Walls||CTH AU||

Chapter 10- Laughter

"Go away Calum," Bailey mumbled, not lifting her head off of the table to see who was approaching her.

"How did you know it was me?" Calum asked, taking a seat next to her, smiling sadly.

"It's always you Calum," she mumbled into her arms," Why are you here anyway?"

"I wanted to apologise for making you angry in Registration, and I wanted to see if you were okay, you haven't been in class all morning. I thought you'd gone home."

"Nah for once my mother decided to be home," Bailey muttered angrily, her eyes widening when she realised she had said it out loud.

"What do you mean?" Calum asked, shifting on the bench so he was facing he same way as her, and put his head down on the table too.

"Nothing, I didn't say anything."

"Bailey..."

"Calum..."

"If you haven't been in class, where have you been?"Calum said changing the subject before Bailey got angry at him.

"Right here, minding my own business unlike some people," she growled, lifting her head off the table to glare at him. "Where is your posse today?"

"Detention," Calum sighed. "I'm all alone."

"Diddums, is Tattoos sad because he doesn't have any fwiends?" Bailey mocked in a baby voice.

"You're mean."

"And you're annoying."

"Harsh." Calum huffed, placing his hand over his heart.

"Truth hurts," Bailey replied, a small smile tugging at her lips. Although she disliked Calum, he was good company and wasn't a total creep like the boy in the hall. He respected her personal space and was just trying to make Bailey feel better by being himself. Bailey knew that this could only be a one time thing, or she would end up getting hurt or hurting him. Friendships in the past hadn't worked out, her best friends when she was 8 or 9 stopped talking to her soon after she started distancing herself and acting weird. When she started High School she had a few friends for a while but they soon abandoned her when she started snapping at them. Word got it that she was a freak and everyone avoided her. Since then, Bailey hasn't bothered with friends, she had given up entirely on the human population, including herself.

"Is that a smile I see?" Calum asked, pointing at Bailey's mouth. "Omg it is. You are actually smiling."

"No I'm not," she argued, turning away from him. "I don't smile."

"You are definitely smiling Bailey Winters, I can see it. You are not completely emotionless after all."

"Sshhhh, it's a secret," Bailey whispered, pressing her fingers to her lips, grinning. For the first time in a long time, Bailey was almost happy, but she knew that it wouldn't, and couldn't last, but she wanted to enjoy it for as long as possible while she could.

"I won't tell a soul, I promise." Calum placed his hand on his heart and held three fingers up," Scouts honour." Bailey rolled her eyes and chuckled, hiding behind her hair. This wasn't right. She shouldn't be laughing, she shouldn't be letting him in. Because if she didn't that she was only setting herself up to get hurt again. That's what she had built the walls for.

"It's just one lunchtime," she thought. "Then you can shut him out again."

When the bell rang, Calum got up and had began to walk away before he realised Bailey wasn't following him. He turned round to ask her if she was coming, only to find that she had put her head back down on the table, where she had been when he found her. Smiling sadly, he turned around and walked away. She had seemed happy for a bit, and he had managed to make her smile, which was an improvement. Just seeing her laughing and smiling for a short time made Calum want to continue making her smile as often as he could, for as long as he could, because her smile was beautiful.
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"How was lunch without us Cal," Michael asked, sitting down in his usual seat next to Calum in Music.

"Good, I finally got some peace and quiet," he grinned.

"What's with the stupid grin?"Luke asked, poking his dimple. Calum hit his hand away, trying to force the grin on his face away.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You were with a girl weren't you?" Michael teased, elbowing Calum in the side. "OMG you were!" He exclaimed when Calum's cheeks burned red.

"Not like that," He argued, hiding his face in his hands. "I was with Bailey."

"And you're grinning?" Luke said sceptically, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah, she was smiling and joking around with me. She's actually really funny, if you get past the usual facade."

"I don't believe you.  I didn't think Bailey was capable of smiling," Luke said.

"Neither did I, until she started teasing me about being on my own. Before that she was all closed up and grumpy."

"She's always closed up and grumpy  Calum," Michael added, smirking. "I can't believe you're grinning because she smiled. You are so love sick it hurts."

"I am not!" Calum exclaimed. "Her smile is just so....beautiful." Michael and Luke sighed, fluttering their eyelashes as they stared into the middle distance, mocking Calum.

"I am not love sick!" He shouted, smacking both of his friends.

"Thank you for that information Mr Hood, we are all glad to hear it,"Miss Young said, closing the classroom door. "However the lesson is starting now so you might want to pay attention to it and forget about whoever the lucky girl may be for now." Calum hid his head in his hands as his cheeks turned red in embarrassment.

"I hate you both," he muttered to Luke and Michael, who were sniggering quietly at him.

AN- slightly shorter filler chapter today. I had a serious case of writers block and this is what I came up with. Sorry if it is shitty.