The day Calum and I met—in the acquaintance sense of the word rather than the gala meet-and-greet one—could have been finer, but I suppose the unrefined rawness and utter comicality of the scenario was the reason for our continued acquaintance and later friendship since the other aspects of the experience were lost on our eight-year-old selves.
Calum was the son of Samuel Gabriel Remington, the head of Remington & Royce, a billion-dollar marketing establishment known for its efficiency and the massive consumer markets it builds. Sam's father had started the company with my great-uncle who had died shortly after due to a stroke. My mother's family decided to sell the company to Calum's family at a fair price and the families have been close friends ever since. Calum's dad deeply admired my mother, often saying things like "back in the day" this or "I remember when" that, so Calum and I were not strangers to each other.
The incident—we refer to it as such since we now understand the implications— was actually a product of Quinn's lack of filter, something she grew out of soon after. Like all dramatic, desperate-to-prove-themself third grade girls, the female portion of class A2 was having a heated discussion about boys at the lunch table.
It was a dramatic sit-down in which all the girls would lay claim to a guy— or that's what we hoped at the time. I tried to be one of the nonchalant "cool" girls who simply pursed her lips and shrugged, but Quinn announced that such was boring and everyone decidedly paired me with— of course— Calum.
I don't remember the specifics but it ended with me sitting next to Calum in the back row of the bus on the next field trip, which was to the aquarium. Embarrassing didn't begin to cover it, and halfway through the trip Quinn broke out into the infamous 'sitting-in-a-tree' line featuring yours truly.
I didn't know what to say after that— I was mortified and still would have been if I liked the guy, but Calum just laughed it off. Of course I vehemently denied all participating feelings, but that just inspired cries of "denial," further convincing everyone of my supposed "hots" for Calum.
What happened next and how it happened I don't remember, but soon enough Calum had everyone laughing, telling them that he believed me when I said that I didn't like him and asking me whether we could be friends. I agreed immediately and thus the commotion was resolved.
---
"Hey Stells," Calum said while staring at the ceiling of his dorm. His roommate, Tim, was out, and Calum took that chance to sneak me in during the after hours. We would lie in the dark after all was done, enjoying each other's presence until we fell asleep.
"Cal?" I murmured, yawning. "What's on your mind?"
"I was just thinking... What am I supposed to do after I graduate?" he said. I laughed lightly.
"Oh Cal, aren't you forgetting that you have an entire company in your family's name? Just dabble in that and you'll be fine," I told him. We were similar in that fashion— two wealthy, popular, perfect kids that had everything they needed to do laid out before they were even born. It was no longer a question of what to do— it was a question of when you were willing to do it.
"I know that Stells. I just—" he sighed, the sound reverberating throughout his body. I shifted slightly as he drew his arm up to his face to cover his eyes. It was something that he did when he was tired and confused, an action that made it seem like he wanted to stay there and hide forever rather than go out and face the world.
"Cal, what's wrong?" I asked, sitting up to face him properly.
"Stells, I just... I don't know if I want to join the company," he said. He kept his face covered as he spoke, almost like he was ashamed to say what he did.
"What do you mean?" I asked, confused. It was our duty to take over our family's pride and joy. We all had a legacy to carry on, and we were lucky to have one.
"Stells... I mean I don't see myself joining the company when I graduate," he said, removing his hand. He opened his eyes to look at me. His eyes, usually a sky blue, were intelligible in the darkness, and I closed my eyes to process his words, choosing my own carefully.
"Calum, Remington & Royce is yours too. Sure your brother and sister are managing it just fine, but you have an equal responsibility. Joining the company would be the best course of action— it's a guaranteed stability that you shouldn't take lightly," I told him before opening my eyes again. His gaze was blank and uncomprehending, but I pushed on. "Most people could only dream of such a choice— why turn it down?"
"I don't know," he said at last. I hugged him tightly and he hugged me back, understanding that there was nothing else to be said.
Our futures were decided already, and changing them would mean giving up the comfort and safety that we grew up in. Individuality was supported so long as we took care of the "more important matters."
We were born with responsibilities tied to our names. Calum, despite all his rebelliousness, would have to accept that. It was easier in a way, but I suppose not for him.
Calum, ever the rebel.
