Secret Sister » 1D

Chapter 24

Chapter 24


"Um, you've got--" Niall started to mumble, pointing at Liam's neck.

"I know," he snapped back, but I could tell he had missed that part. He rubbed his neck, and the crusted frosting disappeared.

He and Zayn stood in front of the rest of us, extremely pissed, while we sat in the kitchen chairs waiting for a punishment sentence. Louis and Niall had no idea what was going on right now, but me and Harry were struggling not to hyperventilate. I'd never seen those two so angry before.

"So, who did it?" Zayn demanded.

Nobody spoke up. Except Louis. "Well, I know for a fact that I didn't do it," he said.

"Liar," Liam accused. "There was cake everywhere in your room. So it was either you or Harry, and I think we all know the answer to that one."

Harry breathed a small sigh of relief, while Louis looked indignant. "But I'm telling you, I didn't do it!" he cried.

"Save it, convict," Zayn said loudly, and we all stared at him. "What?" he asked defensively. "That's what he is."

Liam turned back to us. "Delilah, did you do it?" he asked. I'm pretty bad under pressure, but I held my tongue. I shook my head stiffly.

He narrowed his eyes and looked at Niall. He broke pretty quickly. "I didn't do it!" he cried. "I swear on my grandmother's grave I didn't do it!"

Zayn raised his eyebrows and sighed. "Not guilty!" he declared, slamming a wooden spoon on the kitchen table, and Niall looked relieved as he hopped out of his chair. I folded my arms across my chest and huffed. No fair.

"Harry?" Liam asked.

"Nope, I wouldn't do a thing like this," the curly-haired boy protested. "I would want to save the cake for as long as possible. Come on, guys, you know me."

Zayn and Liam glanced at each other. I considered Liam the evil, traitorous lawyer and Zayn the judge. "Not guilty!" Zayn repeated, once again smacking the wooden spoon, and Harry pranced out of his chair and stood beside Niall. I glared at him. He winked at me back.

"So, it was you two," Liam said, staring at Louis and I. We had already figured out that two people did it. The contrast in frosting-footprints gave it away.

"No!" Louis yelped.

I bowed my head guiltily. "What's the punishment?" I mumbled.

"You can't leave the bus for three days," Liam said authoritatively.

"That's not fair!" Louis protested. "I didn't do it! Why won't you believe me?"

Liam rolled his eyes. "Think about that question real hard, Louis," he said.

I bit my lip and looked around. This wasn't fair. I mean, I deserved to get punished, but not Louis. He didn't do anything wrong.

I glanced up at Harry, who was looking at the ceiling. I supposed I could afford to lose a portion of his trust and friendship in order to reserve fairness in this bus. We couldn't have sour feelings being held, now could we?

"Liam, wait," I said, standing up. They all looked at me. "Louis didn't do it," I said confidently. "Harry and I did."

They continued to stare at me, but Harry was glaring. I ignored the mad heat in them and looked him back straight in the eye. I hoped my eyes had that steely look movie-star-policewomen always had.

"Do you deny it?" I asked him.

"No," he said immediately, then cursed. I smirked.

"Seriously?" Zayn exclaimed. "Well, didn't see that coming. Harry and Lily are punished, Louis is innocent. Case dismissed." He banged the wooden spoon against the kitchen table.

"Why did you sell me in like that?" Harry demanded as I went over to the cupboard. I shrugged. "Oh, I don't know," I said. "Maybe it was because you were guilty and Louis was innocent. Some friend you are."

"I'm a great friend," he said defensively. I snorted before he could continue. "Sure you are," I agreed sarcastically, picking up my container of Nutella. "You would sell in your own best friend like that. Yeah, you're SUCH a great friend."

"Shut up," he mumbled, collapsing into a kitchen chair.

"Want some?" I asked, offering him a spoonful of Nutella. He glanced at it and wrinkled his nose. "Ew, no," he said. "You spit in that, remember?" I nodded and ate it anyway.

Louis came into the kitchen. "Hello," he said to me. "Bitch," he added to Harry. Harry scowled.

"Um, thanks for standing up for me like that," Louis said, rather awkwardly. I smiled up at him. "No prob," I replied. "You weren't guilty. Easy as that." He smiled slightly back. "And sorry about that whole... thing," he added, sitting next to me.

"Water under the bridge," I said nonchalantly. "But if you do it again I will murder you."

"What thing are you guys talking about?" Harry asked.

"Nothing!" we shouted at him. He rolled his eyes and settled back.

"Well, I'm still sorry for that," Louis continued like Harry hadn't said anything.

"Ah, shut up about it already," I said and he laughed.

"That's what I was looking for," he said.

"Why didn't you just say so?" I exclaimed. "You wouldn't have to sound so mushy then."

He squeezed my shoulder once before leaving the kitchen. Harry watched him leave. As soon as he was out of sight, he turned to me. "What were you two talking about?" he asked.

"We told you, nothing," I retorted and stuffed more Nutella into my mouth.

"Certainly seemed like something," he argued. "Did you kiss?"

I choked and started coughing. I pounded my chest. Harry waited patiently for me to stop. "No!" I gasped, my face red. "Why would we do a thing like that?!"

"You kissed," he said, grinning. But then he frowned. "Delilah!" he hissed. "What about Eleanor? That is so wrong--"

"Shut up!" I snapped back. "For your information, I yelled at him quite a bit for it! And he called Eleanor and promised he wouldn't do it ever again."

"So you did kiss!" he gasped and I face-palmed. "Oh gosh," I mumbled.

"Don't worry," he said and I looked up. His lips were turned up in a half-smile. "Your secret is safe with me."

I reluctantly smiled back. "Thanks, Harry," I sighed. "The last thing we need is Liam finding out!"

For a moment we sat in silence, me eating my Nutella, Harry playing with the straw wrappers on the table. Finally, one of us spoke up. "Even though you did get me in trouble," Harry said, still looking down at the table. "What you did for Louis was really nice of you. Even after what he did."

I shrugged. "It was only fair," I said. "I couldn't let you run free and Louis pay the penalty when he didn't even do it! We don't need any more pissed-at-each-otherness on this bus."

"Amen," he agreed. After a pause, he added, "But I like that. You would put your friends before your own benefits. That's nice."

"Thanks," I said brightly, flashing him a smile. But then I frowned. "Since when did you become my benefit?" I asked. Harry started whistling and wouldn't look at me, something I found rather odd.