2.3 | Notorious ✓

09 | grievous

0 9

g r i e v o u s

Molly continued to have contractions all through that night, each wave coming once every twenty minutes or so. I'd entered the kitchen the next morning to see the place empty, save for a bowl of cereal and a carton of milk, along with a post-it that read:

Breakfast is on the table. Have a good day, Scout. Stay strong.

- Charlie

I couldn't help but smile as I read that. I was lucky, fortunate enough, to have two backup parents after having lost my own. Molly was incredibly dramatic at times, and Charlie seemed more like an older brother than a Dad, but still, I considered myself more fortunate than others to have at least two people to keep me anchored down.

So I went to school in far brighter spirits that day, ready to leave the past in the past and build upon my renewed friendship with Jason. Clearly, the both of us had a lot to work on – communication, for starters, as well as attempting to understand each other better.

Jason was waiting for me by my locker, as was our usual practice, as he always did before we had that fallout. There was a nasty bruise under his eye from the scrimmage the day before, but other than that he seemed fine.

"So I heard that you and Wright had a falling out yesterday," was the first thing he said when I came up.

My mood immediately took a dip for the worse, and I busied myself with the combination code on my locker.

"It was more of a conflict of interest," I muttered, even as I felt my heart clench painfully within my chest. "Clearly, there are some things we completely disagree about."

Jason laughed, but it was an almost derisive laugh, one that made my toes curl. "Well, he's always been a complete ass anyway. You're better off without him."

He was right, I was. And I desperately wished for his words to convince me enough so I could believe whole-heartedly in them. I was better off without Callum, that was for sure, but that knowledge still did not lessen the sadness or disappointment I felt. These were strong sentiments of emotion that could not be diffused by rational thought.

Shrugging, I simply pulled my textbooks out of the locker, before shutting the door. Jason and I began walking to class, but we were hardly ten feet down the hallway when someone shoved Jason, their shoulders colliding heavily, the impact of it sending Jason stumbling backwards.

His hand latched onto my arm for balance, and I hastily attempted to steady the both of us, nearly falling over in the process, had not someone else pulled me upright just in time.

"Assholes," Jason muttered, sending a deadly glare in the direction of the guy who had shoved into him, whom I belatedly realised was Keith.

And as for the person who had saved me, it was none other than Callum. His gaze was hooded, emotionless when I looked up at him, but I felt his palm flush on my skin, the tips of his fingers curling slowly around my arm.

"Alright there?" he asked, an edge of concern seeping into his voice, one that made my heart clench painfully at the sound of it.

I flinched away from him, as if his touch scalded me. "I'm fine," I said, coldly, before shifting past him and heading down the hallway.