Falling - A Niall Horan Fanfic

Chapter 4

He pulls back quickly and his face flushes a unique shade of red.

"I... I'm sorry," he says and looks down at his shoes. "I should go."

"Oh, ok," I say, finding myself somewhat hoping he would stay. "Wait, Niall. Thanks for helping me."

He pauses and smiles.

"No problem," he says and opens my front door and leaves.

•••

I wake up the next morning and the pain in my shoulder has subsided substantially. It's still sore, but it feels much better than it did yesterday.

I dress in a long-sleeved shirt to hide the large bandage. I pull on a blue sweater that brings out my eyes and I put on a pair of black leggings. I actually straighten my hair today and put mascara and a tiny bit of eyeliner on, hoping to impress Niall. I desperately want to push my thoughts away, but I can't.

I toss a banana in my bag before leaving and grab my keys and head outside.

Damn it.

I left my car at school. I hadn't even thought about it.

I let out a sigh and go back into the house. I live too far away to even think of walking and getting there on time. I give Mandy a call and ask her to pick me up, thank god she hasn't left yet and she'll be here soon.

As soon as she pulls up I get in her car and close my door.

"Hey, thanks for picking me up,"

"Yeah, sure. Where's your car?" She asks.

"It's at school," I tell her.

She raises an eyebrow, asking for an explanation.

"Niall, the new kid, gave me a ride home yesterday," I say, purposely leaving out the details about the creep who attacked me.

"Ooh! So you talked to him, I take it,"

"Yeah," I say and laugh, really hoping to avoid discussing the subject further.

"Well let me know how it goes! Maybe he'll take you on a date!"

I roll my eyes at her, of course it would never happen. He's too popular and attractive to even possibly like me... Plus he's on the football team. Really never going to happen.

I feel as though I've been proven instantly right when I walk into English and sit down next to him and he doesn't even look at me although he's not doing anything. He stares off blankly into space.

"Um, hi," I tell him.

"Hey," he says and turns away, acting like he doesn't know me. Tears well in my eyes, but I blink them away, embarrassed.

I watch his group of friends walk in the room and he stands up to go say hi to them and moves his things to sit with them. What the hell?

I try not to think about it, I knew this would happen. I knew he would never like me like that, let alone even want to be my friend. I don't know why I'm so upset, it's always happened with other boys, but this time it feels different.

I take a deep breath and just try to focus on reading the section of the book Ms. Dobbs has assigned. My mind keeps drifting back to him, and how I'm hurt that he barely acknowledged me, but I build back the wall that I've had for so many years and literally block the thoughts into the back of my mind. If he doesn't want me, I sure as hell don't want him.

As soon as the bell rings I pack up all of my stuff and rush out of the classroom. The last thing I want is to be stuck in a confined space with Niall. I don't want to think about him, and clearly he isn't thinking about me.

At lunch, I decide to just tell Mandy everything. She's my best friend. I always have and I honestly don't know why I hid it from her this morning. When I tell her about Niall practically ignoring me, she seems to be completely in shock.

"That doesn't make sense, Avery. He seemed so into you, from what I could tell, at least. I mean for crying out loud the boy kissed you on the cheek! If that isn't a red flashing sign I don't know what is, but I can't explain his behavior today. I mean, if I was a guy I'd be all over you, you're totally hot! I can't imagine why he would act like that." Ah the wise words of my best friend.

I let out a huff. I know she was trying to help, but her ignorance gets in the way. I don't know how she doesn't see how unattractive I really am, and how he really doesn't like me. I'm convinced.