The Way Things Change

Chapter 6

*Niall’s POV*

We were all quiet after Kate had left the living room.  I still couldn’t believe she had just told all the boys about it, even though she didn’t tell everything. I guess she must trust us or something. I gave Liam a sign to follow me out to the terrace.

“Can you believe she just told us that?” Liam asked me. I could tell he was just as shocked as I was.

“I guess she trusts us then.” I answered.

“Yeah… but we can’t treat her any different than any other girl. You saw how she was when we tried to help her.”

“I know. I guess we should just be her friends then.”

“When she is ready to open up, she will. I just know it. She tries to be strong, but at some point she is going to need help” Liam said.

“You’re absolutely right. We should go tell the boys though. Knowing them, I just know they are going to pity her and smother her with love”

“Yeah we better do that”

So we did. They didn’t understand at first, but they came around when we told them about her reaction at the hospital. We agreed that there would be no pity party, but we were still going to help her when she needed it.

***

*Kate’s POV*

When I woke up my body was aching. I was glad to find the painkillers and a glass of water next to my bed. I had a plan for today and was determined to get it over with as quick as possible. I went into the bathroom to take a shower. I hadn’t looked in the mirror since the assault, so I was shocked when I saw my reflection. I knew there would be bruising, but I didn’t think that half of my face would be blue. I had a cut on my left eyebrow and on the left side of my under lip. My hair was greasy and was hanging lifeless from my head. I looked like shit. Good thing I had a great self esteem. Oh the sarcasm.

I looked away and went into the shower. Maybe I couldn’t fix my head just yet, but I sure as hell could do something about my hair. It was the prettiest thing about me. It was long, thick and healthy. It wasn’t really curly but it was wavy and it was blonde.

It was absolutely lovely to shower again, even though my arm was a burden. I hadn’t had a proper shower since the assault, so when I stepped out I felt like a new person. I looked down my body to see the damage and saw a lot of small cuts that were healing well and two dominant bruises. One was on the core of my body, from when they had kicked me, and then there was the awful bruise between my legs. I wanted that one to go away quickly, the others I could handle. The colour of the bruises was slowly changing, which was good. I put on my underwear, put the towel around my hair and walked into my room to put my borrowed clothes on.

“Wow… Oh sorry… I… We didn’t…” I heard Niall’s voice behind me. I panicked and quickly grabbed the sheets from my bed to cover my body. Then I turned around to face him.

Shit. Zayn was standing there as well. I felt the blood rush to my face, I was so embarrassed. It had taken a long time for me to trust my boyfriend enough to let him see my body and I really hated showing it to anybody. I never wore a bikini; it was always a bathing suit with legs if we went to the beach, that’s how uncomfortable I was. Yeah I had absolutely no self esteem. And now they knew how I looked. I bet they thought I looked absolutely awful. And now they were just standing there. This was getting more awkward by the second. I tried to think of something to say, but I couldn’t.

“Sorry for not knocking” Zain said, keeping his eyes on his feet, shifting from one to the other. I knew it. He thought I was disgusting, that’s why he didn’t want to look at me

“Yeah. We were just gonna make sure you were awake” Niall took over, looking at anything but me. “We’re going to an interview now and we’ll be back tonight, just in time for dinner, I guess.”

“Oh okay.” I managed to say, my cheeks still burning. And then they left, leaving me to get dressed. I sat down on the bed. They were probably going to tell the others just how awful and repulsive I was.

FUCK!

***

*Niall’s POV*

“Wow… Oh sorry… I… We didn’t…” I stuttered.

I couldn’t make a coherent sentence. Zayn and I had just walked in on Kate, while she was only wearing her underwear. She had an AMAYZING body. It just proved that what I had seen the day of the accident was real. I honestly believed that she was wearing some kind of shape wear that night, but apparently she hadn’t. She was the real deal. She had the hourglass shape every girl wanted to have. She had long toned legs and her ass was just perfect. You could tell that she was working out, but she most certainly didn’t look like a bodybuilder. 

At the sound of my voice she grabbed the sheets on the bed to cover her body. When she reached over we were able to see a glimpse of her full breasts. I must admit I got a bit turned on, looking at her almost naked. Which normal teenage boy wouldn’t when she was that fit. But something really bothered me about this perfect picture. Her whole body was covered in bruises. The worst one was on her core, covering at least 70 % of it. And then there were some horrible bruises on the inside of her thighs. By seeing that I got really angry. HOW COULD ANYBODY DO THIS TO SOMEONE ELSE? It was just absolutely horrible.

“Sorry for not knocking” Zayn said. I looked over at him and saw him looking at his feet. His cheeks were bright red and I could only guess what he was thinking. I looked at Kate. I thought I could sense a blush under her bruises, but I wasn’t sure. I had to look somewhere else. Her beat up face making my blood boil again.

“Yeah. We were just gonna make sure you were awake. We’re going to an interview now and we’ll be back tonight, just in time for dinner, I guess.” I said felling a bit uneasy. There were too many emotions running through my body right now. It was too much for me to handle. I needed to get away and talk to the boys.

I heard a low “Oh okay” from Kate, and then Zayn and I turned around and left the room quickly.