Hey, come on, you've got this. He clearly likes you a lot so . . ."
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"That makes it worse! What if I'm not what he expected?"
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"Then you'll be better than what he thought, he'd be an idiot not to like your personality." I assured her.
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She smiled gratefully but clearly remained concerned as we walked to our first lesson of the day.
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Bailey's P.O.V.
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This was it.
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I was finally meeting the boy who had been making me so happy these past few weeks. I wasn't sure still quite what
I was expecting to come out of this, I mean I still had very strong feelings for Calum but was he ever going to like me back?
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I arrived at the designated meeting place, outside my locker, and waited patently as students washed out of their last lessons.
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Five minutes had passed, and my mystery guy was no where to be seen. I checked on the letter that we were supposed to be meeting at the lockers again, even though I knew I hadn't misread anything. I'd gone over it so many times today.
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When ten minutes passed I began to doubt myself as old feelings that this was all a joke violently hit my stomach. Feeling ashamed and foolish, I decided I was going to give it five more minutes and then I would just leave.
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Calum's P.O.V.
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I couldn't do this. I could not do this.
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But I couldn't let her down either . . .
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This had been my minds battle all day, and now I was walking to her locker one minute and spinning around to leave the next.
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It has reached the stage that I could see her there, waiting. And now I was standing behind a door, peering round and just watching, still undecided on which path to choose.
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My heart shattered as her face radiated disappointment, due to my own shyness. Now she was upset because of me, that's the absolute last thing I intended.
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She turned to leave and I opened my mouth to yell her name when a tall figure in a grey hoody dashed over, stealing my place, next to her.
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Bailey's P.O.V.
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I was stopped by an unrecognisable call of my name, blaring down the hallway.
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"Bailey!" The deep voice blurted out.
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I swung my head around to see a boy from the year above appear.
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The usual habits began as my chest tightened and my throat closed. My breathing quickened as my pulse raged, every part of me beginning to panic.
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"Hey." He smiled warmly.
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I smiled back, knowing I would only fail if I attempted to reply.
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"So you want to take a walk so I can explain all this?" He questioned confidently.
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I nodded, still feeling mute when Calum appeared from the desolate hallway.
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"Calum!" The boy chuckled wrapping an arm around my best friend, leaving me confused on how the two had met.
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Calum simply glared at him and rolled his eyes, swallowing an evidently large lump in his throat.
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"So . . . This is him?" He asked half heartedly.
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"Yeah." I mumbled quietly.
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I couldn't deny that a part of me hoped that this person would turn out to be Calum. At one point I truly believed it was him due to him being the only guy that spoke to me, but apparently not.
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"We were actually just leaving though. Sorry Calum, see you around." The boy informed Calum as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders causing me to flinch and tense up instantly.
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"You might want to give her some space Eden, she's pretty shy." Calum warned him, causing my cheeks to redden.
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The boy, apparently named Eden, released me from his grip before nodding at Calum.
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"See you around then man."
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"Yeah see you around." Calum grumbled like a stroppy child. I didn't know what had gotten into him but he certainly was not acting himself.
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He never even said goodbye to me, he just sort of looked at me, his eyes sulking before he left.
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"So, park?" Eden smirked.
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I nodded, typically, following him out of the school gates.
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--2 hours later--
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Eden turned out to be quite nice actually, however his not so subtle comments about Calum clearly expressed his dislike and I was eager to know why.
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"I was wondering um . . . Why you didn't like Calum?" I muttered to him during the next silence.
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"I don't think you want to know." His facial expressions turned drastically serious.
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"Please?" I begged.
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"We used to be really good friends before he did something terrible, that's all I'm saying."
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The information only intrigued me further but I was still to shy to intervene.
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I simply nodded, choosing not to believe him until more a detailed explanation came. Calum was my best friend and nothing was going to change that.
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Calum's P.O.V.
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Two hours had passed since I left Bailey with Eden and I swear I'm going insane. I played on my Xbox for a while but it couldn't distract me, I watched a film, I even rang Luke to see if he was around but he never answered.
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I just had this image of them tattooed in my mind. How did Eden even know I was going to meet her there? I was confused and hurt all at the same time.
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I decided I needed to know, and that I needed to know right that instant. grabbing my phone and some keys I left the empty house. Striding confidently forward, I memorised every step all the way to Eden's.
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I was surprised I could still remember the street, let alone the right house number as I nervously tapped the cool metal door knocker. I'd lost my previous confidence from the annoyance I was feeling earlier and I was beginning to grow nervous.
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I hadn't been here in years and although his parents were wonderfully kind hearted people, Eden was extremely manipulative and I didn't know how he'd managed to portray me since our loss of friendship.
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To my dismay his mother answered a few moments later, however she surprisingly greeted me with a huge smile.
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"Calum? Is that really you!" She pulled me into an uncomfortable hug.
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"Hello Mrs Smith." A muffled voice escaped my lips into her shoulder.
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"I'm afraid Eden's not back yet but he should be home soon, why don't you go and wait up in his room sweetie?" She beamed at me before I thanked her and walked down the familiar hallway.
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It was like a blast from the past as I remembered each detail from the household, me and Eden used to be inseparable for around a year or two. However he turned me into a total dick, even Ashton, Michael and Luke refused to talk to me the entire time. Back then I disagreed and argued that I hadn't changed but when look back I clearly had.
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None of that mattered anymore because we all made up when me and Eden fell out, permanently. Well it was more him being mad at me and up until when he spoke to me during the fire alarm, I really did miss him.
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I plonked myself onto Eden's bed as I patiently awaited his arrival. It was so strange to me, being sat in the place I used to spend most of my time. We were inseparable but he believed everyone else over me, and now here we are.
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I jumped up to a standing position as I watched the door knob twist, indicating Eden had returned. I didn't have much time to think about how I was going to so this because he was inside the room and staring at me angrily within seconds.
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"Why are you here?" He hissed.
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"How did you know about the letters?" I ignored his question.
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He smirked instantly, taking an intimidating step closer to my body.
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"I watched you every day, and then when you left I would always read them. At first it was for a laugh but then I saw you'd offered to meet and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity.
I told you Hood, she's my new game." He sneered devilishly.
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When I didn't reply he could tell that this was making me mad, it was obvious from the huge smirk of success spread across his face. He took yet another step and I was now so close that I could feel his hot, sticky breath against me.
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"You came up in our conversation a few times actually . . ."
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He knew exactly how to manipulate me, he always had done.
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I remained silent and he took that as a hint to continue, it wasn't though it was a hint for him to shut the fuck up. I was going to loose it in a matter of minutes.
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"How you guys are best friends, or was it nothing more than best friends . . . Ever? I just can't remember. Oh yes and I may of told her about when we were best friends and given her some tips on why we aren't any-"
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I cut him off with a punch to his face. My blood was boiling and every inch of me was filled with anger. My mind felt heavy with some sort of gas, a gas which was making me madder by the second.
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"You better not of told her anything!" I growled at him.
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Despite his bloody nose he began to laugh. He laughed in such a way it was almost scary, the back of his palm wiping his nose as though it was nothing.
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"She's going to find out what you did, you can't stop that from happening. I may not of told her all the details tonight but trust me, they're coming. Now leave my house Hood."
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"If you really ever were my best friend then you should of listened to me a long time ago." I spat, past feelings flooding back.
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I grabbed my jacket from his carpeted floor as I headed out of his room and out of his house, I hated that boy so much, almost as much as he hated me.