BREAK THE DISTANCE - Calum Hood AU *ON HOLD

chapter two

felicity's p.o.v. // chapter two

Finals were one of the most stressful times of the year as it was my second last year of school. Everything seemed to move awfully slow as I looked around the quiet classroom full of frustrated teenagers. OP English was possibly the hardest class this god foresaken school had to offer. Me, being me, of course thought it was a more than amazing idea to take the subject up. Yes, I enjoyed the subject, but damn the exams made everything a lot more stressful. Finishing the last line of the essay on woman empowerment, I closed the exam sheets, waiting for the bell to ring.

Soon I found myself walking out of the exam room surrounded by the class I'd been imagining to get away from the whole year. As suspected there had been no word on Calum's whereabouts for the past week or so. However today was different, once I exited, I opened my messages to find a blue dot beside Calum's name.

Calum (the frog) 1:17pm

Yiyeoyyour pirfac ee orettyj ,,

Calum (the frog) 1:23pm

I misisff yoiu sm

He was either wasted or it was really fucking late at night. Looking at the time I sighed knowing he would be fast asleep by now. 5:16am. I decided against replying to the illiterate boy who was more than likely still off his face.

Walking through the freezing air in December was always the one thing I despised the most about living in Ireland. As the cold wind whipped my hair back and forth I made my way into my favourite pizza parlour, it was an end of term tradition. Smiling at the staff's familiar faces I ordered for my parents, James and I. One big ass pizza and some cheesy garlic chips would definitely hit the spot. By the time I had reached my house it was almost half past five in the afternoon. After basically having a scavenger hunt through my handbag to find the keys to front door I was relived as it was pushed forward. I was welcomed into the warm and cosy air of my house. Dropping my bag and keys to the floor I made my way into the kitchen while I heard excited chattering through the thin door.

"Felici-loo!" my mum squealed opening her arms her eyes wide in excitement. She must be on the lady petrol again.

Peering behind her as I embraced her lightly in my arms. A questioning glance was thrown towards James as he shrugged in confusion; I set the food down on the table. "Hiii" I smiled towards my dad, removing my jacket and setting it on the back of the wooden chair. Flicking my shoes off I let out a sigh of relief I didn't quite realise I was holding in. Taking a seat beside James, I watched as my parents whispered back on forth into each other's ears. Leaning towards my older brother I whispered, "Do you have any idea as to what is happening right now?" looking towards him, he was smiling with his mouth but his eyes said fear. "Not a fucking clue." He continued smiling towards our parents as he bit into his pizza.

I laughed silently as I watched my dad attempting to contain my mum's overwhelming excitement over a pizza. For the rest of the meal we were mainly discussing what we should do over the Christmas break. The first place that came to mind was Paris. That's all I would ever talk about to my friends, living somewhere with the perfect view of the city and the Eiffel Tower. The reality of that happening was almost as low down as me obtaining a remotely close friendship with Calum.

The sound of clicking fingers and my name being called out repeatedly removed me from the very dazed trance I was in. "Hmm?" I questioned, as my parents looked at me with an intense stare. I turned to James as he snickered under his breath, grabbing my attention. Raising an eyebrow I stared back at all of them in confusion, did I miss something.

"I said, does Australia sound like a good holiday?" My eyes widened slightly at the sudden question being fired at me. Instantly a swarm of nervousness bubbled inside of my stomach. They were on to me. "Um, yeah, I guess so..." I murmured under my breath. They nodded at my slight positivity towards the idea of going to Australia for a holiday. My mum looked at my dad, giggling.

"C'mon, Chris! Let's just tell them! Look at their poor little faces, bless them." My mum urged my dad pulling at his arm. I watched as James stared at the two nut balls in confusion. Guess I'm not the only one. Dad rolled his eyes, returning his eyes to the bottle of a very rich champagne in front of him. I quirked my eyebrow at the thought of why they would go to the effort of buying such expensive champagne. He sighed, "alright, go on then."

Mum moved all her attention towards both James and I, smiling at us in adoration. "You two, I'm so proud of you two." She sniffled ever so slightly. "Your dad and I have been planning this ever since James finished high school, but we thought it would be appropriate as both of you are doing so well and we finally have the money." I smiled at her now tear covered face, trust mum to be crying over something as silly as us.

"Wait," I looked to my left as James face scrunched into an overwhelmed confused look, "what the hell do you mean 'you have the money now'?" he asked his eyes searching for some type of answer to grasp onto. Dad coughed, clearing his throat, almost as if he was trying to take the focus off of mum's little speech.

"I think what your mother is trying to tell you is that we may have, uh, how do I put this?" he questioned himself looking almost scared, "we may have a holiday booked to go to Australia next week?"

calum's p.o.v. // earlier that day

I aligned my body with yet another football which was placed to right side of me. I stared down at it with a tightened jawline. Felicity. That was the only thing that came to mind every hour of everyday. No matter where I was or who I was with it was always her. That stupid girl, with her stupid deep blue eyes and her stupid dimple and her god damn silky brown locks. I kicked another ball harder this time, the frustration of her beautiful face not being able to leave my mind.

"OI, HOOD! WATCH IT NEXT TIME, YEAH?" I glanced up to see Luke with a ball held to his chest, a humorous glint in his eyes. I smiled.

"Hemmings! Your back from Fiji already? I thought it would've been another week! How was it all?" I sighed in relief knowing that we will be winning tomorrows match with Luke on our side once more. "It was alright, just a bunch of family fights as per." He said through the grit of his teeth, smiling down at me never the less.

"What's gotten you all tense and stuff, bro? If I remember you are usually a lot more chill than this." He questioned my sweating body and balled fists.

Felicity, there she is again.

I groaned internally the thought of her drives me mental. Scrunching my eyes, I dribbled the ball back and forth in between each leg. "Just, uh, y'know school and yeah just school." I replied making myself look like an absolute nutter. It was the Summer holidays, we didn't have school again for the next two months. I let out an agitated huff, kicking another ball well beyond the goal. This girl is driving me insane.

Luke scoffed and smiled slightly, "Yeah, alright, big shot. How about we go out to town tonight, take your mind off this... school work?" I let out an exaggerated sigh, with red cheeks, I began nodding my head slowly.

"But one condition," in one swift movement Luke dropped the ball to his foot, flicking it up and catching it, pushing it to my chest, "please, for the love of god, no girls."