Man in the Mirror || irwin (DOING SOME MAJOR EDITING!)

[ 41 ] 2013

[ 41 ] 2013

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"He's a loser and no one likes him."

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They made it back in the afternoon, after taking a short flight back. Ashton sat in the car next to Harley while Michael drove to Luke's house. He took her hand in both of his and brought it to his lips. Kissing her hand, he told her reassuringly, "We'll find your parents." He said, trying to make her feel better. "I'm sure they're okay."

"And if they're not?" She bit her lip nervously, feeling a new wave of tears coming.

From the front seat, Michael added, "They'll be fine."

Shaking her head, Harley cried. "I hope so."

While they arrived at Luke's house, Harley rested her head on Ashton's chest. He held her close and ran his fingers through her hair, playing with the strands. 

.

.

.

.

Michael dropped Harley off at the large mansion where her brother was waiting for her. She asked him where he was going and he told her, "I have some important things to do and then I'm going to see if I can find your parents. I have my suspicions and I think I might know who is behind this, but I want to be sure before I say anything."

"Okay." Harley nodded.

Billy got the guards to open the gates and she walked up the small cement path that led up to the house. Hesitantly, she pressed the doorbell and waited for someone to come to the door. 

A young maid came to the door and smiled at her politely. "Miss Harley," She said, "Miss Cindy said you were coming today." Gesturing into the house, she added, "Please come in. Your brother and Miss Cindy are in the livingroom."

She followed the maid into the house where Cindy and Billy were sitting on the livingroom couch. Harley was surprised to see them not sucking faces with each other for once. On Billy's face was a look of worry as he looked down at his hands. Cindy had her hand on his shoulder, but didn't know what to do or say to help. When they saw Harley, the two of them got up, her brother smiling at her. "I'm glad I haven't lost everyone in the family." She noticed there was a deep relief in his tone as her brother pulled her in for a hug. He looked behind her, expecting someone else to join them in the livingroom. When no one else came, he pulled away from her, asking, "Where's Michael? Was he in the house with mum and dad?"

"No." Harley shook her head. "He was with me. We went to visit grandma."

From behind Billy, Cindy piped up, "You and your brothers can stay here as long as you need."

"Thanks." Harley told her. "But I think I'll be staying with Calum."

The blonde standing in front of her pouted. "Oh no. Why? We were going to have so much fun together. You're my best friend and I was hoping we could invite the rest of the squad for a sleep over before going back to school on Monday."

"No offense, Cindy." Harley bit her lip, trying to bite back her annoyance at her. "But I don't think a time like this merits a sleepover."

"She's only trying to help." Billy pointed out.

With a sigh, she pulled Cindy in for a hug. "Sorry Cindy. I didn't mean to sound rude or anything. But honestly, I think I'd feel more comfortable at Calum's house."

"You're staying with Calum?" Luke asked as he walked into the livingroom.

"Yeah." She nodded. Then she told her brother, "Will you take me, Billy?"

"I'll take you." Luke offered. 

But Harley declined. "I'd rather not. I really don't feel like watching you and Calum insult each other for the millionth time. What did he even do for you to hate him so much?"

"Nothing." Luke said quickly. "He's a loser and no one likes him."

.

.

.

.

Billy had to borrow Luke's car because Michael had the rental and dad's car was still in the parking lot at the airport. The car came to a complete stop at the front gates of Calum's house and Harley got her cellphone out. She texted Calum to open the front gates and in minutes, he came outside to greet her, next to him were Niall and Andrea.

Harley noticed Niall was carrying their bags., meaning they were going to leave. Harley got out of the car and her brother told her, "I'll call you if I hear anything." Before finally driving away, he added, "And behave. I don't want to find out you're sleeping with that guy or I'm gonna have to beat him up."

"We're not!" Harley gasped, her face going red. "And I don't think you could beat up Calum anyway."

"Okay, take care sis." He told her and then drove away, disapearing down the street.

When she turned towards Calum, the gates were open and she walked inside. Andrea and Niall walked past her to get to a red sports car parked on the curb. Stopping by Calum's side, she asked him, "Where are you going?"

"Back home." Andrea replied and Harley remembered she had super hearing. She blushed once more, hoping Andrea hadn't heard what Billy said. "Oh, I heard your brother." The green eyed blonde smirked at Harley. Niall remained quiet, placing the bags into the car and shutting the trunk.

The two got into the car, but Harley stopped them. "Wait. You can't leave now."

"Why?" Niall wondered.

"Please help me find my parents." She begged. "We can go to my house and grab something that belongs to them."

"The last time we helped you, we almost died." Andrea reminded her bitterly.

"Help me and I'll assure Michael will never hurt either of you. I promise." Harley swore, her eyes holding Niall's gaze. He was a better person that Andrea. She was too full of anger and thirst for revenge. But she knew Niall was good. If it weren't for Andrea, he would have agreed to help her from the start.

Just as Harley guessed, Niall spoke up. "Maybe we should help her, Andy. Remember how much it hurt when you lost your parents? Do you want someone else to suffer that?"

"Niall..." Andrea complained, crossing her arms over her chest. It took her a while, but she finally gave in. "Okay, okay. We'll help, but only because I would have wante someone to help me when my parents were dying."

"Thank you so much." Harley smiled at them.

"So what's the plan?" Calum asked. "We can't just go back to our houses in broad daylight. The person who took our parents might be waiting for us."

Harley nodded in agreement. "That's why we'll be going in the middle of the night."

-

updated twice today cause you guys have been really awesome and because i'm so grateful for 500k reads. 

thank you for reading and being awesome.

and thank you for liking the spin-off for this story ^.^ it makes me happy to see you all like them.

so this one is pretty short. but that is because i may update tomorrow or the day after. i'm feeling quite inspired so im hoping that will produce some really good chapters that you guys will like.

your comments make my day. 

i love you all to bits :D

-clary xx