Day 9
“Good morning, my dear Bella.” Calum smiled, standing up from where he had been sitting on the front stoop.
“Morning Cal.” I smiled, stepping into his outstretched arms.
“You’re in a really good mood today,” He noted on the walk to school. “I know it’s not going to be for school.”
“Not necessarily,” I smiled again. “In art today we’re getting a local artist to speak, and she has a gallery thing tonight.”
“Is it Shawna Jeffrey?”
“You know her?” I ask, confused.
“Kind of, she was in some book club thing with my mom.”
I just nodded, unsure of how to respond as he held the front door to the school open for me. We stayed quiet for a little while, squeezing through the crowded hallways with his arm slung over my shoulder.
“Bella!” I turned at the sound of my voice, colliding with Calum’s chest by accident.
“Ow,” We groaned at the same time, I looked up to see him rubbing his chest as I rubbed my nose.
“Wow,” Aubrey remarked, standing next to us. “I’ve never seen something quite so awkward and cute at the same time.”
“Did you need something?” Calum asked, groaning when I lightly hit his chest and shot him a look.
“I need to talk to Bella,” She raised her eyebrows, almost as if she was challenging him.
“I need to walk with Bella.” He retorted, pulling me into his chest as he stuck his tongue out.
“Stop hogging Bella.” She whined, grabbing my arm and attempting to pull me out of his embrace.
“No,” He pulled me back. “Mine.”
“She’s not your slave.” Aubrey whined, still trying to help me escape from his arms.
“She might be.”
“Ooh, kinky.” Aubrey winked, causing Calum to relax his muscles long enough to pull me away and run down the hallway, Calum following soon after.
“Hurry up!” Aubrey exclaimed, towing me through the mass of students standing around.
“You’re dragging me, there’s not much I can do!” I retort, pulling my hand away and rubbing the pinkish skin.
“Oh shit, did I do that? I’m so sorry, Bella, I didn’t mean to.” She frowned, sadness invading her body language.
“Its fine, you didn’t mean to. It’s not the worst thing I’ve had to deal with.” I tugged the sleeve of my sweater over the skin, praying Calum wouldn’t notice.
“Still, I feel horrible. How about I do your homework for the rest of the week?”
“Aubrey,” I begin. “Today is Thursday, and no one gives out homework on Friday.”
“Well… Shit, I didn’t realize. What if I add next week?”
“Starting Wednesday its Spring Break.” I remind her.
“Fine, then what can I do?”
“Bake me a cake.” I joke, smiling at the lanky male who’s finally rejoined us.
“Who’s baking who a cake?” Calum asked, pulling me to the side as the warning bell rings and students begin to flood the hallway.
“Doesn’t matter, where did you go?”
“Because I was trying to reclaim my slave I was sprinting after you, only to run into Mr. Snyder and get Saturday School.” He rolled his eyes, poking my cheek. “You’re lucky you’re cute.”
I blushed, tilting my head to the floor as my hair formed a curtain, hiding the quick spreading blush.
“Hey, no need to look down. You pull off pink really well.” He put a finger under my chin, using it to tilt my head up to face him.
He quickly kissed my cheek, pulling me into a quick hug before shouting a see you at lunch over his shoulder as he ran to his class.
“Well aren’t you guys the cutest things.” Aubrey smirked from behind me, making me jump.
“Shut up.” I mumbled, blushing once again.
“Are those wedding bells I hear?”
“Shut up.”
“Am I going to be a godmother?”
“Aubrey?”
“Yeah?”
“Shut up.”
-|-|-
“Well hello there, gorgeous.” Calum smiles, slipping into his normal seat.
“Hi Cal.” I smile, putting my book away before he complains about it.
“And Hood wins yet again!” He cheered, shaking his hands like he just made the winning goal at one of his games.
“You’re a dork.” I roll my eyes, eating another chip.
“Yes, but I’m your dork. And you’re my Bella.”
“Why am I your Bella?” I ask, wondering why he was protective over me in that way.
“That is a story for another day.” He nods to himself, almost assuring himself more than me.
What if there isn’t another day? I ask myself, before attempting to ignore the thought.
“You okay?” Calum asked, a worried look crossing his features.
“Fine.” I weakly smile, biting into another chip.
“Well I have something that will make you feel better.” He grinned, reaching into his backpack and holding out two tickets.
“Is that-“
“Yes ma’am, I managed to get us two tickets to the art gallery holding works by a certain Shawna Jeffrey.”
“How-Why-When-“
“No questions please, just say you’ll come with me.” He pleaded, holding one out to me.
“I would love to come with you.” I smiled, taking the small ticket from between his large hands.
His grin widened, almost as if he didn’t believe I wanted to come with him, his doubts expelled by my reactions.
“That’s-That’s good. That’s really good.”
“You okay, Cal?” I ask after a few minutes, the smile still plastered on his face.
“What? Oh- yeah, I’m just happy.”
“Me too.” I smile, reaching across the table to hold his hand.
Lunch seemed to end quickly after our little moment, both of us hurrying to pack up everything we had taken out.
“Meet me by the doors?”
“I always do.”
-|-|-
“You ready?” Calum asked, suddenly appearing next to me.
“Huh? Oh, yeah, let’s go.”
