bandages || calum hood

eighteen

"Studying Because I Have No Social Life. Dude, you should know this by now. I mean, Belle is that type of person. Don't you know anything about her?" Rose pulled down on her gray beanie as she shivered from the breeze. She crossed her arms and huddled in her leather jacket, squishing her legs together for warmth.

"Apparently I don't," I muttered, pulling out another bottle of beer from the fridge. Rose furrowed her eyebrows as she observed me pacing back and forth.

"What exactly happened?" She surprised me by pulling out a beer for herself, twisting the cap open as she sipped out without cringing.

"Aren't you underaged?" I gestured towards the beer in her small hands. Rose waved it off, drinking some more.

"You are underaged also. Trust me, I used to drink my problems away. If anything, I would most likely die because of it." Rose exhaled as she breathed in the toxic scent.

"Do you smoke also?" Pulling out my box of cigarettes, I tossed it on the table for her to see.

"Only a few times when I'm stressed, and I first smoked because my ex-boyfriend made me try it. I didn't know you smoked." Rose took out a cigarette from the fresh pack, lighting it in between her fingers.

"I stopped smoking for a while, but I'm getting back into the whole thing. Didn't you say that you only smoked when you were stressed." I mimicked her actions and blew the smoke out of my lips. Rose pulled out her cigarette, shrugging as she turned to me.

"You know, you aren't the only one with problems in this world." Rose continued to smoke like I was, the room being blurred out with our smoke. "So what happened with Belle?"

"Aren't you supposed to know this? I thought you two were best friends." My harsh tone didn't seem to affect her as she barely made the effort to talk back to me.

"She wasn't allowed to hangout. It was the Wicked Witch of the West, right?" She blew out smoke into the ceiling before facing me.

"Yeah, she has to be a fucking pushover and follow whatever her fucking mom says," I spat, pulling out another cigarette to light.

"You are just going to have to deal with that side of her." Rose crushed the cigarette on the ashtray and pierced her light brown eyes into mine. "Hell, it isn't even a side to her. It is a fake mask that she built, so no matter what, never let her act that way around you. If she does, she will never go back."

~*~*~*

Sniffling, I crumpled up the piece of tissue and aimed for the trash can. Blankets surrounded me as my laptop warmed up my stomach as it laid on top. I texted a few people -most of them were asking if I was okay because I've skipped school the entire week- justifying that I was certainly not dead or kidnapped. All of Belle's group checked up on me through text, except Belle herself.

"What happened to you?" Michael entered the room, surprisingly without Alice attached to his side. His red hair was damp from his shower as he rubbed his towel to dry him up.

"Sick." I blew into another tissue and wrapped another blanket around me. To be honest, I was pissed off that Michael just noticed that I have been home the entire week.

"Where's your girlfriend? Isn't she supposed to take care of you?" Michael sneezed as he poured himself a cup of coffee.

"We aren't talking anymore."

"Did you take medicine?" He meandered towards the medicine cabinet and pulled out a set of pills. Michael filled a cup with water to hand to me as he felt my forehead.

"Not yet."

"Dude your forehead is fucking burning. Here, go to your room and don't go out tonight." Michael aided me towards me room, cursing as he accidentally made my head hit the doorframe.

"Ow Michael." I flinched at the throbbing pain as Michael tucked me into the cold sheets of my bed.

"Sorry Cal. When did you get sick?" Michael soaked a face towel in ice cold water and spread it onto my forehead. His kind attitude was frightening me since he was just ignoring me a few hours ago.

"A few days ago." I sniffled and let out a few coughs while Michael patted my back.

"Kid, wanna just have a movie day? I don't trust you alone when you are this sick." Michael gestured for me to scoot over as he laid down with me.

"I thought we ended that nickname three years ago," I groaned as my eyes watered due to my temperature.

"Too bad, kid." Michael slightly punched my arm and handed me a bottle of water. "Too bad."

~

ew fucking ew to the ew this chapter was so short...im sorry. ive been really busy so yeah.

~kat hoodings