Broken (The Charade Trilogy)

Chapter 11

Broken

The next day, working at the library was very suspenseful and odd. Celine didn't cling to Harry's arm and every once in a while I would catch her getting a glimpse of Niall. Harry claimed that he wasn't upset with Celine because she's just "going through stress". He continued the day with a smile on his face, which was a good sign but I wish he would see what I'm seeing. And Niall, well, he worked all day without speaking one word to any of us and I could've sworn he had an angry look on his face the whole entire day.

Every time I walked past Celine, she'd give me dirty looks. I tried to think about what I could've done wrong, but nothing occurred to me. I've been nice to her this whole year. Not once have I given her attitude.

I only spoke to Harry. He seemed to be the only one that wasn't pissed at me.

We talked about yesterday and the fight between Celine and Niall.

"Did you talk to Celine after we left?" I asked, quietly. I didn't want Celine or Niall to hear.

Harry shook his head. "Nope. She didn't even look into my eyes once."

His sentence stuck in my head for a while and I began to wonder why he's so care free about the whole situation.

If she didn't look into his eyes then, and isn't looking into his eyes now, then why isn't he getting the slightest bit suspicious?

I didn't want to start any fights by contradicting him, so I just nodded.

"How about you? Did you talk to Niall?" He tested.

I took a nervous breath. "No. He shoved me to the ground when I tried calming him down."

"What?!" Harry's voice picked up volume and I'm pretty sure the other two heard. "Why didn't you tell me this?"

I was taken away by how much he cared about me and my safety. Usually he'd just brush that off and continue on the topic of Celine.

"It's not that big of a deal-. . ."

"No. That's a huge deal. I have to confront him or else he's going to get even more out of control." He slammed the books in his hands on the cart and accidentally shoved me as he walked past me.

I got ahold of his arm and yanked him back towards me. "There's something I have to tell you." My gaze fell to the ground as Harry led me to table and sat down beside me.

I shut my eyes before speaking. "Niall told me he still has feelings for me." I shook my head, disgusted with myself.

I've waited too long to tell Harry this. "I said something I probably shouldn't have said, and he got pissed. I went to his room a couple days ago to apologize and even though he agreed to forget about it, I know he's still irritated with me."

Harry's eyebrows furrowed. "That's why he shoved you to the ground?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "It's possible that he is still angry with me and that was his way of showing me."

Harry grabbed my hand inside his and looked deeply into my eyes. "Did it hurt?"

"What?"

"When he pushed you?"

I bit my lip, pulling my shirt off my shoulder revealing the bruise.

He carefully touched the mess of purple, blue and brown. His head shaking. "Skylar-. . ."

He was interrupted by Celine coming up from behind him, kissing his lips for at least a minute.

I decided to let them be, so I stood up and continued back to my cart full of books.

Before leaving, I looked back at the two. Harry was smiling so big and Celine was sitting on his lap playing with his curls.

A firm grip on my arm pulled me away from the scene and I could've sworn I got the wind knocked out of me.

I stood face to face with Niall, the last person I want to see right now.

He gave me a hopeful look. "Kiss me."

I shook my head but was too late with my words before Niall planted a huge kiss on my lips.

"Skylar Peterson and Niall Horan!" A voice screamed from a great distance away.

Our lips detached and we stood facing Principal Westing, anger swept over him.