The next morning, Niall woke up to the smell of food. A momentary lapse made him think that maybe he and Keith had found a place to settle that was close to a hotdog stand. Then he opened his eyes and the events of the past week came rushing back to him.
He sat up, seeing that he was back on the lower bunk and felt his breath catch in his throat at how closed in he was. He quickly scrambled out of the bed, landing on the ground with the quilt tangled around his feet. He winced as his ribs hit the ground but didn't cry out. He couldn't behave like a wimp, he would be punished. Even though Harry and Louis had told him yesterday that nobody ever got hurt in this place, he wasn't sure he could believe them - though, he did trust Harry. He couldn't help it, he had taken a sort of shine to him.
He bundled his covers up on the floor and glanced around the room, squinting at the sun that was clinging to the curtains. His gaze landed on Harry's empty bed, then moved to where Louis was still buried beneath his sheets fast asleep, and decided to leave the room.
He padded down the stairs on bare feet, following the strong smell of food and the sound of light chatter as his stomach rumbled. When he reached the kitchen, he saw Liam cooking at the stove, the twins munching on a bowl of cereal each at the table, and Harry sitting up on the side whilst talking to the man.
His eyes landed on Niall and Niall looked away quickly, using the long sleeve of his pajama shirt to wipe the sleep from his eyes.
"Morning buddy, did you sleep okay?" Liam asked as he scooped scrambled egg onto three plates that were already filled with bacon and sausages.
Niall's gaze focused on the food as he nodded, mouth watering. Liam chuckled and set down two plates on the counter.
"Go ahead," Liam told him, as Harry sat on a stool in front of one of the plates.
Niall stared at him with wide eyes. "That's all for me?" he asked, stunned. He had eaten so much last night, he didn't expect to have anything else to eat for a while. Sometimes he had to go for days without food, he couldn't understand how he could eat so often here. Liam and Harry smiled and nodded at him and Niall furrowed his brows, wondering if this was some sort of a trick. "It's okay. I eated lots last night," he said, eyeing the brown haired man suspiciously.
Liam looked surprised but tried not to show it for too long. "Sweetie, it's okay. You can eat whenever you're hungry here, alright?"
Niall still didn't look convinced. He crossed his spindly arms over his chest. "Is this a trick?"
Liam offered him a smile that looked kind of sad and crouched down to Niall's height. "Buddy, listen. I know you're not used to any of this, but from now on, if you're hungry, you get to eat. The cupboards are never empty, neither is the fridge. If you want something hot then ask me or Cal and we'll cook something up, if you're thirsty you can have a drink, if you need help then you can speak to us. You're safe here, we care about you," he murmured to him, smiling gently when Niall chewed his lip and allowed his bright blue gaze to meet the man's.
It was a lot for him to take in. He'd lived on the streets his entire life, his hunger had been never ending, his water had been caught from the rain and if ever he needed help for any reason then it was his own problem. He wasn't sure why he felt the need to cry all of a sudden but he did, and it frightened him. He blinked hard and looked back down at his grubby fingernails instead.
"You promise?" he asked, letting out a small cough when his voice wobbled.
Liam leaned in a little closer and Niall was surprised at himself when he didn't move away. "I promise, sweetheart," he whispered, before standing up to his full height again. "Now, eat up. You're going to need the energy for school today," he said.
Niall felt his heart race at that as he clambered up onto the stool, staring down at the plate full of food and wondering why he suddenly didn't feel very hungry at all.
Harry nudged him gently with his foot beneath the counter. Niall looked up at him and the green eyed boy smiled. "Don't look so worried, you'll enjoy it," he said.
Liam smiled from where he was stood, back by the stove again. "I called the school last night. You'll be taken out of class by a private tutor during maths and English so you can learn the basics, and in all your other classes, you won't have to write anything down, just listen hard and take it all in, alright? Before you know it, you'll be top of the class," Liam told him.
Niall gnawed at his lip, poking a piece of egg with his fork and wishing he didn't ever have to go to school. "Why do I have to go?" he asked. "I never went before and it didn't matter."
"Things are different now, sweetie. You have to go because all children have to go to school. It's important for you to learn things so someday, you can get whatever job you want, and it's even more important that you mix with other boys and girls your age, make some friends. Besides, you'll have Louis with you," Liam said.
That only made Niall worry more. For some reason, the idea of Louis knowing he couldn't do all the easy stuff was horrifying. He didn't want him to know how stupid he was.
"Don't tell Louis, 'bout that I can't do any reading or writing. He'll think I'm stupid," he said, eyes wide.
Harry shook his head. "Louis wouldn't think you're stupid. He likes you, I can tell."
"But if you don't want Lou to know, then nobody's going to tell him."
"Tell me what?" Louis asked, walking in through the door with his dressing gown on over the top of his PJs.
"Nothing, Loubear. Did you have a good sleep?" Liam asked, smiling at the sleepy eyed boy as he shuffled over and wrapped his arms tightly around his waist. He didn't get an answer so he settled for ruffling the seven year old's hair gently. "You're very clingy, you feeling okay?"
Niall watched as Louis continued to hug the man, wondering why he did it. His mind wandered back to last night, when Louis had sat on Zayn's lap for a while after they had eaten. He remembered one time he had been upset over some bullies on the streets and attempted to cling onto Keith in that way. It hadn't ended nicely at all. He never tried it again.
"M'just tired," Louis said.
Niall frowned. He had always been good at knowing when somebody was lying or not, it was a talent. That was what Keith used to tell him anyway, when he was in a good mood.
And Louis didn't sound like he was telling the truth at all.
#
Niall stood by the doorway to the cloakroom, knowing on his bottom lip. He felt weird wearing the school uniform, matching all the other kids who were brushing past him and laughing and talking to each other as they hung up their coats and bags on their designated pegs.
