Look After You- Niam Horayne

Jealousy- Chapter 26

Niall's POV

Liam and I hadn't spoken about me leaving or staying since Monday, and it was now Wednesday. It was awkward around him, but he still kissed me every morning and night, sang to me before I fell asleep and the usual. I just didn't know what to tell him anymore. I'd said what I'd thought, and he didn't agree. He thought I should stay, when I felt like I should leave. I mean, KCH was my home, but Liam's been under a lot of stress recently and maybe lifting the illegality in our relationship would lift the weight from his shoulders.

I was in Physics, Quentin and Tyler over the other table smirking at me. My cheek was purple and my nose was also painful. My leg had got me limping so they could tell that Quentin had hurt me in some ways. I actually did see a faded, light blue splodge on his jaw, which made me a little satisfied with myself. I tried ignoring their occasional comments when the teacher wasn't looking. I wanted to distract myself by chatting to a Bentley but he wasn't in this class, nor was any of my other friends. It was lonely, painful and just relieving when it was over.

I started walking out of the lesson when I saw Bentley, his hair swept over one eye like usual and smiling slightly. I'd ignored the fact he never sticked up for me, just because he'd been there for me right at the beginning when nobody else was. I couldn't just stop being his friend, because I didn't know why he was so afraid of Quentin and Tyler. He could have a real reason for what he did, so I wasn't judging.

When he saw me, he waved happily and skipped over. I flinched; I wasn't used to such positive people like him. He seemed so lively and joyful, it was weird. I never was. I was still depressed, with the thoughts turning.

"Hey Niall, I need to talk to you!" He chirped, grabbing my hand. Instinctively, I snatched it back with wide eyes, but when his face fell I felt guilty. He just didn't understand why I didn't want him touching me for two reasons. Firstly, I had a boyfriend and Bentley was just holding my hand like it was okay. And secondly, I felt like he'd know about what I did when he touched me. He'd know why I had scars.

He backed away and shoved his hands in his jean pockets, blushing, "Um, I'm sorry, Niall- I didn't know... I just thought-"

"No, it's okay." I gave a reassuring smile and changed the subject. "What's up? Why'd you need to talk to me?"

He beamed again and walked outside the Science building. I followed him, both of us ducking behind the old bike sheds. It felt weird, full of spider webs and tyres. It was abandoned obviously, only used for smoking probably since there were a lot of them scattered around. I found it weird so I backed away, but Bentley just grabbed me and yanked me back forward, almost right into a spider.

I got a bit frustrated. "Bentley, what the fuck?!"

"Sorry. Hey, that's Frank." He pointed towards the huge, fat orange spider beginning to move since Bentley's mouth was so close, blowing his breath when he spoke. I hated spiders so I shivered and stepped backwards, running a hand through my hair.

"Frank? How about you ignore Frank and tell me what's wrong?" I suggested, exasperated.

"Right, okay, so I spoke to Darcy."

"What? Why? What'd you speak to her about?" I asked, bewildered. I remembered talking about her and him dating before when I was explaining to him about how I lived in a care home, but he never went into details. I wondered what actually happened between them and if he still liked her. I didn't recall Darcy telling me about him, but maybe they'd been out for a few weeks and she hadn't thought it was important enough for discussion.

He cleared his throat, shrugging. "I... I couldn't stop thinking about her, you know, after we talked. So I went up to her after school after you went home when Quentin hurt you, and asked if we could talk. She was being nice, and I decided to ask her why she broke up with me. She was real shocked, since it'd been two years, but she eventually told me that she fell for someone else- that ginger guy I told you about. I swear he's in that home, too."