Misunderstood [ON HOLD]

Chapter Four

 I leapt up from where I was sitting and ran back to the house. I heard Jem and Kelsey call after me, but I had to get Callum.

 I burst into the living room and it silenced, whatever conversation they had been having had stopped on account of my entering. I threw my arms around Callum, he tensed in surprise and then hugged me back.

 "What's this for?" he asked.

 "I... I can't..." I stammered. I couldn't think of the words I needed to say!

 "Jade, you wanna go for a walk? We'll go over to the park, just you and me." he said. He grabbed his old, ripped denim jacket and threw it on, not bothering to sort out the collar. He grabbed my hand and pulled me out the front door.

 When we got to the park I let him lead me to the little kiddies playground. A few parents were there with some toddlers. They smiled awkwardly at us as we passed them, and we went and sat on the small swings. Once on the swing Callum became a little child, he kicked off from the ground with his long legs and I was instantly worried he was going to attempt a loop.

 I sat on my swing and watched him. The thing with Callum being so skinny is that everyone thinks he's puny. There is no muscle definition anywhere on his body, he looks literally like skin and bones. Even though you cannot see the muscles doesn't mean they're not there, Callum is ridiculously strong for his tiny physique. He could take on anyone. And probably win.

 He grinned as the wind picked the hair off his face and then dropped it again. He saw that I wasn't swinging and slowed down. He came to a stop.

 "What's wrong, Jade?" he asked me.

 "Does mum love you, Callum?" I asked him. He looked down and kicked down the ends of his trousers as he thought.

 "I think she loves me but she doesn't like me. The only reason I'm in her life at all is because I'm her son." he told me. It was my turn to look down as I thought of what to say next.

 "Are we going to become a broken family? Like Jem's?" I asked. He sighed, reached out and took my hand.

 "Jem has had an awful life, Jade. His mother doesn't care for any of her children. At least our mum cares for you." he said.

 "Yeah, right. She always shouts at me because I act like you."

 "Does she shout at you, though? Or does she shout at the part of me she sees in you?" he said.

 Damn his smart thinking. I had no answer to the question.

 "Callum, yesterday when everyone was round our house and Nick got that phone call, what was it about?" I asked him. A huge grin spread across his face and he squeezed my hand so tight I thought he was trying to break it.

 "The band, my band, we've got a gig!" he exclaimed. Then there was a lot of 'OHMYGOSH!'s and hugging before we calmed down.

 "Where is it?" I asked.

 "The Emerald." he said, and his eyes gleamed.

 "Are... are you serious? Your first gig is at The Emerald? Cal, that's amazing!"

 The Emerald was a club that had been set up in the 70's in our area. Not many people knew about it because it wasn't your ordinary dance club. It was a club that had been set up in the era of disco for everyone who just wanted to rock out. A band played there every night, and when their set was done the owner of the club came in and made sure bands like Aerosmith were blasting out instead of pop or disco music.

 It was awesome.

 Callum had snuck me in once last year, and we had a great time... until a bouncer spotted us and we had to run away.

 "Nick got told by the event organiser that there's normally talent scouts there. This could make the band, Jade!" he said.