Broken Defender

Chapter Twenty-Seven ~ "Ten"

I don 't like being out of the loop... on anything... obviously. I have unintentionally made it my business to know absolutely everything about everybody. I'm a busy body; I'm nosy, though I guess no one would actually know that, because I'm not a gossip. I'm a mind full of secrets about everyone else that I don't share. Instead, I keep it all to myself. That's how quiet people tend to be though. We remember names, and facts. I remember who hates peanut butter, and I'll probably remember what someone wore yesterday. I remember statements people made years back simply because I'm quiet enough to listen, and to digest pointless conversations that have absolutely nothing to do with me.

That all in mind, it's no wonder I'm driving myself completely crazy trying to figure out what Zayn and Harry were fighting about yesterday... though that wasn't what I was most curious about. Honestly, I was dying to know how Harry's parents acted upon his arrival at home after the event of his visit to the principles office. I know his father was angry. The way he towered over his son, who was nearly equal in height, was proof that there was no small stir in the Styles home yesterday. Maybe he's grounded... maybe he got suspended or something.

Nevertheless, here I sit on the steps in front of school. My hands pressed the skin of my bare legs together, and I tugged aimlessly at my flannel skirt. I was already regretting my earlier decision to pull my hair back into a ponytail as its absence from my shoulders and neck made me chillier than I would have been had I wore it down.

The weather was nice today... aside from the cold, of course. The sun was shining, though the forecast expected snow in the late afternoon. I didn't want more snow. Our last snow was still sticking messily to the ground, taking its time to melt and turning mush out of our already murky ground. I'm glad that I wore boots today.

Where is he? I looked down at the watch on my wrist, and sighed sadly. Class was supposed to start in seven minutes, and normally by this time I was already at my desk. I wanted to wait for him though. He wasn't walking me to school like he usually did, nor did he even bother to meet me at my locker anymore. He left school before lunch yesterday, so I wasn't sure how lunch would work today, though I'll admit I waspartially worried that he wouldn't even bother to show at our table... if he showed at school at all.

Right as I looked up from my watch, all of my worries faded away when I caught a glimpse of Harry. He was dragging his feet toward me. His head hung low, and his brown curls - covering his face - blew messily in the light wind. The approximated distance of two hundred feet between the two of us seemed so far, and wanting desperately to be near him again, I found myself standing up quickly, grabbing my bag, and walking with anticipant steps in his direction.

It didn't take long for him to see me too. His eyes met with mine, and he smiled crookedly, uncrossing his arms and shoving his hands into his pockets. His pace picked up a little as he walked to me, and I felt sudden relief that he seemed equally as happy to see me as I was to see him. My heels clicked against the concrete sidewalk, and I did really want nothing more than to hug him, and to be held by him. Yesterday's lack of interaction between the two of us was driving me absolutely crazy.

I stared back at his face, focusing mainly on his eyes as he neared me, and that's when I saw it. My pace slowed almost to a halt as I gawked back at the shadow beneath his left eye socket. My eyes racked down over his face, taking in the change of his appearance as he approached me. If felt like a bullet in my gut, seeing him like that. His pink lips seemed pinker, red. The shadow beneath his eye seemed to spread down to his cheek, hugging close to his nose that - to my relief - looked perfectly normal. I sucked in a quick breath as he met me, standing directly in my path, and smiling down at my face sheepishly.

"What happened?" I asked him; partially aware of the answer he would give me.

I knew that he and Zayn had planned on taking their little brawl off of school property, but somehow I had pictured myself being there when it happened.