My Teacher, Louis Tomlinson

Chapter 8- Any time

Louis’ POV:

“She’s cool. I like her.” Harry arbitrarily remarks.

Skylynn had left the room suddenly, and I was a tad worried. She pretty much sprinted to the bathroom.

Being from a family of all sisters, I know an eating disorder when I see one. Granted, none of them had one, but I did meet one of Lottie’s friends that did.

I found her throwing up in the bathroom once and she burst into tears at the sight of me standing there. I’d had suspicions about this particular friend and they were proven in that moment.

Needless to say, she never came back to our house and Lottie blamed me for the breakup of their friendship so she hated me for a while (which is normal. It’s easy to set Lottie off).

Right now, Skylynn is looking a lot like this friend. Sickly skinny, not eating much, running to the bathroom… man this girl has some problems.

I just can’t seem to confirm any of them.

“You okay, mate?” Harry says, putting a hand on my shoulder and squeezing.

“Oh, yeah. ‘M good.” I said.

“You were kinda out of it for a bit there… you look tense.”

“ ‘M sorry… I’m just worried about her.” I say.

“She seems like a great kid!” Harry battles, just as Skye comes back in the room.

She smiles shyly at us as she sits back down. An awkward silence sits between the three of us. Harry ends it by letting out a giant belch.

At first, Harry and I remain absolutely silent, waiting to see how Skylynn reacts.

Her face contorts strangely and she makes tiny noises until she full out giggles uncontrollably, then starts laughing infectiously so of course Harry and I join in.

Conversation started back up after that, very light and funny. Skylynn has a great way of telling stories. We were laughing every other minute at her hilarious anecdotes about everything from pet-sitting to singing to school. She sounds like a normal girl.

Maybe I’m overreacting about some things. Maybe those marks weren’t cuts, just scratches, as she explained in one of her many anecdotes. She included the fact that I sent her to a therapist about it, making Harry laugh harder than ever and me slightly embarrassed. And maybe I’m just seeing things when I thought someone hit her. Her parents seemed nice enough when I met them, though a little off. She didn’t talk about her parents at all. Didn’t really talk about her home life, either. I want to find a segway for her to talk about it.

I really don’t think I was imagining the bruises on her arms.

Skye’s POV:

“Remember when your parents took the team out for ice cream?” Mr. Tomlinson asks.

I know what he’s doing. He’s trying to get me to talk about them. I think he’s suspicious of me.

“Yeah, that was great!” I said overenthusiastically.

“Your parents seemed pretty nice, but a little off, to be honest.” Mr. Tomlinson suggestively said.

Here’s my chance to tell him who they really are. To agree that they are a little off, really more than that. My chance to get help. I could tell him everything. I could live here, away from their abuse.

“Yeah. They’re nice.” I said.

Who am I kidding? Mr. Tomlinson can’t help me. No one can. What am I thinking?