Couple Days Later
Chloe
"Cheater! You're such a cheater!" I exclaimed to Louis, who sneaked the card I had asked him for out of his pile and was trying to hide it behind his back. "Louis, I know you have a ten behind your back.. hand it over."
I was playing Go Fish with Louis and Alexandra and I asked Louis if he had a ten when Lilly suddenly called me in the kitchen for a second and when I came back Louis had one less card in his pile of cards placed in his hand.
Holding my hand out in the air, he pouted and placed the card in my hand. I smiled in victory and placed my pair of tens down on the coffee table.
These past few days, the three boys sort have warmed up to me a little, yet I still bragged to them about how I could beat each of them when they started to annoy me.
The game went on for another ten minutes when we finished and Alexandra was crowned the winner of this round.
Getting up off the floor, I stretched my legs when I heard my phone ring. I walked over to it and read the screen; unknown caller. Knowing what happened last time that I answered a call from an unknown number, I left it ringing and went to sit back down.
"Who was calling?" Alex asked. I shrugged my shoulders, grabbed the remote and clicked the power button.
Remembering something from a couple days ago, I turned to my frienemie. "Hey, Louis?"
"Mhm?"
"Do you.. by any chance.. have Niall's number? He's been dodging me on campus and I've been meaning to ask him something." I mumbled, feeling a bit weird asking Louis for a number that belongs to a guy that I don't particularly like.
He looked at me weirdly but shook it off. "Ugh, yeah." He turned on his phone, searched through his contacts then read off his number to me.
I set a new contact and added his number to it, pressing the message button. My thumbs hovered over the screen thinking of what I was actually going to say to him.
it's chloe, why r u ignoring me
I clicked send without thinking about it. I don't even known why I felt the need to ask him why he had a black eye. Ever since I came to London it feels like I've been a completely different person.
"Way to be straight forward." Someone spoke from behind my shoulder, scaring me.
I elbowed the person in the stomach out of defence and immediately regretted it once I heard a girl groan in pain.
"Oops.. sorry Alex. That's what you get for reading over my shoulder at my texts. Karma's a bitch." Smirking, my phone vibrated in my hand signalling a text but I ignored it since Alexandra was still behind me.
"Whatever." She mumbled, got up and walked away with her middle finger in the air. I laughed it off and opened the text from Niall.
Im not.
I scoffed and rubbed my face.
horse poo. meet me @ the park near campus in twenty minutes.
Read 7:24
After a couple minutes, I still haven't gotten a reply but hoped he'd still go anyways. Locking my phone, I went downstairs to go change into something warmer to go outside with considering my PJ short short's and t-shirt just won't sacrifice.
I put on a pair of leggings with Adidas imprinted on the side with a Fall Out Boy shirt to go with. I figured it wasn't that cold outside so I decided to not wear a sweatshirt to go along. Sliding on my black converse, I grabbed my phone and a couple dollars just in case then hid it into my phone case.
I got to the park on foot in ten minutes with five minutes to spare, that's if he'd even show up.
Turning on my phone, I clicked on the weather app. Twenty degrees celsius, not too bad for September.
My head shot up once I heard a car pull up beside me. The car was a black Range Rover with tinted windows. The door opened and Niall hopped out of the drivers side wearing black skinny jeans that had rips by the knee and a white t-shirt with a plaid mid-sleeve that was unbuttoned. He wore sunglasses, even if it wasn't all that sunny.. probably to cover his black eye.
"Didn't think you'd show." I said, shoving my phone in my bra since I had no pockets and didn't feel like carrying it.
He shrugged and sat down on a bench near the slide and swing sets. Since there seemed to be no kids around, I took a seat on one of the swings and started kicking my feet back and forth.
"What'd you want?" He mumbled kicking rocks around.
"I would like to know why you're acting so weird." I crossed my arms. He shrugged once again, staring at the ground. Grabbing a small rock in my hand, I threw it at his leg.
"Ow! What the hell was that for!" He rubbed the spot the rock hit him.
"Answer the question!"
He sighed and rubbed the little stubble growing on his chin. "I don't know, okay."
A couple minutes sitting in silence after his response, I decided to speak up. "Can you at least tell me how you got the black eye."
He mumbled something I couldn't quite make out. "What?"
"Harry punched me for being an idiot."
"But you're always an idiot." He glared at me and I laughed. "Why would he do that?"
"The hell is up with all the questions!" He snapped at me and got up, getting ready to walk away.
"Now you know how I felt when you kept asking me who called me." My voice lowered and he stood still, staring at me. He walked over to my place on the swing and sat on the one beside me.
"It hurts like a bitch."
"What does?" I questioned.
"My eye." He lifted up his sunglasses to rest on his head.
"Oh." I nodded. "I used to get those all the time."
"How?" He placed his sunglasses back over his eye.
"Multiple reason.. Boxing, my mom, kids at school.." I answered truthfully, feeling weird about talking about this considering I've never spoken a word about this to anyone.
