Jump ➸ c.h.

xxvi

charlie.

calum, where are you? is your phone dead? are you dead? you better not be.

i sent the text, my heart pounding. he hadn't answered any of my texts in three days.

three days.

that made me worry about him, what could have happened? what if he decided to take action and take his own life? i was mad at my self because i appearantly wasn't there enough to help him, and that was showing now that there were only texts on the right side of my screen, none on the left.

i threw my phone on my bed, laying my head in my hands. what was i going to do? this would be a miserable trip if calum didn't answer soon, i was going crazy just worrying about him. why couldn't he just answer a text to let me know if he was alive? even if he was sad and isolating himself, he could at least send a text saying, 'no.' or something to let me know his heart was still beating. oh how i hoped his heart was still beating.

"are you okay?" ashton asked, walking into the room, sitting next to me on the edge of the bed.

i nodded, "yeah, everything's fine! just worried about calum a bit, it's nothing."

"it doesn't look like nothing," ashton said, gesturing to my face.

i wiped at my cheek, feeling a spot of dampness. had i been unconsiously crying? i don't think i've ever done that before.

"really, it wasn't anything big," i smiled, trying to reassure my older brother.

"did you two break up?" he asked, continuing to prod at me.

"no, no, definitely not. listen, i told you it was nothing, so can you please stop asking about it?" i asked politely, but ashton's short temper seemed to kick in again.

"you know, i always try to fucking help you but you never talk to me! why are you so secretive about everything all i want to do is be closer with you and you keep pushing me away! you've been like this for years, and i'm really starting to get pissed off by it," ashton yelled.

my eyes widened, "ashton! keep it down the entire family is over!"

"i don't even care anymore," he said while leaving the room, slamming the door behind him.

i sighed, why was we so angry? it's not like i did anything wrong, it wasn't any of his business what was happening between calum and i. although, i will admit i've always strayed away from ashton. he's always been so intimidating to me, i feel like if i let him in my life he would be a controlling older brother, always telling me what i can and can't do, not that he doesn't do that now, i just don't want it to get worse.

i grabbed my makeup bag and made my way to the bathroom, sure that my face looked absolutely horrid.

-

"hi aunt suzy!" i smiled, hugging the short woman with dark brown hair in front of me.

i was currently in the large living room of my aunt's house, (not aunt suzy) surrounded by my large family, everyone chattering away. i had been standing there awkwardly on my phone until my aunt had decided to talk to me, thank god.

"charlotte! you've gone blue now? last time i saw you you had a dark purple," she exclaimed, looking at my hair in awe.

"yeah, my boyfriend chose it for me, i like it."

"boyfriend? since when did you get a boyfriend?" my aunt grinned.

i didn't mind my aunt suzy. although she probably didn't like my hair, she still made it look like she did, and supported me with it unlike the rest of my family. plus, she wasn't a snobby person.

"a couple months ago, his name is calum," i replied, my heart aching at the thought of the boy.

"do you have a picture of him, i want to see this special boy who has taken our little charlotte's heart!" my aunt said, and i internally winced as she called me charlotte...again.

i nodded, pulling out my phone and finding a picture calum and i had taken together. i showed it to my aunt, and she let out an, "awww." which made me laugh a bit.

"does he paint?" she asked as i put my phone in my back pocket.

"yeah, how'd you know?" i asked, very confused. did she know him?

"his shirt is all covered with paint spots. is he good at it?"

"actually, he's amazing. do you wanna see the self potrait he painted of me?" i asked, once again pulling out my phone.

"yes, of course!" my aunt said excitedly.

i showed her the picture, and she gasped, "has your mother seen this? this is amazing! you definitely got lucky, calum is one talented boy."

"actually, come to think of it, she hasn't seen it. thanks for bringing that up, i'll show it to her today. but anyways, i'm sure calum will be thrilled to know what you just said."

my aunt nodded, then someone tapped her shoulder, pulling her attention away from me. while she wasn't looking, i crept away from my aunt, trying to find my cousin meg and her friend anna. they were the only females my age around here, everyone else my age was a boy.

spotting anna, her jet black hair sticking out among my family of blondes and brunettes, i quickly made my way over to her.

when i got close, though, i stopped in my tracks. ashton was right there next to her. i didn't feel like going by him, he was already mad enough at me, i didn't need him to hate me for ruining his chances to date a british girl.

ashton (along with many other boys, i suppose) has an odd obsession with girls who had foreign accents, so me ruining his chances with one would probably make him pummel me.

since i couldn't find meg, and didn't know what else to do, i looked down at my phone, ready to text calum.

when i opened our chat up, i noticed a bubble at the bottom of the screen signalling that he was typing. my heart fluttered with joy until i read the one word he sent,

help.

*

okay guys i'm going to be making a new wattpad where i can start fresh because i have a lot of "ghosties" on her and i dont like how it feels to have about 905 inactive followers. so, to get rid of those, i'm making a new account and those of you who want to continue reading my stories, go follow me on @teastainluke where ill be posting new stories. i'm going to finish the stories on this account, then switch over to that one and use that one only, so if you like my writing, please keep up with me there!