Bully Love (Zayn Malik)

19

19.

School was a pain, as usual, but I managed not to get hurt physically. Sure, Louis threw a couple of harsh words at me during Chemistry but he eventually just left so it's no big deal. Currently, I was walking to Art and I was a little early. I sat down in one of the chairs and there were paintings lined up all around the room. I saw some of my old ones from freshman year. "Monty, what is this?" I asked. I was the first one in the class.

"Oh, I'll explain once the others are in." She told me, placing another one on the floor. I recognized that one because a boy named Eddie was sitting right beside me when he painted it in sophomore year.

Other people walked in, finding their original artwork immediately. Zayn entered. "Oh, wow, Monty." He saw one in the back. "I didn't know you kept all of them after the year was over."

"Well, I plan on keeping all of them, unless you want them. Since you guys were my first year as an assistant, I convinced Miss Luce to keep them in the closet. Then I took over and I keep every single piece of artwork in that closet." She grinned.

Monty used to be an assistant for this class and they hired her fully when I became a sophomore. "Now, class." She stood. "As you know, there was a mess up with the Gallery of London."

Zayn raised his hand, settling into a seat beside me. "I didn't know that." I added a "me too".

"Oh, that's right. You two were busy. Well, I thought I had the date set on Saturday but they thought I meant this Saturday. So it was rescheduled."

I turned to Zayn and he did the same to me. So we could still get in! "Yes!" I gave him a high five, making Monty smirk.

"Anyways, I thought they could come and they could just look around at these pictures. Apparently, they're only taking four." Monty folded her arms. "Unfortunately. There are other galleries, though. So that's why I put these up.".

This is great. The Gallery of London is one of the most prestigious art museum in England and it's been my dream to have one of my pieces in there since I was a little kid. I thought I missed it for Mike's funeral but now I can get to both. Mike always told me that he believed that I could do it and I want to. For me and for him.

"This turned out nicely, didn't it?" Zayn turned to me and could hardly contain his smile.

***

I was closing my locker with my things in my hand when I remembered that Zayn and possibly Niall needed a ride today. I switched my direction and headed for Zayn's locker.

"Hey, Zayn." I greeted him when I approached.

He turned and looked at me, "Oh, hi, Nikki."

"You and Niall still need a ride?" I asked him and he nodded.

"Well, no, Niall went with Perrie and Eleanor too. So it's just me."

"Okay, you ready?" I questioned. He was just standing in front of his locker for no reason. He picked up his bag and closed his locker. The two of us walked together to my car and he got into the passenger seat. We didn't talk much.

"Hey, did I ever thank you for standing up for me in the car this morning?" I asked him. He told me no. "Well, I really appreciate it. Thank you, Zayn."

"It's no problem. They were just being rude when you were being super sweet." He replied. I put my blinker on to turn right but then he asked, "What are you doing today?"

"Nothing. Just homework."

"You wanna come over? Or me go to your house? Is that going to be awkward because of your--"