---
"Hey, Stella, right?" a girl asked, confronting me as I was packing my bag after literature. It was one of the few classes that I actually like and did well in, and I looked forward every lesson.
"That's right..." I said hesitantly, not sure of what to make of her confrontation. Few people had ever come up to me to talk in the middle of a school day. Even confessions happened in secret, since I almost always turned the poor boy down. So, when a green-eyed, auburn-haired brunette I had never seen before came up to me, you could say I was quite surprised.
"Kimberly Morgan, but you can call me Kim," she said, offering her hand. Matching two with two, I realized what she was coming to me for. "I'm currently running for student council president, and I was wondering if you would be willing to support me in my campaign."
A conspicuous crowd was forming around us as people tried to see what was happening. It wasn't every day that a unknown person picked a conversation with the prettiest girl in school, and, by the looks of Kimberly, it wasn't going to be the last.
"Ah, Kim. Nice to meet you," I said, shaking her hand. It was plain courtesy, but I could sense the businesslike intent behind the handshake. "About supporting your campaign, I think there are—"
"Stells, we're go— oh hey Kim, what are you two talking about?" Calum asked as the crowd parted for him. Another figure had arrived on the battlefield.
"Oh hey Cal," Kim said, eyes lighting up. "I'm running for student council president, would you consider supporting me in my campaign?"
"Student council president, eh? Sure, why not," Calum said. After a brief moment of thought, he looked around at the crowd and made an impromptu pitch to the brunette. "HEY! SEE THIS GIRL HERE? THIS IS KIMBERLY MORGAN, AND SHE'S RUNNING FOR PREZ. PLEASE CONSIDER VOTING FOR HER! MORGAN FOR PREZ!"
The crowd gaped as Calum Remington, Varsity quarterback and football captain, shouted at them to support a nobody.
"Well, tell me when you need more help," Calum told her before turning to me. "You ready to go get lunch?"
"Yeah. And, um, Kim. I'll think about it," I told her with a small smile. If Calum was willing to help her, then she can't be a bad person.
"Ooo, Stella Reyes is going to consider helping a candidate run? This'll be fun to see," Calum said, earning a small whack on the shoulder from me.
"Lunch time, move it. Are the others already in the lot waiting?" I asked, knowing the two groups— Calum's and mine— probably wouldn't leave until we got there.
"Yeah, probably. I passed Hunter in the hallway and he said everyone was already there 'cept you, so I came to get you," Calum said, rubbing his shoulder. He cocked his head, as if thinking, before turning to Kimberly. "Hey, you wanna come with us to get lunch? We're going to the burger place downtown."
"Um, no thanks, I need to pass out these fliers first. Thanks for the offer though," Kimberly said, smiling apologetically before taking her leave.
There was utter silence as her words were processed.
The Calum Remington, Varsity captain and football star, had just invited Kimberly Morgan, a nobody, into his circle— a nobody who rejected him.
"Cal, I think we should go," I told him, tugging on his shirt lightly while breezily scanning the faces of the crowd. There was nothing but shock and amazement to be found.
"Yeah, okay," he said, making his way out of the crowd behind me. He looked back at Kimberly's retreating figure before whistling. "What a dedicated person. Hey, you think she could come on the next trip?"
I paused.
"It wasn't a joke?" I asked, looking back at him. Nobodies didn't mesh with the somebodies at our school— it was polite courtesy, not to mention common sense.
"Joke? No, 'course not. She's a great person. Killer looks, killer attitude," Calum said, staring back at Kimberly as she attempted to staple a flier on the events board. His eyes didn't leave her as I stared at him, uncomprehending.
"Calum, you don't know her," I told him, and he looked at me briefly before turning back to stare at the girl busy taping poster paper on the walls.
"I don't, but I want to," he said simply, watching the girl go about her life.
---
"Stella!"
"Stellaaa!"
"STELLAAAA!"
There was a commotion at the cafeteria entrance that was shouting my name— a rare occurrence but not abnormal during a regular school day. Sometimes it was to inform me of something interesting that piqued the group's interest, but mostly it was just to get the school's attention and announce one's arrival.
"Stella!" Quinn said, finally bursting through the bustling commotion. She made a beeline for me, surprising me so much I almost dropped my fork.