"Oh." He seemed deep in though after my answer. "Is that why you signed up for boxing?"
I cleared my throat, trying to make it clear that I didn't want to talk about it. At this point, a couple kids have arrived at the park so I got off the swing in case they wanted a turn. Niall followed my actions and dusted himself off once he got up.
"Let's go for a walk." He pointed in the direction of a pathway in the forest. I nodded and felt my phone ring in my shirt. Taking it out, Niall gave me a weird look and I flipped him off.
"Hello?"
"You made the right choice in not telling that blonde nosey little pest." The deep voice spoke to me. Feeling all the colour drain from my face, I let out a breath trying not to faint like last time this person called.
I cleared my throat and stopped walking. Niall kept walking, not noticing that I've stopped. "What do you want."
An evil little laugh was heard on the other end. "Just to make sure you still know I'm watching you."
At this point, Niall noticed I stopped and turned around giving me a questioning look. "Oh trust me, I haven't forgotten."
"Good. Anyways, have fun on that walk.. hope you don't get lost in the forest." The deep voice spoke and hung up, leaving a beeping sound on the phone. My eyes widened and I looked around me searching for anything unusual.
Not finding anything out of the ordinary, I searched for the number that called me and quickly pressed on it.
Ring
Ring
"Sorry this number is not available at the mome-"
I pressed cancel and locked my phone, closing my eyes and letting out a long sigh.
"What was that about?" The voice startled me then I realized Niall was still with me.
"Nothing." I faked a smile, "Nothing at all."
Niall
I knew she was lying and that the smile she pulled was fake but I knew not to question her any further. Plus I had a strong feeling it was the same person who called her several days ago, when she fainted.
Chloe cleared her throat and continued walking. We walked in silence for a while, just listening to all the peaceful sounds when we entered a clearing that led to a big mountain.
Her eyes light up for the first time this night, probably forgetting the phone call. "Let's go climb it and watch the sunset!" Before I could respond saying it was a bad idea and that I was wearing my white converse, she was already running to it. I sighed knowing I had no choice either way.
Once we got up the hill I was out of breath but she seemed perfectly fine. From up here you could see everything, the park we were just at, downtown, mine and Harry's house, the sun setting, anything and everything.
She gasped and took out her phone, clicking camera and taking a picture of the view.
"See over there?" I asked Chloe while pointing.
She nodded. "That's my house," I spoke.
"I forgot to ask you last time I was there, you or Harry are from a rich family aren't you?"
I nodded and laughed. After watching the sun set, Chloe and I both agreed that we should start heading back.
"Hey, Chloe?"
"Mhm?"
I stopped for a second, thinking of how exactly I was going to say this. "Did your mom.. umm.. hit you.. and stuff?"
I don't know what made me ask her that, it's been on my mind since the park and I figured since we're starting to get along a bit..
She looked taken back for a second but recovered, looking down at her feet. She nodded and that was the end of the conversation for the night.
The whole way back, none of us talked to one another even after I asked her if she wanted a ride to her house. She only spoke to give me directions and that was it. Now I was parked in front of her house, sitting alone in my car thinking things over and over in my head.
I hit my head against the steering wheel knowing I'll probably have a hard time sleeping tonight.
I laid in bed that night, wide awake as my clock read the numbers, 4:37 am.
I kept thinking things over and over and over in my head when my head started pounding. Getting up from bed in only my boxers, I opened the door to my room and walked out.
Walking into the kitchen, I grabbed an Advil and swallowed it with a glass of cold water.
"Have I mentioned I was sorry for the black eye?" Harry startled me, walking into the kitchen seeming as wide awake as I was.
"Just about twenty times so far." I chuckled lightly. "Why are you awake?"
He grabbed a bottled water and tossed it in the air, catching it in his hands. "Texting Stephanie. And I could ask you the same thing."
I groaned. "Please man. Anyone but her, trust me."
He laughed and shook his head. "Don't worry it's nothing serious. Why are you up?"
I shrugged, "Thinking."
"About who?" He leaned forward.
"How do you know it's about someone?" I shook my head and placed my cup in the dishwasher.
"Because you left earlier, didn't come back for an hour and a half and when you did you had this serious and sad look on your face, I just assumed and it was because of someone."
"Whatever Harry, I'm off to bed now." I don't know why the sudden change of mood but I was suddenly a little pissed off.
I let out a deep sigh and made my way back upstairs to, hopefully, get some sleep. At least I get to sleep in tomorrow since it was a Saturday.
Laying back in bed, I closed my eyes and fell asleep where I dreamt of an innocent little girl get beaten by her mother.
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a/n:
I decided that I couldn't wait to update on the weekend.. :)
qotc: favourite song(s)?
& as always I'm up to talking to new people! if you ever need someone to talk to some (because I don't really want to put my personals and stuff on here) of my social medias are on my profile & you could always message me on here, I'll always reply!
-hailee