It Ended With An "Oops" And "Hi"

[ 14 ] Confessions

"Don't finish that sentence," Lottie warned, cutting her brother off.

"I don't deserve you guys, or to even be alive. Protecting you and keeping you happy is all that I live for," Louis finished in a weak voice.

Lottie was shocked. She didn't know what to say to comfort Louis. He was usually the one helping her, so she didn't know what to do now that the roles were reversed.

"Louis, you're a great brother, and we all love you," she said cautiously.

"B-But, I'm not good enough, and I still don't know how to help Fiz," Louis mumbled, making sweater paws.

Lottie complimented her options. Keeping Fizzy's secret safe, or telling Louis.

"Mark raped her," Lottie blurted out, before shaking out of Louis' grip and dashing off to school, leaving a shocked and enraged Louis behind.

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8:08am

Louis walked into the school, not even acknowledging the pain shooting through his body. He was numb, in a trance. He couldn't process the fact that Mark had- no, Louis didn't even want to think those words. He knew that he should go home and beat the living daylights out of that bastard, but he also knew that he wasn't in the right state of mind to do so.

The people in the hallways rushed around, trying to get to class and bumping into Louis. He didn't notice. He didn't care.

"Hey Lou. Whoa, you okay lad?" Liam said, approaching the zombie-like boy.

Louis didn't respond, he didn't even notice his friend. Everything was spinning, but he wasn't dizzy. He was just- there's no way to describe the pain he felt.

"You look white at snow. Care for a poisoned apple?," Liam joked, trying to make his friend smile. He didn't understand how badly Louis was hurt.

"Come on you bonehead," Liam said, slapping Louis on the head. It wasn't too hard, but it was enough to get Louis attention.

"What?" Louis said weakly.

His head felt wet, and the weird feeling was spreading across his scalp. He slowly reached up with a shaking hand and pressed it against his head. It hurt badly, probably a combination of Mark's beating and Liam's light slap. When Louis pulled his hand away, it was covered in blood. His blood.

"Holy shit, Louis I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hit you that har-"

"It wasn't you, it's fine," Louis mumbled quietly, interrupting Liam.

"If it wasn't me, then who did it?" Liam asked, in an accusing tone.

Louis eyes went wide as he realized what he just said. And suddenly, everything that had happened to Louis had pieced together in Liam's brain. Liam knew someone was hurting Louis.

"Who is doing this to you," Liam asked angrily. He wasn't mad at Louis, but he was beyond pissed at whoever was hurting his best friend.

Louis didn't answer, he just looked down to his feet and made sweater paws, his hands fiddling nervously. He noticed a few drops of blood splashing on the floor, and Liam took note of that too. The taller lad looked around the hallway that was quickly clearing, before dropping his backpack on the floor.

He shrugged off his jacket and hung the hoodie on Louis, covering up his head. Then Liam picked up his bag, grabbed Louis by the wrist carefully, and pulled him into an empty classroom, locking the door behind him and shutting the windows.

"Okay, tell me what's going on," Liam demanded.

The poor lad was worried sick for his best friend the past few days, and now that he finally understood what was going on, he was furious. First, he would make sure Louis was okay, and then he would personally murder the bastard who dared to lay a hand on his best friend.