Fools // mgc

e i g h t e e n

||Michael's POV|

Running across the hallway as a big sticky, feathery mess, I follow Mikayla up until she disappears into the restroom.

I stand still and stare at the little picture on the door signifying it's a girls' restroom.

"Well fuck." I mumble, looking down at myself and my.. male presence.

I can't just barge in there. There might be ladies there.. doing lady things I don't know, shit.

What the hell am I even thinking? Here I am, a cherry smelling, chicken-looking mess and I'm worrying about this?

You have a girl to cheer up, Michael! Even if it is after what that son of a bitch, Nick did. I swear I would've given him a piece of my mind if it weren't for..

"Alright, whatever I'm coming in. Ladies, beware!" I say with caution, opening the door to let myself in.

I walk into the restroom with my hands over my eyes in case I see, whatever there is to see in a girls' restroom.

I cuss under my breath when I run into a wall. Then another wall..

God I must look like stupid right now.

"Michael?" someone calls out from one of the stalls.

"Mikayla?" I beam, glad to hear her voice.

Thankfully, there aren't any other girls in here, making it safe to look around. I check every stall, ending up to find Mikayla locked in the very last one on the end. I knock on the stall door and get a muffled cry as a response.

Without thinking, I try to open the door to see her, but of course it's locked.

"I'm sorry." she apologizes,"for causing all of this to happen. You and the boys don't deserve any of this."

I end up sitting on the floor with my arms hugging my knees against chest. Between the door, I can tell she's sitting down too on the opposite end.

"Hey, stop it." I coo. "You don't have to be sorry, okay? It was a stupid prank to pull anyway. Nick's an idiot."

"Yeah," she agrees with a weak chuckle,"I can't believe I dated that idiot."

"Well you've got me now, right?" I flatter myself.

"I guess." she says jokingly.

I grin, looking down at my hands. It's all covered in the savory, cold goodness which is going to be bitch to shower off later. I can only imagine how much of the same red slush is covered on Mikayla.

Just thinking about her scared face back out there makes me feel.. what's the word? Defensive? Like I'd do anything to keep her safe.

"I care about you a lot." I say. "You know that, right?"

"You have no idea what you're saying." she laughs uneasily.

"You're probably right. I don't." I answer, looking up at the ceiling.

Moments from yesterday come to mind.

When I won her that stuffed animal in the arcade, she had this really big smile on her face. She reminded me of this three year old on Christmas morning. Seeing her happy well, made me happy too.

"I don't know any better than to charm you with words," I point out. "all I really know is that I want to see you happy every day."

"Liking someone like you is harder than it looks." she sighs.

"Um.. thank you?" I say humorously.

I wonder what she means by that.

The door unlocks after that. I get on my feet quickly, turning around to see her face. Her dried up tears have washed away the red on her cheeks. Feathers continue to fall off my leather jacket she's wearing.

She surprises me with a hug, wrapping her arms around me. I gladly hug her back, planting a kiss on her head.

"Are we really hugging inside of a girls' bathroom?" she asks. Her breath tickles my neck.

"Yup. Not the most romantic place but hey, it's something." I smile, causing her to laugh.

She releases me from her hug and we both just kind of, stare at each other. It's like full on Twilight vibes up in here, but I mean, it's giving me an excuse to look at her.

Just then, the door opens. Two girls walk in, a little too pumped up. One is a girl who has frizzy, red hair with glasses. The other one is a short, caramel skinned girl with a pixie haircut.

"It's getting so crazy in there! Where the hell are the teachers?" the red head says.

"Who knows? But that red haired guy definitely is cute.. Mikayla's one lucky girl." the other girl gushes.

As if on cue, Mikayla and I look at each other at the same time. I give her a smirk while she rolls her eyes.

She clears her throat, startling the two girls.

"Brooklyn," she smiles at the redhead,"and Rachel. How are my two favorite juniors doing?"

"Oh hey Mikayla.... Mikayla?! Did you guys here all of that?" Rachel asks, blushing.

I nod my head, still smirking.

"You guys need to go back out there. It's absolutely crazy!" Brooklyn exclaims.

Mikayla crosses her arms with visible discomfort.

"I don't know about that.. I feel so
embarrassed." Mikayla admits.

"Aw don't be. A lot of us in the back felt extremely bad," Brooklyn steps forward, raising a hand onto Mikayla's shoulder.

"Really? It seemed like everyone was laughing at me.." Mikayla mumbles.

"Trust me. Nick may be popular and all but he's not exactly an ideal guy to fuss over." Rachel snorts.

These two seem.. cool. It's nice of them to not point out that we're both a complete red mess. Definitely better friends for Mikayla than Calum, if you ask me.

"Alrighty then," Mikayla says, "I guess we'll go now. Bye you guys! Text me or something, we need to catch up!"

The two girls named Brooklyn and Rachel smile back with a wave. Their giggles echo in the restroom as we exit. A longing smile rests on Mikayla's face after I reach for her hand.

While walking back, a word I know all too well is chanted from the lunch room.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" people repeat together.

"Shit." Mikayla and I mumble at the same time.

Thinking it's Luke and Ashton who's fighting, we both run to the cafeteria.

At the door, I can already see teachers filing in and hurrying to break up the fight. Walking in, I realized Brooklyn and Rachel really weren't lying.

It was total chaos.

"Calum?!" Mikayla yells.

He looks up, his fists all bruised up. Behind him, lie Nick's friends who look worse than he does.

Oh my God. It wasn't Ashton or Luke that started the fight.

It was him.

And it was all for her.