Zap! (M. Clifford/5SOS)

Chapter 20: I've Got This Friend

Monica's P.O.V.

"Monica! Hurry up! We're going to be late!" my mum shouts.

"Mum, calm down! It's just the Cliffords. We'll be fine!" I yell back.

It's Friday evening and we're getting ready for the Christmas bonfire at Michael's house. Well, I'm still getting ready, although it's an outside event at my second family's home and I don't need to dress up. My mum hasn't stopped fussing for the past fifteen minutes and no matter what my dad does, she won't calm down. Lovely.

Chucking my phone and other objects into a small purse, I glance at myself in the mirror one more time. The entire band and their families are coming, plus Tatiana and her family and of course, mine. So basically I'm going to be surrounded by all the people that I love. Yes, that includes Luke and Calum now that I've gotten to know them and we've gotten surprisingly close in a few weeks.

"Finally," my mum huffs as I descend the stairs. Rolling my eyes, I notice she has a few wrapped packages in her arms and my dad also has a gift bag slung on his arm. They open the door and I follow them out and across our neighbors' backyards. We reach the Cliffords and walk right inside.

"Hello!" Mrs. Clifford greets us. She hugs each one of us and leads us through the house and into the yard. We're the only ones here so far, so I take in my surroundings before it gets crowded. There is a table set up with presents already scattered on it near the house, along with another table full of snacks. We already ate dinner, but you know teenagers. We can eat food like there's no tomorrow. Towards the back corner of the lawn, their in-ground fire pit is already set up with giant logs in the middle of the pit, chairs and blankets circling around it.

Suddenly, a pair of hands cover my eyes and someone whispers, "Guess who!" into my ear. It doesn't sound like a girl's whisper, so I rule Tatiana out.

"Um...Ashton?" I guess.

"Nope," the voice whispers again.

"Michael?" I try again.

The person sighs and drops their hands, moving around me. Once my eyes focus again, I see Calum standing right in front of me, his brown eyes looking at me like a sad puppy.

"Oh, my God, I'm sorry, Calum! I'm not good with this game," I apologize, hugging him close in a greeting.

"It's okay," he says and releases me. "Where's everyone else?"

As if on cue, Tatiana runs out the back door and almost tackles me to the ground, pulling Calum with her. All three of us topple over and tumble down, landing on the soft grass. A sharp jab hits me in the stomach as we go down and Tatiana sprawls out on top of me, Calum on top of her.

"Tatiana," I deliver through heavy breaths, "I love you, but you need to stop doing this."

"Sorry," she replies and I feel weight being lifted off of me as they both get up. Calum stretches his arm out and pulls me to my feet.

"You're Calum, right?" Tatiana asks once we've regained balance.

"In the flesh," he reveals. "And your name is...wait, it starts with a T, I know that!" 

"Tatiana," she says, smiling.

"That's right! Sorry, it's been like, what, two weeks?" Calum questions.

"Wow, yeah it has," Tatiana speaks.

"Two weeks since the hospital incident. Wait, that means Ashton is..." Calum trails off.

"Healed, yup," I answer, nodding.

"Yes! Woohoo, Ashton's back!" Calum screams. Tatiana and I laugh at his enthusiasm and we don't even notice another girl has joined us until we have calmed down.