through the dark ➳ malik a.u

one - reading signs

"Georgia, honey, wake up."

My eyes fluttered open at the sound of my Moms voice. I hadn't actually thought I was that sleepy when I'd decided to close my eyes for a while, but apparently I was, considering I'd slept for six of the seven and a half hour flight. I sent my Mom a lazy smile as I stretched my arms up. Mom and I gathered all of our magazines, books and other belongings from around us before standing up to wait being let off the crowded plane.

"Did you enjoy your sleep, lazy?" Mom asked with a smirk, nudging my arm.

"Little bit." I replied as we began to walk down the steps into the cold, England air. Wasn't it supposed to be the end of summer? I thought it would at least be kind of warm.

We walked into the luggage collection to well, collect our luggage. As we waited, I turned to my Mom and looked up at her. My front teeth gripped my bottom lip as I saw the scar that ran from the left side of her forehead to the edge of her left eyebrow. It was from a bottle.

"Mom..." I asked carefully.

"Hm?"

"Do you think he'll find us?"

She looked down at me, sending me a soft smile, but I could see the pain in her eyes as she remembered.

"I'm not going to sugar coat it. There is a chance, but it's small. Just try and forget for now, yeah? Try and enjoy yourself at Hartwood. I know it will be hard, but please try and forget about all of this, for me?" As she spoke, she rubbed my arm to show her comfort.

I nodded in response and turned around to notice my blue suitcase slide along the conveyer belt. Walking up to receive it, I thought about my father, and wondered how he had reacted when he'd noticed that we had left. Probably broke some things, threw some things, drank some things. He'd be pissed off; he even might feel a little hurt. I hoped he was hurt, he deserved every bit of pain he felt after what he had done to his "family".

*Flashback*

A door slammed from below me and I winced. I could hear my Moms muffled sobs coming from downstairs. With a sigh, I placed the book I was reading on my bedside table. I rose from my bed and quickly walked down stairs into my living room, where my mother was sitting on the sofa with her head in her hands. Her body moved slightly in time with the sobs that were escaping her lips. Taking a seat next to her, I pulled her crying head into my chest and stroked her auburn hair which was identical to mine. It was no use to ask why he'd acted out this time, we both knew it would be some stupid reason - he never had a valid one. Not that there was a valid reason to beat your family, but when it came to my Dad he'd do it for something as silly like coming home five minutes after we said we would.

"Shhh, Mom it's okay." I comforted her quietly.

"No," Mom started, pulling away, "it's not. It's not okay. I'm sick of this bullshit. You and I, we don't deserve this. Victoria didn't deserve this. We're done. We're going."

"Mom what are you - " I started to question what she was on about but she cut me off.

"We're leaving. I've booked flights to London for tomorrow. Im sorry I waited until now to tell you, but I'm not putting us through this any longer. We're getting as far away from him as we can, you hear me? It could be a new start, you could live a proper, full life for once."

I was in shock. How could I just leave? I had... Nothing. I had nothing. The thought hit me. I wasn't leaving anything behind. I had no friends, no close relatives. School wouldn't miss me. The only thing I'd be leaving behind would be seventeen years of pain and suffering. Grabbing Mom, I pulled her into a tight hug.

"Whatever we need to do." I whispered. A gentle smile spread across her lips as she pulled me tighter. We were actually doing this. We were getting away. There were butterflies in my stomach, but I couldn't tell if they were from nerves or happiness.

"Wait, how are we meant to leave? He'll be home in a few hours, and God knows what he'll do if he catches us packing? He'll catch on strraight away." I bit my lip in worry. Mom thought for a few seconds after pulling from our embrace.

"Now, we need to leave now." She stated and ran upstairs to find our suitcases and I followed behind.

"But we're not leaving until tomorrow, it doesn't make sense to leave now!" As good as the plan seemed, I kept feeling like something was going to go wrong. Maybe it was just because it usually did for me, I kind of just expected y life to fuck up.

"I have a friend in New Jersey we could stay with until we need to leave. If not we'll just book a motel, we'll be fine for a night. He'll try the city first, you know how he feels about New Jersey." She pulled out two suitcases, and passed the blue one to me. "Start packing. Take only what you need, this suitcase is all you have."

With a nod, I quickly made my way into my room and threw in my favourite jeans, a few shirts, an extra pair of shoes and my grey hoodie. After this I grabbed some other of my favourite and most needed possessions. A smile spread across my face when I zipped the case shut. This was happening. I was finally getting out. The moment of happiness didn't last, when I saw a picture of me and Victoria on top of my dresser. I kissed the picture before unzipping my case and placing it in side.

"I'm sorry." I whispered.

