Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life // malum

chapter fifteen

"Mr. Hood, Mr. Clifford," the teacher called and the two boys looked at each other. "- I presume your project is nearly finished. Class presents in two days."

"Yeah," Michael grinned his usually cocky smile as he folded his arms behind his head. Calum's neck hurt from turning to look at him. "- we made a masterpiece."

"I'll be the judge of that." Mr. Knight said skeptically as he looked between the two. "You'll be graded individually and as a team."

"We made a good team." Michael winked and Calum turned around as he felt the eyes of his peers stare at him.

His entire face flushed, and he immediately used his hand to cover his mouth as he heard whispered around him about the 'good kid, Calum having a thing with the delinquent, Clifford'. He stared at his book as he tried to calm his heart beat, but the wink replayed over and over in his head as he felt the teacher's stunned reaction roll off of him. He seemed almost confused by seeing them not arguing, but flirting in class.

Well, Michael was flirting, Calum was just taking it. And he was blushing.

What the fuck was going on, he could hear everyone thinking. Even he was asking himself that as he pulled at the leather on his shoulders and buried himself in the faint but lingering scent of spice.

"Well..." Mr. Knight coughed and then made his way to the front of the class. "Keep things class appropriate."

"When have we ever?" Michael asked and Calum's eyes widened as a couple of the more popular kids becan snickering and commenting on the two of them. About how he's queer and Michael's a boss.

He buried his face into his arms as nervousness and embarrassment heated his skin and pooled in his stomach. They were talking, and Michael was having fun with his fallen composure and began poking more fun at him.

"Oh, you think he's flustered now? You don't know the half of it." He laughed loudly and Calum bit his tongue as he felt his face become too hot for his comfort. He was itchy, and his lungs felt like collapsing.

"You managed to shut him up." Someone commented and he could hear their palms slapping against each other. "Dude, praise."

Praise for what? Making his heart flutter and stop all at once? Making his skin red and his palms sweat?

"That's enough." The teacher stated firmly, and the class quieted for a moment. "What happens between you two is nobody's business. Keep it private."

"Yeah, I can make him do anything." He heard Michael brag, his voice significantly lower after Mr. Knight's announcement and after a group of people began laughing from the back of the class.

Calum stood up and the teacher stared at him as he turned away from his blackboard. "Yes?" He asked impatiently.

"I need to use the restroom."

"Make it fast."

Calum rushed out of the classroom, nearly tripping on his own feet, and then slammed open the door to the bathroom. Another student was in there, and he stared with wide eyes as Calum walked to the seat and leaned against it.

"Uh... bro, you alright?" The stranger asked as Calum looked down at the porcelain. "I think you broke the door."

"I'm gonna kill him." He snapped and the boy physically jumped back at his outburst.

"Yeah, um..." the other scratched the back of his neck. "You-You really shouldn't do that. You can get into serious legal trouble"

Calum looked up at him as he tapped his nails on the inside of the sink, mind wandering too fast for him to catch up with it. So he settled on focusing on the boy with long black hair and a cropped jacket. "What's your name, kid?" He asked and the stranger rose an eyebrow.