hoodie || nh au

Twenty-seven

That was the biggest pain I ever felt. Kevin puts on the plastic safety foil. He sticks it to my body with some tape. I love Kevin's work. He made it look super feminin and cute with the branch and the chickadee's looking at each other.

"So, you take the plastic off tomorrow morning and put on this lotion. It desinfects and protects your tattoo from getting infected", Kevin explains.

"Okay. What about showering?", I ask.

"You're allowed to shower but only in two days. Until then you can use a wet towel to whipe off the skin around your tattoo and the rest of your body. You can't go swimming for the next three weeks. I'll send your parents the bill, okay?"

"Yeah."

Josh and I thank Kevin one last time and leave. We walk to the mall because it isn't that far away.

"That tattoo is amazing", Josh tells me, as we reach Forever 21.

"I know."

We take the shortest way to the tops and hoodies. I look through the racks while Josh does, too. I wonder what Niall is doing right now. Is he with Christina? Does he even think about me when we're not together? I think about him too much. He could have some of my thoughts. I don't need them.

"What do you think about Christina?", Josh asks me, while putting some shirts and jeans on his arm.

What do I think about her? She seems like a bitch but I can't tell that to him.

"I don't know. I don't really like her. She seems like a fake bitch", and I did use the word, "Niall needs something better than that."

"Yeah, true. I hate her. She's in my History class. We don't talk much but I heard that she slept with our teacher to get a better grade. I usually have a B, she usually has a D and she had a B in her reportcard! How? She's so stupid!", Josh exclaims, pushing me to the changing rooms.

I take the clothes he picked out for me. He stays outside. I take a camo shirt with a cutout collar that reaches to the back and black ripped skinny jeans. The jeans fit perfectly but the shirt is not my type. I put on a camo tank top. It fits perfectly. I step out and show Josh what he picked out. He aproves me to take that. I then try on some more tank tops. Josh tells me to buy them all. My parents gave me some money to buy this stuff. After I pay, we make our way to the Nike shop. Josh directly goes over to the hoodies.

After two hours of looking through different stores, I found out that I acutally want some new things and experiment. That's why I only bought two hoodies from Nike. I have several tank tops and t-shirts which is very unusual to me. Josh got hungry after the last store, so we decided to take a stop at the food court. I sit down and wait for Josh to come back. Only he wants to get food from the place with the most people in line. I hate that. He always does that when we're here. I take my phone out and see that Luke texted me back. Josh send him a picture of my tattoo earlier.

Luke: You got a tattoo? That thing is beautiful! Mom and dad gave you the best birthday present. *-*

I text him back a heart emoji. When I look back up, I see Niall and Christina sitting at a table a little away from us. I didn't know they would be here. Christina laughs at something Niall says. I need a hoodie to cover my tattoo. They're not supposed to see it until tomorrow. I pull out a hoodie from the Nike bag and throw it on after removing the tags. Josh comes back soon with a tray of food in his hands.

"Are you okay? You look pretty pale", he states.

I nod my head towards Niall and the fake bitch. My eyes stay trained to the table. I don't want to see them now. I'm going to cry when I look up and see them again. How could I be so stupid and believe Niall would like me?

"Just ignore it. I know how much it hurts", Josh tells me.

I nod and steal a fry from his tray. It's pretty good. I shouldn't eat this or anything. My eyes wander from Josh to the table a few tables behind him. Just as I look at them, Christina sees me staring at them. She carries a smirk on her face. I just continue staring at them. Her hand lays under his. She takes his head in her hands. Please do not kiss her, Niall.

You know he will. He likes her because you're fat and she's not.

Niall's lips touch hers and that's the moment I break. Josh finishes his food and looks at me worried. Tears form in my eyes. Josh looks at the table I'm staring at.

"We should leave", he announces.

I pull the hood up and try not to stare at them anymore. Josh takes my bags. He lays his hand on the small of my back and pushes me slightly while walking. I look over one last time. Niall's eyes find mine, just as the tears start to leak. The shock in his eyes makes me even more sad. I just need to get home.

*****

I look in the mirror. My style had a rewind. I'm not scared to wear a top now. Josh stayed with me the whole night and even slept here because I was so sad. He just drove home to get his bag before driving us here. I'm going to show Niall what he misses out with this girl.

"You look really good, Alex. I like that top with the tattoo. You should wear something like that more often", Josh smiles.

"Thanks, Josh."

We leave soon after I put on the necklace Niall gave me. Luke sits in the front seat next to Josh. They smile and talk to each other. I hope they stay together forever. We arrive at school soon. Niall and Christina stand at the front door with Sam and Miranda. I pull my ponytail a little tighter.

Haha, you can't do this. Let's see you fall face flat when you get out of the car.

I open the door and get out slowly, preventing me from falling. My backpack is in Luke's hand. He gives it to me and I sling it onto the shoulder without the tattoo. My parents love it. They said it was worth the money they paid. We walk over to the others. Niall's eyes are trained on me. I come to a halt next to Miranda. Her eyes stare at my outfit for a while.

"Damn, this young lady had a 180-turn into feminism", she smiles proudly, turning me around with two hands to look at my back.

Niall huffs quietly. Luke and Josh smirk at his reaction.

"And our home girl even got a tattoo", Sam shouts quite happy.

I let my head hang low, as Niall stares at me. He hates what I did to me, I can tell. His eyes are constantly wandering around my body, looking at the tattoo. I turn back to face everyone in the circle.

"That is a beautiful tattoo, Alex", Christina speaks.

I ignore her and start up a quick conversation with Sam and Miranda. Soon I decide to get my stuff from the locker. I enter the school with a confident smile on my face. People look at me weirdly, some boys even can't stop staring. This is not comfortable to me.

"Damn, she had a glo up in a day", some girl tells her friends.

I reach my locker. Just then a hand wraps around my arm, turning me around. Niall's blue orbs connect with my green ones. His expression is very hard.

"What are you doing? Why are you wearing that shit?", he asks quite harsh, pressing my arm harder.

I'm sure a blue bruise will form there.