The Mad Ones (A One Direction Fan Fiction)

Chapter Four - Odd One Out

            “So … we’re supposed to stay in the basement for a whole day … or maybe longer?” Hattie asked, a thick crease appearing on her forehead. My eyes made their way to Gemma, who was sitting with her hands clasped in her lap, and her eyes on her hands. “Or are there going to be more French exchange students here?” she asked, and her tone gave away she was in a mood, but at the same time her hand was clasped protectively around Dora’s.

            “I can be Dutch,” Noelle suggested weakly from her spot leaning against the refrigerator. Gemma let out a short laugh, barely making sound as her voice went straight to the ground.

            “I just … I need to figure out where to put you guys, because my brother has a habit of staying longer than expected, and I’m afraid you won’t be able to stay in the basement for his stay while keeping quiet,” she said, her eyes lifting ever so slightly. Chester was about to make a comment, maybe in protest, or possibly in agreement, but Cat piped up before he could.

            “We could stay at a hotel,” she suggested, and over the past few weeks, without the haziness set in her brain, I’d begun to realize that she wasn’t exactly bright. I’d appreciated knowing that her brain could come up with something other than a grunt as a reply before she slept on the battered old couch, but knowing that she didn’t understand the simplest things worried me.

            “And get me arrested for helping five mental patients escape?” she asked, with a sigh, her hand slipping into her pocket. “I think that’d be a bad idea,” she muttered with a sigh.

            “Do you have any friends who’d understand?” Chester asked, and our eyes shifted over to where he was situated by the window. Gemma bit her lip, her hands pulling out a phone that I know as her own.  “If not I think I could handle acting French for a few days,” he added, and it still confuses me how he can manage to make you feel uncomfortable with the most harmless sentences.

            “Not one who could house four people,” she muttered under her breath, letting her hands fiddle with her phone. “But … I think I have an idea,” she added, her voice still shaky, but louder than before.

            “What is it?” I asked, my voice raw from my silence over the past hour. Gemma looked my way, a quick breath escaping her mouth.

            “I have to make a phone call,” she blurted, her eyes focusing on the room as a whole, rather than just me. “Just stay here, I’m going to go outside,” she announced, pushing herself up from her chair and making her way to the front door. “Everything will be ok,” she promised, opening the door and taking a look at us, “I’ll make sure of it.” With that she had slipped outside, and we were all scattered around the room, confused with the situation at hand.

            “I say she’s sending us back,” Chester blurted, and we all glared at him. “What?” he asked, settling back into his chair, his eyes on Noelle intently as he continued. “Gemma has no need to keep up,” he reminded and Noelle shook her head while clearing her throat.

            “She’d get in trouble as well,” she protested, and Chester shook his head.

            “I know that, I’m not like Cat,” he started, and the raven-haired girl’s eyebrows furrowed, but her mouth made no effort to reply. “But she could drop us on the streets faster than old Cat getting high off of a mystery substance,” he finished, and her brows creased further.

            “Gemma wouldn’t do that,” I said, rubbing my arm where a shock of cold had hit, “she cares about us.” Hattie gave me a look and sighed, pushing herself off of her chair, and pulling the sleeves on her green sweatshirt.