Chapter Twelve

When I woke up that morning, it was different. I expected to be happy, but instead I jut felt strange. Like something inside of me was cooking. the boys hadn’t arrived yet, so I had time to get dressed, which was good, so I should’ve been happy. Still queasy. 

I had even finished having breakfast, which was unusual, because the boys would USUALLY be here. In fact, they had warned me at the start that they were always early. I must’ve gotten up really early then, or so I thought, because I checked the time, and I saw that I had 20 minutes ‘till school started! 

“Oh shit” I muttered, and grabbed my jacket. I ran out the door. Locked the door. Ran some more. I was about 5 minutes away from school when i spotted ahead of me, 5 boys. I was frustrated, was this a prank? Were they ignoring me? Ah! So frustrating. I caught up. “Where were you guys?” I asked casually. Louis and Harry continued talking to each other, but Niall, Zayn and Liam all turned and acknowledged me. “Sorry. We were late this morning. Didn’t think we’d have time” Liam apologized. That made sense.

“For your beauty sleep schedule! Can’t wait for girls who like their sleep, can we?” Zayn was winding me up, we both knew it. I rolled my eyes. “Right. Well anyway, what are you guys doing for the band searchy contest ma-boo?”

Niall puffed out his chest. “We…. are making music” He said proudly. “That’s very… specific” i replied. “Come on, tell me, I’ll tell you what we’re doing?” I proposed. I was dying to know what they were doing. Knowing Louis, probably something funny.

Like the way he was glaring at me today….

Not to mention Harry’s cold looks….

I mean, they could be like, male versions of Meghan they way they were…

no, I shouldn’t think of my friend as bitches….

Because Meghan’s not a bitch…

STOP!!!

“Sorry, doll-face, it’s a surprise” Niall winked at me. I crinkled my nose, “Really? That has to be the worst excuse in my whole life” I exaggerated. it was actually a pretty decent one. But anyway. “Nope. It’s the best” Liam put in, smiling for some reason. At least Niall and Liam looked happy with me. And Zayn, well, he’s Zayn. Harry and Louis, still giving me the evil eye. 

“Sure. But ‘doll-face’? What’s with that?” I asked. ” Because you have scary eyes” Zayn whispered dramatically. “And you go around with a knife, slitting them by there throats, and then STUFFING THERE NECKS WITH FLUFF AND SEWING BUTTONS INTO THEIR EYES WHILE THEY’RE STILL ALIVE”

“Wow.” was all I said, after a long silence of course. “We were watching horror movies” Niall explained. “When?” I asked, “How come you didn’t invite me?” I noticed Niall freeze up, pobably at some girl who passed by, in my opinion, and Zayn and Liam exchanged a glance. “We would’ve-“

“-but you were too busy snogging” Zayn said coldly, and rather fake. “Oh I’m sorry Zayn-“

“No. No. I see how it is. I get it” Zayn faked hiding a tear. “And since when was I snogging?”

“Well, I mean, you and Henry, you know….” Zayn made an array of excellent hand gestures, dropping his hurt act. I could feel my cheeks warming, so I covered them with my hands. Damn blushing. “Oh my god” I muttered. “See! You’re blushing! BLUSHING I SAY BLUSHING!” Zayn pointed at my face.  I turned to Niall, why was I so short. “Am I blushing?” I whispered. Niall stared at me, “no” he shook his head after a while. “Why- why would you be blushing?” He asked. I felt the red in my cheeks begin to die away. Good. “I don’t know” I blushed even furiouser. Oh great.

-

“So.  How was your date?” Kelly wriggled her eyebrows. “I… don’t know what you’re talking about” I replied gracefully. “Oh really? That’s bullshit. practically everyone’s talking about you two!” Nina talked with a trace of hyper. Meghan again was refusing to be in this conversation, talking to one of the other girls instead. “They- they are?” I wondered. this was wierd. i wasn’t like, supposed to be talked about. I mean, why would they talk about me?

Chapter Thirteen

The last period of the day was English. and because I hated english, that gave me enough time to think about things that needed to be thought about.

On my agenda:

1. Why and what was everyone talking about me and Henry

2. What was up with the boys lately

3. My date with Henry <3

4. Meghan

The teacher came in and sat down. I blurred out from what she was saying, instead concentrating on my thoughts and nothing else.

1. I was a little scared, I guess. I mean, I’d never been talked about before. How was I supposed to react? I mean, were they spreading wild rumours and stuff?

