Keep Me Safe (Sequel to Take Me Home)

Chapter Twenty-Six

Louis couldn't stop the panic running through him as he read the texts over and over again. Niall was still asleep in the bed next to his, it was still early enough that the sun hadn't yet rose outside.

Miles : everyone's talking

is it true about the counselor and ur brother?

u missed three practises this week, nobody's happy

coach said ur off the team if u don't start showing up

ignoring me won't help. there's a bunch of better players wanting ur place anyway so

Louis chewed his lip, blinking away tears. He was letting down the team by not being there but he didn't want to go back to school yet with all that stress, and especially not now when somehow everyone had found out about what had happened to Niall.

He hated that Miles was meant to be his friend, but reading through the messages, it seemed like he was against him. Like he wanted him off the team. It seemed as if nobody was on his side, and he was beginning to understand what Harry had meant when he'd said that the other players on the team weren't real friends.

They had let him drink and then left him alone in the garden, they'd pressured him into smoking and he'd allowed them to because he just wanted to fit in and be cool. He didn't want them to hate him or pick on him, he didn't want to go back to the kid who let bigger people wear him down.

Turned out, he had allowed it to happen all over again and now he just felt stupid. And it hurt, knowing that the people he had tried so hard to impress were so willing to turn their backs on him. It was clear that they didn't like him at all, and it hurt.

It felt as if nobody liked him.
Not his biological grandparents.
Not his primary school bullies.
Not his own football team.

He wouldn't be surprised if his parents and his brothers were only pretending.

He quickly dismissed that thought though, because his family had never done anything to hurt him. With that thought, he swallowed the lump in his throat and got out of bed, stepping over Cooper who was sleeping in between the two beds.

Tiptoeing on barefeet so as not to wake Niall, he crept out of the room and found himself standing in front of the door to his parents room. He hesitated before knocking, knowing they had a lot to deal with lately...

But, he had heard his Dad and Papa both say a million times over - if something was getting to him, he had to talk to them. Not bottle it up, not run away. He had to face his problems and talk them out; and right then, he felt all panicked and anxious and not good about himself at all...and he'd had enough of dealing with things in unhealthy ways.

So he knocked, and then shuffled into the room to see his Dad switching on the bedside lamp and shaking his Papa awake, both of them squinting at him tiredly.

And he felt bad for waking them, but he knew that if he didn't speak to them now then he'd end up just keeping it all in.

He shifted from one foot to the other nervously, feeling small and stupid and seven years old all over again in his pajamas, standing at the end of his parents bed.

"Lou? What's wrong?" his Dad asked, voice croaky with sleep. He glanced at the time on the alarm clock beside the bed, then looked back.