*Two weeks later*
The calming melody of Ed Sheeran travelled through Lola’s pink earphones as she sat arms crossed in the front seat of the car. Her lips were set in a firm straight line, upset and annoyance coursing through her veins. She never imagined she’d come to this, but despite Lola’s true beliefs in her Mother, she had actually gone through with it.
She’d had a while to mentally prepare herself, knowing this Saturday was ‘final moving day’. It had all come far too quickly, far too rushed and far too foolish. She couldn’t believe they were actually doing this, moving into his house after this short space of time.
The car began to slow down as Christina pulled into a small grove, only about three of four houses on it. The car came to a gradual halt outside a large house, with a black rangerover parked on the driveway. Lola yanked her earphones out, the beat of ‘You Need Me’ being cut off suddenly. She eyed the house up for a few seconds, getting a general feel of the neighbourhood as whole.
“Seems……alright, I suppose” she muttered, squinting slightly as the evening sun beamed hazily into the car window. Jake jumped out the back of the car, his red Nintendo DS clutched in one hand. The front door to the house opened and John stepped out with a pleased smile on his face.
Christina dropped the bag in either hand and scurried over to him in her black heels, wrapping her arms around his neck in a passionate embrace. Lola rolled her eyes and began unpacking the boot of the car. A van had bought over their larger funiture and belongings yesterday, and all that had been left to bring was smaller valuable items and clothes.
Jake had been upset to leave their house, as had Lola but Christina insisted on how much they’d enjoy living at Johns. Although she’d previously told Jake to shut up with his whining and that she was the one who made the decisions in this family. All in all, the move was a selfish idea on her part, and she didn’t really care what her children thought. She needed a new change in life, something to spice it up a bit. The same old motherly lifestyle was getting a bit too boring for her, and finding John made her feel spontaneous.
“Glad you’re all here, finally” John said, clasping his hands together before looking down to Jake “How you doin kiddo?”
“Is my room big?!” Jake diverted the question, causing John to chuckle.
“Why don’t you go up and see?” he gave him a gentle nudge, and Jake ran off down the driveway into the house. Lola slung her bag over her shoulder, wheeling her suitcase down too. She made sure her facial expression was set like stone, so they knew how reluctant and unhappy she was about this. Christina and John followed. Christina’s belongings were already packed into the house, it was just Lola and Jake that needed to bring their stuff over.
Lola heaved herself up the staircase, noticing Jake had located his bedroom, happily jumping on his mattress. She found a room with an empty bed, wardrobes and boxes off her things, blank cornflower blue walls and a window overlooking the back yard.
‘This must be mine’ she thought to herself, letting the heavy bag slump off her shoulder and onto the carpet. She looked around aimlessly for a few seconds, too tired to unpack yet. John had already set up the wardrobes for her and positioned her bed, she just needed to unpack her boxes and customise the place more to her liking.
Lola still couldn’t comprehend how ridiculous this was. That she had actually been forced to move into her Mum’s new boyfriends house after a couple of months together. But when did it ever go right for her?
Lola heard the sound of a door shutting downstairs and a new voice. She recognised it to be Gemma’s and decided she’d unpack later on. She went downstairs and entered the kithchen, seeing Christina and John already having made a round of tea. Gemma was sitting quietly at the kitchen table, head down as her thumbs moved rapidly over the keypad of her phone.
“How did you find your room Lola?” John asked “Do you want a cuppa?”
“Yes please, milk and two sugars. And my room is nice thank you”
“Ah good that used to be Gemma’s old one” he said as he stirred the tea, the metal teaspoon clanging against the china “Didn’t it Gem?”
Gemma glanced up at the sound of her name, her eyebrows rose and a few strands of long brunette hair in her face. Lola noticed how different she looked. Her eyes were rimmed red and watery, her cheeks looked slighty damp and she had a crumpled up tissue poking out her sleeve.
“Are you okay?” Lola asked
Gemma became suddenly aware that she was showing tell tale signs of crying, and quickly wiped beneath her damp eyes. She brushed off Lola’s question confidently, changing her tone “Oh yes of course, don’t worry i’m fine! Just had a bit of a bad morning, nothing to worry about”
She put on a convincing smile but Lola knew it was for show, and that two minutes ago she definitely looked troubled. More than you would be from having a ‘bad morning’. John placed a mug of steaming hot tea down beside Gemma, who was still wearing a jacket and over the shoulder bag as she’d only recently arrived.
He gave her a sympathetic smile, and Lola heard him whisper “It will be alright love”
She felt a little confused but didn’t see it as her business to intrude. It was a bit too early to stick her nose in, even though she was curious as to what had got Gemma so upset. Lola put it down to being stress from University or something along those lines. Jake had quietly entered the kitchen, staring intensely at the screen of his DS as his thumbs battled with the buttons.