Quinn, the calm, collected make-up guru of the group who wouldn't go anywhere without checking herself out first to make sure she was prim and proper, was huffing and puffing as she rushed towards me, missing lipstick on half her lower lip and in desperate need of a touch up on her eyeshadow, which was now smudged after her desperate scramble into the cafeteria. Behind her, my other friends appeared one by one, each in various states of disarray but all panting like they'd ran a marathon.
"Stella," Quinn gasped, finally reaching the table. She took a dramatic breath and collapsed on the flat surface, breathing heavily. "Stell, you've got to hear this."
"Stella," Karen said, reaching the table as well. "Calum—"
"CALUM'S GETTING TUTORED BY KIMBERLY MORGAN!" Whitney burst out, causing me to start since she was not a person who usually spoke loudly.
The cafeteria went silent as everyone took a moment to process the words. Calum Remington, varsity football star and rumoured player, was being tutored by a girl no one knew.
"Whitney," I started, not quite knowing what to say. I was still shocked by her words— Calum, tutored?
Calum could use some improvement in his grades, yes, but he was not stupid in the least. He was well past the point in his life when he flunked classes repeatedly in order to get his parents' attention, and I knew for a fact that the only reason he was not a contender for valedictorian was because he didn't apply himself— something about football and lack of motivation and all that. However, Calum was in no way in need of assistance in his studies, much less from Kimberly Morgan, a new girl who, although perhaps mildly intelligent, was definitely not the best study partner. There were individuals with better grades, and it wasn't like Calum couldn't afford a tutor.
"Whitney," I repeated, "Maybe you misheard? Calum doesn't exactly strike me as the type to ask random people to aid him in his studies."
"It's true Stella," Quinn said with Karen nodding vigorously alongside her. "We just confirmed by interrogating Hunter Lasker. The two are heading to the library as we speak."
"Stella, you have to go stop him!" Stacey wailed, looking downright miserable. "The status quo is being ruined!"
"More importantly, you have to get Calum back!" Karen said, and the other girls nodded in agreement.
"Back?" I echoed, not quite understanding what they were getting at. In fact, I wasn't understanding them at all. Why would Calum suddenly get a tutor? And why would he ask Kimberly to be his tutor? She was pretty, yes, and probably decently smart, but she was new and would have much less experience in any given class than her peers. Also, why didn't Calum tell me about his plans? I could have set him up with a valedictorian contender— someone much more capable of helping him improve his grades. In fact, why did he even ask anyone? He could very well just find some graduate to tutor him for a few hundred bucks an hour. Why—
"Oh my god Stella!" Stacey said, throwing her hands up for emphasis as she interrupted my train of thought. "He's your man, your dude! You can't just let some—some girl steal him!"
"Steal?" I echoed blankly as my mind raced. Steal Calum? Get Calum back? Calum wasn't mine— he wasn't anyone's. We're not a thing. We're not dating. He's not tied down, and neither am I. We never even touched upon the topic of dating before.
"Yes, Stella. STEAL. This bitch is going to STEAL your guy if you don't do anything about it. In fact, she's already made the first move," Stacey said. I could almost feel her anger— Stacey hated when people stepped out of their status quo, claiming that it messes up her "forecasts" that she does on her blog of likely couples and whatnot.
"Stacey. I think you're misunderstanding something— Calum's not mine. We're not dating— we never were," I said, still not understanding why Calum would do something like this. However, I would clear things up as I went, starting with this Stella-Calum business.
"That's 'cuz he is yours— it was just too obvious to put into words," Quinn said, rolling her eyes.
"Stella," Karen interrupted, meeting my eyes levelly, ever calm and composed. "Do you want Calum to fall for another girl?"
The silence that came after that question could have been real, but it could have also been in my head. My head had been full of questions until that point, but I had known how I could get the answers to most of them. But that question—that one question.
Did I want Calum to fall in love with someone other than me?
I—
"No," I breathed, and Karen smiled triumphantly.
"C'mon then, you confuzzled lovebird. Let's go get your other half."
My other half.
Calum.
Love.
---
Author's Note:
Hey everyone, hope you liked the chapter! Please vote/comment to let me hear your thoughts, and thanks elenie_cherie for the wonderful cover!
Littlewhims