c'est la vie || Calum Hood

"You can call me Mr. Hemmings."

The ride was quick after the initial awkwardness that entailed after everyone met for the first time. Noel could barely breathe anytime one of them catched her eye. She turned away from them, took some deep breaths and went back to acting normal. I could tell she was getting more comfortable with them because she didn't take that many breathing breaks.

The bus driver smiled when he saw us with more teenagers. A smile that a father would give his kids when they finally get some friends. We had become regular customers for him, I liked that we were something familiar to him.

We sat down in our usual seats, taking more room now. The boys were struck with the realization that we were on a bus.

"Do you ride this often?" Luke asked, looking around.

"Best ride in all of France, baby." Calum replied, moving his hands around to show him the bus in a dramatic manner.

"With the best driver, might I add." I said and looked at him. He turned to look at me with another of his warm smiles, but he snapped his head back to the road quickly.

Michael looked out the window while chewing some gum he apparently had in his pocket. "I like the view."

I nodded and looked out the window. "It's pretty."

A baby started crying from one of the back seats. A young woman holding the baby started rocking it back and forth to calm it down.

Everyone turned to stare at her. A man in a suit rolled his eyes. "Ferme là!" Shut it up! He screamed at her. She gave him a desperate look and turned to her baby again.

I stood up in front of my seat. "Aller de l'avant, survivre à l'innocence!" Move in, survive the innocence! I said back to him, scowling.

He was shocked and turned away from me. "Mes excuses pour lui." My apologies about him. I gave the woman a soft look, which she returned.

We finally got to the shopping village, and we ishered out of the door. I stopped before exiting and pulled out a 100 dollar bill from my pocket. I left it in the tip basket that the driver had next to the door.

"Merci." He thanked me with a genuine smile that, I gave him one back.

I hopped out and caught up with the group, they were a few feet from the bus.

"That was nice." Noel blinked her eyes and looked at me. "You are a nice person, Cassiopeia."

I wrapped my arms around her shoulder and started strutting in front of the boys, expecting them to follow behind.

"See, they are normal boys." I whisper in her ear.

She shrugged. "I guess, but I have never seen a group of boys so attractive."

"True."

There were about 35 stores in this shopping village and we made it our task to go to all of them. Noel and I went straight to the woman's clothing stores, while the boys went to the other ones. We needed some clothes.

I picked out some underwear, a few shirts and some pants. I paid and went outside to meet with the others. Noel didn't buy anything because she was smart and packed a bag.

Outside, I saw the boys talking to someone, looking uncomfortable. I groaned when I saw who it was. Mallory.

"Who is that?" Noel asked.

"An asshole friend that I used to have." I explain and walk over to them. "Mallory, what are you doing here?" I asked with a fake smile.

"I was here with my husband and saw these boys across the courtyard, so I had to come say hi." She looked at me up and down.

"Nice." I scowl. "But, unfortunately, we have to leave now. Bye." I didn't give her time to react because I pulled the boys and started walking away. I stopped and decided to be petty. "Mallory, I know you wanted to meet my dear friend, Lukey. Was he of your pleasure?"

I squeeze Luke's arm to tell him to follow my lead. He leaned towards me and resped his arm on my shoulder.

She caught our movements and raised her eyebrows. "He was." She fixed her hair. "Right, Lukey?"

He cringed at the nickname. "Sorry, that nickname is reserved for Cassy only. You can call me Mr. Hemmings."

"Oh." She stood there with a shocked expression.

"Nice meeting you, Mallory." Luke gave her one last fake smile and started walking away, I grabbed his arm for the show.

I let go when she couldn't see us anymore. "Holy shit. That was so funny." I start laughing.

"Her face when Luke told her to call him Mr. Hemmings was priceless." Michael started laughing with me. "What's her story with Luke?"

"She is in love with him, with all of the band really. Luke's her favorite though." I say in between laughs. "The story about why we hate her is that she slept with a teacher to get a better grade than me. She also called my dad and ratted me and Calum out."

"Now I feel no guilt." Luke chuckled.