Butterfly Keeper // h.s. au

Chapter Eight

The next morning I get up and leave the apartment before either of the men in here awaken. I'd like to avoid an awkward morning run in with either of the two, but especially the towering blonde.

    I end up taking a bus back to campus, arriving to my first class of the day early and not bothering to stop at my dorm to freshen up. I still feel scared to even set foot in that place without getting my face beaten in. Maybe I should look into trading dorm rooms with Angela. I'm sure anyone would be a better dorm partner than Cara and her attack dog of a best friend.

    During my first two classes I text Jessica about the whole drama, trying to get a 'wise older sister's' opinion on what I should do. She tells me to look into Angela's roommate and that if "that bitch" (her words, not mine) ever lays a hand on me again, to file a report and get an RA involved.

    Finally Courtney and I meet up for our routine coffee indulging walk to our afternoon classes.

    "So you stayed at Zayn's last night huh?" She mumbles at me whilst taking a sip of her coffee. I almost choke on mine, not expecting her to bring it up so quickly. I can't tell if she's angry or not, her tone unreadable.

    "Yeah, about that..." I chuckle nervously. "I just needed a place to stay for the night and I meant no disrespect- I would never try anything with Zayn- I mean- I mean not that he's not handsome or anything but I don't think about him like that- And I totally understand if you're mad at me-" Courtney puts a finger up, silencing me from my nervous blubbering.

    "Stop rambling Charlotte, I'm not mad at you. You act like I'm about to interrogate you or something." She says with humor in her tone. I let out a sigh of relief, feeling my nervousness subside a little. "But you should know that you never have to be nervous about asking to stay with me. Zayn said you were worried about bothering me?" She seems worried herself as tells me this, the corners of her lips pulling into a bit of a frown.

    "I know, it would have been the sixth time though. I really don't want to be barging into your room every week to escape from my roommates."

I cringe at the fact that I just said "roommates". Angela is basically like an extra roommate that comes at the bottom of Cara's fine print contract. Ugh.

    "Well first off, we're basically best friends now so stop worrying about always upsetting me. You walk on eggshells around everyone and you seriously need to just stop. And secondly what happened with your roommate that had you crying on the sidewalk by yourself??"

    "Good lord, did Zayn tell you every single detail?" I groan.

    "You bet your asś he did! If he didn't I would know he had something to hide." She winks at me, showing off her long dark eyelashes.

    "Well," I don't know if I should tell Courtney about Angela. Once again that weird feeling that I need to keep these things to myself is inside me. I swallow down the lump in my throat as she eyes me suspiciously. "They kicked me out of the room again and I really wanted to sleep in my bed."

     It's not technically a lie, it's just not all of the truth. She's giving me the look now and I can feel my internal panic button going off in my brain.

    "That's nothing different than what they've done all the other times," She points out slowly. Her hundreds of tiny braids rest over her shoulders and travel down from under her hat. Today is a little colder than what I've endured here so far.

    "It's because I'm on my period so I'm more emotional than usual."

She stares at me and for a long minute and I don't think she's going to buy it. Her lips turn into a smirk and she elbows me in the side just as we reach the point where we must go our separate ways.