REJECTS\\M.C.

-6-

-mikey-

"Luke, you're sounding a bit pitchy," Mikey says as he listens to Luke's recording, highlighting the section on their shared laptop that he is referencing to.

Ashton grabs the headphones, holding to his ear to listen and nods, "Yeah, man, redo the last two lines of the bridge again."

"I'll just redo all of it just in case," Luke grumbles and replaces his own headphones before he steps behind the mic in a mattress fortress.

Mikey shrugs just as his pocket vibrates from his phone. He pulls it out to find a message from Hannah, surprising him.

H: Is tomorrow after school again okay for you?

M: Yes that's fine for me

H: Okay. Thanks.

M:See you tomorrow

His thumbs hover over his keyboard, wanting to ask her why she yelled at him and also this deep desire to ask if she was alright. Something made his stomach uneasy at the way she begin to panic and practically jumped out of a moving vehicle. He chews his lip as Ashton comes up behind him, noticing the conversation on the screen.

"Oh, good, you still have a tutor," Ash jests.

"I guess so," he says, feeling restless about the whole thing.

"Hannah already sick of you after one session?" Calum laughs.

"I don't know," Mikey shrugs, trying to replay the drive but the only thing sticking out to him was her not wanting a ride in first place and then her wanting dropped off on the corner. Why?

"We had an interesting altercation with her," Ashton tells Calum.

"Really? What?" He inquires.

"She wanted to be dropped at the corner of her street and then yelled for me to stop the car when I didn't, flying into Mikey's seat 'cause she had taken her seat belt off. Fuck I still feel terrible about that. And then she practically jump out of my car and screamed at us to leave when Mikey tried to ask about their next meeting."

"I told you she was weird," Calum eyes Mikey.

"It was defo weird behavior, but I don't think she's weird," Ashton twists his mouth up, making Mikey glad for some reason, "She's for sure insecure, but," he pauses and shakes his head, "I dont know."

"What?" Calum encourages.

"She seems scared or like nervous of me. It made me feel strange."

"She probably thinks you're hot," Luke joins them, tossing the headphones on the sofa and Mikey stops the track, for some reason bothered by Luke's comment.

"She wasn't looking at me like that," Ashton chuckles softly, "She looked wary."

"She didn't want a ride at first," Mikey adds.

"Weird," Luke lifts his lip.

"That's what I've been saying," Calum nods, "she's weird."

"Give it a rest," Mikey huffs annoyed.

"Nothing against her," Calum defends, "she's just weird."

"Aren't we though too?" Ashton giggles.

"Well, true," Calum laughs.

"Exactly," Ash nods at him and then looks at Luke, "Hey how's Tannar? She with Liz right now?"

"Nah," Luke sighs and rubs his face, "Her dad left. Fucking finally. So she's at home with her mum."