The True Happiness

Chapter 22

“I’ve to thank you then, Mr. Horan.”

“Niall,” I corrected him.

“Thanks, Niall.”

Audrey half smiled and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Arianna, as you have proven to be incapable of caring for our daughter, I will take her for the rest of the week to recover,” he said more like an order than a comment.

“I am perfectly capable of taking care of my daughter,” Arianna replied through gritted teeth.

“I doubt it. First she gets lost in the woods and then this. She will recover and if she wants to she’ll come back.” Mr. Cohen said dismissively.

Arianna looked at me and smirked. She knew that if I was here Alex will come back. Arianna calmed down, nodded and said goodbye to Alex pretending to be a good mother.

Clara stood up and said goodbye politely to everyone, including Arianna. I hugged Alex. The truth was that didn’t want her to leave. She hugged me burying her face in my chest.

“I’ll go to visit you on Friday,” I whispered against her hair.

She pulled away from me and left the house with Clara. Mr. Cohen said something to Arianna that I couldn’t hear. She looked at him angrily.

“Then I’ll pay my bills with you, Niall. I see you at work tomorrow, Mr. Horan.”

And with that Mr. Cohen left the house. You could tell that Mr. Cohen never missed anything up and saw what I prove what I thought today.

It was lunchtime and everyone was in the cafeteria. We had been teasing Louis because Alex had not gone to school. Louis had just pretended he didn’t care. At this time the whole school knew about what happened to Alex. Gossip flies on high school in which where everyone is more aware of the lives of others than their own.

“Look that,” a guy next to the window said making everyone turn to see towards the windows.

I looked through the window and saw Mr. Cohen climbing off the car with Clara. Everyone was too busy staring at Mr. Cohen’s car that no one noted that Arianna and John had also arrived. And I couldn’t help narrowing my eyes when I saw dad getting out of his car next to his whore, I mean, wife. More cars arrived and I guess the people who climbed off these were the parents of the girls who had hurt Alex.

The physical education teacher entered the cafeteria.

“Please. It requires the students: Stella Alba, Mariah Benson, Crystal Taylor, Samantha Moore, Kate Bell, Indiana Griffin, Audrey Clark and Niall Horan to go to the meeting room.”

Everyone in the cafeteria went quiet. I rolled my eyes, grabbed my backpack and walked out of the cafe with the girls. Audrey looked at me. She didn’t beat Alex, but surely some of them had said the idea had been Audrey’s.

We all entered the boardroom and saw our parents, the principal and PE teacher sitting. I sit with my father and crossed my arms over my chest. Sitting next to Mr. Cohen is a man of about thirty, maybe almost reaching forty. The principal clears his throat to draw the attention towards him.

“Everyone here knows why you are here today. You young people are involved in something serious. Mr. Cohen is the father of Alex and we want you to tell us what happened yesterday.”

“It was all Audrey’s idea,” Indiana snap.

“That's not true. Audrey is very good with Alex; leave her out of your mess.”

“Okay, Calm down. I want to know what happened yesterday.”

We all stayed in silent.

“What about if you start, Niall?”