Civil

|25| Blackmail

(A/N) I REALLY WANTED TO POST AN EXCITING CHAPTER FOR NESSA'S BIRTHDAY BUT THIS ONE IS SO BORING I FEEL BAD.

I'LL MAKE IT UP TO YOU SOMETIME I PROMISE BABE.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ONE OF MY FAVORITEST PEOPLES IN THE WHOLE WORLD harrys-lil-flower NOT ONE IS SHE MY BEST FRIEND BUT SHE'S THE BIGGEST FAN OF THIS STORY. I LOVE YOU TO BITS BABY CAKES THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR EVERYTHING YOU'VE DONE FOR ME.

Louis' POV:

"You know, you really don't have to come with me." Katie said as she rolled a stick of pink lipstick over her bottom lip and pressed the two together. "Are you sure you haven't got something else you'd rather do? This is going to be pretty boring I imagine. They just want me to sign a bunch of paperwork and take a basic tour of the campus." She spoke as she checked her makeup in the mirror. She wore makeup quite often these days, especially when she was going to something important such as meeting the dean of the university like she is today.

I stood up from the chair and walked over to her, wrapping my arms around her waist as she stuck the tube of lipstick back into her bag. "I want to spend as much time with you as I can this week before we get back on the road. Besides this will be fun. Registering at uni is a totally normal thing for a change." I said with a smile. She turned her neck to look me in the eye.

"That's true." She giggled.

She seemed pretty relaxed about the whole thing up until we left. Once we got in the car, she stiffened into a tight bundle of nerves which paralyzed her into silence. When Katie is nervous she either laughs in some subconscious attempt to balance out her emotions or she freezes into silence and if you talk to her she's very short with you. I tried to turn on the radio, hoping to lighten her mood with some tunes but that didn't help. I even tried playing one of her favorite CDs to relieve her of whatever fear was holding my happy Katie hostage, again with no luck.

I gave up and allowed her to sit in quiet for the drive seeing as that appeared to be what she wanted.

Once we arrived, more like the second I stopped the car, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes tightly. There was definitely something weighing on her.

"What's wrong, love?" I asked while unbuckling my seatbelt. After being patient all this time, I had to know. "What's got you worried?"

She slowly unbuckled hers and sort of stared straight ahead out the window in a deep haze. "If I say it I'll sound ungrateful."

"No you won't." I reassured her.

She took a deep breath and turned towards me. "I just forgot how much I hated the whole school scene." I nodded as she spoke. "Lot of people hated me, Lou. Especially in my final year. It was kind of hard for me. I really struggled getting through that and..." She sighed and looked down at her hands folded in her lap. "I don't know how different of an experience this will be. I just don't want to go through that again."

"You won't have to go through that again."

She looked at me after I said that and tilted her head. "How can you be so sure?"

"Because you were alone then and you aren't anymore. You have me, always, and you've got Emily and Soph and the other lads." I smiled warmly and her expression slowly began to match mine. "You've got a huge support system with us. I'm really proud of you for making such a tough decision to do this after the experiences you've had. You're brave, Kate. Hopefully people here will see that."

She leaned over me and wrapped her arms around my neck. "Thank you." She said.

One of us managed to bump into the horn on the steering wheel and the car let out a sharp beeping sound that caused us both to flinch back.