Open fire

Part 10 "Strange behaviours"

"Hey, leave Willow alone, she just wanted to help" Mali said through gritted teeth. Harry and you were completely silent, from the corner of your eye you saw Niall watching the whole thing, but he didn't want to dip his toes in this one. Sarah sighed loudly and got up, you could basically see the smoke from her ears.

"I'm going downstairs" she mumbled, running off. Mali shook her head at that and you took a seat next to Harry, the room fell silent untill Louis entered the house. He stopped when he noticed something's off.

"Alright, who killed who?" he asked as a joke.

"Not now Lou" Niall sighed and took another sip of his drink.

"Okay...I get it" Lou got it as he went back to his room. You gestured for Harry to ask Mali anything, but he shook his head no discreetly.

"You coward" you muttered under your breath. He just gave you a look as if to say 'really' and yes, really.

"Do you want to tell us something Mali?" you studdered while asking. You're not going to lie, but when Mali's angry you were scared of her.

"I don't know what's up with Sarah. She started it and I'm not just gonna sit there and watch her yell at me" she answered, closing her book and going somewhere. Suddenly she stopped right before the stairs.

"I'm sorry guys, I guess the situation is getting to me. I didn't mean to offend anyone" she sighs as she places one hand on the wall.

"It's okay Mali, noone can always keep cool" Harry said softly, she smiled sadly at all of you, going upstairs. Louis' head pops up from the doors, which made you smile a bit because of his goofiness.

"Can I come out?" he asks, you chuckled at that.

"Yeah Lou, the coast is clear" Niall smiles warmly. It's nice, when Louis makes everyone laugh even in the most stressful situations, kinda like Ashton, maybe that's why they got along very well. You chatted a bit more with them, Louis soon after went to his friend though. Niall continued whatever he was doing, Harry went on to make lunch, Sierra and Crystal came down too so Sierra helped Harry. The other guys came upstairs too, everyone together expect Mali and Sarah. Calum and Luke mostly kept asking questions about them, but Niall, Harry and you insisted that they should just cool off.

***

Sarah's POV*

Thankfully Liam left the punching bag all to me. The guys asked questions when they saw me come downstairs, but I only told them I wanted to warm up a little more so there were no more questions. Ashton kept glancing at me, it wasn't in an inappropriate way. That was Ash for goodness sake, he would never do that, it was like he knew I was upset. To be honest I didn't know why I lashed out at Mali nor Willow like that. I've done that to Mali a couple times for the last two days, but there was no strong motive for that. Willow was just there at the wrong time and my mouth was quicker than my mind. I guess I was jealous? Of what...I don't really know, more than one thing, at least I think so. I kept watching Calum, Willow, Luke, Si, Crys and Mike happy and together, I guess I wanted that for a long time, but nothing ever happened. How is Mali involved with that? Well, she hangs out with...a particular person a lot and I may like him more than I think, at least my inner wolf does. It wasn't only me speaking when I lashed out, it was her. She kept on nagging me to speak up and I did, but what benefit did that bring me? I don't wanna show myself for the rest of the day, no, let me make that clear, I would rather hang out with two or three people than everyone today. I'm just going to be down here for...a little longer... I saw the guys finishing up their training then so Liam came to me then.

"Sarah are you sure you wanna continue or join us?" he asks politely.

"I'll stay here, thank you for asking tho" I answer him nonchalantly. He sighs, but a small smile appears on his face from sympathy.

"Okay, but I can't watch you all day so please don't carelessly just punch it. You could seriously injure yourself" he said concerned, it was cute how he cared but God, he sounds just like Mali. I nodded without a second thought so he went to join the others. Luke sent me a reassuring smile so I returned it, the others waved at me and I nodded in acknowledgement.  I continued mindlessly doing anything to keep me busy. It's better this way.

***

Willow's POV*

It was kind of late, at least for everyone to be awake. Surprisingly that was the exact case tonight. Some people in their rooms with open doors, some still on the couch, others kitchen. You were sitting alone on the balcony, legs crossed with your mind in the clouds.

"Hey Willow?" you hear someone whisper behind you, Sarah.

"Hi Sarah" you said with no emotion as you turned around to face her.

"I... I just wanted to say sorry. My mouth was quicker than my thoughts and well, I appreciate you for always being there for everyone. I never wanted to offend you" she apologises sincerely. It was all you were waiting for, because you understood her and have known her long enough that it was time to accepting the apology.

"It's okay Sarah, I just wanted to hear an apology from you" you smile at her, she happily returns it. There were visible questions up in the air, but noone wanted to bring anything up.

"Well, guess I'll go to my room. Night" she quickly says, starting to walk away.

"Goodnight" you say, turning around to look at the sky with a small sigh. There hasn't been anything to do today and you had nowhere to go. You hope that Louis' is onto something, after all, he should be back any minute now.