Spaces {Malum}

E̶L̶E̶V̶E̶N̶

Calum's POV

I walked down the hall with Michael by my side as we both made our way to our classes. I stared at him with a frown, remembering all the things I said yesterday. I didn't mean any of them. I just didn't want them to think I was the bad guy. Michael isn't a freak or a loser. He's an amazing boy who just had a bad past. I'd never want to stop being friends with him. I care too much about him. Maybe a little too much...

"Did you get the essay part of the homework last night?" Michael pulled me out of my thoughts. 

"Not really. I wrote whatever. It's not like she's gonna check it anyways," I rolled my eyes, knowing that the teacher never checked the actual content of the work. More of if I actually did it or not.

"True. I just hope the test isn't too hard-"

Michael's voice was cut off with a loud squeaking noise, causing the both of us to cover our ears.

"Hello? Is this thing on?" A female voice came through the speakers and all of a sudden a familiar face popped up on the televisions around the hall where we usually saw our morning announcements. I immediately recognized her as Jake's girlfriend, Diana. Jake was on the soccer team, and he was one of the people I talked to yesterday about Michael. I cocked an eyebrow up and turned to Michael, who looked at me in confusion. I shrugged. Diana wasn't the girl who gave us the morning announcements. It was usually always someone else. Why was she on here?

"I'm live? Good. Good morning students of Bell High! My name is Diana Poker, but all of you already know that. Today, I'm going to be running the morning announcements today. The other girl...was late," Diana's sick smile showed on the high-quality flat screen, and she looked straight into the camera. I gulped, already getting a bad feeling in my stomach. Diana shuffled some papers.

"Today's weather will be rainy with a high of 60 degrees. Oh, and there's a chance of a lot of fake people scattering around. Oops, did I say fake? I mean Calum Hood."

Students that were feathered around the main television all turned to stare at me. Even Michael turned to me.

"What's she talking about?" He asked innocently.

"I don't know. Probably some crazy stuff," I chuckled nervously.

"Now all of you know Calum. He's the one of the school's popular jocks. A sweetheart to the naked eye, but how much do you really know about him? Well, here's a fun fact about him. Did you know that he's a fake friend and a pristine liar?"

"Calum, what's going on?" Michael looked at me.

I made eye contact with him, and furrowed my eyebrows together. She must've heard me talk about Michael. But I could just explain to him that it was all a lie.

"None of you believe me right now, do you? That's okay, because I have proof. Let's all give a round of applause to the real Calum Thomas Hood."

Suddenly, the screen turned to static for a minute before showing a low quality recording on it. I immediately recognized the soccer field.

"No," I muttered to myself. "No."

I turned to Michael, but his attention to the screen.

"What's up with you and that Clifford guy?" I heard the familiar voice.

"Michael, don't listen to this please. I didn't mean any of it," I pleaded.

"Yeah, why do you hang out with him?"

Oh gosh, no, please.

I saw myself ignore them and kick another ball into the net. Why couldn't I just keep my mouth shut?

"You know, you're becoming a freak too. Soon, the only reason people would actually consider being friends with you is because of your soccer skills. Not even."

"Michael please, I didn't mean any of it. I promise. Don't listen to anything I say."

"I don't even like him." I cringed at the sound of my voice and heard Michael quietly gasp.

"Then why do you hang out with him?"

"I didn't mean it," I whisper.

"Because I feel bad. And I wanna know why he doesn't like being touched. He only has, like, one friend. As soon as he gets all out there and stuff, I'm dropping him."

I saw Michael's eyes immediately start to water as he took in a sharp breath. I tried to call him, but his attention stayed on the video.

"He's not that important to you?"

He's so important to me. Why did I have to lie?

"No, not at all." Michael let out a shaky sob. "He's not important to me. I just feel like doing something good for the freak with no friends." He flinched as if he had been physically hit. "I can't do something good for once? The little emo loser is gonna be happy when I'm done. I'm just being nice  here. I don't care about him."

The screen cut to black for a bit before showing Diana smirking. "And there you have it. There goes Calum Hood everybody! Watch out for him, though. Who knows if he really likes you?"

The screen then cut to the home screen.

The hallway was silent, and everyone was staring at me. I gulped, already knowing that I screwed up horribly. But it wasn't the fact that everyone was staring at me. It was the way I made those fat tears fall from Michael's eyes. Michael stared at me and I could see so much pain in his pupils. I held back tears.

"Michael, please-"

"Save it," Michael murdered, and ran down the hall. I tried to chase after him, but Ashton popped out of nowhere and cut me off.

"Ashton please let me explain-"

"N-no! M-Michael was r-right. You're m-mean. D-don't ta-talk to u-us anym-more. P-please." Ashton turned to run after Michael, leaving me standing there with no one. I looked at Luke, who was shaking his head in disappointment.

I was alone.

I quickly ran to the place I assumed Michael would be; the music room. But to my dismay, it was totally empty. I decided to sit on the bench by the piano and immediately allowed tears to fall from my face. I fucked up. I lost Ashton, Luke, and Michael.

I lost my Michael.

Why would I even say these things? I guess popularity got to my head. Everything was a lie. I did care about Michael and I did want to be his friend. I didn't care if he only had one friend. I was his friend too. He just needs to understand. It was for the popularity. It was to keep from the bullies. I'd never lie to Michael.

My thoughts were interrupted when I noticed a journal on top of the piano. I sniffed and picked up the journal, flipping through the pages.

Each page was filled with words, and I realized they were lyrics and guitar chords. And at the end, it always had Michael's signature. This was Michael's journal. I flipped through and noticed how deep the lyrics were. One caught my eye.

I gulped, but put the little notebook on he piano stand. I know a little piano, not much though. Smiling, as I began to play the notes pretty well, I sang the song through tears and sniffles. It may not have been what Michael imagined, but

"Everybody's got their demons..."

Merry Christmas guys :)

Oh my god there's so much to take in.

Michael thinks that Calum is fake now lol lol

Even Luke lowkey turned his back on his best friend.

Tragic :)

So basically I have about 4 chapter ideas written down. I just need to write the actual chapters. And I'll have time because I'm starting Christmas break. Well by the time you're reading this I'll already be on break but yeah I'm working on this and stuff.

Hope you guys liked it!

-Mani