Trust

Teach Me

I jog up ahead of the guys, excited to get to the skate park. I've never been skateboarding, but it seems fun! Niall and Justin laugh at my anxiousness.

We hop into the truck and Justin starts it up. We drive for a couple of minutes until we reach a skate park. We get out and Justin hands Niall and I skateboards to borrow. Niall and Justin take off and begin doing different tricks. I hang back and just try to stay on the skateboard.

After a few minutes, Justin notices me struggling. He chuckles at me.

"Need help, Aura?" He asks.

"Me? Help? Pfft... Nah..." I say. I push off the ground and start going. The skateboard gets caught on a pebble and sends me hurling into the concrete. I blow my bangs out of my eyes and pout. "Maybe just a little."

He laughs at me and helps me up.

"Okay, okay. Just step on the board. Make sure your feet are even and balanced." He says. I follow his instructions. "Okay, now you'll lift up your front foot and push off the ground with it."

I obey and it starts rolling.

"Good, now lean back and forth to turn and change directions." He instructs.

I successfully do a u-turn and meet back with Justin. I smile.

"I did it!" I say. He smirks.

"Yep! Now you need to learn some tricks." He says smirking.

He takes me step by step through how to do a kick flip and other tricks. I get stuck on the kick flip. I'd jump up and the board would end up with its wheels up. After several attempts, I frustratingly run my hands through my hair.

"I give up." I state.

"What? No, don't give up! You can do this! It's really simple!" He states. He shows me how to do it again. "Now you try."

I take a deep breath and step back onto the board. I do step by step each movement Justin had taught me. I get to the final motion and.... I go tumbling forward. Into Justin. He chuckles as I blush.

"I think you did something wrong." He says. I roll my eyes and stand up brushing myself off.

"Nope, that was 100% perfect!" I say sarcastically. "I'm done for today."

He laughs and agrees.

"Yeah, I have to get back anyway. Work tomorrow." He says. I nod.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?" I ask.

"Sure" he shrugs.

"Why are you working so young?" I ask.

"College. I'm trying to get into a college over in Europe and I had to start working early in order to afford it." He says with a sigh.

"Oh" I say, unsure of what to say after that. He smiles.

"Let's go get your brother." He says. I nod and we yell to Niall. He runs up from where he was skateboarding.

We drive back to the hotel and exchange farewells before Niall and I jog up the stairs to the flat. Niall is panting by time we make it up.

"This is the most exercise I've had in the past month." He breaths. I laugh at him and roll into the flat. We are greeted by an aroma of dinner and a smiling Louis.

"Did you have fun?" He inquires. I smile.

"Yep!" I say. He looks at me expectantly, waiting for further explanation. I pretend not to notice and skip down to my room. Liam looks up from his bed.

"Hey. How was your day?" He asks.

"Great." I say, with another one word sentence.

This isn't abnormal for me. I've been really quiet lately. Something about how Gavin treated me closed me back up. I don't know if I should open up to the guys again. With Justin, it's just different. Even when I tried to shut him out, he just knocked down the walls. He eagerly pushes me to try new things. He helps me up when I fall, even though he's laughing.

"Aurora, don't forget to do your schoolwork." Liam reminds me. I nod.

Yeah, schoolwork. I have all the books and notebooks and I do a lesson in each subject every day. I was taught in the orphanage and now I'm just continuing the education. Hopefully, I'll get into a good college in a few years.

I grab my books and my pencil and bury my head into thoughts of the Pythagorean theorem and Robert Frost. I study and do quizzes until dinner time. I'm in Year 9, a year behind due to the lack of education I had during my stay with my biological father. I've worked hard to catch up this far, but I still have a year to go. I know I'll have to double everything during year 11. It'll be hard, but I know I can pull through.

"Dinner!" Harry's voice rings through the flat. I jog downstairs and take the seat next to Zayn. I take tiny servings and eat my food. I ignore dad's sighs, trying to guilt me into eating more. I simply excuse myself and head off to bed. My head hits the pillow and I yawn. My eyes slowly drift away into a blissful dream.