The sound effects and an explosion indicated that he’d just lost a game, followed by a disappointed groan from the little boy. He looked around to the five taller adults standing in the same room
“Where’s Harry?” he asked. Lola had almost forgotten, not completely, never completely. But she’d been partially distracted for the past twenty minutes and hadn’t really thought about Harry being here. The pit of her stomach filled with nerves at the simple sound of his name. Gemma cleared her throat, looking a little less teary now.
“He’s at home, well, our Mum’s house” she gave a small smile “He won’t be down today”
Lola tried to disguise her shaky sigh of relief. Even though she’d reminded herself of the reality of this living situation, she’d rather settle in without having the face Harry leering over her shoulder. She wanted to relax and unpack her things slowly, adjusting to the involuntary new surroundings.
Lola knew eventually she’d have to recieve her first dose of abuse, and didn’t expect anything less. She was moving into his Dad’s house after all. The opportunity was being given to him in his hands, and she just had to wait for him to cease it.
After she’d finished her tea, Lola wandered off back upstairs to her new bedroom. The boxes on the floor were packed full of her belongings, that needed unpacking and to be put away. It didn’t look inviting at all, it looked extremely boring. Just then she felt the vibration of her phone against her hip and pulled it out the pocket
- ‘So how’s the new house? Or is that a really stupid question, feel for you I really do :| Tell me if Harry starts hassling you and i’ll be round in a flash to give him a good hard kick in the crown jewels. Love ya xo’
Lola smiled weakly at the text and sent a quick reply
‘He’s at his Mum’s today - thank god :| Don’t think that’ll be necessary Jack but thanks anyway I guess haha. Still cannot believe my bad luck :( xx’
A couple of old posters peeked out the cardboard boxes, along with the odd bottle of perfume. There was an old tatty blob of blu-tack on the corner of each poster, so she took them out and stuck them carefully on the plain walls. The room needed a lot more colour, and she was certainly intending on givng it that over the next couple of days. The only good things about moving in here were that it was a larger house, a nicer neighbourhood and was a closer walk to school. Everything else was just shit.
Lola felt upset that she wasn’t ever going to return home to her old house again, the place she spend her adolescent years. They moved around a few times, but the last house was probably her favourite of them all. And now she’s had to say goodbye to it, and start in a new daunting place where her worst enemy just so happens to live 3 out of 7 days a week.
Jake hopped into her room, looking around and out the window as Lola sat quietly on the edge of her bed.
“Whoah my room is better than yours. You can see the park from mine!” Jake boasted excitedly and Lola smiled weakly at him before he ran back out again.
She shuffled to the end of her bed, staring quietly out the window into the back garden. She could see a small playing field behind the house, the sun setting over the field as a few children played a game of rounders. Until she had unpacked her laptop and all her things, there wasn’t much to do herself.
The back garden was a good size, perfect for Jake to play football in and a tree to climb at the bottom. Lola noticed a large dark brown wooden shed in the back left hand side. The door to it seemed to be opened ajar, a sheet covering the only window she could see. Without anything else to do, she figured she might as well have a wander down there.
The air outside was mild for the evening, but chilly in the shaded area of the back yard. The grass was refreshingly cool as it brushed her bare ankles with each step and the sky was a light shade of blue. Birds were still chirping in the trees surrounding the playing field, hanging over back of the garden.
Lola reached the shed, slowly pulling open the weak wooden door. She glanced around for a moment to see if anyone was around, an initial precaution. She crouched her head down a little and stepped inside.
It wasn’t what she’d expected. Instead of garden tools and plants, or the usual things you’d find in a shed. It was quite clean, no signs of soil of leafs anywhere. The wood looked in better condition on the inside walls, and there were two beanbags on the floor. There were a few planks of wood, and bits and bobs in the corner but apart from that, it was almost quite…..cosy?
Lola slowly took a look around, seeing a collection of photos lying around the place. She picked one up, blowing the dust off it and uncovering a picture of what looked like John with Gemma and Harry when they were kids. There was another woman with dark brown hair in the picture, holding Harry on her hip. He must have been around three years old, his hair almost blonde and straight. He actually looked quite cute, still having a pair of childlike dimples and bluey green eyes.
Lola assumed the woman holding him must be their Mum. She looked quite pretty, and young for whatever age she must have been. Lola was unsure of when John split up with Gemma and Harry’s Mum, but only knew that they came to live with him on weekends and one weekday.
Another photograph showed Harry with Zayn and a girl, all around the age of 15. His wild curls were pushed back and tucked into a dark navy beanie, a few teenage blemishes dotted around his cheeks and chin. The most noticable thing on the picture was the grin on his face, a genuine warmth in his eyes that could not have been faked. The girl was strawberry blonde, her head leant into the crook of Harry’s neck as she held the arm out capturing the photograph. Zayn leant his head in from the left, his tongue sticking out of his mouth.
