new kid / h.s

31

K A T

"So, prom is next Saturday." I reminded Harry when he dropped me off at my house. "Are we nervous?"

He shook his head proudly, taking his floppy head of hair with his head. "No. Are we supposed to be?"

I didn't quite know the answer to that question yet. But I could try to. "I guess we're not." I lied. Deep down, I was truly terrified. This was a matter of life or death. We were messing with a gang.

"Good to know my baby is comfortable." he mumbled, and when he realized what he said he slapped his mouth. But I liked it. Baby.

"Baby?" I challenged, earning a deep red blush from Harry. "Baby?"

He shied away, which was really cute to say the absolute least. "It slipped. I'm sorry."

I used my two hands to force him to face me, before smiling and staring directly into his eyes with no hesitation. "Don't be. I like it."

"Really?" his face lit up. "I thought it would be too soon to say something like that. Like maybe I should've waited a few more weeks, or a month, I don't want this to move along too quickly because I don't want you to think that I'm rushing this--"

I cut him off from his rambling. "Harry, it's okay. You can call me baby. And I'll call you Harry."

He smiled from ear to ear. "Harry. I like it, where did you get that idea from?"

Before I could even answer, he stole a quick kiss to my lips. It was my turn to blush, my cheeks filling with intense heat. "Harry." I sighed, before pulling him into a hug.

"I'll see you tomorrow at school, baby." he whispered in my ear after the hug. Shivers went down my spine and I hardly had time to react, but he grabbed his keys and disappeared out the door.

I felt ultimately horrible that I hadn't told Harry about what I had seen yet, but I still didn't feel like it was the right time to tell him. Was it? Maybe my lesser judgement was taking over.

Speak of the devil; Kimberly came sauntering down the staircase with a goofy smile plastered on her face. "So he called you baby today!" she squealed, seemingly excited for me. I could tell it was an act she was putting on so that she could convince me not to tell anyone I saw. I wasn't that foolish any more.

"The red dress." I said curtly, cutting directly to the point that mattered. "What was that all about?"

She looked dumbfounded all at once. "Th-The dress?" she stuttered. "I told you, I was trying on my prom dress."

I wasn't buying that at all. Maybe I should have told Harry, because something was telling me that this was more than I was seeing it to be. Maybe this was the start of something dangerous, and I didn't even know which side Kimberly played for. I couldn't possibly just become friends with another traitor.

"Kimberly..." I pressed, tapping my foot on the wooden floor. "Tell me the truth or I will tell Harry and Zayn what I saw."

I slapped my mouth when I realized Zayn's name had slipped out of my mouth, and if Kimberly was working for a gang, she would be an insider with the details that Zayn was helping plan a revolt of sorts.

But she didn't seem as surprised. "Zayn?" she casually asked, striking me confused. "Did you just say that you'd tell Zayn?"

I tried to think of an excuse but couldn't find one. "Yeah" I simply said.

She offered me a friendly smile. "I know him. That's who I was trying on the dress for." she explained, suddenly being able to tell me why she was acting so strange. "He's my friend. He said he needs my help so I had to try on the dress for someone else. Want to see it?"

I nodded apprehensively. What was it that would make this dress so special, so different?

Was I sure that I even wanted to know?

Kimberly led me upstairs to the guest room that she was staying in, where a glimmering red dress was sitting on the bed. The same one she had on earlier.

"I'm under the impression that Zayn wants you to wear this to prom." she said cooly, as if she did not understand the weight of this situation.

"Why?" I asked.

She shrugged. "It's got a few built in things, like a gps tracker and a heart rate monitor. He'll be able to look at those statistics from a remote location. Don't ask me why."

I didn't have to. I very well knew why.

He wanted to make sure that I didn't die.

My heart was suddenly pounding against my chest. This was all becoming a little too much. I wasn't accustomed to getting involved with such dangerous things. I was literally about to put my life out on a limb. And I didn't like that idea.

"Everything all right, Kat?" she asked out of concern, but all that I could manage to do was stare into space. I was truly and utterly terrified of what was to come.

"Yeah." I lied to both her and myself before showing myself out of the room. "I'm making brownies, come grab some later."

*

sorry for not updating in three days, but in all fairness 6 people are reading this and only one comments (thank you for that) so I don't really have much motivation. please inline comment and vote for quicker updates. thanks :(
-amira