Calum Light

Physical Description
Messy blond hair, sticking out at all angles, is the first thing people notice about Calum. He has been noted to have streaks of blue, red, green and, some have claimed, purple hair dye through it. Asked about his outlandish hair colour choices, he’s been quoted saying “just beta testing”. He has dark brown eyes and noticeably long eyelashes. Cal’s proud of a slight tan that he’s gained from the recent Summer Hostel trip, as he usually has relatively pale skin, with a hint of freckles. Also as a result of the Summer Hostel, he’s put on a bit of weight; however he’s usually in good shape. He’s around average height for a 14 year old. As for clothing, the only time you’ll find Cal out a simple jeans and a t-shirt, is when he’s on the tennis court (when he’s wearing shorts and a t-shirt!). As far as his fellow agents know (he doesn’t really have a close knit group he hangs with), Calum owns no “smart” or “sensible” clothes.

Background
Originally from a small town in Ireland (leading him to have a light accent), Calum moved to London, England, to stay with his grandparents after his father (his mother's whereabouts are unknown, after she fled the UK with her husband's best friend when Calum was two) died in an unnatural house fire. It is still unknown how, or indeed where in the house, the fire started. Eight year old Calum was left homeless and still has a vivid memory to this day of the early morning car ride across town from a friend’s house where he’d enjoyed a sleep-over. Laughing, joking about some idiot in their class at school, then, as the car pulled into the street, the laughing ceased. The crying starts. From his friend and the mum. Not Calum. From Calum, there’s only silence because it’s too much, the scene that’s plain to see in front of him. It’s all too clear and yet, it’s so obviously some horrible nightmare, which leaves every memory of a home scarred and burnt on the ground in front of you.

After staying at his friend’s for about a month or so, Calum was moved permanently to live with his gran and granddad in London. Young as he was, he knew that he would probably never return to this little village that used to be home. He knew, cheesy as it sounds, that there was nothing left for him there. Though all his mates cried, or were at least upset, when he was getting in the taxi, Calum knew he was happy to be away from there. Those same people would forget about him in a few weeks.

His grandparents owned a flat in central London. It was small but comfortable enough. He started at a new school, where everything was different. Calum never even got the chance to settle in before his grandmother died of a sudden and totally unexpected heart-attack. Both his grandmother and grandfather had been in good health when they’d agreed to take Calum just a month before.

His grandfather lasted another two years (in which time, Calum had made little effort to become friends with anyone), before a stroke rendered him in a wheelchair. At ten years old, Calum was taken into a care home, while the same fate befell his granddad, as he was taken into a nursing home. With his grandfather’s condition deteriorating, Cal was recruited to CHERUB within two months of being taken into care, waking up in one of the pristine rooms on June 29th, 2008, his eleventh birthday. Cal still proclaims that to be his weirdest and best birthday ever.

Personality
Calum has a “dark sense of humour that can sometimes come across as cruel or mean”. Cal decided to reflect this psychological analysis with the choice of his name when he was recruited to CHERUB, changing Dark to Light. This newfound arrogance has been put down to his experiences in the school he went to in London, which he refuses to speak about. As a result of his twisted sense of humour, Cal hasn’t made any particular friends in his three years at CHERUB, choosing instead to distance himself from those his own age (though he’s caught a few girls’ eyes before) and focus on his sport of choice, tennis. Coached at CHERUB by an ex-agent, who went on to become a pro, Calum hopes to emulate this one day.

As an agent, Calum has been involved a few routine missions (most notably, he played a part in bringing down an illegal drugs exportation company) but nothing important enough to gain him the coveted Navy Shirt.