Can You Hear Me? a.u.

Weekend plans

Michael's POV

After school I start walking to my car when I see Calum pushing Luke around. He pushes Lukes chest and he falls on his back, probably knocking all of the air out of him. I want to get in my car and drive home and avoid it but Calum sees me and waves me over. I roll my eyes and run over to them. "What's going on, freak?" I ask Luke. He starts to stand up but I push him back down and kneel, my knees on either side of him. I punch his jaw and blood splatters. I continue to punch his eye. "Stop!" Luke screams. "What's wrong, baby girl? Does that hurt?" Calum asks. "Stop! Please!" Tears fall from his eyes and he starts sobbing. I get off of him. and start to go to my car again. "Michael!" I turn back to Calum. "What?" I ask. "He's not done!" Calum says as if it's obvious. I walk back. Luke is standing up now and tries to walk past us. Calum puts his hands on Luke's shoulders to stop him. I go behind Luke and hold him from behind. Calum knees him in the stomach multiple times causing Luke to clutch his stomach and fall to the ground. Calum tries to punch him again but I stop him. "I think he's had enough for today, Calum." I say. "Just one more." Calum jumps on the hand I stepped on earlier. Luke screams so loud I think China could hear him. He grabs his hand and cries. No one is there to help him and I feel bad. Calum gets in his car and drives away. I almost go to help the poor kid but I see Erin coming out of school. I walk back to my car and get in. I look out the window to see Erin glaring at me. She helps Luke up and puts him in her car probably to take him to the hospital. I sigh and rest my head on the steering wheel. I run my hands through my hair thinking, I'm a horrible person. How could I do that? I drive home thinking about Luke and Erin and all the guilt that weighs down on my shoulders. My phone rings and I pick it up. "Hello?" I say.

"Hey Michael. I'm at your house. Just thought I'd let you know," Ashton's voice says through the phone. "Okay... See you in a few minutes." I hang up and pull into my driveway. I walk in and see Ashton on the couch. "Hey, mate. What took you so long to get home from school?" Ash asks. "Calum was beating Luke up." I say not wanting to take the blame. I swear I see Ashton roll his eyes but I shake it off. After grabbing an apple I sit down by Ashton and get out my phone.

The next weekend

Ashton, Calum, and I are at the mall hanging out in the food court. I'm eating my subway when a certain turquoise haired girl walks in. I look at her. Ashton notices. "Why are you staring at Erin?" He asks. "He's not staring. He's observing." Calum jokes. Ashton laughs and waves his hand in front of my face. He snaps his fingers. "Snap out of it." Ashton says. I come out of my trance and look at the boys. "Sorry." I watch Erin walk into hot topic.

"Freak just walked in." Ashton says. So I guess I was imagining things when I saw him roll his eyes. Luke walks into the book store and starts browsing. "Come on." Calum leads us into the bookstore. We watch Luke as he picks out a book, starts to read it then puts it back. I walk to the shelf behind him and act like I'm looking around. Luke turns the corner and jumps when he sees me. He has a black eye and his lip is swollen. I push him against the wall and grab his hand. It's in a cast. "Are your fingers broken, Lukey Pukey?" I make a pouty face. "Luke walks around me and Ashton stops him. "Going somewhere, Lukey?" He asks. "Please, just leave me alone." Luke walks away from Ashton and we wait for Calum to stop him but he's nowhere to be seen. "What do you want to do?" Ashton asks. I shrug. "You wanna go to Hot Topic?" Ashton smirks. I nod we walk eagerly to hot topic but find that Calum has already beat us to Erin.

Apparently she works here. Erin is sitting behind the checkout counter. Calum is sitting on the checkout counter talking to her but I can't make out what he's saying. Ashton walks in and pretends to be looking at stuff so I follow his lead. I start looking at Doctor Who stuff even though I don't watch Doctor Who.

