rain. |h.s|

27

^ play when you see the stars!

Harry Styles

I'm going to rip my head off. 

I've been trying to go to this one cat cafe ever since we got here, but there's always been something or the other coming up. It makes me sound like a wuss, but cats are genuinely one of the most interesting creatures on Earth. In my opinion at least. Harlow and Niall ditched me a few hours ago for Zayn, saying they're watching a movie. I would've joined, but they were already complaining about how I would ruin the movie because I tend to, 'outwardly express and inflict my internal opinions on others'. I shouldn't put this off any longer anyways, so what better time than now? It was Noelle's first day at Columbia today, so I'm assuming she'll want to tell Harlow everything about it when she gets home. That should give me plenty of time to sit and relax.

I grab my keys off the counter and loop the chain around my fingers. I throw my coat over myself, stepping out into the heavy rain. Bloody weather has been killing me for days. Right before I turn to shut the door, I notice a weeping Noelle, curled in the fetal position next to a plant pot. I drop the coat that I was planning to take with me on the pavement, allowing it to become just as drenched as Noelle.

I rush towards her, "What the hell are you doing out here?"

It's raining like absolute hell right now, I don't know how long she's been out here without a coat. She's drenched from head to toe, apparently prioritizing her backpack more than herself, because it's sitting behind the plant, fully shielded from the rain.

"It was fucking awful." She cries in her arms, not looking up at me.

"Noelle, whatever happened, it'll get fixed. Come inside." It feels like I'm screaming over the pouring.

"It can't." She finally looks up at me through her clumped eyelashes.

"How long have you been out here?" My curls are in my face and also soaked just like hers now.

She sniffs. "Since 6PM."

She better be joking. It's 7:14PM right now. She's been like this for over an hour? Sitting outside in this god awful rain next to the overwatered plant?

"What happened?" I scream over the rain again.

She looks like she's choking up just thinking about it. Her eyes grow dark and she blinks inconsistently. What could've happened at that school? This isn't the second grade anymore, kids don't steal your pencils or kick your chair, they're all adults there. Why is she so worked up about this? She stares at her shoes for long moments, unwilling to answer my question. Noelle carefully looks at the door behind her, signaling that she's okay with going inside now.

She gets up with the support of my arm and shivers as she makes her way inside the house. I walk behind the island, hurrying to make her some hot tea. I expect her to rush upstairs to change and hide in her room, but to my surprise, she quietly curls up into one corner of the couch. I wince when her wet clothing and shoes imprint into the couch, but I don't want to bother her with that right now. Something seriously went wrong today because she looks like she doesn't want to see the light of day ever again.

I toss a green tea bag in the water that's been boiling for what feels like an age, when I hear her mumble, "They know."

"What are you talking about? Know what?" I hand her the tea, gesturing to let her know it's hot. But she doesn't drink it. She simply places it on the table in front of her without even taking a glance at it.

"We didn't realize," She toys with her fingers to ignore her voice breaking. "But my story made worldwide TV."

"What?"