The Secret Society [Zarry] [SAMPLE]

II

Not proof-read! Sorry, lovelies. Here's the [extremely late] sample Chapter Two. I hope you enjoy it! Big love. xxx

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When Zayn is shown to his - their - room by Louis, he's expecting a pretty long walk which consists of cramped hallways and people that stare at him as they chat with their friends and bounce balls off the walls,  or move things in and out of the dorm rooms. That's not the case; instead, the hallway in which his room is situated is empty - well, empty bar the overly-enthusiastic seventeen-year-old prancing around in front of Zayn.

"What are..." Zayn's voiced trailed off because he felt so nervous and vulnerable in such a new, unfamilliar environment that it was as if his body was shutting down; he'd tripped over so often in the past few minutes that he was worried his legs were numbing and becoming worthless. "What are you doing?"

Louis glanced back at his roommate - a roommate! He couldn't believe it - and grinned so widely that it almost made Zayn smile, too. Then again, he was too nervous to smile, and his mother's absence was now settling down firmly on his chest like a weight, slowly lowering itself until it was placed, in all its might, on top of him. He was starting to feel like he couldn't breathe and his eyes were itching. "I'm just happy," Louis says. "I haven't had a roommate for the whole time I've been at this school."

Zayn bit his lip, wondering if that felt lonely or if that's something he'd prefer, being an introvert, himself. "That's a good thing?" he asked.

"Nah," Louis' reply did not hold much heart. "I'd much rather have someone to keep me company."

Zayn thought that through, wondering if having company would be too crammed. Would he ever get time to himself? Louis didn't seem like the type to remain distant - or quiet, as a matter of fact. "Really? I like being alone."

"I'll make sure to give you space." Louis smiled at Zayn again, excitedly. "Having a roommate is cool, here. You're lucky that I can show you the ropes."

The ropes. There is was again; what ropes? What was there to know about a school like this? Zayn wasn't sure he wanted to know, whatever it was. There was far too much mystery surrounding this place already, and he hadn't even stepped foot inside of his room yet!

Oh, speaking of which...

"Here it is!" Louis chirped, stopping outside of a green door labled '323'.

Zayn was thankful that it was an easy number to remember. The last thing he needed was to get lost in this place, only to be pranked by the welcoming committee who'd send him in the entirely wrong direction. Not that he'd ever gone through that before but it happened in movies, didn't it? Or stuff like it did.

Well, Zayn didn't really know. He wasn't much of a social butterfly and his interest in TV was nothing compared to his interest in books, or drawings. Zayn liked paintings too but he felt like there was something much more... heartfelt about drawings. And he didn't really know why.

"Two, three, two," he said to himself. "232."

Louis smiled, and though it looked positively friendly, Zayn couldn't help but sense the amusement buried under the kindness. "You mean 323."

And now Zayn understood why that amusement was apparent. He blushed profusely, opened his mouth as if to speak, then closed it again. "323," he agreed, flushing even darker, now. "Right."

So much for 'easy to remember'.

The room itself was fairly big, bigger than Zayn had thought it would be; two beds were pushed into either corner and a door was to the left. One side of the room had been decorated in movie posters and music posters, and a keyboard sat at the end on the bed on a stand. There was a radio on the bedside table and, adjacent the keyboard, a microphone stood up next to a stand haboring a song book, filled with lyrics and scribbled notations.