After about a week of being watched like a hawk by my mother and not being allowed to leave the house, I'm finally allowed to go back to school. I'm excited to finally see Caroline again and get back into the swing of things. While I was gone I was accepted to my top college so now I have to get my grades up and keep them there so I can go in the fall.
Athena has been at my side all day every day and honestly, I don't mind it. Yeah, we annoyed the shit out of each other but this affected her greatly. My mom was telling me how for the first week she wasn't eating and how she would only fall asleep after sitting by the door for hours.
And now here we are, getting ready for the first day back and to say I'm nervous is an understatement. I have millions of questions running through my head. Will the boys be there? Will Harry show up? Are they going to try and kidnap me again?
I hear my mom call for me to hurry up and I grab my bag running down the stairs. My mom won't let me drive by myself so she's going to be driving me until she thinks I'm safe again. I get in the back seat since Athena was already in the front and I put my airpods in. My mom looks scared to let me go and I can feel the anxiety radiating off her.
"I like your outfit, Hope. it's cute." Athena says looking me up and down.
"Thanks, A." I smile back. It's a simple outfit. Just a light blue crew neck with black leggings paired with my black and white converse. We make it to Athenas school a few minutes later and my mom pulls up to the front of the school. I get out to move to the front as Athena gets out. I throw my bag on the floor and turn back to give Athena a hug.
"I love you A have a good day at school." I give her a kiss on the forehead as she mumbles a love you before letting go and heading into the school. I get back in the car and we drive the two minutes to my school. My mom parks and leans over the console to give me a hug.
"I love you Hope, have a good day and call me if you need anything I'll be back at 2:15 to pick you up." she whispered in my ear.
"I will love you, mom." I pull back and smile at her. I get out of the car and make my way inside. Everyone is looking at me in shock to see me here after almost a month of being gone. I avoid eye contact and the whispers going around as I make it to my locker. As I open it I feel a hand grab my arm and I snap my head in the direction of the person.
"Hope! Oh my god, you're okay!" Caroline beams at me, a smile stretching across her face. She wraps my arms around me and I do it back.
"Hey Care, how are you?" I ask trying to keep the topic off me.
"I'm good Hope. Better now that you're back. How are you, babes? Be honest." I sigh knowing that I can't get out of this.
"I'm doing fine. Still adjusting to some things, I'm still super jumpy but I'm just ready to get back to normal life." I give her a weak smile. Caroline goes to respond but the bell rings and I excuse myself to head off to my first-period class.
The first half of the day goes by pretty fast. All my teachers were excited to see me again and it felt nice to be missed. Of course, the rumors of what happened to me are spreading around the school.
Some are of me running away to go be with my secret lover and the craziest one was that I was sold to a sex trafficking ring and then they realized they didn't want me so they let me go.
Yeah, high school is so much fun.
I make my way to sixth period which is history. Zayn, Louis, and Harry are all in that class so my anxiety of if they'll be there or not is at an all-time high. I walk in with a couple other people and see their seats empty. I sigh out in relief and sit down waiting for class to start.
Class goes by with no problems but my teacher made me stay late to talk with her about what I can do to bring my grade up since I missed a whole unit. I make my way to the bathroom since I have lunch right now and I don't really feel like taking the chance Niall is there.
As I open the bathroom door someone comes up behind me and wraps their hand around my mouth and waist dragging me across the hall to the janitor's closet. I scream against the person's hand and try to wriggle myself free.
They finally let me go when we are concealed in the small room. The light is flicked on and when I see green eyes staring back at me I smack his chest causing him to grab my wrists.
"Let me go, Harry." I growl trying to shove my body past him.
"Hope stop fighting me." He responds with a smirk plastered on his face. "You know you're cute when you're angry." A growl makes its way up my throat as I throw my body against him again which ends up just bouncing me back as he pins me against the wall.
"You know I always thought the first time I pinned you against a wall it would've been a lot sexier than this." He grinned.
"Yeah and the last time I thought I'd see you was at the party but sometimes shit happens so if you'll excuse me I have somewhere to be." I smile up at him as I rip my arm free from his hold. Harry stands in front of the door crossing his arms and he chuckles when I keep trying to get past him.
"Do you know how much you fucked up when you left Hope? You've made it so much worse on yourself and everyone else."
"Okay and I care why? What are you going to do? Kidnap me again? Hurt me? Kill me? Guess what, I don't give a rat's ass because you can't do anything to me. I'm untouchable." I hissed. I'm getting sick of seeing his face.
"I kidnapped you once I could do it again." He chuckles and I just groan at him "Yeah you may be untouchable but you know who isn't? Little Athena." He smirks. I push his chest and he hits the door harder than I intended. His mouth slightly opening in surprise.
"Don't you dare bring Athena into this. She is 12 years old and I would die before she ever gets exposed to you sickos." I reach my arm behind him and open the door causing him to lose his footing and tumble out. He goes to grab my arm again and I stop him by smacking his hand.
"Touch me and I'll scream. You leave Athena alone your beef is with me not her now fuck off I never want to see your damn face again." I hiss and I turn around walking away as Harry hisses out "You fucked up Hope big time."
I scoff and flip him off as I head down the stairs into the cafeteria with the anger radiating off my body. I throw my body into the seat next to Caroline and she looks at me as my eyes focus on Niall in front of her.
"Geez Hope what's wrong?" Caroline asks me, sounding genuinely concerned. "Oh nothing much, I just had a run-in with Harry in the hallway." Niall tenses up at my mention of Harry as I bring my gaze back to Caroline.
"You would think after going missing for almost a month he would be nicer but I guess I shouldn't be too upset about it." I fake pout at Caroline knowing that'll get her off my back.
I bring my gaze back to Niall and speak out "Hey Niall, can I talk to you for a second." I ask sweetly motioning out of the cafeteria to the hallway. He stammers a yes and I tell Caroline that we'll be right back. When we get to the hallway I lash out at him.
"You're seriously trying to bring Athena into this! What the fuck is your problem! You loved her as a younger sister and you're going to just let them threaten her like that!" Niall tenses up again but he's not going to go down without a fight.
"I don't want anything to happen to Athena but you're the one that brought her into this. She was safe until you left. It's your fault, not mine." He sneers. I step closer to him and get up in his face.
"Let me tell you something, Niall. If you or any of the boys try to even come within 100 feet of Athena I will fucking kill you before you even get a chance to say her name. Got it? Relay that message to the boys and fuck off." I yell at him.
Turning on my heel I walk away and back into the cafeteria, picking up my bag and whispering a quick goodbye to Caroline as I text my mom to come pick me up telling her I'm not feeling good. I get home and throw myself into bed just lying there overthinking every little thing I've done to get to this point in my life.
Where did I go wrong?
***********
Hey, guys so here's the trailer to the book. I hope you like it! I know it's not that good but until I get better editing skills it'll be that trailer so it may change in the future. Also, I think updates will probably just be sometime within the week because I've been super busy with school and other things so sometimes I can't write a chapter until Saturday night, and then I don't think those chapters come out as good. I hope y'all understand :) Anyways I've got some plot twists up my sleeve. Maybe good, maybe bad. I know but you don't ;)- love y'all J