notepad ; malum

05

Calum was quite afraid to go anywhere near Michael the rest of that day. He didn't eat lunch at his regular table with Michael, Luke and Ashton. Instead, he packed up his backpack and went out for lunch by himself. 

His phone vibrated what seemed like one million times as he walked to the closest store that sold food. He was filled with a tinge of guilt when he looked at all the messages. Michael seemed deathly worried. He capitalized his sentences, which he only did when he was super serious. 

Yet, Calum ignored them and put his phone in his bag. 

As he was eating the muffin he'd bought, he thought about the whole situation. He was a soccer player, so he could probably beat the shit out of Jace, right? He probably could, it was just the courage part he'd struggle with. He could never hurt anyone. 

Right when Calum practically stuffed half of the muffin in his mouth, the chair across from him screeched and the red head he'd been supposedly staring at this morning sat across from him. 

"Hi!" Jade chirped, smiling and showing off her one dimple. 

Calum nearly choked in surprise. Ok, he didn't nearly choke. He did choke. He lifted up a finger as if to tell her to wait a minute, swallowed the rest of his muffin then started to cough- his face going slightly red in both embarrassment and lack of oxygen. 

Jade's eyes blew up slightly. "Oh my god, are you ok? Do you need water or something?" She asked frantically and Calum nodded. She dug through her purse, pulling out a water bottle and handing it to Calum; he thankfully chugged almost the whole bottle. 

He quickly pulled out his notepad from his pocket and wrote something down quickly, handing it out to Jade. 

'Sorry, and thanks for the water.'

She smiled and handed the notepad back. "Anytime, I wasn't just going to sit here and watch you choke." She attempted at a joke and Calum just smiled. 

Calum really liked how everyone at the school knew he was mute, then no one was confused why he was randomly handing them a notepad. 

"Anyways, funny seeing you here. Aren't you usually hanging out with Michael Clifford and those twin blonde kids?" Jade asked, resting her elbows on the table. 

'Luke and Ashton? They aren't twins and Ashton's hardly blonde.' Calum wrote. 

Jade laughed while reading Calum's note. Calum liked Jade's laugh and the way it showed her dimple. He thought it was cute. 

"Is that their names? I've never really talked to them," Jade explained, setting Calum's notepad back in front of him. "I like the tall haired boy, though. He has a spectacular taste in band shirts." She added, then blushed lightly. "I don't know which ones Luke and which ones Ashton, sorry." 

Calum pointed to 'Luke' in his previous note so he wouldn't have to write a whole new note. Jade smiled and nodded. "You'll have to tell him we've chatted so when I accidentally call him by his name then he doesn't think I'm some weird stalker." She joked again and again Calum just smiled. 

Jade was silent for a bit. "Can you not laugh or am I just really not funny at all?" She asked, her cheeks turning red in what Calum guessed was embarrassment. 

Calum quickly wrote that it was because he couldn't. Which was a lie. It was because he wouldn't. 

Yeah, Calum couldn't laugh properly, but he could still laugh. Since it was his vocal chords that didn't work, his laughs were airy and wheezy. He thought it sounded ugly, so he avoided doing it most of the time. 

Obviously not being able to tell Calum was lying, Jade just smiled and nodded. "Ok because it would be embarrassing if you just thought I was extremely lame." She said and Calum shook his head, smiling reassuringly at her. 

They talked for a while. Well, it was mostly Jade just talking; Calum occasionally interjecting with his notepad to make a comment or answer a question. 

Calum found out that Jade liked most of the same bands him, Michael, Luke and Ashton listened to, she pierced her third ear piercing on her own, she had two cats and her best friend went to a different school across town. 

He only told her small things that would fit on his notepad; he played soccer, had an older sister, was allergic to honey and he had a passionate love for frozen yogurt. Jade laughed at the last one and said that they should go out for frozen yogurt someday. Calum agreed. 

When it was time to go back to the school, Jade and Calum walked together and Jade rambled while Calum just happily listened. Some people at the school gave them weird looks because Jade was popular and though he was on the soccer team, Calum was not at all popular. 

They parted their separate ways when Jade spotted her crowd of friends and she hugged Calum before she left. 

As Calum turned around to go to his own locker, he crashed directly into someones chest. 

"Oh my god, you ditched me to have lunch with your crush?" An oh so familar voice shrilled. Michael. "I was going to beat you up, but now that I see who you ditched me for, I guess I forgive you." 

Calum smiled at Michael. But something in Michael's eyes seemed off. He didn't seem genuinely happy or as happy as he usually was. He pulled out his notepad and started writing something when he heard footsteps approach them. 

"Mikey, there you are." Jace hummed innocently, wrapping his arms around Michael's waist. "C'mon, baby. Let's go." 

Calum held up a finger as if to say wait, frantically scurrying to finish what he was writing but Jace was already tugging Michael away. 

Michael smiled sadly at Calum. "Sorry, I'll talk to you after school, yeah?" He called, but was then whisked off around the corner. 

Calum sighed, sadly dropping his notepad into his bag. Sometimes, he really hated having to write everything he wanted to say. 

+

double updated to make up for not updating two weekends in a row
i have a pumpkin candle and it smells delicious
i got a spontanious rush of inspiration for this story so maybe expect more frequent updates??
btw jade is @mrsallamericann
pce