Paper Birds

Chapter Twenty-Three ; Cut Off

As soon as my head hit the cement, I was out of my trance and in a world full of excruciating pain. I swore under my breath, sitting up and rubbing the back of my head. I need to stop accidentally hurting myself ASAP.

I soon found Robbie, Jonah, and Lucas by my side. I was bombarded by questions, except from Jonah who I think was trying to ask if I was okay but I couldn't hear him over all of the noise.

"Stop!" I yelled, pushing them away. "I still need space." My head throbbed, but I was thankful that Robbie helped me up in the pouring rain. 

"Are you okay?"

"What happened?"

"What did you do?"

"Is it true that you are dating Harry Styles?"

I gritted my teeth at the press. "Shut up!" I shouted at them, seeing shocked faces just as Lucas whispered that saying that would make them angry. 

I pushed through the crowd and towards our car before Harry collided into me, by back against the SUV, whispering 'oh my God' in my ear repeatedly and getting his hands tangled in my curls. He then pressed his lips into mine, pulling me tighter to him.  Apparently this was too much for the paparazzi's, because they proceeded to scream at the top of their lungs. He pulled away and smiled, pure relief filling his face.

"Are you two officially together now?"

His eyes flickered to the reporter then back to me, raising his eyebrows in question. I looked down at the ground, then looked up and smiled. "Yeah, yeah it's official." 

He squeezed my hand and revealed a toothy grin, letting them snap pictures of us for a couple of moments. A man in a black suit grabbed Harry's wrist and said something I couldn't hear, yanking him towards the limo. Harry struggled to get out of his grasp but it didn't work, and he was pulled inside of the vehicle before shouting, "Claire!"

Then it hit me; his plane was leaving in an hour. I saw Liam, Louis and Niall wave to me from inside of the limousine. I weakly waved back, still staring at the black limo when Luke shoved me inside of the SUV.

I stared blankly into the open road, in denial that Harry was leaving. 

"So he just came into the school and threatened you?"

There was a long silence. I didn't realize Robbie was talking to me.

"Claire?"

I blinked, my eyes turning to Robbie. "Uh, yeah, pretty much." 

"And you're sure you're okay?"

"Yes," I snapped back in annoyance. The rest of the car ride was silent, except for the phone call I had recieved. 

"Hello?"

"It's Harry. I'm at the airport."

"Oh," I replied glumly.

"Don't be sad. Management said something about us appearing on live TV sometime or another."

"I don't think I can wait that long, Harry."

I heard him sniff on the other end. "It'll be okay. We'll be okay." 

"If you say so," I muttered quietly. 

"I could buy you a plane ticket."

I guess he assumed our family didn't have enough money for first-class. He was right; Dad was out of the country so we had no money from him. Yet. Mom was useless and wouldn't give us a penny even if she won the lottery, especially for me to fly with my celebrity boyfriend.

"That's okay. Robbie would never let me go, anyway. I don't think Dad would, either." 

There was a small pause before Harry whispered weakly, "I miss you already."

"I miss you, too." I felt a lump form in my throat but I swallowed it, refusing to cry.

"I love you."

He hung up before I could say anything else.

----

"Do you guys want anything else for dinner?" I was heating up pizza in the microwave. 

"Just pizza's fine," Jonah answered. 

"Where'd Max go?" Lucas asked, coming in and sitting at the dining table.

"At his fraternity, studying for an exam," Robbie replied, standing over the kitchen counter with a packet in front of him, rubbing his forehead every other sentence he read.

Suddenly, the window above the sink shattered, leaving a brick tumbling into the house and denting the kitchen tiles. 

"Jesus Christ!" Jonah breathed, unable to remove his eyes from the brick. 

"Hey, you could've hit somebody!" Lucas yelled out the window. 

"Good," came a muffled shout back, along with chuckling. 

"I'm calling the police," Robbie growled, but police sirens were already to be heard. 

"Don't bother, they're already here," I murmured. 

----

I was definitely not Clairedy anymore. I was putting my family, my loved ones, in danger. Lucas almost got knocked in the head with a brick. He could've died. A huge thug came into my school with a gun. The students at my school could've died. I was a danger to the whole town. 

I took out a sharpie from a drawer in my room and walked over to the bathroom in the hall. I would have to leave, soon. It was the only way that my brothers would be safe again. Robbie even said he wanted me to move out.

Dear Jonah, Robbie, Luke, Max, and Dad, I wrote on a peice of paper, taping it to the mirror.

 I'm going to Jared's house. His family will take care of me. Robbie said that needed to move out, and I'm putting you all in danger, anyways. Tell Max that I said good luck for college, and good luck to Luke at his next football game. Robbie, don't stress out too much, I'm leaving because I need to. Jonah, I love you more than anything. I love you all more than anything.

Your little sister,

Clairedy.

I would also need a disguise. I reached for scissors in the drawer right under the sink, turning them over in my hands.

Here goes nothing.

I pulled my hair back in a ponytail, opening up the scissors in my hand. I closed my eyes and winced as I felt my hair fall to the ground, opening one eye to see what I looked like. Not surprisingly, I looked completely different. I looked like Rapunzel at the end of Tangled. I whimpered and touched the ends of what was left of my hair, glancing down on the floor to see about ten inches of hair not connected to my head. I gathered up what used to be mine and tossed it in the trash. I went back into the hall closet, unlocking a box which held Dad's emergency credit card and shoved it in my pocket, but there was something in the way. I pulled out the paper airplane necklace that Harry gave me and carefully placed it around my neck. I walked slowly to the end of the hall, taking one last glance at my home before I climbed out of the window and into the world.