she slipped ; malum

nemo

IT GOT AROUND TO LUNCHTIME, AND MICHAEL WAS TUGGED AWAY FROM THE WARZONE, LEAVING CALUM TO STAND THERE DUMBLY. Luke pulled the pale boy over to his table, a group of people looking disgusted with him.

"He hung around the murderer, why do you want him here?" one of them said.

"He didn't know any better." Luke told them.

Michael sat next to Ashton, smiling slightly. He ate his lunch quietly, until he asked the question that had been bugging him all day. "What happened with him?" He didn't actually know the guy's name. All people called him was 'freak' and 'murderer'.

The group looked at him – more like glared – but only Ashton was the one to answer. "One day him and his girlfriend were on a cliff. Nobody knows if she slipped, or was pushed, but everybody thinks Calum pushed her."

Michael looked at the blond-brunette. "Do you?"

Ashton didn't say anything, and turned his attention to the lanky blond that was talking. "The guy hasn't exactly got the best track-record for these things. His family's fucked in the head, and so is he."

"How?"

"He nearly killed a guy." Luke rolled his eyes.

"But the guy called Avery a slut." The smaller boy that sat next to Michael mumbled under his breath.

Michael had had enough. "You're all judgemental pricks."

He got up and walked over to Calum's table. The boy was too busy using watercolours to notice Michael, until the table shook a little from the pale boy's weight. He sat up, obviously confused.

"You really shouldn't be sitting here."

"Why?" Michael asked.

"Didn't you hear what I did?"

"Did you do it?" he asked, cocking his head to the side.

Calum sat there awkwardly. "Well, no, but – "

"Then I think, I really should be sitting here."

The table felt weird with another person sitting at it. Calum was so used to the silence of his own solitude, but now that he had someone else, he wasn't sure what to do. He hoped that if he ignored him, he'd go away.

It was fifteen minutes later, and Michael was still there. Calum wanted to ask about it, but didn't want to make conversation. So, he continued his watercolour, even though he considered it was finished.

Come on, Cal, don't be so antisocial. He wants to be your friend.

Avery's voice would never leave his head, would it?

"Why'd you move here?"

"Mum never stays in the same place for more than three years." The Maori nodded, taking in his words. "Places seem to run out of mystery pretty fast."

"You think this town has mystery?" Calum raised an eyebrow.

Michael nodded. "You're a mystery in itself."

"It's better that way."

They don't talk for any longer, and Calum started to think about what him and Michael were. Friends? No.

Allies.

***

Michael thought that Calum walked way faster than needed. He had to jog to keep up with him. He stretched his legs to keep up with the Maori, looking up at him.