Taken // Calum Hood

Old faces new drama.

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"It was just so horrifying." I groaned to my three best friends while I explained that mornings events as we dissected frogs together. For Science this year us four had all been placed in the same class but Calum unfortunately belonged to the class next door.
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Luke morbidly attacked his poor lifeless frog, completely clueless as to how he was supposed to dissect the animal in front of him. I shook my head before helping to show him which areas he was supposed to be doing what. "Thanks." He mumbled. "And that does sound awful, but I'm sure you had a better time than this little guy." Luke nodded to his frog.
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"That's very true." I grimaced at the thought of them jumping around only yesterday, totally unaware that today, they'd be part of our latest scientific practical. "I just can't believe we had to explain to his parents we aren't having sex."
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"Not to be rude or anything . . . but er, why aren't you?" Ashton asked curiously. I felt a blow to the gut at his confrontation, realising the only person who knew about this in depth was Luke.
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My cheeks rouged beetroot as I looked to Luke for help. Despite not looking up, he must have realised what I was silently asking as he rolled his eyes and let out a loud sigh before explaining for me. "Because she is convinced that Megan is oh so much hotter and that Cal's gonna be disappointed." He stated bluntly, all his concentration focused on his frog.
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I elbowed him slightly in annoyance for being so crude.
"What?" He finally looked up. "That is why." He shrugged looking back down to the different sterilised knives. I rolled my eyes in exasperation as I noticed Ashton and Michael both looking at me dumbfoundedly.
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"You can't be serious." Michael quizzed. I shrugged, beginning to feel embarrassed all over again. "You are way hotter than her." He informed me as Ashton nodded beside him.
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"He's right." Ash added when I looked over at him in disbelief. "And I know Calum thinks the same as all of us. Any guy would." My cheeks were now flushing for a whole different reason as I failed to see what they apparently did.
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Luke sighed, finally giving up with his experiment, as he aimlessly dropped the utensils with a crash into the silver tray. "You should hear the things he says about you, before, during and after Megan." He smirked.
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I flashed him a confused look as I waited for him to elaborate further.
"Oh god don't get me started." Michael groaned "Its always Hayley this Hayley that, especially now." He whined, shooting me a mock dirty look, pretending to be annoyed. I shot him a smug expression back, happy to annoy him.
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"He always told me that Megan could never get him . . . You know, excited, so he used to think about you to get his little guy up." Ashton chuckled causing Michael and Luke to burst into fits of laughter.
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I blushed even harder and began to get slightly annoyed with the boys mocking poor Calum and felt bad that he'd really be in for it later after Ashton had just shared that gem. "That's hilarious." Michael wheezed, he too giving up with his frog just in time for the bell to go. I was glad that conversation was over before it got too out of hand as we collected our bags and left for lunch.
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~~~
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Luke and I were the only ones who apparently weren't ten minutes late from fourth period, like the others apparently all where. I didn't mind though, it gave us some time to have a a more thorough conversation about why I shouldn't be so cautious about the whole Megan situation and that Calum didn't want her, he wanted me.
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We also talked about the new girl, Nancy, who apparently had caught the attention of Luke and made quite the impression. We were still talking about her when I noticed the rest of our group finally entering the hall, Calums cheeks glowing crimson as the other two were laughing insanely loud.
Oh god.
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Luke followed my gaze and chuckled lightly, shaking his head in amusement.
"Hey." I nudged him. "Be nice, the other two clearly aren't." I said, knowing he most likely wouldn't listen to what I was saying anyway. He too after all found the things Ashton shared about his friend hilarious.
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Luke rolled his eyes, confirming my thoughts, before mimicking what I had just told him in an annoying high pitched voice. I nudged him again, a little harder this time, as the others sat down at the table.
"Enough!" Calum snapped as Michael opened his mouth to crack another teasing comment. "Not here, I don't want . . . You know what I mean Mikey. Not here." He begged, desperate for them not to tell me what I already knew.
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Michael ran a hand through his newly died hair, I really liked this one. It looked plain blue from afar, but up close was all kinds of shades and tones.
His gloriously big, mocking smirk which he had certainly perfected over the years, was glowing as he nodded in my direction. "If you're talking about your girlfriend, she already knows."
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The colour drained from Calums face as he snapped his head towards me. I shrugged a little to clarify I did in-fact know this, causing Calum to groan and pull his shirt over his face. "I hate you Ashton. Why can't I think of anything just as embarrassing about you to tell them?" He whined, his voice sounding muffled through the thin layer of his t-shirt.
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Ashton giggled, patting his friend on the back. "Sorry dude, it had to be said.
Trust me it will work out in your favour." He winked across the table at me and glared at him warningly.
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Calum finally lifted his head from his shirt, his cheeks and neck still burning pink but he looked at Ashton with a confused expression. "How the hell could that ever work in my favour?" He let out another groan and all the boys laughed at what they knew.