*Flashback end*

Mom and I were in the taxi on the way to Hartwood. Hartwood was one of the top boarding schools in England, and where I would be attending. Mom apparently knew the head master (she wouldn't explain how), so she somehow managed to pull some strings to make sure I got a place. Clearly, she had had leaving planned for longer than she let on. I didn't question her though. She was trying to help us escape, and she succeeded. At least I hoped. Even if my Dad did track us down, it would take a while, if he did. We'd gotten new phones, and changed our last names; we took her mother's maiden name, Henley. This meant it was still in the family but harder to find. At first, I wasn't happy about staying at Hartwood. It had just been sprung onto me suddenly, and the thought of my Mom being on her own made me feel uncomfortable. She'd comforted me by telling me she just wanted me to be safe and that she'd try to find a roommate, and if not she'd get a cat so she wasn't lonely.

In my heart, I knew she'd be okay without me. My wanting to stay with her was mostly because of my own selfish reasons. I didn't know how I would cope without her around all of the time. She'd be able to provide for herself fine, we'd emptied out the bank accounts and scraped up every bit of money we could around the house and put together - it was good amount to live on.

My head was pressed against the window as I watched the streets of London rush by us. It felt strange being so... so free. Free from everything. This was the first time in my life I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders, sure it was completely gone, but it was something. I felt like I could breathe again - I felt safer than I ever have.

The cab halted, pulling me out of my thoughts. We were here, outside the gates of Hartwood Boarding School. Taking a deep breath, I stepped out of the cab, swinging my backpack over my shoulder, and my Mom did the same. I pulled open the trunk and lifted out my case. My Mom walked around to meet me at my side of the cab.

"Bye Mom!" I said pulling her into a warm hug.

"Have fun sweetie, I'll miss you and I love you," She whispered into my ear. "Now go have fun!"

With that, I kissed her on the cheek before walking towards the schools main entrance. I'd pictured the school like some sort of Hogwarts-esque building, but I'd been slightly disappointing. Don't get me wrong - Hartwood was beautiful. It's just that I was kind of expecting towers and moats and moving staircases. I walked up the long pathway which led to the front office of the school. The front office was the only section of the school which was currently open due to the fact the school year hadn't officially begun. Contrary to the outer, older appearance, the inside of the school looked modern from what I could see.

There was no one around the office, so I took a seat in one of the plastic chairs across from the front desk. The Headmaster had said he would meet me here to give me my schedule and assign me to my dorm room, since I had actually been enrolled later than the other students.

While I was waiting, I played a game on my phone. I was so focused and into the game that I didn't hear the door swing open and someone enter the room.

"Georgia, I'm guessing."

"Shit!" I whispered as I jumped from my seat and looked at the man standing in front of me. "Sorry I uh, I didn't hear you come in."

"It's alright," the man smiled holding out his hand to me. "I'm Mr Harrison, your headmaster." I shook his hand with a polite smile and greeting.

He walked behind the front desk and moved around some papers until he found whatever he was looking for. Once he had picked up a piece of paper, he walked back around to where I was standing and handed it to me with a smile.

"That's your class schedule, I'm sure you'll find someone to show you to where your classes are. Most of the students here are nice enough." As he spoke, my eyes scanned over schedule trying to remember as much as I could at first. "Do you have any questions?"

"Um, I'm guessing the blank spaces are just free periods? Like can I just go to the library or is there a set place we need to go?" I questioned him.

"You're pretty much free to do what you like, but we recommend using them for studying or homework." He replied and I nodded at his response. "I'll walk you to your dorm now; I believe your room is number 203. It's on the second floor. Here at Hartwood we have strict rules concerning dorm rooms. Curfew on Sunday through to Thursday is 10:30pm, and on Fridays and Saturdays the curfew is midnight but if you'd like to stay somewhere outside of the school you can pick up a pass from the front office."

He stopped talking once we had reached two identical buildings which I assumed were the male and female dorm rooms. "As you can probably guess, boys and girls are not permitted to share rooms, but you can spend time in each other's dorms until curfew. I believe that's all Miss Henley, unless you have any further questions?" I shook my head. "Great! Here is your room key, your room mate should already be up there. I have a meeting to attend so I have to go, but I hope you settle in well and I'm sure you'll love it here!"

I replied with a thank you before dragging my suitcase into the doors of the girls' dorms. There was no one in the hallway, but when I looked to the right I saw a sign stating "Rec. Room" where a few girls and boys were sitting on couches and others were having what looked like an intense game of table tennis. I watched the game for a few moments until one of the boys playing glanced in my direction. His blue eyes pierced my grey ones and he ran a hand through his messy blond hair. He sent a wink in my direction before getting hit in the face by the ping pong ball.

