Unbreak Me

★CHAPTER SEVENTEEN★

ZAYN

Leia looked like shit. There was no other way to describe what she looked like. Dark circles glided down to her cheeks and the hollowness of her cheekbones made me wonder how long it had been since I had seen her when I'd really only seen her yesterday night.

"Hey," I whispered softly.

Her eyes met mine and they were just so sad, I felt the same emotion in my own self. My chest constricted.

She jerked her head into a nod and withdrew her gaze from mine, clutching the straps of her backpack. She stood motionless for a second, staring at our row but making no move to take a seat. I knew she had no idea where she was supposed to sit but I could also tell that she was lost somewhere inside her head, not really paying attention to anything.

I stepped ahead to stand beside her and grabbed her bag from its handle. Leia whirled around and blankly stared at me. Shit, what had happened to her?

"The last row," I whispered, managing to hold her bag in my hand.

"Huh?"

"We're sitting in the last row today," I clarified, unable to tear my gaze away from her.

Fighting the sudden impulse to stroke her soft cheeks, I cleared my throat and strode to our seats. I stepped back when we reached there and waited for Leia to come forward and sit down before taking a seat to her right. She flinched at our nearness. Everything in my body halted. I placed her bag at the empty seat next to me and gave her a questioning stare. But she wasn't looking at me.

Her eyes were fixed on her hands fiddling with the safety pin on her sash. I didn't know what was wrong but I was willing to do anything to fix it.

"Talk to me," I pleaded, bending down to meet her eyes.

She didn't look at me, though. Just kept playing with the damned safety pin. Over and over again. It was only when I saw the shade of crimson on her checkered sash that I realised she wasn't merely touching the pin. She was hurting herself.

"Stop," I choked out.

She didn't listen.

I cursed and didn't care that every single head turned my way. The only person that mattered sat right next to me. Ever so slowly, she looked up. I saw the disapproval in her gaze. It would've been laughable that she managed to care about such crap at a moment like this. Except, nothing at the time seemed funny.

"If you don't remove your hand away from that pin right this second then so help me God, Leia." My warning was clear. If she didn't take her hand off, I would. Which would require touching.

She immediately let go.

"Good to know my touch bothers you that much." I attempted my chance at humour. For her sake.

Except, the shadows flickering in her eyes further darkened.

"Please, Leia. Please tell me what happened."

"Nothing,"

"Really? Because it sure as hell doesn't seem that way. Have you looked at yourself today? God," I ran a hand down my face. "It's like someone ate you alive last night."

Leia's hands shook. I caught the tremble of her lips and suddenly—suddenly tears were streaming down her face.

Shit.

I scooted off from the chair and kneeled down in front of her. "What's wrong, sweetness?"

She shook her head and wiped at her tears, desperately trying to remove the signs of her pain. Flames licked up her cheeks and I knew she didn't want the whole class to witness her meltdown.