us musicians.

Pretend It's OK

A/N: Hey! So I've decided I'm going to try and update way more. It's just - and this isn't an excuse at all - I'm super busy at the moment cause I've just moved from overseas to a huge high school, and because I take my GCSE's next year, the teachers are overloading us with homework and tests, and I'm just so behind. So, I will try my best to be as active as I can! Thank you all for supporting this story! Hope you like it so far!

Perrie's PoV
Just as the boys had congratulated us after we had performed, we congratulated them. We all gathered to hug them after they got off the stage, and that was when I realised Jade was nowhere to be seen - her and Sam.
"Hey, does anyone know where Jadey is?" I called out among the group of sixteen - that's including all three bands members (minus Jade), Jesy's boyfriend Jake, Leigh-Anne's boyfriend Jordan, Liam's girlfriend Sophia Smith, and Louis's girlfriend Eleanor.
Everybody shook their heads, looking at the person across from them.
"We last saw her when she went to see Sam" Leigh-Anne admitted. "And that was about ten minutes ago."
Jesy and I glanced at each other, and smirked.
"What?" Harry asked, looking at the pair of us.
"Oh, this is a little habit of theirs" I sighed. "They'll meet after weeks or months of not seeing each other, they'll disappear, and Jade will return in the morning at our flat, exhausted after not sleeping a wink."
I couldn't have made it more obvious what her and Sam were doing, and everyone knew what I meant, as the lads all started to shift uncomfortably.
"Well, the party shall go on, I always say!" Louis cried, raising a champagne glass. We were all handed one by a mysterious waiter, and toasted to the tour. We then all downed the champagne, and proceeded to have a good time!