“So I’ll be over to pick you up at 5:30?” Calum asked, breaking the comfortable silence surrounding us.
“Sounds good.” I smile, intertwining our pinkies and lightly squeezing.
I’m not sure why Calum and I have been touchy today, we usually gave each other more space. I mean, he would keep an arm around me but not for most of the day, and we might hold hands sometimes but only for reassurance when it came to one thing or another.
“What’cha thinking about?” Calum asked, breaking me away from my thoughts.
“Everything and nothing.” I smirk, knowing vague answers piss him off like nothing else.
“You’re a little shithead,”
“And?” I interrupt, smiling as he groans.
“And you should stop because you’re making Calum sad.” He pouted, crossing his arms.
“But sad Calum is cute Calum.” I smirked as a pink tint covered his cheeks,
“C-Cu-What?”
“Yeah, you have a cute pout. It can be pretty manipulative.” I nod, taping my fingers on my thigh.
“Oh, um… Thanks?”
I continued to nod, grabbing my keys out of my pocket when we got to my front stoop. I had the door opened before I turned to Calum, pulling him into a long, unexpected hug.
“Thanks Cal, I’ll see you later.” I quickly shut the door, jumping when I see Gabe standing a few feet behind me.
“What are you doing with Calum later?” He asked, leaning against the wall next to him.
“Something?”
“What’s something?”
“A thing of some?” I ask, continuing to stare at him.
We continued our contest for another minute until we both lost, falling prey to the giggles that had been bubbling up inside of us as usual.
“I missed this.” Gabe admitted, pulling me into a hug.
“Me too.”
“Calum told me what happened,” Gabe whispered, holding me tighter. “Why?”
“What do you mean?” I play dumb, trying not to let the emotion in his voice crack my neutral tone.
“You know what I mean, Bells. I just- why didn’t you ever tell me?”
“You were busy with school,” I mumble. “I didn’t want to make you mad by calling at a bad time.”
“You’ll never make me mad, Bella.” He pulls away, wiping at the unshed tears in his eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
“Calum told me what he’s doing… Just tell me one thing, alright?”
I nodded, not trusting my voice at the moment.
“Is it working?”
A weak, small smile appears on my face before I speak, “Yeah… A little bit, but yeah; it’s helping.”
He sadly smiled, walking up the stairs until his door eventually closed behind him, the pitter-patter of his footsteps disappearing when they came in contact with his carpeted floor.
-|-|-
“Coming, I’m com- Calum?” I ask, startled to see him at my door an hour earlier than he had planned.
“Hey.” He walked past me, two sketchbooks under one arm and a plastic bag in the other one.
“Not to sound rude, but what are you doing here?”
“Please don’t hate me for this, but the guy who own the building where the art gallery is being held might have been shut down…” He trailed off.
“Oh,”
“Yeah… I’m sorry Bella, you looked so happy earlier and now it’s ruined and-“
“Calum!” I interrupt him, laughing at his rambling.
“Yeah?”
“I’m not mad. Yeah, I wish we could have gone but it’s not your fault.”
“Good, but I have something to make up for it anyway.” He grinned, pouring out the contents of the plastic grocery bag on the table, next to where he had sat the sketchbooks.
“Paints?” I raised my eyebrows, not sure where this was going.
“Since we couldn’t go to the art gallery, we’re going to make our own.” He states, already opening the paints and flipping the sketchbooks to a blank page.
“That’s actually a good idea.” I say, impressed by his thought process.
“I do have them every once in a while.”
I quickly slipped away while he was organizing everything, slipping an old t-shirt over my head and throwing my hair into a ponytail, not caring about the bumps and tangles it created.
“There you are, I’ve been waiting for an eternity.” Calum exaggerates, grabbing my hand and pulling me to where it was all set up in my kitchen.
We had been painting for at least half an hour before Calum calls my name, breaking my focus from the mixture of colors on my page.
“What is it- oh my God.” I cover my mouth with my hand to keep my giggles back as I see Calum lounging across two of the kitchen chairs, his shirt half unbuttoned as he continued to brush red paint on his cheeks in imitation of blush, I’m assuming.
“Paint me like one of your French girls.” He demands, making the “duck face” and undoing one more button.
“If you insist.” I bite my lip, pretending to flip to a new page in my sketchbook until I lunge over to where he resided, brushing the blue paint across his face and chest, laughing at his disapproving look.
“You can’t trust anyone anymore, can you?” He rhetorically asked before sliding his own brush along my face.
Five minutes later and we were both covered in paint, somehow managing to keep it off of everything else in the kitchen. Until Gabe walked in.
“What are you two- what the hell?!” He exclaimed, rubbing the paint off of his face as we both sheepishly smile up at him.
“Oops?”
He rolled his eyes, walking back out of the kitchen without another word.
“That was fun.” I smile up at Calum from our normal position in front of my house.
“I’m glad.” He replies, pulling me in for our normal hug.
“Bye Cal.” I smile, pressing a kiss to his cheek as he does the same to mine.
“Bye Bella,” He begins to walk backwards in my yard, saying the last thing of the night.
“Day 9: Art.”
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hello! longer chapter today, hope you like it! can you guys comment what you think the CalumxBella ship name should be :-) love you guys, thanks so much for reading!
Much Love,
Em xx