I passed a note to Kelly, who sat right next to me. 

Did that mean that I was, like, the popular person in the school? Like Meghan? Or should i just have been shy, or… UH I didn’t know.

Kelly flicked the note back at me:        Oh nothing bad, don’t worry babes, although someone said they saw you kissing in Hyde Park, AWW how cute <3

Oh god. How did they know/see that? This just weirder.

2. Something was up. I mean, let’s just see how awkward everyone has been around me lately:

Harry: hardly talked to me. Hardly made eye contact.

Louis: The sass master. any looks or recognition of presence was met with a glare or a head turn, or ignoring me.

Liam: Sort of awkward but covering it up pretty well. Lots of hidden glances with the others. A few dissaproving looks at Harry/Louis.

Zayn: The zen master. As if Zayn would be awkward, we’re cool.

Niall: Always been sort of awkward around me, maybe he’s just awkward :/

I knew I had to figure it out. i mean, they’re my friends, right? Well, not that I tell Meghan that, she’d probably just drop me. More on that later. Oh. Of course! It all amde sense. What makes a guy awkward..? A GIRL. And that girl must be…. MEGHAN. I was just guessing that, well, of course, it had to about the fact that I hardly sat with them and hung out with them. That explained Louis’ looks at me, Harry ignoring me (because I’ve been ‘ignoring’ them?), and Liam giving them disapproving looks, while Zayn like, jumps at the chance to hang around his sister from another mister.

At least i had that sorted out. Maybe I should confront them, I mean, when? After school? Tommorow?

The dance, of course. 

3. YAYYY! I’m going to the dance with HENRY FRICKIN BLAKE. YES! The date was so romantic (swoon) and Henry was so nice and casual with me, he’s so perfect. And I felt like we got to know each other  bit more, which was great. Not to mention our kiss. I’d never been kissed before that, but that felt… amazing. Amazing amazing amazing amazing. And seriously, he never looked at me like ‘eww your wierd’ or like ‘i wanna do something with you’ he was so respectful and wonderful. Ahhhhhhhhhh….

4. Meghan has also been weird lately. Maybe she does know that I was friends with Niall’s crew. Uh oh. That would explain why she was cold, but….

Oh.

Oh shit.

Oh damn shit.

Meghan likes Henry.

But Henry’s MINEEEE.

Not fair.

But it fits the evidence so perfffectly.

Oh damn motherfucking shit. 

Chapter Fourteen

I shut the door and sat my bag down. “Hi mum!” I called out. “Hello honey, how was your day?” My mother answered as I walked into the kitchen. Good so far, I still have all my blood in me. “Yep good” I smiled. Oh if only she knew. I took a deep breath in, and asked “Uh, mum… I was wondering… there’s the dance coming up for school soon. And. I… was… sorta…. wondering…. welll……. can… i go?”

My mother laughed, and I cringed. I reallly, DESPERATELY wanted to go. “Of course honey! No need to be so scared about asking me, why don’t you have a sleep over at one of your friends from school?” My mum suggested. I couldn’t go with Meghan now, coz she liked Henry (mine), maybe I should ask Kelly…..

“Thanks mum!” I hugged her. The screechy door creaked open, and shut. The father staggered into the kitchen. “Hello, you’re home early” my mother pecked him on the cheek. How could you kiss someone so EVIL as that? 

“Uh, yes. They uh… let me off on a break” I interpreted that as he got fired. “Isn’t it wonderful, Bill is going to go to the dance!” Mother smiled. Dammnit. My smile fell. No, the father was not going to like that. His gaze fell on me, shivers going down my spine. “Is that so?” He narrowed his eyes at me. “Yes! Oh I remember the dances and parties I had when I was her-“

“No.”

“Sorry?”

“No. She will not go.”

“But darling” My mother frowned. “Isn’t that a bit harsh?”

“No.”

“Look here John I think she should go, why not?”

“I said NO”

“With what reason?” My parents bickered. “LOOK HERE I AM THE MAN OF THE HOUSE YOU WILL BOTH LISTEN TO ME” the father shouted. My mother cringed. Of course, she wasn’t used to that. “John give me ONE good reason and I will agree, but if there’s no reason, we will leave.” My mum threatened. My jaw dropped open. Leave? What was with my mum? To leave… to not be beaten and cut and bruised… that would be fantastic! 

