Five Little Liars (One Direction/ Pretty Little Liars)

8: Secret Circle

NIALL

Zayn looked over our faces, took a deep breath and said, "I ruined her life. Lydia," with the most grim expression I've ever seen. "Back in year nine, when Lydia switched to our school, we were friends, if your memory serves. But a while into the year, Harry told us the news about leaving for America, and I was upset, so I went to talk to Lydia about it, but I ended up walking in on her and her girlfriend going at it. From there, her girlfriend was my object of blackmail. I had her doing everything for me, and now that I look back, that was the shittiest idea in the world. Finally, she snapped and blew up at me, smacked me and punched me and locked herself in her room... so I started that rumour."

"The one about her being a lesbian? That was you?" Harry asked in disbelief. I was shocked too; Zayn's not the gossiping type, nor does any of this sound like him. 

"I wanted what I wanted, and she didn't give it to me, so I lost it and she lost it and we both just sort of exploded. Neither of us every really thought I'd end up telling everyone. But I did. And when both of her homophobic parents found out about the rumours, they sent her away. When they did that, she got into all sorts of trouble, got arrested, and ran away from a cop, still handcuffed. They know who she was and everything, so she's on the run. And, of course, she appeared on my doorstep, and of course, I owe her big time. So I... I'm keeping her alive while she runs away from everyone. Us five are the only people that know she's alive. They determined that she must be dead, and yeah, her sick parents are shattered. If they weren't homophobes, this wouldn't have happened in the first place, but I still take responsibility for it all. I ruined her life, and now I have to face it."

"Wow," Liam manages with a loud exhale. "That's kind of a relief, knowing that Zayn isn't perfect."

"Me? What about you, Mr. Honor Roll?" Zayn said with a laugh.

"Nobody's perfect, Zayn," Liam said with a shrug. There was something in his eyes, as far as I can see, that told me that there was truly something wrong, maybe something as bad as what Zayn's done.

"Yeah, this one's dating my little sister," Louis said, furrowing his brow and shoving Liam's shoulder with a force so strong it knocked him into me. I laughed slightly at the absolutely ridiculous anger that Lou's been expressing. I mean, really, if I was going to get mad that my sister was dating one of the lads, I'd be fine with Liam. Liam's a genuinely good guy. Zayn, though? He's a good kid, but I'm not sure I'd want her exposed to the jocks and all their gross rudeness. Or, even me. If I were Lou, I'd hate if Lottie dated me! I mean, I get drunk every weekend, a therefore a bit indecent, forceful, and violent. I have a foul mouth, and I hang around some very bad influences. Liam's his best bet out of any of us, and yet he's super duper pissed.

"Dating? We went for tea!" Liam defended.

"Together! At Shamespeak!" Lou screeched, smacking Liam in the face.

"So?" Liam asked as he rubbed the pinkish skin on his left cheek and scooted a bit closer to me, thus father away from Lou. "Lou, I promise I didn't mean anything by it. She was hungry, I was hungry, the breaks on her bike snapped, and I helped her."

"What? Her bike is new, isn't it? How'd the breaks snap?" Harry asked.

"They were clean snipped, like someone wanted it to happen,"  Liam said. Who would want Lottie Tommo's breaks cut? Everyone loves the Tomlinsons! All ten of them, if you count pets! "Anyway, what was up with you, Tommo? Is there something you're not telling us?"

"I was just a bit upset," Lou sighs, suddenly avoiding Harry's gaze, which was previously his safe spot to look.

"Why?" Zayn asks, leaning forward. Louis shakes his head, shutting his eyes tightly, like a little kid. "Oh, come on, we'll do it like we always used to. Put something in the middle for each secret, go around until we run out of secrets, and the person with the best secret gets all the stuff in the middle. I went first... so," Zayn pulled a pack of gum out of his pocket and tossed a piece into the center. "Your turn," he tells Harry, nudging him. That means I'll be after Harry. What secret do I tell first. I can tell the boys anything, right? Of course. They're the boys. They'll understand and they won't judge me.