It was four hours later, at two o'clock in the morning, when the party start to fizzle out. People had started to return home, very few stayed at the venue. Only Harry, Niall, Leigh-Anne, Jordan, Jesy and Jake stayed. Even then I suspected they had left not long after me and Zayn did.
We assumed Jade had gone to Sam's, so we stumbled into the flat I shared with her. All the lights were off. Nobody was home.
Zayn looked at me, and I looked at home. The seven+ glasses of champagne did nothing to effect how I felt towards my fiancé. I loved him with every inch of my fibre, and I knew by the way he was gazing at me now, that he felt the same.
He leant down to give me a passionate kiss. His lips remained in my own, as he whispered "I love you so much, Perrie Edwards, and I cannot wait until I make you my wife."
His stubble bristled against my chin, but I had grown to find comfort in the sensation. It meant that we were finally together again, after months of being separated.
"I love you too, Zayn Malik" I replied, drowning into his hazel eyes.
Just as we leant in for another kiss, the sound of somebody throwing up echoed around the - what we thought was an empty - flat.
We grasped each other's hand immediately, and headed I. The direction of the toilet. Everywhere was so dark, we were forced to turn a light on. When we did, I felt every single one of my hearts things break.
There, sat on a heap in front of the toilet, was a sobbing Jade. She had her head in the toilet bowl, and her hands gripped the seat. When she finished chucking up every possible fluid and chunk form inside of her, she began to cry again, her mascara covering 40% of her face. She balled her hands up in her hair, and started to scream almost. Her dress was rumpled, creased from god knows how many hours spent on that cold, stone floor.
She hadn't noticed me and Zayn stood there, until he spoke.
"My God, what happened?" he had only muttered the words, but it was enough for Jade to finally look up.
Her hair hung in her face, still glamorous looking. Her eyes were filled with such hurt, such agony, I felt my own well up with tears. Her cries were silent now, but the tears continued to stream down her face.
"Oh Poopy" I gasped, instantly kneeling down besides her. I wrapped both arms around her, hold her head close to my shoulder. She was sobbing even harder now, if that was possible.
I planted a kiss on her forehead, then glanced up at Zayn.
"Can you please fetch me a glass of water?" I asked, softly. He nodded, and walked into the kitchen. He returned in a flash, grasping a class of cold water. He knelt down and handed it to Jade, who was shaking so much that some of the glass spilled over and into my black Kate Moss stripe print jumpsuit.
She started to dap at the patch, hand still shaking, tears falling from her eyes. I held her hand, stopping her.
"It's okay, honey, it's only water."
Zayn gripped my shoulder, comfortingly.
"We need to move her, this floor can't be very comfortable" he told me. And he was right. I had only been sat on it for five minutes, and I could already feel my knees starting to bruise. Goodness knows how Jade must be feeling.
I gently linked one arm under her, as Zayn did the same on the other side. We lifted her, and slowly led her towards the sofa. I sat her down, and perched next to her, as Zayn grabbed a dark blue, fluffy blanket for her. She was shaking so, so much.
Once I had bundled her up in the blanket, I grasped ahold of her hand, and started to rub her knuckles gently with my thumb.
"Honey, can you tell me what's wrong?" I asked, as softly as I could possibly say it. God, I was so worried. My heart was hammering out of control. So many questions and scenarios were racing through my brain. Had somebody died? Was something up with her mum? Was her brother, Karl okay? Was her niece alright? Was her nephew alright? And where was Sam? Was he okay? Had something happened? Did he hurt Jade?
"Jadey, where's Sam?" I inquired, stroking her hair off of her face. I gasped. I had found a deep gash, and some dark bruising, decorating her cheekbone on the left side of her face.
I gritted my teeth. He better not of done this to her. I caught Zayn in the corner of my eye. He too looked fuming.
"Honey, where is he?" I asked again, trying to get her to look me in the eyes. She did, as she began to sob again.
"Why doesn't he want me?" she burst, her little voice ever so quiet. Tears rolled down her cheeks.
"What do you mean by that, Poopy?" I inquired, wanting more information. So it was Sam. If he has caused this much damage to my Jadey, I swear to God I'll smash his face in.
"He doesn't want me. I don't know what I've done wrong, Perrie" she continued. "I loved him so, so much, and now I'm nothing to him. I'm worthless. That's what he said. I'm worthless."
She didn't speak another word after that. I held her close until she fell asleep. Despite how small and light she was, I found I didn't have enough energy to carry her to her room, so Zayn did. He carried her bridal style, laying her on her mattress delicately. Zayn looked away as I stripped Jade into just her underwear, folding her dress up and placing it on to the wash basket in the corner of the room. As J went to pull her covers up, I caught sight of something. Marks along her body, her arms and her legs. Curious, I turned on the lamp. What I saw then shattered my already broken heart.
"Zayn" I breathed, wanting him to turn around. He did, wary at first, until he saw what I saw. Bruises adorned her body. Some small, some worryingly large. Her knees were slashed, bits of grit stuck in the cuts. On her right hand, her knuckles were swollen, all bloody and extremely bruised. Along her rib cage were dark purple bruises. However, what shocked us the most, and even disgusted me, was what appeared to be a bruise circling her neck, in the shape of two hands. She was strangled. By the same person who had abused her body.
I flung the duvet over her, biting back tears. I tucked Jade in, stroking her non-injured cheek, kissing her forehead. I then left the room with Zayn, quietly shutting the door. We moved far enough away from Jade's room to have a conversation without fear of waking her.
"I'm going to kill whoever has done that, you know that right?" Zayn spat, clenching his fists.
"Not if I get there first" I retorted.
I let the tears run freely now, as I felt all the my emotions catch up with me.
"And what do you mean, 'whoever'. Clearly, it was Sam."
I saw Zayn's jaw tighten, his knuckles turning white.
"She doesn't deserve this, at all" he exclaimed, as he began to pace the kitchen. "She is the most innocent, the most generous, the most kind and considerate girl I know - besides you."
If it wasn't in these circumstances, I would of took that as a compliment. However, I just felt angry. Angry because what Zayn said was true, so why would someone do that to her.
I gripped Zayn's hands tight, leaning against his chest. I felt his heartbeat slow, and body loosening up a little.
"Listen, baby, you need to get back. The boys will be wondering where you are" I sighed. He looked at me as if I was mad.
"I'm not leaving you" he told me, assertively. "I'm not leaving yours, or Jade's, side!"
"Baby, it's okay, we'll see you tomorrow anyway" I replied, stroking his hands with my thumbs. "It's just I think Jade's going to want some space in the morning, so she'll need as little amount of people here as possible. The girls are going to want to be here, you'll see."
Zayn started to understand, easing up.
"I love you, okay, baby" I assured him, kissing him softly.
As he made his way towards the door, he turned to look at me, his adorable features melting my insides.
"Don't feel guilty - this isn't your fault. None of it is. It's no one's fault, but that prick's, okay?"
I nodded. However, when I heard the click of the lock, as my fiancé left the room, I couldn't help but feel that this was all my fault. Every single part. If I hadn't just assumed that Jade was with Sam, and continued on without her, she might not be in this position now.