But to leave everyone here, Henry and Zayn and Meghan,

and Niall,

that would be horrible. Worse. I’d rather stay. Or the best outcome would be for the father to leave. John’s face set in a hard, straight line. “I AM THE MAN OF THE HOUSE YOU WILL LISTEN TO ME.” He repeated. My mother turned to me. “Hon, why don;t you go and play for a while, okay? I’ll call you back for dinner.” She smiled too-sweetly. I took my chance and exited the house. I had 5 options to go to. 5 boys. I considered my options.

I could hear the parents shouting in the kitchen, and I shuddered. Louis hated me, Harry didn’t want me, Liam is.. well… Liam. Niall was awkward around me, and Zayn. Yeah I headed in the direction of Zayn’s house. 

I knocked on the door three times. The door was opened by none other then Zayn. “Oh, hey Bill! The guys are out the back, wanna join us?” He smiled. “Yeah! Thanks Zayn” I answered gratefully. We walked down a corridor which led directly down the house, at the end there was a single door. And by the sound of it, it lead into the kitchen. “Just wait, I’ll go in first” he said with a concerned look on his face. ‘How odd’ I thought to myslef as he dissapeared behind the door.

Zayn opened the door to reveal, indeed, a kitchen, and 4 other boys I knew. Liam and Niall were both glaring at Louis and Harry, who were equally glaring back. Louis shook his head in defeat, and looked at me and smiled.

Win.

He looked at me and smiled.

Must of been a staring contest. “Hey guys, am I intterupting something?” I asked. “No” Harry and Liam answered at the same time, while Niall fidgeted awkwardly. “That’s good” I sat down on a seat next to Nialler, “So, have you guys got a date yet for the school dance?” I wiggled my eyebrows. The boys all freezed up. Ha. Yet Harry glared at me. That was odd. Must of embarrased him. Louis didn’t look to happy with me either. Damn. Niall looked away in an act of embarrased. Ha. They definetely don’t have dates. i mean, that explains the reactions?

“Please, I have ten” Zayn boasted. I laughed, “Of course Zayn. We all know the man-slut that you are” I giggled. “What about the rest of you?” Zayn turned to the boys. “Oh well…” Louis looked down. And he was blushing. “I.. I’m going with Eleanor” He muttered. The boys and I roared and cheered. El was a studious yet beautiful girl in our year. Shy, but still stood out because of her beauty. “And um, I managed to get Dani to say yes” Liam grinned madly.

“YEAAAAHHHH!” Niall hollered. “And what about you?” I teased. The tension in the room changed. It could’ve killed. “Uh… I have… nobody” Niall admitted, avoiding my eye. “Aww, well have you asked anybody?”

“Um…. no.”

“Well ask someone, silly! Any girl would be crazy to not like you” I winked.

If tension could kill, I would be dead and de-composed.

Chapter Fifteen

“Uh, soooo… Zayn, what ‘ten girls’ are you taking?” Liam broke the awkward silence. “What… do you doubt me?” Zayn raised an eyebrow. I looked at Louis, asking for an explanation. He shook his head, but I could catch the glint that remained in his eye. I shivered in reaction, he definetley was still mad at me for hanging out with Meghan,

right?

*cough*

right. (A/N: tell me if you know where that was from. HINT: DID YOU GET MY TEXT? COZ YOU DIDNT TEXT ME BACK)

“Let me guess… Your sister and your cat Mindy?” I retorted. Laughter errupted as Zayn opened his mouth but closed it because he thought better. “Knew it” I whispered in dramatic victory. “Okay, well I was PLANNING to take ten girls, but I thought that might be unfair for the girls that I don’t invite, so I’ll just go by myself and be a pussy magnet” Zayn finally found a good comeback. “We’ll be magnets together” Harry motioned for a high five. High five was given as Zayn replied “Yes! So we’re going together? So heterosexual”

Everyone laughed at that, because it was funny. I am captain obvious, aren’t I? “I’ll just go by myself then” Niall said, pulling the funniest face even possible. I laughed really loudly, too loud to be even possible. All the boys looked at me. “What?” I asked, trying to stifle a laugh.  ”Well that was loud…” Liam stated. I shrugged, going in red in the face, which made me kick myself, I mean, why was I even turning pink, which made me turn redder. 

