Everybody Needs Somebody

Chapter Nineteen

Zayn never really intended for the meeting to go smoothly. Sure he assumed there would be some order, and he would probably even be forced to talk at one point or another. What he didn't expect was for everyone to begin talking over one another while he pushes himself further into his seat as he tries to imagine not being there. But that is exactly what ended up happening when Liam, Andy, and Sam all entered the room.

"Liam James! Get your arse to class before I drag you by the ear there, and take Sam with you! I deliberately told you in the car we only asked for Andy to be here because he is a neutral voice and we didn't want this becoming chaotic. Now you've scared Zayn and made this messier than intended," Louis seethes out while slightly glaring at his eldest.

Upon hearing Louis say he scared Zayn, Liam quickly whips his head to face the young boy only to frown at the sight. Zayn had crouched himself as tight as possible into the chair, with his knees pressed to his chest, and his whole body slightly shaking.

"Zee, I'm sorry. I wasn't yelling at you, yeah? I didn't mean to scare you, bud," Liam says sympathetically while crouching down to Zayn's height. At the gesture, Max scoffs at the boy's innocence which causes Zayn to blush and slightly move away from Liam's hand that was caressing his cheek.

"Liam, Sam, get back to class now before I'm forced to write you both a detention," Mr. Higgins says sternly while rubbing his temples because he was hoping for this to run smoothly. Upon hearing that both Liam and Sam quickly apologize before exiting the room, leaving only Zayn, Louis, Andy, Max, Max's mum, Coach Grimshaw, and Mr. Higgins present.

"Now that that is settled we can finally handle the situation at rest. Yesterday during the game, you, Max, became unacceptably physical with one of your own teammates. Now, I always give everyone a chance to tell their side of the story, so I'll allow you to either tell your side or you can just tell me if you were at fault now," Mr. Higgins says sternly.

"Oh I'm telling my side of the story because it was this little runt's fault!" Max shouts while standing up from his chair which causes Zayn to cower and Max's mother to push him back into his seat. "You see, 'Zaynie' here decided he wants to run the team. So for the past couple weeks he's been bragging on and on to me about how he's better than everyone and that he's just using the Tomlinson's for money and publicity!"

"That- that's not true!" Zayn speaks up, though his voice is quiet.

"Max, I'm all for hearing everyone's side of the story, but everyone in this room knows what you just said is an absolute lie. Zayn can you tell us what actually happened?" Mr. Higgins says, voice going from stern to gentle.

"Uh, um, I don- Louis?" Zayn stutters with wide eyes before turning to look up at Louis for help. The older man coos before walking over in front of the boy and crouching down to his eye level.

"I'll be right here, love. You're not gonna get in trouble just tell Mr. Higgins whatever you need to tell him," Louis coos while running his fingers through Zayn's hair.

After a few shuddery breaths, Zayn begins to tell Mr. Higgins everything that had occurred. From being pushed up against the lockers, to the threats, even what happened at halftime, all the way up to when the fight began.

"Well, Max do you have anything you can honestly object to?" Mr. Higgins asks but when Max just shrugs and looks down with a scowl he assumes that everything Zayn said was the truth and that that part is now settled. "Very well then. Zayn, thank you for your help, bud, you can go back to class. Your teacher was aware you were here so don't worry about a note."

And with that Zayn exits the room, only slightly looking back before he exits because he feels that now he's in even more trouble from before he told anyone. Nonetheless, he makes his way down to his classroom where for the remainder of the block he can't help but think about how they're going to punish his teammate. If he even still is his teammate.