Exchange Student- Louis Partridge

Chapter 20: Hostile

(LILA'S POV)

Louis insulted me so terribly, and I didn't understand his incredibly rude behavior at all. Had I done something? I went over in my head, thinking of all the things that could've ticked him off for whatever reason.

I couldn't come up with anything though, we had finally started to become sort-of friends. I wanted to go and apologize or ask him what was wrong, but I decided it was probably a good idea to give him until morning to cool off.

I wasn't going to lie, the words he said hurt. Lately it felt like my whole life was falling apart, the only people I talked to were Mina and Louis. Dory had yet to apologize or make any sort of effort in our friendship, and I wasn't keen on giving her the easy way out by apologizing when I didn't do anything wrong.

Louis was the only person who kept me from crying every night, and I was hoping that he'd feel better in the morning. But right now, I found myself laying in bed and repeating his words over and over. Each time more painful than the last, it was gnawing away at me. The protective shell that I always had on, was dented by these words, and though I hadn't forgotten about the events from Halloween, those left more than a scratch.

I tried to tell myself that he was just in a bad mood and didn't mean it, but part of me knew that Louis would've apologized if he truly felt guilty. He wouldn't have said it in the first place, no matter how moody he was. He's just not like that. Something happened.

So I broke into a pit of mostly silent sobs, the kind of crying that shakes your body and truly relieves you of the pain you've been feeling. The kind of crying that scrunches the whole face up, and leaves it red. The kind of crying that never stops. The kind of crying that occurs when you repeat the same things causing you hurt in your head, over and over and over again.

My face was red, and very damp, I could taste the salty tears on my lips. I massaged my temples in an attempt to get rid of my pounding headache, but it was to no avail.

As much as I wanted to just sleep it off, I knew it was a good idea for me to go and get tylenol from the kitchen instead. It was around 8 pm, I knew Louis had to be awake. And after the long day of tutoring Millie, she was probably sleeping already. The parents were obviously on the other end of the house, but I didn't want Louis to be aware of my venture for medicine.

So I tiptoed down the stairs, his door was closed and I could see yellow light spilling out from under it. Once I was on the last step of the stairs, it creaked. Shit. I turned my head towards the kitchen to see Louis, he was holding a glass of water and a container of tylenol was placed next to him half opened.

He looked shocked to see me, but his facial expression quickly turned to annoyed. I rolled my eyes at that, clearly he didn't care about the comment he made earlier. If he was planning on treating me so cruelly, I would do the same.

"What are you doing here? Hungry again?" Spoke Louis, rolling his eyes and taking a sip of water. His comment shook me, and hurt, but I wouldn't let him see that.

"No. I've come for some tylenol. The fuck is your problem?" Got you there Partridge, it's my turn to be straightforward.

"Nothing, you're just annoying for fuck's sake" He seemed unsure of his answer, almost like he didn't want to be mean to me.

I pushed past the boy, purposefully bumping into his shoulder. I grabbed the tylenol, popping the pill in my mouth and gulping it down all while staring him down. I set the glass down on the counter hard, and walked up stairs.

I could feel him watching, but that's exactly what I wanted.

2 weeks later

...

Louis and I were enemies again, all that progress for nothing. If we spoke to one another it was to make snarky remarks. I walked alone at school, ate my lunch alone, and I even convinced our biology teacher to allow me to switch partners.

I still didn't know why Louis started being hostile to me all of a sudden 2 weeks ago, but at this point I couldn't bother to care. Every time I walked past him and his friends, the two grinned at me while Louis tried even harder to show his disgust with me. Almost like he was proving something to them..

The days had gotten lonely, having no one to spend them with. Occasionally I'd spend time with Millie, but she had her own friends so that was rare. I continued to tutor her and she notified me that her math grades had gone up quite a bit, a small victory on my part. I rarely got good news nowadays.

I never spoke to my mom unless it regarded school, she never asked how I was or what I was doing. This was weird behavior, considering she always did her best to be a friend to me. I gave her the benefit of the doubt, thinking she must've been busy anyways.

Dory and I were not friends anymore, we blocked each other on all social medias. And I only talked to Mina now, we made sure to stay clear out of Dory's sights. This taught me a lot about who my real friends were.

I didn't like being at home alone with Louis, which happened quite often enough. So I tried to get out of the house as often as possible, I'd sight see things I'd already seen. Even practiced some skateboarding, but I fell every single time.

There was this one cafe in walking distance from the house that was particularly charming. I would do my work there after school, and listen to music. It was really peaceful, just what I needed. It really was the only good constant thing in my schedule.

Every day was boring, every day was the same thing. But I had gotten used to it now.

I desperately wanted to patch things up with Louis, but if he made no effort to do so then why should I?

I was planning on visiting home soon, in another week or so. My tickets were already bought, and I wanted to surprise my mom and Mina of course. It was going to be amazing, I longed to be home more than anything and the old Lila never would've said that.

I never thought I'd miss a place that hurt me so much, but I intended on staying an exchange student.

A/N: HI OK SO FIRST OFF I WANNA SAY THANK U FOR 7K I NEVER THOUGHT ID REACH THIS MILESTONE !! ALSO I HAVENT REALLY BEEN FEELING THE MOTIVATION TO write FOR THE PAST TWO DAYS, WHICH IS WHY MY UPDATING SCHEDULE IS OFF, i normally dont update this late in the day. im sorry for the delay, i just wasnt feeling up to it!! i will do my best to finish this story, because the last thing i wanna do is discontinue it, especially when there is so much yet to happen !! yall leaving nice comments n shit helps motivate me so thank u to those who are very kind to me! im praying i dont lose motivation for this book, but sadly that does happen to me a lot when writing, in fact this lasted longer than most books!! i hope u understand, my uploading schedule may be a little off in the future and i might not upload as often!! this weekend i will not be updating on sunday and maybe not saturday cuz ill be away !! also this took me v long to write because criminal minds distracted me and I CRIED CUZ SOMEONE IMPORTANT DIED AND YEAH !! sorry this was long lol <3 also i made this chapter sorta long as an apology for not uploading today !!