Storm 》Clifford A.U

013;

"BRO, WHAT'S GOOD WITH you? If anyone should be mad, it's me." I hear Michael groan, he and Calum's constant chatter managing to draw me from my sleep. I open my eyes slightly and see Calum rolling his eyes, angrily shoving books into his bag.

"What's good with me is that I got five hours of sleep total for the past week and I am profoundly exhausted, Michael. And no, you shouldn't be mad, because you can't keep that thing away from her sister. Darya's our friend, and yeah, I know we promised to protect him to protect her, but come on. We both know he didn't do anything, so we won't have a hard time attesting to his innocence should the need arrive. Besides, anything in the world that could help find her needs to be used, don't you get that? Don't you get that finding her is bigger than anything of this and any of us?" Calum hisses, his voice full of rage.

"But we didn't just promise him, we promised her. She loves him more than anyth-"

"Mike, I'm late." He sighs, running a hand through his messy, uncombed brown hair. "Listen, I doubt Darya put enough detail into anything to give him away and even if she did, he's going to be fine. We're all going to be fine, especially when that journal leads to wherever she is. I'm guessing if Alina does find something out, she's not going to run with it before checking with one of us. Unless of course, you keep on being an asshole. So," Calum emphasizes, resting a hand on Michael's left shoulder and giving him a sarcastic smile. "Stop being an asshole."

"Thanks a billion." He responds, pushing Calum's hand off of him and rolling his eyes. "Have a good day you sarcastic, irritable fuck." On his way out, bag slung over his shoulder, Calum flips Michael off, disappearing through the door before either of them can say anything else.

I shut my eyes completely once Michael makes the slightest motion to turn around, because I didn't want him to know that I was awake. It seemed that the best way for me to get information was to eavesdrop rather than actually asking for it.

In the few minutes that I'm pretend sleeping, I hear Michael shuffling around and sifting through what seems to be a stack of papers. I start counting to keep track of time, and by the time I get to five hundred, it sounds like he's either writing or drawing something.

Tired of lying around on the floor doing nothing, I make a big deal of groaning as I "wake up", sighing heavily and stretching out along my makeshift bed.

"Drawing something?" I mumble, voice scratchy since it is the first time in hours that I have spoken. Michael flinches, obviously not expecting me to be awake as he looks up at me from the chair by the computer, pencil in hand.

"Oh, uh, no." He says, looking down at his notebook before setting it aside on the computer desk. "I was just doing something for class but, hey, now that you're awake we can head down to the quad and try to find Ivy." I nod and push myself off of the ground then cross the room and pull my bag from underneath Michael's bed. I get my charger, a pair of black shorts, and blue flannel, then plug my phone in an empty outlet.

Michael's phone starts ringing and he picks both it and his notebook up instantaneously; nearly running into the bathroom without saying a word.

I start pulling my tank top off of my head and quickly follow him; careful to be quiet as I lean against the now shut bathroom door. While my fingers fumble to button up the flannel, Michael is whispering into his phone.

"I know you do, but you can't. It would look weird and people would get suspicious. Yeah, I know you don't care what people think, but you used to, which was your reason for being so secretive in the first place. She does care, though, and she wouldn't want you being blamed for this, whatever this is."