Scars (Ziam)

Writing Club

Another chapter! This one doesn't really have ziam involved, but next chapter definitely will. Liam will slowly learn to trust Zayn, but it will be difficult for him.

Hope you guys enjoy! ❤

Chapter 4:

I was barely finished getting dressed for school, pulling on my signature sweater and pulling up the hood to hide my face, when I heard a knock at my door. I grabbed my bag off of the bed and said, "Come in."

I turned in time to see Ruth opening my door and stepping into my room. She raised an eyebrow at me, as if she was expecting something, but I had no clue what it was that she wanted.

"What?" I asked, completely dumbfounded, and Ruth rolled her eyes at my cluelessness.

"Where were you after school yesterday? I went to pick you up from writing club, but you never showed. And when I came home, you were locked in your room. You didn't answer, you didn't eat dinner, and you didn't even say goodnight. What happened, Li?" She asked, her voice shifting near the end of her questioning from one of slight anger to one of deep concern.

I sighed and sat down on the edge of my bed, ready to tell her the truth about writing club, but before I could say anything word, she rushed over to me and took my face in her hands, lifting it up to the light.

"What happened to your face? Was it Jaden again?" She asked, sounding completely furious now. My sister didn't like Jaden at all. In fact, I'm pretty sure that if he wasn't a minor, she would definitely fight him, and I had all of my money on her winning.

"It doesn't matter," I said, pushing her hand away and putting my head down. The bruise wasn't the worst part of my face anyway. If anything, it was the most normal part of it.

"The hell it doesn't!? That's it. I'm talking to him myself. Screw the whole mature adult thing. Obviously talking to his parents won't work, so maybe I should just-" She began, sounding more and more upset by the second as she ranted. She got that slightly crazed look in her eyes, and I sighed again as I blurted out what I had to tell her-- the only way to distract her from the bruise.

"I never went to writing club," I admitted, halting her in the middle of her rant. She looked at me with look of pure confusion, and I sighed. "It's why I never wrote anything or had a thin to show you. Honestly, I was just glad that you didn't ask any specific questions. I'm sorry."

Ruth sat down on the bed beside me, and she put her arm around my shoulder. It's something she used to do when we were younger as well. "Why not? Do you not like writing like that?" She wondered, searching my face for an answer, and I tilted my head down.

"No. I like writing. I'm just worried... that people will stare," I finally admitted, letting out a breath I didn't even know I was holding in. "That they'll judge just like people always do. I can't handle that anymore," I confessed.

My family knew. They knew that I hid my face a lot. I think they noticed since the very first time I did it. I never used to wear hoods or sweaters often. Now, I wore them all the time. I just wanted to hide it all, make it seem like it never really ever happened.

"Nobody's going to mess with my brother," Ruth said, squeezing me a bit. "Wanna hear a secret?" She asked, and I shrugged my shoulders, knowing she was going to tell me either way. "People stare no matter what. But they don't know a damn thing about you. They can think whatever they want to think, but you're amazing, Liam," She offered, but I didn't believe her words.

I looked up at her, looking into her eyes as she offered me a smile, and I was still curious about what she saw in me. When she looked at me, did she see tragedy? Did she see me lying in a hospital bed hanging on to life by a thread? How could she even stand to look at me? I couldn't even look at me.