"Come on, Goth." I almost scream at him for calling her that. She's not goth but... She's not like any other girl I've met. Erin ignores him and keeps organizing stuff behind the counter. I've only heard her talk once. "You know you like him." Calum says. Still Erin pretends like she's busy. Calum looks over. Great. "Michael!" He shouts. I stand there deciding what to do. He knows that I heard him so I go over there. On the way I grab a Nirvana shirt. I put it on the counter. "Oh, Hey, Erin. I didn't know you worked here." I smile at Calum. I catch Erin rolling her eyes. "I was just telling Goth here that you get everything you want. And you want her." He says. I nod. "He's right, you know." Erin checks out the t- shirt and hands me the bag. "Have a great day." She says sarcastically. Ashton walks over. "Hey guys, what's up?" He asks. "We were just telling Erin here how I always get what I want." Ashton nods, agreeing. "So I'll see you at school Monday, okay?" I smirk and wink. We walk out of the store and Luke runs into us. "Oh hey, Lukey. I didn't know you shopped at big kid stores." Calum says. Luke purses his lips and sighs. "Please leave me alone." Luke says. "Not just yet, Lukey Pukey." Ashton says. "We were just telling Erin in there that I get everything I want. And I want you to tell us when you started to shop at big kid stores." I mention Erin and hope he'll get the hint. Luke tries to go around us but Calum places his hands on Luke's chest and pushes him back hard. Luke's back hits the wall and he fall to the ground and screams. "Erin!" I almost jump up and down, glad that he yelled for Erin. Erin walks out and sees Luke on the ground. She bends down by Luke and looks up at us. "What's your problem?" She screams. She helps Luke up lets him sit on a chair in the store. He just sits there and looks around. His eyes land on us and Calum gives him a dirty look. "Let's go." I say. "No I want to stay. He deserves more." Calum says. "Cal the kid's had enough to last him a week. You freakin' broke his fingers." Ashton says. Calum sighs and follows us to my car. We drive home and I drop the boys off before going home and taking a nap.

At school

I walk to my locker and get my books out for geometry. I watch Erin as she grabs her books too. "Mikey, look." Calum hands me a piece of paper. I read it.

No one likes an outcast. -Michael

"But I didn't write this." I say to him. "I know. I did. It's for Erin." He replies. "What does it say?" Ashton asks. I show him the note. "You can't give this to her." He says to me. "I'm not. I didn't write it." I say. I turn to Calum. He smirks and walks over to her. He hands the note to her and walks back. She opens the note and reads. I swear I see a tear falling from her eye. I turn to Calum. "Why did you do that?" I ask. "Just a little fun with Goth." He says. I hate that nickname. "That wasn't very nice, Cal." Ash says. "Who said anything about nice? This is what you signed up for when you became my friend. If you have a problem with it then leave." He says. I can't stop being Calum's friend. Then it'll all go back to the way it was before. I smile a bit. "He's right Ash. It's just a little fun. Loosen up a bit. It was funny." I chuckle. I walk to class and sit next to Erin again. I have to stop being late for class. This is becoming the only seat left.

I feel bad for her, though because no one wants to sit by her. I promise myself that I'll sit next to her in history for the rest of the year. Not because it's the only seat left but because I want to.

At lunch Calum, Ashton and I go outside to eat. I sit at one of the picnic tables and the boys sit across from me. A few minutes later Erin sits down at the table behind the boys. She sees me and starts to get up but I grab my lunch and sit next to her. "So Erin... What are you doing later?" She ignores me and takes a bite of her apple. "Great so you want to see a movie tonight? I'll pick you up at eight." I smirk. "Michael, if all if the men on earth died and you were the only one left... I'd date this apple." She takes another bite and starts to stand up but I pull her back down. "Why won't you go on a date with me?" I ask. She just sits there. "Please, Erin." I beg. She rolls her eyes and walks away. She stops when she sees Ash and Calum hurting Luke but she just walks away instead. I watch them beat Luke up some more then decide to walk away before they see me and make me hurt him. Right now my main priority is to figure out how to get closer to Erin.