episode 1, part 3
reality

"RED ISN'T YOUR colour," Atlanta sighed as she glowered at the ruby pigment staining Ishana's lips. Yet, after rubbing them together once more, Ishy simply smiled at her friend and placed the lipstick back into her pocket.  

"I know," the girl stated, staring idly at her best friend as she swept her unkempt auburn tresses behind her ears. Ishy knew better than anyone that Atlanta Northford was beautiful, and that as a consequence made her appear more bland in comparison - which was the reason she had stained her lips a deep scarlet in the first place.

Atlanta frowned at the girls response, but smiled nonetheless. After a brief game of spin the bottle, Ishana's lipstick had been smudged beyond recognition, hence leading them to the small bathroom on the second floor of Callum's large house. The walls were composed of sturdy white marble, with a broad white sink and a gold-encased vintage mirror.

"Have you spoken to Callum yet?" Ishana stated as she turned away from the mirror to smile at her friend.

Tally nervously scratched her head, ruffling the ginger tresses further and partially ruining the thick locks she had created prior to the party. Atlanta Northford was rarely nervous, but the redhead had had a crush on Callum Deprelli since the beginning of sixth form, and as the two years neared their end, she still couldn't get the boy out of her head. In Tally's defence, Ishana found the brunette boy too attractive for his own good.

"We made eye contact," the girl responded, a smile tugging at the corners of her pale lips. "For a whole two seconds," Atlanta continued, chuckling to herself.

"You eye raped each other? Seriously Tal," Ishana laughed lightly, smile broadening until it split her face in two. "I can still introduce you two if you want?" The girl offered, pulling up her silver sequin bandeau top as it began to slip down once more. Ishana and Callum shared a bench in Physics, and had somewhat formed a weak friendship over the space of six months. Ishy knew that the notorious fuck boy had two older brothers, and a father that spent most of his time away from home.

Atlanta quickly went to the door, proceeding to tuck Ishy's hair behind her ears and marvel at her work. The pair had always looked out for each other since they started primary school at the age of eleven. Other friends had come and gone, and after seven years, they knew that all they needed was each other.

"I'm ok," Atlanta replied, heaving a sigh. She pulled the door open, the music from downstairs pulsing through the plaster of the modern house like war drums.

"You sure sure?" Ishana pressed, relieved that the tiny corridor to the landing was deserted.

Atlanta rolled her eyes, walking through the dimly lit corridor and following her friend to the balcony that looked down onto the first floor of Callum's house. She pressed her hands up against the metal railing, gazing down at the drunk teens as phosphorescent lights flashed across the darkness. The broad wooden staircase was empty, with only a few party dwellers having resorted to the upper floor to escape the madness below - one of which, was Callum.

"You make no sense," Tally laughed, but her posture immediately stiffened once she noticed her crush leant up against the wall besides the stair, flicking through his phone. Both girls had no doubt that he was checking his Haeven account. "I- Erm, I'll go and get us a drink."

Ishana frowned, but before the girl could reply, her best friend had walked past her and begun to run down the stairs at a pace Ishy knew she would never be able to match. Sighing aimlessly, Ishy pulled up her top once more before treading across the landing towards Callum. Confidence was something embedded into Ishy's bones, and confronting the boy did no more than stir the excitement rising in the pit of her stomach. Moreover, the three shots of vodka and vodka cranberry juice concoction she had downed earlier helped.

Callum had opted for a pair of black jeans that showed off his muscular legs, and a loose fitting white band t-shirt of a band Ishana had never heard of before. A black bandana was wrapped tightly around his wrist, also adorned with multiple festival bands he had kept on since last summer. The man's gold-brown hair was ruffled, his natural bed-head not requiring the aid of hair gel or a styling product. With a wide smile, prominent cheekbones, and narrow yet beautiful dark eyes, Ishana found the boy captivating. The only problem was that Callum Deprelli knew that he was good looking.

"Missing out on your own party?" Ishana stated dangerously as she leant her back against the wall beside Callum. "Doesn't seem like the Callum I know."

Callum finally tore his eyes up from the screen of his phone, his busy Haeven account flashing in Ishy's peripheral vision. She had expected him to be stalking yet another stunning girl, but she was surprised when she saw someone's Backbone on the iPhone screen.

Callum opened his mouth to reply, but before he had the chance to speak, a girl with her phone in hand walked straight into the boy as she reached the top of the stairs. The blonde cursed profusely as the liquid splashed across Callum's black jeans, and across the top of the stairs.

"Shit, sorry," the girl chuckled, the thing on her phone screen too important for her to look up.

Callum waved a hand, clenching his jaw in frustration as the girl began to walk past him, too drunk to pay attention to his annoyance. "It's ok," he stated, sedating his anger. When the blonde didn't give him the response he wanted, Ishana stepped in.

