calum was stood on the edge of the soccer field talking to his friends. "hey, can i talk to you guys?"
"sure, whats up mikey?" calum grinned.
"have you guys been spreading rumours about me?"
"i haven't, you're my best friend michael," calum said. the group of boys behind calum began to laugh suspiciously.
"what's so funny?" michael said as he cocked his eyebrow at them.
"the whole school thinks you're gay."
"what the fuck, why?"
none of them said anything, but one of the taller boys pulled out his phone and showed michael a photo. the photo showed a shirtless michael pressed against the lockers and luke stood close to him.
"are you serious? why would you do this? you know nothing happened in there."
"yeah but no one else does and it's funny because the photo looks so real."
"you know what, you guys are asshole. you can all go fuck yourselves," michael spat as he stormed off. the group of boys just laughed at michaels comment.
"michael wait!" calum yelled.
"leave me alone calum. i know you were a part of this."
++
michael sat at a bench just outside the cafeteria, he wasn't hungry so there was no point going in. he was also avoiding calum and his squad of assholes. music blasted through his headphones as he tried to do his maths homework. it never made sense to him no matter how hard he tried and how many times he read over it in the textbook. michael was interrupted from his work when someone tapped on his shoulder. he prayed that it wasn't one of calums followers. michael looked up and saw something far worse than one of calums friends, luke. he sighed pulled out his ear phones. luke sat down next to him. "the answer is 53 by the way."
"thanks," michael muttered and messily wrote down the answer.
"where's all your friends?"
"you mean calum's friends? they're all in there," michael gestured to the cafeteria.
"why aren't you in there with them?"
"not hungry," michael shrugged. luke nodded slowly.
"do you want to sit with us? over there," luke said as he pointed towards where ashton was sitting.
"no."
"come onnn. i know you hate me but you can't just sit here all alone," luke said as he bumped michael shoulder with his own.
"fine," michael sighed as he gathered all of his things. luke clapped with joy and walked quickly towards the table he was just sitting at.
"michael's gonna sit with us."
"what the fuck, why? he's an asshole." ashton whisper yelled.
"c'mon, he was sitting all alone."
"you should've let him be," ashton said as he shook his head in disapproval.
"h-hey," michael said shyly.
"and this is when i leave," ashton mumbled and he shoved all his stuff into his bag and walked away.
"sorry, about him. he doesn't think people can change."
"it's fine. i would've done the same thing."
++
30 minutes and 2 pages of maths work later, michael and luke were laughing at a dumb joke luke had made.
"look, luke. this doesn't mean i like you, because i don't, not one bit. but thanks for helping me and thanks for not letting me be by myself," michael smiled, luke copied his actions.
"michael, what happened?" luke asked. michael sighed because he knew exactly what he meant.
"you really want to know?" luke nodded his head. michael started explaining that his mum is super strict and expected michael to get straight a's. he also explained how she was an alcoholic with anger issues and bipolar disorder and when michael got anything less than an a, his mother would hit him. luke eyes widened at what he had just heard.
"wow.." was all luke could say.
"you probably think i'm some freak who cries because his mummy hit him for not doing his homework."
"no michael! not at all! i think the complete opposite of you. i think you're very brave for going back there everyday."
michael just blushed and played with his fingers.
"thanks, luke."