There was such a contrasting happiness and adoration in Harry’s face to what Lola was used to seeing. He looked so content and happy with these two people, she couldn’t help think his smile was acually…well, lovely - and that she admired. For a brief second before she came to realise what she was staring at. The face of her disgusting bully, his personality was never going to match his looks in her eyes. She dropped the photo carelessly back where it was.
Taking another look around, there was a large empty glass bottle sitting in the corner. Lola picked it up and recognised it to be a vodka bottle by the red label and lid, covered in a thin layer of dust with tiny dregs of clear liquid swirling around at the bottom. She was confused, seeing an iPod dock resting on an old small barbequeue table along with a screwed up black school jumper beloning to Harry.
She figured the shed must have been dominated by him, judging by the iPod dock, school jumper and various scratchings engraved into the wooden panels by the beanbags. Taking a closer look, Lola could make out a few of what they said. They were mainly from friends leaving their mark here over the past few years, a few words difficult to make out
H&S 2k9
Badboiii zayn 2k7 zap zap =D
STYLES FUCKING LOVES COCK
Lola guessed that one was written as a joke by one of his friends, or atleast she hoped it was. Towards the bottom there were a few legible sentences written into the wooden, mostly hidden by the beanbag. Lola pulled back the soft material and read the words. Words that she soon realised were lyrics
Just because i’m losing
Doesn’t mean i’m lost
Lola’s eyebrows flickered slightly, trying to interpret if they were simply lyrics he’d written or if there was an actual meaning behind them. The handwriting was different to the rest. She knew it immediatley after spending the year being sat beside Harry in Maths. She could tell it was his writing.
“What are you doing in here?”
Lola jumped with fright, the recogniable husky voice send a shiver through her body. The door had opened and Harry stepped in, the look of his face immediately causing Lola to feel all sorts of nervous inside.
“I..I-er was just looking” she stuttered timidly, scratching her arms nervously and she subconciously stepped backwards. She couldn’t bring herself to look at the angry expression on Harry’s face. She’d never seen what she was witnessing now.
His chesnut curls were scruffy, his green irises were watery, rimmed red and sore. His lips almost matched the same colour, deep red and chapped. His skin was slightly more washed out than usual and his nostrils were damp as he snivelled.
Lola glanced down at his bare arms, seeing his long fingers gripping tightly to his phone, knuckles turning almost white. He was dressed in a pair of dark chinos and a thin slouchy burgundy sweater, the cuffs slightly torn.
His dark eyebrows turned down in anger, his teary yet demanding eyes burning into Lola. She didn’t know what to do. He looked like he was either going to hit her or break down into tears.
“Never fucking come in here again” he raised his voice, and it croaked noticably through the strain from the obvious crying he’d been doing.
Harry grabbed the material of Lola’s top and pulled it forcefully, tugging her towards him. For a brief second she saw the dried up tear stains on his cheeks where the drops had rolled into the corners of his lips. His strong hands were trembling with many emotions and his face contorted into a threatening look. Lola could feel the warm shaky breaths escaping his parted plump lips, every detail of his face was up close.
He pushed the door open with his other hand and shoved roughly her towards it. Lola tripped up clumsily and looked back at him with fear
“This is my place, it belongs to me and no-one else is do you understand?!” he stated aggresively. Lola gave him a quick nod of agreement as she stepped backward out of the shed, swallowing harshly. Her heart was pounding under her chest, and she felt an unusual pang seeing how upset he was. Not knowing the reason for it.
“Y-yes sorry” she whimpered pathetically as Harry slumped down into a beanbag, giving her another dirty look before kicking the door shut
She couldn’t believe him. There were questions racing through her mind along with fear and anxieties. Running her hand through her blonde hair, she was flustered and scared. Without another thought she figured it best to get away, and ran quickly back upstairs to her bedroom.
She was slightly breathless by the time she reached it, and looked outside her window to see the shed again. The window was covered up so she couldn’t see Harry, but felt uneasy knowing he was sitting in there, angry and crying, not knowing what to do about it.
Should she just forget about it? Should she tell John? Or should she just be happy to see him feeling like this for once? Maybe it was time for her to take pleasure in seeing Harry showing weakness, just like he did with her.
It was then that Lola realised she’d witnessed the same physical symptoms on Gemma earlier on. The tell tale signs of crying that were unavoidable. Was she missing out on something here?
Or was it again, a matter of simply minding her own business?
Nevertheless, the question was still left burning on her mind of what had got both Gemma AND Harry so distressed? She flung herself back into the mattress, staring at the plain white ceiling above, only hearing the sounds of her heavy breaths.
‘I guess this is just the start of living in this hellhole’
THIS IS NOT MY STORY. It is avalible on xxfan1direction.tumblr.com She is the writer and ALL credit goes to her. She is also on ondirectionfanfiction.tumblr.com as MegenX