Mute » 1D

Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Harry

My cheek still burned from where Kashine slapped it a few days ago. I understood why she did it, and I suppose I deserved it, but my face probably looked and felt all messed up. It's worse than I realized. Kashine refused to answer us, and she wouldn't come out of her room. Like, at all. Not even to eat or use the bathroom. I was worried about her.

I ran a thumb over the soft cover of her journal. She had either dropped it accidentally or on purpose, and I'm pretty sure it's the latter, making that big slapping sound it did.

I couldn't believe Louis convinced me to tell the others, and Kashine listened in on us. I was blaming this on him. If he hadn't stolen it and read it and made me read it, then we wouldn't be in this mess. A portion of it was my fault though, because I also kind of wanted to read it. I was a horrible person.

We sat around the kitchen table waiting for Kashine to appear. "She has to eat sometime," Niall pointed out, but so far that wasn't true.

We had wasted two whole days, and we had eight songs to choreograph. If Kashine didn't come out soon, our concerts would turn out into a disaster and she'd get fired.

But maybe she wanted to get fired. That never occurred to me. She's hating our guts right now, so why would she want to be near us? I didn't want her to leave. Shoot.

I voiced my worries and conclusions aloud. The others looked uneasy. "Well, if that's true," Liam said nervously. "Then not only will Kashine get fired, but Simon will get mad at us too. Kashine's the best in the business, and if we've made her upset...."

He licked his lips nervously, and Niall took over. He made a whistling noise and pretended his hand was an airplane as it spiraled downward. The whistle ended with an explosion noise as the hand hit the table. "There goes our career," Liam finished.

"Kashine wouldn't do that to us, would she?" Zayn said. "I mean, what impact does she have on us?"

"Zayn, most of the people that watch her videos haven't heard of us," I said. "They just like the videos she makes. So when they see us and like us, we get more fans. We practically owe half of our fans to her."

Zayn sighed. "Maybe Kashine won't say anything bad about us," he said hopefully.

"We pilfered her diary and read about her menstruation period," Louis said expressionlessly. He seemed to be taking the cold shoulder from Kashine the hardest. I wondered why. "Yeah, keep hoping, Zayn."

Zayn scowled. "I'm just trying to find some good news here," he snapped. "If the rest of you want to have a rainy day, go ahead. Be my guest."

"Thank you," Louis said and put his head on the table. "Now shut up, please."

Liam and I sighed. "We could always just dance on our own," I offered. Even Louis looked up at that. "We are seriously not that coordinated," Niall scoffed. "Without Kashine, we're hopeless."

Everything circulated around Kashine, didn't it? Well, of course it did: her journal was the reason why all of this was a screw up.

You know, I didn't blame Louis, I blamed her. She shouldn't have left it lying around. She should have known that one of us would find it. But either way I would have read it, I thought guiltily. She still would have found out and slapped me. My cheek burned again at that reminder.

I suddenly heard the toilet flush. Louis' head shot up so fast I thought he got whip lash. "Did I just hear that?" Niall whispered, like he was afraid he was going to scare the user away. Which he probably would. "Do you think it's Kashine?" Liam asked.

"No, it's the guy next door," Louis said sarcastically and hit Liam's head. "No shit, Sherlock!"

We all materialized over to the bathroom door. This isn't weird at all, I thought sarcastically. But this was also kind of necessary. "Okay, here's the plan," I whispered. "She opens the door, we nab her, and we tie her down. Got it?" I got some nods and some stares. "And where's the rope, Mr. Genius?" Zayn asked and I rolled my eyes. Then the door opened.

Kashine screamed, and the sound was so loud I swear for a moment I went temporarily deaf. Before I could fully focus again, she was sprinting down the hall like she was running for her life. "Get her!" I yelled and we took off after her.

She suddenly veered right and Zayn and Niall barreled straight past. Smart ones. Luckily, me and Liam and Louis were able to get her trapped in the kitchen. She was gathering snacks like crazy. I knew it, she had to eat some time!

She turned, and her eyes widened when she saw us. For a weird moment I felt like a hunter trying to catch a scared rabbit before it ran off. Niall would like that analogy; he hates rabbits. Or is it bunnies? What's the difference anyway?

I was about to ask Liam when Kashine advanced towards us. She looked like she was about to do something she really didn't want to do. She held up her hand like she was about to start slapping again, and I flinched. I didn't want that thing near my face again. It hurt.

But suddenly she had pushed Louis into the counter and was off again. "She faked us!" Louis cried. I peeked around the corner.

Zayn and Niall were blocking her bedroom door, and she lifted her hand again. Even they were scared of her. Zayn lurched to one side and Niall ducked. As I watched, she didn't slap either of them: she just pushed them aside and slipped into her bedroom. I heard the lock click and I cursed. We lost her. Again.

Liam, Louis, and I ran over and began to pound on the door. We shouted things at her.

"Kashine, open up!" Zayn hollered.

"We need to talk to you!" Liam cried.

"Please forgive us!" I begged.

"Those are my crisps you stole!" Niall shouted and we all glared at him. We each hit his head too, since he was below us.

Eventually the others gave up. First was Niall, then Zayn, then Liam. Soon it was just me and Louis, and finally even he took a break. When it was just me, I pressed my ear against the wood to listen in. What I heard surprised me: heart-wrenching sobs, like her heart had been torn out of her body. The sound of it was so sad, I couldn't listen anymore and I bit my own lip to keep it from quivering.

I sat down outside her door and waited.