Harry's POV
"Morning." I said casually as I met the eyes of seven others. I was apprehensive. I knew that they'd hate me. At least a little bit.
"Good to see you, mate." Ash said, throwing his arms around my shoulders. "I've missed ya. What's the plan for tonight?" he asked.
"Alright." I started, pulling my leather jacket tighter around me. "Fuse (a/n Zayn), I need you to check on Marcus' guys. They've been really quiet lately. I don't need you to do anything serious. If they're not doing anything, then just leave them alone. I just need to know what they're doing. Pain (a/n Liam)-"
"Not without Louis." Zayn interrupted. I froze in place. It was true that Zayn and Louis did most of their business together. They're closer than a lot of us. And I knew it was a quite a big deal as Zayn used Louis' actual name. On nights like these, heck, on almost every night, we call eachother by our "gang" names. Not our given ones. I knew they were hurting as much as I was now. But they don't have to feel the guilt from being the one that caused all of this. Of course they may hate me even more for that. They knew it was my fault. Everyone did. Even Charlotte, though she'd never admit it. I cringed and scratched at the cut on my arm.
"Do whatever you want. I understand that you want to go with Louis."
"I think any one of us would, mate." Clifford said. I glared at him. I knew that. But there was nothing else we could do. We couldn't magically cure him.
"Look, I'm sorry for what happened to Louis. I didn't ask for him to do what he did. I regret everything that happened much more than any of you could possibly believe. I hate myself every day for what happened to Louis. He's not going to die, so we might as well not give up on life either!" I barked, silencing everyone.
"He's right." Niall said, stepping forward. "Louis wouldn't want us to be mad at anyone. This isn't anyone's fault. No one knew that Matt was going to go fucking psychotic like that. They were just trying to save Charlotte, whom I believe we all have grown to care about very much. She's family now. Correct?" Everyone nodded, though some were apprehensive. Zayn and Liam still hadn't warmed up completely to Charlotte yet. Probably because we've never associated ourselves with girls that weren't just to fuck anyway.
"Thanks, Numbers." I said, nodding approvingly at Niall.
"Any time, mate."
"Right. Let's go to work."
Charlotte's POV
I groaned and heaved my book bag over my back as I hauled myself onto the bus. It had been a while since I had ridden the bus because Harry took me to school nearly every day, and it was a right slap in the face as I struggled to find a seat. I didn't want to sit next to any of the obnoxious kids or loud kids. And it seemed as though everyone on this bus was. Finally I had found a seat next to a quiet girl called Layla. I had sat with her several times before, but we never really spoke. She just listened to her music and watched the world go by out the window, which was exactly what I wanted to do. "It's nice to have you back." she said quietly after I had sat down without removing her headphones or shifting her gaze from the frosty window.
"Thank you. It's nice to be back." I smiled, trying not to think about what had happened days ago.
———————-
(significantly later)
"Charlotte, I really think you need to break up with him." Madison was sitting across from me on my couch, eating popcorn so it was sort of hard to take her seriously. But she was being serious none the less.