"Bitchy move," the half-America, half-Korean girl exhaled. "But at least she didn't offer to take your jeans off for you. That would have been scarring for the poor girl."

At that, Callum laughed once more, his phone finally tucked away into his pocket. He turned to face the pretty woman, marvelling at her soft features and ruby pigmented lips. "Are you suggesting that you want to take my trousers off?" Callum replied.

"God, no."

"You're lying," Callum pressed, leaning in closer to Ishy who only took a step back whilst beginning to laugh.

"I'm not!"

"You're as red as a tomato."

"Do not be rude about my make-up!" Ishana stared at the boy, knowing full well that her cheeks were flustered - albeit, whenever she drank alcohol, a similar reaction would happen as soon as she was faced with a handsome boy. "Anyway, you were the one standing on your own. I took pity on you."

"Maybe I don't want your pity," Callum beamed. The pair were notorious for throwing insults at each other whenever they crossed paths. However, Ishy had decided that if she wanted Callum to listen to her, insults were best put to bed. "My friends all disappeared off somewhere, anyway. And I needed space to think."

"That almost sounded like you have a heart," Ishy pouted. "And come on, Cal. Cut the crap. I knew you were just stalking people's Backbone's anyway."

"Yeah, well they're interesting," Callum retorted. "Did you know that apparently in eight years I'm going to marry some surfer chick and compete in the national championships for wake-boarding? And that I'm going to die at eighty-two?"

Ishana felt her stomach drop thinking about her own Backbone, and that her predicted future entailed of her dying within the next year. "And did you know that it's all a pile of bullshit?"

"I can dream, Shana," Callum frowned, his smile fading like sand caught in a gust of wind. "Speaking of which, I didn't see yours."

The girl raised her brows, heart fluttering as she began to concoct the perfect lie in her head. "Stalking me again, Callum?" Ishy muttered, tucking her hair behind her ears once more like Atlanta had done earlier. "Maybe I just don't want everyone to know that I become the next winner of Britain's Got Talent."

"With what talent?"

"You'll see, amigo," Ishana winked. "And enough about this Backbone shit. I didn't come over here to be insulted by you, so I'm just going to say this how it is, partly because I want another drink, and partly because I'm drunk. Atlanta likes you."

Ishana studied Callum's face, pleased when his features distorted into a confused daze. "She does?"

"Well, who doesn't, but that's not the point," Ishana responded quickly, hoping that her match making would pay off for her best friend. "The point is that Tal is beautiful, and you'd be crazy not to chase her."

Ishana knew that Callum did not chase girls - they chased him. Yet the glimmer in his eye made Ishy's heart beat tenfold, the thumps merging together until she couldn't tell them apart. "She is hot," Callum agreed.

Ishana waved her hand before slapping it down on her thigh, excitement fizzing through her veins like wildfire. "Then get grafting. You don't have all night," The woman smiled, glad for once that she was wearing lipstick as Callum's eyes landed on her small feature.

"Actually, I do," Callum smirked, in turn causing Ishana to wipe the smile from her face and frown at his arrogance.

"But seriously, Cal, if you fuck her over then I'll fuck you over, and it won't be pretty."

The attractive boy frowned, his forehead creasing as he pretended to appear hurt. "You're kind of scary, you know that right?"

Ishy pointed at Callum defensively. "I mean it."

Callum pushed off from the wall, wearing his famous twisted smirk. It pulled at his eyes, making the brown fade into tones of hazel and gold. His hand checked the bandanna on his wrist, smiling at Ishy one last time before he turned to head down the stairs.

But, as his foot made contact with the surface, he lost his balance, slipping on the top step. The amout of alcohol he had previously drunk made it impossible to regain his balance. Ishana watched in horror as Callum toppled over, crashing down the stairs. She tried to reach out to catch his top, but her reactions were too slow. All she could do was watch with bated breath and wide eyes as Callum tumbled to the bottom, whacking his head against the wall at the base of the stairs with a sickening crunch.

Ishy couldn't stop a scream from escaping her mouth, brown eyes gazing in horror at the boy at the bottom of the stairs. He wasn't moving - not even his ribcage rose and fell as it should.

Horrified, Ishy stood still on the top step, hands clutched over her mouth as the tears flooded to her eyes. Her Backbone had been right.

thank you so much to lucksless  for the stunning cover! I love it ❤️

backbone is finally backk! sorry for the long wait, it took ages to get the start right and i had to rewrite it about four times, so i hope you enjoyed it (even though it sucked and i'm awful at dialogue)!

i'm so sorry about callum, especially this early on! and sorry if it didn't seem realistic, but it plays a huge role in the plot.

please leave a comment letting me know what you thought! and thank you for reading as always <33