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Chapter 9
"Can we go on the swings," Mack asked as she led Calum to the playground. Without waiting for an answer, she ran to the swing set and sat on one of the seats. "Push me high!"
He smiled and walked over to her. After he had her going high enough, he sat in the swing beside her and stared at everyone on the playground. There were parents sitting on the bench watching their children, parents play with their children. He sighed. He never really had that relationship with his parents, especially his father.
He shuddered at the word father. He looked at a father, sitting on the seesaw with his kids. Calum shut his eyes, Daniel had never done that for either of his kids, let alone take them to the park. Cam had been the one to take Calum, to watch him carefully, to make sure he didn't fall. Then, his father changed Cam, turned him into a miniature Daniel.
"Calum?"
He opened his eyes and noticed Mack had stopped swinging. Her blue eyes searched him, trying to find answers. Sighing, he turned to look at her. "What's wrong," she asked.
"Promise me that when we're older, I won't be like my dad."
Mack nodded. Suddenly she felt guilty for having a loving family when Calum didn't. "You can't be like your dad," she said. "You have a heart."
Calum leaned against the chains of the swing. "Sometimes I can still feel it," he told her, staring off into space. "The pain from the wounds. Sometimes, I wake up, thinking that he's hitting me but it was just my mind playing a cruel joke on me."
Mack stood and walked over to him. Grabbing onto his hand, she pulled him to a tree and sat him down. Looking at him remember, made her want to cry. "You can talk to me."
"Everytime he'd beat me, I'd just hope for a tomorrow. The last time, in eighth grade, I didn't think there was going to be." Tears were starting to roll down his face. "He always made me feel like it was my fault."
Mack enveloped him in her arms and let him cry. "It wasn't your fault," she whispered. "Your dad had a problem."
She looked down at Calum. He was so brave and strong. She had never seen him cry and seeing him like this made her eyes sting with tears. "You're loved," she whispered into his ear. "I love you. Adam and Teagan are like brothers to you. We all care for you."
When his tears had stopped, he let go and sat against the tree. "Sorry about that. I'm romantic, huh," he said sarcastically. "I'm such a loser."
"Hey," she said, moving over to sit in his lap. "Don't call my boyfriend a loser!"
Calum smiled. "I love you."
"I know," she said. "I love you too." She laid her head on his chest and just laid there, enjoying every moment she had with him.
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Calum and Mack walked through the halls of the school on Monday hand in hand. Many girls were gossiping and spreading rumors.
"Did you see, they're holding hands."
"Do you think they're dating?"
"She is so lucky!"
"He's only dating her because she's a Bolton."
"I hear their brothers are good friends."
"They hated each other in elementary school!"
The two tried their best to ignore the constant stares that were associated with being Mack Bolton and Calum Boucher, but now they were worse than before. Now they weren't Mack and Calum, best friends and captains of the basketball teams, they were more.
"Bolton! Boucher! Just the students I was looking for!" They heard when they passed Ms. Darbus' classroom on their way to lunch.
"I was wondering if you had given the musical a thought? I heard you singing after the game on Friday and I must say you possess some talent."
"Haven't auditions already happened," Calum said.
"Oh yes, but I have yet to cast the main characters."
"We haven't thought about it-" Mack started, but before she finished she was interrupted.
"You will think about it. I was wondering if you could audition during free period today?" Not giving them a chance to answer, Ms. Darbus started talking again. "Excellent. I'll meet you in there."
The two stood stone still as they heard Ms. Darbus yell as she walked down the hall. Mack turned to Calum wide eyed. "What just happened?"
"We signed up for the musical," Calum said, fake happiness taking over his voice.
"It's not that bad Calum," Mack said as Calum stormed off toward the cafeteria. He threw his hands in the air as they entered. Hundreds of eyes fell on them.
"Not that bad? How can you say that Mack!"
"Do you have stage fright or something? You seemed perfectly fine singing in front of the basketball team! What's the difference?"
He walked over to her. "I'm not prancing around some stage in leotards."
"Who said anything about leotards? I don't remember anyone saying anything about leotards!"
Calum grabbed her hands in his own and looked at her. "Mack, I can't..."
"Why?"
"It's just...it's not what I do."
Her eyes narrowed. "You sound exactly like my brother was when the school was all about cliques. Why did I ever think that would change? A basketball player will always be a basketball player. Got to stick to status quo Calum? Why don't you go sit with your fan club, I'm sure they'd love to sit with you." Pulling her hands from his grasp, she ran from the room.
"Mack," he called after her. He groaned before running after her tiny form. He followed the sound of her shoes through hallways and up stairs. Finally, when there was no where else she could go, he found her sitting on the roof. "I didn't mean for it to sound like that."
"Well it did." She had yet to look at his face. "Didn't you have fun when we sang together?"
"I had a blast, but a musical Mack...I can't."
She turned to look at his face, read his expression. "You have stage fright don't you?" He looked away ashamed. "Calum, you play basketball in front of a huge crowd. I don't see the difference."
"Mack, when you play basketball, you don't see their faces, you're focused on the game. In a musical, every line is directed to the audience. I'd be afraid I'd screw up or something."
"You seemed so comfortable in front of the class when we did Romeo and Juliet."
"That was different. We were using our own names, we had a script right in front of us and I felt like Romeo. We were just fooling around! I know it's stupid, but...I can't."
"I can help you," Mack said, her eyes pleading. "We can help you get used to audiences looking at you."
Calum sighed. "I guess we're seeing Ms. Darbus during free period."
She smiled and hugged him. "It won't be bad and if you have to wear leotards, we don't have to do it."
They laughed at Mack's sentence. He lifted her up and carried her into the cafeteria, despite her protests. All the eyes were on them again and Mack could feel her cheeks heating up. "Calum please put me down!"
"Nope. You want me to get used to eyes on me and me looking at them."
"You're using my words against me!"
Smiling, Calum carried her the rest of the way to the table they sat at with Adam, Bailey, Keisha and Teagan. When they reached it, Calum placed her next to his seat and sat down.
So...how's you like it?
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