“I don’t know about you guys, but I feel like playing a game” Louis looked outside. It was pouring rain. As if we would play in THAT weather. It looked wetter than…. oh never mind that was dirty. But still, we were NOT going to play ANY game in THAT weather.

5 minutes later and I’m gritting my teeth. My hair was already soaking, luckily I had a raincoat and wellies on. I stood on the wet grass, arms folded, one foot forward. “Ibble wobble black bobble ibble wobble out” Harry counted each of us out. I eventually got pointed not-it, and stood over with the other not-its. We were playing hide and seek. Zayn’s backyard was pretty big, and we were also counting the forest behind it. Well, it wasn’t really a forest, it wasn’t that big, but there was a creek and some big old rocks with a miniture waterfall and maybe 100 trees. So there were a couple good hiding places. “Alright, SCRAMBLE!” Harry unhappily covered his eyes and leaned against the wall on his face.

I ran towards the back fence. It seemed that everyone had had the same idea, as we raced each other to the best possible hiding places. I jumped over the back fence and kept on running. “Oomph” Some of the others got stuck at the fence. i glanced behind and caught sight of Liam rolling on the ground holding his groin. He must of tried to jump the fence as well and…. failed. 

I had also seen that the others had just stopped then climbed over the fence. Slow coaches. I ran as hard as I could. I had had a disadvantage, not knowing the area as well as the others, so I knew I had to be ahead of them. I kept on running until I spotted the creek. I glanced behind again, to check if the boys had catched up. They were catching up. I ran upstream, towards the small waterfall, which was at the end of the forest. Small was right. The ‘waterfall’ was probably only two metres, and it came out of a side of a cliff. A cliff…. that was tall…. tall…

I started rushing to the nearest tree. Well, the nearest tree that was climbable. I started climbing madly. I wasn’t experienced a tree-climbing, but somehow it came pretty easy. It wasn’t that much time until I was near half way up the gigantic tree. It was thick and strong, but it started getting wobbly and thin. I decided to try and stay put where I was. I breathed deeply as I leaned my back against the trunk and looked across the scene. It was a nice view, with the forest in full view and then the town. I could also spot a very tiny Harry (hehehehe) walking towards the forest. 

I could see the whole forest from where I sat in the tree, and I scanned the rest of the trees. Some were tall, some were small, some where really bushy, some where empty. There was one tree, however, that was not empty. As in, there was a person in it. I looked around, to see if Harry was within earshot. Nope. He was busy down-stream. 

“Pssssssst” I whispered rather loudly. The person in the tree looked towards my direction. I waved. Liam waved back. By then I reeaaally wanted to know why all the boys were on edge. I motioned for him to come closer. He was a fair distance away. Not to mention that we were 5 metres off the ground. I was so stupid. Liam shook his head, pointing at the ground as if to say ‘Uh hello I’m not spiderman how the hell am I supposed to move out of the tree?’ 

I shrugged and nodded at the same time. Fine. I’ll just stay in my tree then. 

I never realised how tiring it would be just to cling to a tree. Harry was definetely the worst at finding people in hide and seek. I watched him move around. He had found Louis, Niall… oh now he’s found Zayn. That left Liam and I last. 

…

He STILL hadn’t found us. STILL. SERIOUSLY? I was on the edge of just shouting out our locations. 

…

Uhhhhh come on Harry just look up I’m in the sky.  

…

That was it. I grabbed a pinecone and threw it down on the ground, in the direction of Harry. As I threw it, I heard a small crack from right underneath me…………………….

Chapter Sixteen

It was only the smallest crack. Okay, that was a lie, it was pretty big, bu- but not the first crack. Because you see, trees don’t break in just one crack. There is the first crack: That’s very tiny. It’s at the top of the branch and is usually next to where you are sitting. Then there is crack number two: It is almost morphed in crack number three. But I’m counting crack number two as the first section of that crack. It is slightly deeper in sound, but so tiny because the sound is morphed into the third. The third crack: This was richer in tone, because it wasn’t necessarily a crack, it was more a break. It’s like when you’re breaking sticks and you snap half and then sort of wrench off the other bit of the stick until you have two separate pieces. It wasn’t deeper. But there was more of it. 

Just to think, that small crack had set off a chain reaction. And the only way for anything to stop (that is in the sky) is to be on solid ground. Now I don’t know at what speed or force or the science between aerodynamics and my falling, but it must of been pretty slow, because I had time to see my life flash before my eyes.

