BackStage (Niall Horan Fan Fiction)

9. Stockholm Syndrome

(Aliya's POV)

'Did Rachel come?' Ross got me back to the present with a question that I have no answer to. We have spent almost an hour in the New York University's cafeteria and Rachel's still not here. She brought us to her Uni as she promised and we got to meet some of her friends (I didn't know she's so popular here), roamed around and sneaked into some amazing lecture rooms and the huge library. Finally, she led us to the cafeteria and asked us to stay for a few minutes till she returns, but now it seems she's gone missing.

'She's not picking up her damn phone.' Jazz said because she's lost her patience long time ago. Ross and I didn't mind sitting here all day long, but Jazz's not in that group.

'Aliya... Aliya... Aliyaaaa...'

'Stop it, Jasmine.' She can be the most annoying person in the whole world when she exceeded her limit of patience.

I was about to go search for Rach when I saw her approaching with another girl who seemed to be a bit worried over something and was pleading. Rachel looked angry and didn't even bothered, but walked straight towards us.

Rachel came late this morning, to meet us at the central park with a big leather bag on her hand. She was wearing her black tights and a white tank top. To cover herself from the cold breeze, her neck was wrapped up by a gray scarf and wore a black jacket. Her Ray ban reflected the rays of the sun and the wind made her black hair strands go wild. She was all happy and cheeky in the morning, but now she seems so...

(Rachel's POV)

'I don't care Helan. Just go fuck yourself!'

With that, she halted and walked back after staring at me for a while. I didn't care to slow my pace as the burning anger was taking control of me. Aliya and Ross got up from their bench to collect their bags. They knew we were not going to be here any longer.

'Let's go guys. The tour is over.' I grabbed a handful of chips from Jazz's plate and put my other hand on her shoulders to walk along with her. Others followed us.

When we stepped out from the Uni I checked my watch to plan the rest of the hour. Jazz whistled for a taxi where Ross closed her ears for the loudness of it. I chuckled and Aliya joined with me. The wind is too strong today, which made people hold on to their belongings with an extra force. I embraced my bag tightly as Aliya struggled to calm her scarf from flying all over the place. Ross was not wearing a dress today and she was thankful for it. Jazz had nothing to hold onto so she was free to do anything with her bare hands.

When our cab entered into the busy New York streets, Ross lightly tapped on my knee to take my attention.

'Why were you so mad out there?' I was waiting for this question. They saw me scolding Helen earlier in the cafeteria.

'Urmm... She stole something from me to make her feel special. But she won't be any special from today onward.' Ross was trying hard to solve the riddle. I could see it from her eyes.

'She was selling my name and trying hard to earn special treatments from some people.' I air quoted the two words "some people" because I was not going to reveal my connections with some stupid ass holes to my best friends.

'Special... treatments?' Jazz seems determined to find the truth behind my furiousness.

'Let's put this in another way.' I paused for a moment. 'There are different social groups in every university and sometimes you need to show, pretend or become a member of the most bad ass club so you can survive your remaining years without any trouble from the others.'