Mirrors

Chapter Five

At the fifteen minute break, Niall got up and walked outside. He saw his new partner walking ahead of him. Although he didn't like the idea, something about this girl did intrigue him. He caught up to her.

"Hey, Edie!" She screamed, jumped back and took a swing at him. "What the fuck?!" He yelled, ducking.

She looked at him, eyes wide, fear in them. And then he saw her face. Her coat lapels and scarf had fallen when she jumped and the light of the streetlamp revealed the scars on her face. Makeup covered a good portion of them, but they were still there.

"What the fuck? Don't you know better than to run up to people in the dark?" She yelled at him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"Well, you did. You scared the shit out of me!"

Niall took a step back from her, "I'm sorry. I, uhh, just wanted to say that maybe we could give this whole partner thing a shot? Or at least, pretend to?" Niall watched as she calmed herself down. "I'm sorry for scaring you. I really didn't mean to. I just wanted to make that suggestion to you. You know, make it look like we're trying, to Charlie. You don't ever have to call me and I don't ever have to call you, but maybe we can fake her out?"

She stood there, one hand against the wall, catching her breath. Suddenly, she realized her scarf and coat had fallen and she quickly gathered them up and turned away from him. "Don't look at me!"

"I, uhh, wasn't."

"Don't lie to me. How are we to be partners if you lie to me from the beginning?"

"Fake partners, you mean."

She turned back around, her face mostly covered again but Niall could still see the portions of her scars that she couldn't quite hide. "Fake partners, eh?"

"Yeah. I mean, I don't want to be here any more than you do. We have that in common. So why not make it look like we're doing okay? Maybe we'll get out of this thing faster?"

She cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow before saying, "Okay, Irish, you got yourself a deal."

"Fake it til we make it." Niall smiled a little. He got nothing in return. They separated and at the end of the break, walked back in with everyone else.

At the end of the meeting, as they were about to walk out, Charlie made an announcement, "Okay, first off, everyone please take this updated contact list. It includes, Chris, Niall, and Edie's information. But, also, everyone, next week we will be meeting at the swimming pool downstairs, so bring your suits. We'll be doing some new trust exercises."

She stopped Niall and Edie and handed them both the contact sheet of paper with the other's information on it. "In case you actually want to give this thing a try," she said before walking away from them.

Niall looked down at the paper, all that was on it was everyone's name and phone number. 

"Thank god our addresses aren't on this thing, damn, sneaky bitches," he heard her say.

He giggled a little at that. "But we're sneakier, right?"

She looked up at him and for a second there was a glint in her eyes, "Right."

Niall walked outside behind Edie, and found Louis, who was picking him up this week, talking with someone.

"There they are!" The random guy said and that's when Niall recognized him as the guy who had dropped her off earlier. "Louis, this is my sister, Edie. Edie, this is Louis." Her brother introduced them but she barely even gave them acknowledgment. "I apologize for my sister, Louis."

"No apology necessary. I wouldn't want to talk to me either," he slightly giggled before turning to Niall.

"You ready, bro?" Louis asked him.

"Uhh, yeah, I guess. Um, see you next week." Niall half smiled at Edie as he started walking to Louis' car.

"Bye," she said.

Niall got into the car but kept his eyes on her as they pulled away from the curb. There was definitely something interesting about this girl.