badlands // zayn malik

chapter six

→ this what happen when i think about you.
i get in my feelings, yeah
i start reminiscing, yeah.
- exchange, bryson tiller

&&

VI. Zayn

My lame attempt at trying to 'avoid Serena Kensington at all costs' obviously went straight down the drain. It felt like no matter how hard I tried to distance myself from her, she would still pop up somewhere, anywhere, to remind me of the guilt that went along with the mission.

I still couldn't believe that I had let myself get caught with the gun. I couldn't imagine what she even thought of me now. And, even worse, imagine if she finds out that the only reason why I'm here in Roseburgh is to steal her father's riches. She'd probably never want to see me again.

On the topic of the Kensington Manor Heist, the boys and I were still stuck on what the hell we wanted to do, and Liam had informed me that Theo was going to check in on us at some time today. We had spent the past few days throwing ideas at each other, but we still couldn't figure out something that was both realistic and would ensure that we weren't caught.

So, basically, we were fucked.

I open up a new browser tab on the laptop I had brought with me, and type in 'Arthur Kensington'. Immediately, thousands of results pop up - he seemed like a pretty famous guy. It made sense, considering the long-lasting, much-publicised feud between George and Arthur. He even had his own Wikipedia page. That's how you know that you've made it.

I scan my eyes over the page, reading all of the news headlines that appeared.

'TODAY'S MEDIA EVENT: ARTHUR KENSINGTON PROMISES A 'BETTER ROSEBURGH', CRITICS SAY EVERYBODY WILL BE WATCHING TO SEE WHAT HE DOES NEXT'

'AN OVERVIEW OF ARTHUR'S ELECTION CAMPAIGN: IS HE REALLY GOING TO KEEP HIS WORD?'

'GEORGE CRAWLEY STILL A THREAT TO ARTHUR KENSINGTON - DECLARES ARTHUR WILL STILL RUIN ROSEBURGH IF RE-ELECTED'

I then click my cursor back to the search bar, adding 'manor' to the search. Again, quite a lot of results show up, so I view some of the images. I didn't know what I was expecting because the way I had pictured it to be was spot on.

The Kensington residence could probably give The White House a run for its money. It was tremendously enormous, spanning three storeys, and probably the size of like, a school, or something. It was very Corinthian-esque, the kind of architectural style you'd see in Greece or Italy. The manor was situated on a tall hill, overlooking the entirety of the city, while the back of the house faced the coastline. Not going to lie, I was extremely jealous. I could barely even afford the rent of the apartment I had back in Ashmont.

Out of nowhere, the sound of a Skype alert rings through the hotel room. Subconsciously, my eyes sweep the whole room expecting the boys to say something, but I remember that they weren't here.

They left earlier this morning to 'go on an adventure' as Niall had suggested. I told them that I wanted to stay to figure out a game plan (and, also, in the fear of seeing Serena out and about again). Besides, I had a gut feeling that the only type of adventure they would go on was an adventure to find pretty Roseburgh girls to take back to the hotel later. Well, pretty Roseburgh boys in the case of Louis.