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Chapter 16

* Calum's P.O.V*

Chloe and I raised our glasses on our little victory. We did make one pair of awesome matchmakers. The only thing was that after the toast, it became silent, really silent. It was awkward, that might even be an understatement. It was just the two of us, normally this wasn't a problem, but for some reason it was this time. From the corner of my eyes I was looking at her, she was so beautiful. If I could only tell her how I really felt...

"- I'm going to... get some fresh air outside." She said and walked over to the terrace. Left on my own, I strumbled to our fridge and grabbed another beer. In the corner of the kitchen, next to my beloved fridge, Lori and Ashton were all over each other.

"- Maybe it's better if you two get a room." Not letting go of his new girlfriend, Ash raised his middle finger. I have to admit I was a bit jealous. Why do I always fall for the girl that's just a little bit out of my limit? Sipping from the bottle, I scoffed my way back to the living room. Chloe had left the door open a bit by accident and I accidently - or maybe not - picked up the conversation she was having on the phone.

"- Hey babe, how are you doing? Oh busy days huh? I'm fine. I just miss you. Can we just talk for a minute, there's something I want to tell you.... Oh, you got to go. You really can't make a little bit time?... No, oh... no, don't worry, it's okay. Tomorrow. Yeah... It isn't even that important anyway... Bye, love you." She locked her phone and brought it down to her lap. She was sitting with her back to me in one of our lounge seats. I was debating with myself on what I should do. Part of me said I should just walk away and pretend I didn't hear it, but the other part of me told me that she could really use a friend right now. The angel on your shoulder always wins from the devil, so I sat myself down opposite her. I saw a tear rolling over her cheek.

"- Hey. You okay?

- Yeah, I'm fine.

- Something tells me you're not.

- I am. Don't worry." She faked a smile.

"- No, you're not. You're crying and trust me, I really didn't want to, but I overheard the conversation. What's so important? What do you want to tell him? He should be listening...

- It's nothing, I just miss him a lot.

- Why do I have a hard time believing you?

- You probably don't even care..." Her voice cracked. She whiped away her tears with the sleeves of her jacket.

"- I do care, Chloe. What is going on? Please talk to me, I'm your friend. I'm here for you. You can tell me everything, except for period problems, I'm afraid I can't help you with that." I made her laugh for just a split second. It's then that I knew she was letting me in.

"- It's just..." She hired her face in her hands and I heard her sobbing. I kneeled down right in front of her and took her in my arms. She cried harder and the shoulder of my shirt was drenched from her tears.

"- It's okay, I'm here. It'll be fine. Talk to me when you're ready." After a couple more minutes she stopped crying and lifted her head from my shoulder. She was staring straight into my eyes.

"- I'm being bullied at school. This group of popular girls in my dance class started calling me names. It has always been that way, but stopped when I was on tour with my brother... But now it's back, and worse than ever. They are calling me names, even pull pranks on me... They were waiting for me at my house today. The moment I arrived they started throwing rotten eggs at me. I ran inside and it only made them laugh even more. But the worst thing is that even my former best friend is between all of this. I think she even started it. She used to hate those girls, but now they're all of the sudden best friends. And everybody at my school sees it, but nobody helps. They just laugh along with those girls. I pretend like I don't care, but as soon as I come home, I lock myself in my room and break down. Nobody knew, until today. I couldn't hide it anymore, the girls and James were waiting for me when I got home. I didn't want to tell, I didn't want them to worry, they were already having enough problems for themselves. I figured, since everybody knew now, I might as well also tell Austin. It hurts the most that he can't even make time to listen to me. The longest I've talked to him since he's gone back, is five minutes..."