"Eyes on your opponent at all times Horan." his said, and I turned away while stifling a laugh. At least the boys were cute here.

"Jesus fucking - " I huffed once pulling my suitcase up and over the last step. It was only the second floor, but it seemed like fifty floors with a heavy suitcase and a backpack. I glanced along the hallway in front of me, before dragging myself and my case along it to find my room. Luckily, my room was only the third door along. Just as I was about to put my key in the lock, the door swung open.

"You - " the girl in fron of me said while pointing at me, " - must be my new room mate!"

Before I could respond, she pulled me into a hug.

"Uh, hi?" I responded with a laugh once she'd stopped suffocating me.

"Come in, come in! Here, I'll get your case! I'm Lauren, by the way." She babbled grabbing my hand and my suticase and wheeling us both inside.

"Georgia." I replied, while taking in my surroundings. The room was totally white except from a few posters and some fairy lights Lauren had arranged around her sleeping area. "This place is nice."

"Isn't it? Also, I'm so sorry for being this forward but you have no idea how glad I am you're here! I thought I was going to have to stay here on my own, so yeah thanks for enrolling late!"

"It's no problem." I said with a smile. I was glad my room mate did most of the talking, she was the kind of person I had to put minimal effort into conversations and I liked that.

After Lauren helped me unpack and gushed over how much she loved my hair for fifteen minutes, she decided to take me down to the rec room to meet some of her friends from here, assuring me that we would get on great. While Lauren filled me in on some details about people in the school and classes, I finally got a good look at her. She was very pretty. Her straight, black hair cascaded down her back flawlessly and her skin was almost traslucent - but in a good way. She didn't go too overboard with her makeup, and just had simple eyeliner and mascara that made her bright blue eyes stand out of her face.

"Hey Lauren!" A variety of voices called out when we entered the room. She began to introduce me to her friends; Jessica, who was almost as chatty and perky as Lauren; Niamh, probably on of the most naturally beautiful girls I've ever seen; Niall, her twin and the one who had winked at me earlier before getting hit with a ping pong ball; and Harry, the curly one who hit him. They seemed nice enough, and I was actually doing an okay job socialising considering my lack of experience.

"Niamh?" I tapped her shoulder and she turned to face me on the sofa, "Is there anywhere to pee down here or I do I need to go to back to the room?"

"Down the hall to the right." She stated with a smile.

I thanked her and followed her directions until I came to what I assumed was the girls bathroom - assumed. Being me, I failed to check the sign outside the door, and I let out a groan when I saw the urinals lined up against the wall. I was such an idiot.

I turned back on my heels and yanked the door open, only to walk into someone.

"Shit! Sorry!" I gushed at the figure. When I looked up into the guys deep brown eyes, my breath caught in my throat.

"One: Fucking watch where you're going next time," the stranger snapped at me, I was taken aback by his rudeness considering his face was so angelic. "Two: why are you leaving the mens room? Since I'm assuming, y'know, you're not a man?" he finished off with a raised eyebrow.

"Um... yeah. I'm new here, I uh, forgot to check the sign."

"Who forgets to check the sign?"

"Me, obviously. Since I kind of just did."

He glared at me for a second before a smirk spread across his lips. He ran a hand through his jet black hair. "Wow, the hot new girls got spunk."

"As much as I'm enjoying your attitude, I do still need to pee. So if you could just..." I gestured for him to move aside. He did so, while continuing to smirk at me.

"Have fun peeing, new girl."

"My name's Georgia." I snapped at him.

"Pretty name for a pretty girl." He said with a wink. So first he's acting extremely, unnecessarily rude to me, and then the next minute he's flirting? My eyes rolled at him. "I'm Zayn Malik."

"Again, totally enjoying this. But my bladders about to burst so if you'll excuse me." I returned with a sweet, sarcastic smile.

"Keep sweet-talking people like that then all the boys will be falling for you!" He laughed before walking into the bathroom.

In one day I'd moved across the world, started at a boarding school, actually made friends for once and met a hot, arrogant and seemingly bipolar guy. It seemed that my life just got a lot more interesting.





// A/N - I'm sorry if this chapter is a bit boring, but I just wanting to introduce Georgia a bit more, and introduce some new characters etc...

I hope you enjoyed anyway since I tried not to make it too boring!

I did proof read, but quickly so if you see any typos or anything please tell me! I might go back to this later anyway, I feel like this chapter is a little on the short side haha!

*I've edited this chapter a little but I don't think there's much more I can do, I'll try to make the next few longer I promise!*

Anyway, thank you for reading ahhh it means a lot! Remember to vote and comment if you like this so far :-)xx \\