verbatim - c.hood | social media

seven

c a l u m

"hey boys, these are for you." harper beams as she approaches the four of us with a tray of coffees.

"har, what the hell are you up to?" i say as i take the coffee with my name on it.

"nothing!" she laughs. "just wanted to be nice, it's just coffee."

"coffee always means you want something." luke points out as he takes his, and he's not wrong on that one.

"nothing, this time anyways, i swear!" she says. "either take the coffees or don't."

"don't mind if i do." michael and ashton say in unison, taking their coffees so that harper can throw away the tray.

"anyways." harper says. "hey cal, i was thinking of skipping first period. wanna go for a drive?"

"actually—"

"hemmings, since when did you have a fucking lip ring?" ashton blurts out.

"since friday night." luke shrugged. "har got her nose done."

"oh yeah." harper laughed, turning her head to show the ring on her nose. "birthday adventures, you know?"

"yeah." i nodded. "lu, where's ariana?"

"library, most likely, she likes to hide in there as much as possible." he says. "she's something else."

"well—"

"michael, open your mouth and i'll make it so you lose all your teeth."

"since when was luke this violent?" ashton questioned, and all i felt were luke's eyes darting right at me.

i didn't do anything, i swear.

"anyways, so i'm going to, uh, study, bye!"

"but cal, don't you wanna go for a drive?" harper asks.

"maybe next time, har, just go to class, i'll see you at lunch." i smiled, rushing off towards the library.

i walked in there and began looking around, not really sure of where i was even looking. mind you, i've only stepped foot in the library to use the computers when one of our teachers signed them out for class time. after a few minutes, i found ariana curled up in the corner on one of the bigger chairs at the back of the library, reading through some book with a small pile of other ones next to her.

"ariana, hey." i smiled as i approached her.

she looked up at me, her expression off, in a way. "h-hi calum.."

"whatcha reading?" i asked, peering over from where i stood.

"the great gatsby." she said.

"i think we read that in english some time ago." i said. "hate to spoil it all for you, but if i don't recall, the entire thing was nothing but a dream."

"hm..." she hums, continuing to read. "did you need something?"

"oh, uh, no.. i just, um, well—" i stammered.

"you're bored and don't know what to do during spare." she says, turning the page of her book and looking up at me, whilst i nodded to her in response to her assumptions. "either pull up a chair and read, or think of something more entertaining for yourself."

"what, you're just going to hide away for the rest of the period?"

all she did was nod, pushing up the oversized glasses she had on her face so she could read.

"okay, no." i said, taking the book from her, closing it, taking her arms, and pulling her up onto her feet. "what we're not gonna do is that."

"we?"

"yes, we." i nodded. "i have an idea, let's go for a drive."

"a drive where?" she asked.

"that's not important." i said. "...and i say that in the least sketchy way possible. do you trust me, ariana?" she nods. "good, now let's go."

"alright, but calum..." she says, making me look at her. "it wasn't a dream, it was a lie."

i just smiled, grabbing her bag, taking her hand, and pulling her through the halls and to my car.