I don’t really like to talk about what went on in those flashbacks and memories. To be honest, I’m still trying to work it out this very day, as I’m writing this. I hope someone might find it, hopefully, maybe, this writing. But if you’re reading it, then someone has found it. 

Branches hit at my face, leaves that managed to still be on the trees had suddenly detached themselves to flurry themselves around me. Sticks clung to my hair like leeches, getting caught on branches just so that they could pull my hair. I flung my arms about, screaming. “BILL! THE TREE!” Someone yelled out. My mindless panic stopped, and was taken over in a mere matter of nanoseconds by a rational being. This rational being flung her arms out again, but this time they got hold of a branch.

No normal fourteen year old could just grab out and have a grasp on the tree. Instead of stopping my fall, I just managed to hold on for a nanosecond, then slip and start falling again, but this time much, much more slower.

Suddenly someone was right underneath me, how stupid, but it looked like they thought that they could catch me, which was incorrect. As proven by…

“Oomph” I had landed on top of someone, their arms wrapped around me. My ribs hurt, my ass hut, my hair hurt, my face hurt, my arms hurt; everything was scratched, everything was sore. “Owww” I moaned, rolling off the person who I had landed on, NO, they had come under ME. Not my fault. “You- uh… You all right?” Niall croaked. Oh Niall. “Yeah- um, yeah, how about you?” I asked. We were still on the ground, surrounded by autumn leaves.

I would never have admitted it then, only now I feel only a little bit embarrased. There were a few emotions and feelings that went through me at the time. As I lay on those leaves, red and brown and golden, I couldn’t help but notice something. Feelings and emotions that had swept through me, feelings that now I value higher then any peice of gold’s worth. I lay on the ground, an (almost) picture perfect blue sky  (if it weren’t for the grey clouds and torrents of rain) above me, golden leaves surrounding me. I turned my head to look at Niall. He was laughing, I can remember, laughing so very hard, his blue eyes the colour of that perfect sky (or how I imagined it to be); his hair which I knew was dyed but still matched the golden shade of the leaves. His white teeth, his enormous smile that made his eyes shine and his personality sparkle. I may only have been fourteen, but I’m pretty sure I knew what that emotion was.

From that day, and I would NEVER have had admitted it, but from that day I loved Niall Horan.

-

Well there I was, laughing with Niall on the ground about something, when-

“Oh… Hey guys” Henry croaked. My head snapped in his direction. “Hey Henry” I got off the ground and dusted my self off. I walked towards him to give him a hug, but he pushed me away. “Henry what-”

“Stay AWAY from my girlfriend Horan, stay AWAY” Henry poked Niall in the chest, who was also on his feet, and then started to walk off. “Henry! Henry it wasn’t what you thought it was-” I tried to explain. “Oh yeah? Well then explain that to me, Bill.” Henry’s eyes were red. How could he even think that we were- I mean, It wasn’t like I even LIKED Niall like that. Wow. Three ‘likes’ in one sentence. “Ok. Fine. Us 6, we were playing hide and seek. I climbed up a tree. I was one of the last ones left so I got impatient. Being impatient I threw a pinecone at them. In doing so, I made the tree crack, break, making me fall. Niall saw me and ran to try and catch me. Instead I just fell on top of him by accident. That’s when you came in… Okay?” I tried to explain it to Henry. 

Henry considered this for a moment, as if having a battle inside his head. “Fine” He gave in reluctantly. Ha. The truth always wins. “And um… I’m sorry… Bill… For um… Over…. Over-reacting… It’s just uh…”

I pulled him into a hug, “Hey it’s okay…. But seriously, though? You know I would never cheat on you.” I whispered. “Really? Well… That’s good I guess. Because a lot of girls, well… It wouldn’t be too surprising, I guess.” Henry and I inactivated our embrace. “But still, please don’t get… Too close to the boys……….. Ya hear that Horan?” Henry called out. “Loud and clear” Niall saluted Henry mockingly (Which Henry didn’t seem to notice), then walked off in search of the other boys. At least I think, things had cleared up between me and Niall, because things had been awkward since that first day, but I think he’s getting over it. And Henry was actually okay with me and the boys being friends, which was great, yeah?

Yeah. “Well, I’m going to be heading home now” I started to walk out. “What, you just think I’m going to let you walk home by yourself?” Henry caught up to me. I laughed “I don’t know” I shrugged. He walked me home, Henry. He walked me home.