Hoodwinked | Calum Hood AU

41.

I don't see Joss or Luke again on that first day of school. I've started slinking between classes, taking routes that have multiple getaway options, my eyes staying near to the floor.

It's not to service them. I could care less if Joss or Luke feel awkward when they see me in the halls. It's me. Seeing them together, like that, it hit me and made my own stupid advice echo through my ears: you're allowed to hurt. That's what I'd told Michael. I wish it didn't hurt.

"What are you reading?" Michael asks.

As much as I hate that I still care enough to feel hurt by Luke, I've been taking my frustrations out in healthier ways. Like going for another run before school today, and reading at night. I finished - and cried through - the rest of The Outsiders. That was a new experience for me; crying while reading. I felt a bit better when Calum told me he cried too. He said he felt really connected to the characters, which made me want to read it all over again.

I turn the cover of the book over for Michael to see. "A Wrinkle in Time." Calum gave it to me yesterday.

"What's it about?"

"Time-travel, I think." So far, I'm finding it rather dull. It hasn't hooked me in quickly the way Paper Towns or The Outsiders did.

Michael tears open a packet of potato chips. "Would you do it if you could? Time-travel?"

I shrug. I've never really been one for indulging in fictional what-ifs. Time-travel doesn't exist, therefore I've never thought about what I'd do if I were given the opportunity.  Maybe it's that anchor to realism that's kept me away from novels for so long. I set the book down on the table. "I don't know. Would you?"

"Yeah," he says, his hand rattling inside the foil chip packet. "I'd go back in time and try out dudes instead. Girls aren't worth the trouble - no offence."

Laughing, I steal a chip form Michael. "I don't think you can change your sexual orientation through time travel."

At that moment, Calum slides into the seat next to Michael. "Hey guys" I greet him with a small hello, as does Michael, but then the pair of us are sitting here blinking at Calum with confusion, like we're watching a polar bear in the desert.

Calum always sits at the table over from us with his boys. He's never sat with us once. Though, us used to be me and Joss and Michael, and sometimes Luke. I guess everything is changing.

"Michael and I were just discussing time-travel," I say, filling the silence.

Calum pouts thoughtfully, "You know, it's not really my thing. I think if I was going to have a super power I'd take the power of flight."

"Where would you fly to?" Michael asks. I can already guess the answer.

"The moon. Or Mars, maybe."

"Except you'd be a dead man with the extreme temperatures on Mars, and that's if you actually made it there without a giant-ass rogue asteroid killing you first."

"I didn't think those things mattered if we're talking hypotheticals," Calum smiles at Michael. "What power would you choose Ruby?"

He stares at me, waiting for an answer. His big dark eyes make me think of an undiscovered galaxy, I get lost in there for a second. What power would I have? Invisibility, I think instantly, my sub-conscious dragging me back to the deflation I felt when I saw Joss and Luke together. It might have been worse if they had have seen me too.

That's not really a power, though. In fact, choosing invisibility seems more like a weakness. What's the point in having a super power if it doesn't make you stronger? "Super strength," I finally answer will a smile.

Calum smiles softly at me answer. "I think you're pretty strong already."

When I get home from school, Dad's sitting at the table helping Alfie with his homework. I've got precisely a thirty minute window to speak to him before he leaves for night shift. "Have you checked Pepper's outside water bowl today?" I ask my little brother. I don't want him to hear my conversation with Dad.

Alfie sets down his pen and shakes his head. "I'll do it now."

"Take your time," I call out, taking the seat he'd been sitting in.

Dad crosses his hands on the table. His tanned face relaxed and patient which means he knows I've got something important to talk about. "What's up?"

"I've been thinking about uni, and I think I've decided on one." Relaxed and patient changes to animated and excited. "Before you get too excited," I tell him. "It's USU. That's where I want to go."

He doesn't even look surprised. "USU is a great school," he smiles. "What course are you looking at?"

"Psychology," I answer with ease. Deep down I knew my Dad would be nothing but supportive, but I didn't think it would be this easy.

"I'm really proud of you, Rubes." He leans closer and wraps his arms around me briefly. "How about I leave some pizza money for you and Alfie tonight? You could invite Luke over too. Alfie's been asking about him."

Alfie, who seems to materialise into the kitchen from no where, clamours, "Yeah, let's invite Luke! He hasn't seen any of Pepper's latest tricks." So much for taking your time, kid.

Alfie doesn't wait for me to respond. He races out of the house, presumably over to Luke's. "Dad?" I have to get this out before I deal with Luke and Alfie. "Will you guys be okay without me next year? If I get in, that is. USU is two whole hours away. What about Alfie?"

"What about Alfie? You're his big sister, not his Mum. You don't have to stay here for us."

"But who will pick him up from school when you're at work? Who will stay here with him when you're on night shift?"

Dad laughs, "I don't know yet, but they aren't questions you need to find the answer too. You just focus on getting the grades you need for uni. That's your job right now."

He gives me another hug and sets some money down on the kitchen table. Alfie comes back in a moment later, his shoulders hunched over. "Luke wasn't home," he says sadly.

"I'm sorry, bud," I say even though I'm not. Later that night when we're eating our pizza, I ask Alfie what he thinks about me going to USU. He smiles and promises that he and Dad will visit all the time and send me plenty of photos of our citrus trees and Pepper.