Save ourselves- One Direction

Avery

Time passed painfully slowly again. I leaned against the cold stone wall while the branches of the bushes stung my arms and legs. Every noise made me sit up and take notice, every time I heard a motor, I ducked deeper into the bushes. Clutching my mobile phone tightly, I waited for Ed to call me so he could find me. How long would it be before they realized I was no longer in camp? Probably a while, after all, no one had found me at camp either. The question was what Hempton would do until we had delivered everything to the police. He would probably make all the evidence that already existed against him disappear. But with the photos and the videos we already had enough evidence to start an investigation.

We just couldn't let him find us before we left the country. But Roxy had already said she would take care of it and I trusted her completely.

I tried to think of something, or rather people, that would calm me down. Who would stop my racing heart. Dad, Mum, Daisy, Harry... But my thoughts were running too wild to focus on that for more than three seconds. Fuck, if I kept breathing this fast and weird, I was probably going to have a panic attack.

Focus, Avery! Remember something that calms you down. Anything!

I forced myself to hold my breath for a second and then slowly exhale. As I did, I thought of Harry. The hug we had shared that morning before Hempton had beaten me up for the last time.

I thought of the feeling he had caused in me. The warmth of his body that had soothed me. His hands on my back that had held me as if they never wanted to let me go. His skin against my skin. His cheek against mine and then his forehead against mine. The safety I had felt. And then our kiss, just before the others had fled. It was nothing like I had imagined.

Call me cheesy, but I had thought I would kiss Harry when we were somewhere just the two of us and alone on Ed's farm. Where we had all the time in the world.

Don't get me wrong, I didn't regret kissing Harry for a second, but I hadn't even given him time to react and completely blindsided him with it. Besides, I didn't know much about kissing either. I hadn't had a boyfriend yet and there hadn't been anyone at school who had been attractive to me.

So what did I know about love, about being in love? Actually, only what I had seen and read in my films and books. It all seemed quite natural then, but now it all seemed so strange and uncertain. But maybe it was just the situation. I mean, how many couples can claim to have met in a camp for minors and to have fallen in love with each other while planning to escape from that very camp?

But really, none of that mattered. Because I was sure of one thing. I had a crush on Harry Styles. And I was going to get my second kiss. I deserved that after all this shit!

My phone rang and I almost dropped it in shock. I clutched it and was about to answer it before I remembered what Ed had said.

"Let it ring twice and then pick it up. Then I'll know you're safe."

No sooner had the second ringing stopped than I picked up.

"Yes?", I asked quietly.

"I'm on my way to the place where we stopped earlier. Are you around?"

"Yeah, I am. Behind the wall on the other side of the street," I whispered, although I wasn't even sure why.

"Okay, I'll be with you in a minute. Don't move."

"All right," I muttered and Ed hung up.

I leaned back against the wall again and closed my eyes for a moment. Ed was on his way. Now only a few minutes separated me from final freedom. In fact, a smile flitted across my face. Maybe this was how it had been meant to be in the end. Maybe each and every one of us had to suffer like this to make the end feel so satisfying.