He fumbled with the straps on the rucksack that Liam had given him, silently waiting for Louis to come back. The other boy had gone to find the teacher and ask where Niall should hang his bag.
Niall found himself wishing that he had asked Liam to stay with him until he got settled in. The man had offered to do so, but the blond boy had turned him down, not wanting to be the only boy who had a grown up with him.
He gulped. He didn't like this one bit, all of the kids walking straight into him, everyone so close together. He felt like he couldn't breathe.
"Hey, are you new?" a voice asked from beside him.
He snapped out of his haze and turned to the voice, his blue eyes wide. The speaker was taller than him, with dirty blond hair and grey-blue eyes.
Niall couldn't find the words to answer, overwhelmed with the entire situation. He could feel the anger rising up inside him, because it seemed that whenever he felt too much, it came out in the form of temper.
"I was new here last year, cos my dad got a new job. It was pretty scary," he said.
Niall shook his head, defensive. "I'm not scared," he lied, though he was quite scared.
The boy didn't seem to mind the bite in his voice. He just smiled, holding out his hand. "I'm Luke."
Niall just frowned at the hand, wondering what he was meant to do with it. He glanced up at Luke and managed a small, nervous smile. "I'm Niall," he said, deciding that the boy didn't appear to be much of a threat.
"Did your dad get a new job, too?" he asked.
Niall shook his head. "I don't have a dad," he replied, not thinking much of it because Louis and Harry didn't have dads either so as far as he knew, it was normal. "I live with Liam and Harry and Louis now," he told him, hands fiddling with the strap of his backpack still.
Luke grinned. "So you're like Louis' brother? That's cool, that you get to be in the same class."
Niall shrugged, though his mind was ticking. Was Louis his brother? Nobody had told him that he was. Did that mean Harry was his brother, too? This whole thing was confusing.
"You wanna sit by me in lesson? We have maths first," Luke offered.
Niall chewed his lip. "Um, I have to go with a different teacher for maths and English," he explained, not going into detail because he didn't want anyone to know.
"Oh, that's cool. A couple of the other kids have to go with different teachers too, cos they've got something called 'lexia so they can't read good."
Niall just nodded, glad that Luke didn't think he was strange or weird.
"You can play with me at break if you want. Me and Louis play tag but it's not much fun with only two people, it'll be better with three."
"What's tag?"
"It's a game. Me and Lou can teach you," Luke said, kindly.
Niall managed a small smile and nodded. "Okay."
"What happened to your head?" Luke asked, pointed at Niall's forehead. "I never had stitches before, but I did get a cast for my arm when I fell off the top bunk at my cousin's house," the tall boy rambled.
Niall shrugged. "Got hit by a car," he stated, as if it was the most normal thing.
Just then, Louis appeared, smiling. "C'mon Niall, Ms Johnson said you can have the peg next to mine," he told him, wrapping his hand around Niall's wrist and gently tugging him into the cloakroom, weaving in and out of the other children.
Niall could feel that he was being stared at, but it was easier to ignore with Louis and Luke with him. Louis hung Niall's bag for him, and then grinned at them.
"You made friends with Luke," he said, and Niall paused, because he didn't know he had made a friend. "Now we can play tag properly!"
Luke grinned back. "That's what I said!"
Niall smiled, intrigued about this tag game they were talking about. The curiosity was quickly replaced with anxiety when he saw a smiling lady approaching them.
"You must be Niall," she said, her voice soft and sweet. She sounded like one of the nurses who had cared for him at the hospital.
He nodded, chewing his lip again as he glanced at Louis and willed him to talk for him.
Thankfully, the brown haired boy took the hint.
"He never came to a school before," he said. "Is it okay if he stays with me when he isn't with his tutor?" he asked.
Niall felt relieved when the teacher nodded her head and smiled at him. He decided that maybe Louis was just as nice and trustworthy as Harry was.
"Of course, that's fine. Now come on into the classroom for registration," she told them all, and Niall followed slightly behind the big group.
He couldn't help but feel as though maybe school wasn't such a bad place as he thought. After all, he'd already made one friend, the teacher was nice, and he had Louis with him so he wouldn't be alone.
"Alright boys and girls, take your seats," Ms Johnson instructed, and Louis tugged Niall by the sleeve.
"Come sit with me and Luke," he whispered, and Niall nodded, sitting at the back row of desks on the right of the two boys.
Ms Johnson began calling names and Niall understood that when your name was called, you had to answer with 'here', though he wasn't sure why.
He allowed his gaze to wander around the room. There were a few eyes pointed towards him and he wanted to yell at everyone to stop staring. But he didn't want to get into trouble yet, so he ignored them.
Then he noticed a couple boys sitting on the end of the row in front of them. They had mean expressions, their eyes planted on Louis as they whispered and laughed with each other.
Niall felt his eyebrows furrow, wondering what they were talking about and why they were staring at Louis. He leaned across and tapped the brown haired boy's arm gently. "Why're those boys looking at you?" he asked.
Louis looked worried for a moment but then he smiled and shook his head. "They're not being mean or anything. They're my friends," he stated, his voice rushed.
Niall had the feeling that Louis was lying, but he didn't know why somebody would lie about who they were friends with so he shrugged it off, nodding instead.
As soon as the teacher introduced him to the rest of the class, he completely forgot all about the incident anyway.
But somehow, even when he was playing tag with his two friends at break time, he couldn't get rid of the endless worry that something wasn't quite as it should be, especially when Louis came back from the bathroom with watery eyes at the end of lunch.
It was like Keith always told him - if he was good at anything, it was knowing when somebody was telling a lie...
EDITED 08.12.21