Under my skin

Chapter 24 - Pizza and a boyfriend.

*Author’s note*

Hey guisssss...

Just to let you all know, I have ABSOLUTELLY NO CLUE HOW TO SPELL ONESIE, but I think that's the right spelling LAWL.

Please keep giving me feedback :)

Much love xoxo

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Chapter 24 - @Julia_Golafshan (twitter)

*Ivy’s POV*

Niall and I had a long hug after I agreed to go out with him, and then I told him we should probably tell the boys.

“They’re going to be so happy!” he said enthusiastically, “but what about your bruise? Are you sure nobody did it to you?”

“Yes Niall! I just tripped at school, and I fell on something that bruised my face. SERIOUSLY.”

I poked my tongue out at him, and he screwed up his nose as reply – he had no idea how adorable it made him look.

“Now, I think we should probably tell the others... if you’re not embarrassed to, that is.”

My eyes faced the floor, and I braced myself for disappointment; he probably would want to keep this to himself.

But Niall had a different idea in mind.

“Are you kidding me? I’m going to tell the whole world!” He grinned, and it cheered me up to see him so happy.

“There is no way in the world that I could be embarrassed because of our new relationship – and don’t you ever think that!”

We hugged again, and then we headed outside to the lounge room, where I could hear whispers, and I wondered what the boys were talking about.

They were probably wondering why on earth I was crashing with them on such short notice.

I cleared my throat as we walked into the room as a subtle way of letting the boys know that I was with them.

Straight away silence filled the room, and the atmosphere felt full of tension.

“Uhm, Ivy? What happened to your face?” Oh Harry, always the blunt one.

I told the same lie again, and then smiled so they would cheer up a bit and not be all depressed because of what my dad did. Of course, it wasn’t a real smile, but I tried to make it un-fake as possible.

I may have been kicked out of my house and abused by my dad, but I was now dating an incredible boy, and hanging out with five of the most amazing people I know.

Harry, Liam, Louis and Zayn all smiled back at me, and I felt a warm hand slip into mine.

Niall stood next to me, and I knew now that he would help me through this, as much as he possibly could.

“Well, I don’t quite know how to say this'-“

Louis cut me off.

“YOU ARE FINALLY GOING OUT ALREADY. OH MY KEVIN HALLEJULAH!”                                                                                                                    

I cracked up, and for some odd reason, everyone started applauding and cheering us.

As embarrassed as I felt, there was a spark in me – I don’t know what it was; it felt tiny, yet warm, and it slowly filled me as the boys all gave me hugs.

Is this hope? Is this what changing your future feels like? Because something in me knows my life is changing – yet I have no house, and no permanent place to stay.

I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I think it’s going to take a turn for the better...

“...drifting to another planet again?!”

I looked up to realize I had just totally zoned out of the conversation... woops.

“Sorry guys, I just, uhm, remembered something,” I said, not very convincingly.

They all gave me funny looks, but thankfully let it go – but I noticed Harry looking quite strange, almost... angry?

What was up with him lately?

When he didn’t look deep in thought, he either looked angry or depressed.

Maybe I’m over-reacting; he’s probably always like this, and I just have to get used to it.

Either way, it’s quite strange – I do hope he’s okay.

“Now let’s celebrate!” yelled Niall, and he brought out a six-pack of beer. “To us!”

Liam and I didn’t drink – Liam told me a while ago that he only has one kidney, and so he has to be careful.

I had school in the morning, and I really didn’t want alcohol in my system while I was trying to concentrate on learning.

After we ‘celebrated’, Zayn piped up “Let’s watch a movie!”

We all nominated different movies; the Lion King, the Devil wears Prada, Confessions of a Shopaholic, Nemo, Peter Pan and Toy Story!

Everyone started arguing, but I said that since I was the guest, I should be allowed to pick.

“Well aren’t we cheeky!” said Zayn, winking at me, but in the end I won, and we put the Devil wears Prada into the DVD player.

We all snuggled up, and just before it started, my stomach made a very large, embarrassing noise.

I turned red instantly, and Niall looked really upset.

“I didn’t even offer you dinner! You must be super hungry, what do you want to eat? We have...”  

He started rattling off a list of names of food, and I just laughed.

“Anything is fine, seriously!”

He chuckled, and started warming up some pizza in their microwave.

When it was ready, we sat down again, and I snuggled up to Niall. Content and peaceful, the rest of the night was spent laughing and eventually I fell asleep.

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I woke up quite early, thanks to a blinding flash of sun right in my eyes.

Niall had his arm around me and was slumped on the back of the couch, yet somehow managed to still look hot.

I tried to be as quiet as possible, and thankfully I didn’t wake anyone up; Harry stirred, but didn’t move, so I thought I must have been successful.

I went into the room I had, and got together an outfit for school, much darker than the one I wore the other day.

After I did my hair and got dressed, I started to look through my back for some mascara, usually the only make up I would wear.

But before I found the mascara, I found my razor...

The blade looked so tempting, so comforting, so reassuring – as easy as it was to feel sorry for myself, I told myself I would resist and see how the day went before I did anything drastic.

As I put the blade aside, a voice said, “Good girl.”