yearbook ✂ c.h.

07 - ditch

"Calum just texted me" Luke chuckled. 

"What'd he say?" I asked. 

"He wanted to know where I was today" He laughed "Here, smile. I'm gonna take a picture of you."

I crossed my eyes as Luke snapped a picture. He chuckled and sent it to Calum. 

"We should probably go" i sighed.

"Yeah" Luke nodded. We got the check and I pulled out my wallet.

"How much?" I asked.

"Don't worry about it" Luke shook his head.

"Luke, at least take fifteen" I told him.

"I'm not going to make you ditch school and then make you pay for your meal!" He said.

"Luke I decided to ditch. You didn't make me." I reminded him.

 "You're not paying, I am." He demanded.

"You're not going to pay for everything!" I protested.

"Why do you have to be such a girl!" He huffed.

"Maybe because I am a girl?" I giggled.

"No." He said. I gave up and let him win. He had his wallet out already and gave the check back to the waiter. 

"Oh," Luke said as he looked at his phone. "Calum wants to hang out"

"Oh yeah, school should be out now" I nodded. "Why not" 

As soon as we left, we went to Calum's house. Luke just walked in and I hesitated. I felt that I should have been invited in but i followed and looked around the unfamiliar place. It was clean and cute. There were pictures everywhere; some were from a family photo shoot, others just from hanging out with friends. A school picture of a girl I assumed was Calum's sister. 

"Oh, Ester" Luke turned to me.

"Yes?" I shot my eyes away from everything there was to look at. 

"Don't forget to take some pictures for the yearbook." Luke teased.

"Oh god, I'm sure everyone in the school would appreciate it." I rolled my eyes. We walked through a hall and into a clean room that had a big couch and a huge TV on the wall. Calum was playing video games and Luke and I both sat down.

"Hey" Calum said to us both. "Thanks for the invite today"

"You didn't show up when we made the decision to ditch!" Luke told him.

"Ester" He turned to me "I expect this behaviour from him, but from you?" He teased.

"I've changed." I joked. I have this new confidence growing in me. I felt that I could act this way with them and he would accept it. It was new for me, but I didn't mind it. It was actually fun.

"What did you guys even do?" Calum asked.

"We went to eat" Luke explained. 

"Well I had a really nice time in pych working by myself." Calum said bitterly. 

"We should have invited Steven" Luke joked and winked at me. 

"Oh, yeah!" I played on with his joked "He would have been far more fun than anyone we know."

"That hurts.." Calum put his hand to his heart. 

"So was this your idea of hanging out?" I teased. "Playing video games" 

"I'll have you know!" Calum defended himself "Video games are very entertaining when hanging out with people" 

"I'm so entertained" I sighed. 

"Fine" Calum threw the remote on the ground. He stood up and walked to me. I looked up at him and suddenly got nervous that he was so close to me. He grabbed my hand and pulled me up off the couch leaving my purse with my stuff, including my phone, sitting there. He pulled me over his shoulder like I weighed nothing and walked through the hallway. I began to shout protests and I tried to punch his back but it was to no prevail.

"CALUM I SWEAR!" I fought. 

"What do you swear?" He asked sarcastically "It's not good to swear! My mom doesn't allow it."

He walked out to the back yard and I felt that I knew where this was going. 

"Oh my god Calum." I warned. Before I could yell anymore, I was let down but my feet didn't touch the ground. I slipped into water.

I was surrounded by the cold water. I reached the surface and looked up to Calum who was smirking at me.

"Entertained now?" He smiled.

"Wow, you're evil" Luke laughed. 

I have a feeling these boys will be a handful.

–––––––––––––––––

I went home because I was soaking wet. Thankfully no one was home. They would obviously ask questions. 

I walked up the stairs and changed into some leggings and a sweatshirt. I walked back down stairs and started on some of my homework.

I thought about today's adventure and really thought of how much fun i had. I normally wouldn't even think of doing something like that. It's crazy what can change in such a short amount of time. 

I finished all of the crap I was supposed to do. I even finished half of my yearbook assignments. I was feeling incredibly productive for the day that I've taken off. I sat there snacking on some gold fish when my phone rang.

It was a text from Sariah, asking if I was feeling well. I texted her and told her I just needed a day off because I was feeling overwhelmed. 

She texted back and asked if I would want to go shopping with her.

I thought for a second. She seems like a nice girl and I don't see what would be the problem with me hanging around some new people.

I laughed at my thoughts for a second. I don't know where these sudden changes are coming from, but i'm not complaining. I texted Saria back and confirmed that I would hang out with her. I packed all of my school stuff back up and put them in my room. I texted my mom to let her know where I was going and Sariah was already in front of my house. 

We drove to the mall that was 20 minutes away. 

"Are you planning on going to homecoming?" She asked.

"I really don't know..." I sighed. "I might go with Steven. I don't know who else I would go with.."

"What about Luke?" She asked.

"I don't know him that well.." I shrugged.

"Well, you guys did ditch school together.." She smirked while parking that car.

"How did you know?" I looked at her as I stepped out.

"I saw you guys walking to his car.." She told me. "Y'know I was his best friend when he came here"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I was his first friend when he came here from Australia.." She explained.

"Oh..." I giggled "Yeah, that was his idea" I shrugged.

We walked into a store and looked around at some dresses. I wasn't even sure what I was looking for. Was I going to go to homecoming? I've never gone to a school dance before in my life so I'm not sure what's to expect of me and what i'm going to expect. I hate that I have to think about what people will think of me. That's not how teenagers should live. Teens should live young and free from the people that tell them they have to be somebody they're not.

I ended up leaving the store without anything. Sariah bought a pair of earrings but nothing more. We stopped by a few other stores but again I found nothing. 

After the two hours of walking around, Sariah and I got fairly comfortable around each other. When she dropped me off at home, I could honestly say I had fun and that was something different.