The Water Boy (Narry)

Chapter 19

I couldn't take it anymore. My body couldn't take it anymore. It wasn't ready to give in to the overbearing feeling pushing down on my chest. As Zayn held my face steady into the ground, no longer moving me, I could feel as the air in my lungs began to fight back and I couldn't stop myself to let out a heaving cough. My gasping let him and everyone else around us know that I was still alive; humiliated but alive.

My body started shaking, shivering from the cold and panicking from being able to breathe again. All I could smell was the grass and dirt and it was all I could taste, along with my coppery blood and my salty tears that could actually flow past the clumps on mud that slowly began to dry on my cheeks. I could hear the mixed sounds of snickers and even gasps but my ears depicted the sound of Harry's voice the most, as it was the most amplified of all the sounds. 

"Zayn, let him go!" His voice sounded like it could be broken in waves as he screamed.

I knew that Zayn probably wasn't going to listen to him because Harry's authority didn't mean shit to him, just like I didn't mean shit to him.

I wished my body had done what it did the last time it was in a dangerous situation but instead, it kept letting Zayn know that I was weakened but not fully prepared to shut down. My eyes remained closed to protect them from the sharp points of the grass and if there were any small rocks in the ground. My only thought that I kept having was 'what was gonna happen to me next? Where does it go from here?'. 

"You're not my captain right now. I don't have to listen to you." Zayn stated firmly and I could feel as his fingertips curled around my neck, ready to give my face another dig into the mud.

Then, as Zayn hissed out a curse loudly, his fingernails scraped into my skin and I couldn't help but whimper. I fell over on my side and was surprised when I hit the ground and didn't come in contact with Zayn's body. I instinctively curled up my body, holding onto my already hurt stomach just in case Zayn was waiting to surprise me. 

The chatter around me had gone completely silent. Was this it? Was he going to get me again?

When nothing was happening I slowly blinked my eyes open, my vision blurred and my surroundings spinning. I could make out the tall bodies of people but they wouldn't stop multiplying and moving. I blinked a couple more times until I brought my balled up hands to my eyes to wipe off the cold wet mud and debris from my face. I didn't see Zayn standing in front of me so I did a really stupid thing and craned my neck up to see if he was behind me, groaning from the soreness that was emerging from my body. I obviously didn't think to care about whether or not a swift foot was awaiting to greet my face.

But there wasn't. 

But I was stunned at the visual that replaced it. 

I could see as Harry now had Zayn pinned down to the ground and I make out Zayn Malik struggling beneath him. I hitched in a breath, not wanting Harry to do anything that I knew he'd regret because the boy really let regret take him over. I also didn't want Zayn to become stronger than Harry and give him another injury or make his knee worse. I'd probably feel guilty if I let that happen, not that I could even muster the strength to scream. Yet, there was a selfish part of me who wanted to Zayn to get was what coming for him. I wanted to see Harry hit Zayn just once so he knew what a bare amount of my pain felt like. 

But Zayn was the type of person who was a fighter, and so that's exactly what he was going to try to do. He was going to try and switch dominance roles with Harry and he was in the perfect moment of doing so because there was an audience. What better circumstances could one ask for to prove they we're physically the toughest? That seemed to matter among boys.