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I glared harder at Ashton and gave him my best 'don't you dare.' look, and he surrendered both his hands in the air as if to say 'okay, okay.' When Calum finally poked his head out of his t-shirt, his cheeks and neck still burning pink, but a puzzled instead of embarrassed expression was now being modelled across his beautiful features.
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I reached over across the table and took his hand in mine. "Want to go somewhere without these morons?" I asked as he grinned and nodded happily. Standing up and collecting his belongings as I did the same.
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Mikey let out a loud and forced cough before muttering "Get some." Under his breath, only loud enough for me to hear as I walked past, making me smack the top of his head. I glared as he chuckled and followed my boyfriend out of the crowded hall.
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Calum turned a little and laced his fingers with mine. I gave him a happy grin, quickly forgetting my annoyance with our friends. He could make me forget anything with even the smallest look and for that, I was forever in his debt.
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It wasn't until we came outside and sat in the grass that we spoke about what has happened in the lunch hall. This thick awkward air had made its way back, suffocating each of us torturously.
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I began staring at three particular strands of grass which were becoming increasingly interesting to me as I watched out the corner of my eye as Calum wiped a nervous hand down his face, unsure of how to word what he wanted to say. "Look, I'm really sorry about what Ashton told you. I just . . ." He trailed off as I looked back up at him.
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I shook my head, scooting a little closer to him. "Don't be, I'm sure they've told you embarrassing things about me too." I offered even though I knew they hadn't. The only super embarrassing secrets I kept, were shared only with Luke as they would tend to be about Calum and I knew Luke wouldn't tell a soul if I asked.
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"I just . . . I don't want you to think of me like some disgusting pig who . . . you know what I mean." He explained and I did, I knew exactly what he meant, but the thing was, I never thought of him like that, even for a moment.
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I smiled across at him, suddenly finding the situation quite amusing.
"You still don't get it do you?" I chuckled slightly. He raised his eyebrows, puzzled, showing me I needed to elaborate. I held his hand in mine, my fingers tracing over every bump and wrinkle. "You could do just about anything and my feelings for you wouldn't change one bit." I explained with total honesty.
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He smiled at me shuffling round and pulling me onto his lap with ease. "You really are something Hayley Rose." He said, grinning so wide that I was surprised he didn't swallow his ears, but then again, I never swallowed mine either.
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~after school~
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My parents still hadn't arrived back from their daily outing, wherever it was they had done together this time, so I was left wandering aimlessly around my house, searching for something fun to occupy my time. In the end, I gave up and decided on watching a movie.
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Just as I began skipping through the trailers to various other films, my phone began to sing and and Lukes double-chin selfie flashed up across the screen. I accepted the call, pausing the film and sinking further into our soft couch. "Whats up Hemmings?" I teased, picking pieces of fallen popcorn from the creases in my school skirt.
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"Finally! Jesus Christ, Hayley. I've only been ringing your phone a zillion freaking times!" He scolded, clearly extremely frustrated about something. It wasn't my fault I didn't always keep my phone on me, it had been sat on the table since I arrived home over an hour ago.
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I sighed at his stroppy attitude.
"I'm sorry I didn't answer, I wasn't with my phone." I tried, only earning a deep groan from the other end. "Luke, seriously I wasn't ignoring-"
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"Hayley. Shut up and listen for just two seconds, that's all I ask." He pleaded and I rolled my eyes but remained silent as instructed. "Okay thank you, I've been trying to tell you that after you and Cal left at lunch, Zach came over and he was looking for you, saying he wanted to talk. He said he broke it off with Melanie for you and that you two needed to sort things out."
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I sat up at this. "What? Oh my god. What did you say?" I demanded, suddenly understanding why Luke was so panicked.
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"I didn't, Michael however got quite mad but I'm one-hundred-percent sure that only made everything worse." He sighed. "All I'm saying is watch out because that boy isn't giving up easy."
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I was so stunned I was almost lost for words. Luke was still blabbering on about all the things I should do, lock my door, shut the windows, but I didn't care. Why was this still happening? And then my mind fled to Melanie. She was such a lovely girl, and she was clearly falling for that excuse of a boy. I didn't want to be the reason he'd just hurt her like that. I couldn't be the reason. I'm not that interesting, or funny or talented. And I'm certainly not that attractive. Why did I get the feeling this wasn't about his feelings for me?
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"Hayley! You're not even listening are you?" Luke brought me back to the real world moments before there was a knock at my front door. Then two. Then three. "Earth to Hayley, are you still there?"
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My breath faltered for a moment as I got up and took step closer to the door. Should I leave it? Or should I try and solve this problem for good?
"Uh . . . Yeah I'm here, listen thanks for the warning but I'm gonna have to go. Talk later though okay?" I explained in a hurry, hanging up as he began to guess why.
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Before I could process the thought, my shaky hand had opened the door and a very nervous Zach was stood before me.