concealing ➸ tomlinson

vii

zayn really knew where he was going.

kris pulled herself together, focusing solely on running as fast and far as possible. she had been so, so dumb. she'd hurt louis. and god knows what her mom would think. they'd have to move, surely. or at least have her hide in her room for the rest of forever.

still holding tightly to her wrist, zayn pulled kris down a road. up to a driveway. into an empty garage of an empty house.

"kris?" zayn closed the garage door and went over to her. "you need to tell me what happened."

kris looked up at him, still trembling. her eyes were bloodshot. weakly, she tightened her firsts and sat on the ground. zayn noticed. he reached into his back pocket and pulled something out.

"here, these should help."

they were gloves, kris realized. almost impossible to see. quietly, she slipped them on.

"there you go. see?" zayn pressed his own hand against her palm; nothing happened. "you're totally fine with these."

awed, she flexed her hands. still nothing. but how did zayn know about this? how did he even have these...?

"look, there's a lot to explain and not enough time to explain it right here. you just need to trust me, ok?" he extended down a hand to her. "do you trust me?"

after a moment, kris slowly nodded. zayn smiled and helped her onto her feet. then he walked over to a panel near the garage. he punched in nine numbers, then closed it again. to open it again?

suddenly, the garage shook. it was a similar feeling to being in an elevator. after a moment, the sensation stopped. zayn hadn't needed a code before. why now?

zayn bent down and lifted the garage door open. kris nearly had a small heart attack. the outside neighborhood was gone, replaced with a long, dark, seemingly endless hallway. an idea popped into her head.

"wait, can you-"

zayn shook his head. "i can't do whatever you can. something else, though."

without explaining further, zayn began walking down the hall.

the answers would be down there. after a moment's hesitation, she followed.

"you really ought to credit them on their time. it only took a day."

mr. hill glared at courtney. "you don't know the details of this, ms. gaddin, just stay out for now."

louis tapped his foot anxiously. it was for specific emergencies like this that mr. hill didn't have classes after lunch. louis took off his gloves, ice crackling out onto the desk legs just below him.

"do we have any idea where kris could've gone?" courtney asked.

harry sighed. "she could've gone home. her mom's sheltered her all these years, it makes sense to run towards a familiar face."

"she wasn't running towards home." courtney said, "i saw where she and louis were coming from this morning. kris is trying to get as far away from here as possible."

"then, essentially, we're fucked." louis gripped at the corners of the desk he sat at until his knuckles were white and ice was branching across the curface of it.

"fucked like courtney and zayn?" harry started cracking up.

as a response, courtney's neck combusted.

icicles started forming off the edge of louis's desk.

"w-wait, did you really-" mr. hill started to step in.

"does it matter....?"

mr. hill gave her an uneasy look.

"it's a fucking joke okay? i'm kidding, zayn and i are friends. f-r-i-e-n-d-s."

"sure." harry picked at his nails with a smirk on his face.

"literally shut up."

her hair went up in a blaze.

"okay, let's drop this conversation now." mr. hill once again cut in. "you alright, louis?"

courtney and harry glanced back at their friend. the desk had been completely frozen over, full grown icicles reaching down to the floor. louis awkwardly pulled his hands into his lap.

"mate, you need to chill out." harry deadpanned.

courtney put a hand over her face and groaned, the flames going out.

louis gave him a cold stare as he snapped off an icicle. "i swear to god, i will shove this thing so far up your ass it'll come out through your mouth."

"alright!" mr. hill walked over and took the icicle away. "obviously, we're rather high-strung right now. let's just take the rest of the day to ourselves, okay? no shoving things into your friends asses."

courtney snorted.

"i'm going to look for kris." louis said, standing.

courtney and harry stood up as well. "we'll keep an eye out for her on the way back home." she assured him.

the three snuck out of the school impressively well. once he was halfway home, louis took out his phone and dialed.

"you're out early."

"fuck off." louis rolled his eyes. "minor situation, where are you?"

"invisible. in a tree."

if looks could be transferred through voices.

"and why, dare i ask, are you in a tree?"

"i was told to be at a girl's house at one pm exactly. i have ten minutes to kill until then."

"so you're hiding in her tree, most likely watching her undress."

"is that any of your concern?"

louis closed his eyes and shook his head. "god, i hope you fall."

"look, give me a face and a name, and when we're out, i'll keep a third eye open."

"you don't have a third eye."

"no, but holy shit would that be cool."

louis hung up without saying goodbye. his friends were twats sometimes, admittedly, but he couldn't imagine not having them. they at least kept his life socially interesting.

not more than a minute later, his phone buzzed with an incoming call. zayn's id.

"yeah?"

"i don't know what the literal hell happened, but kris is here at hq, and i'm trying to stall explaining everything."

"oh thank god. i'll be over quick."

louis hung up and ran down the side of the road.

thank god.

--

aye i introduced two characters whom of which you'll learn their names of in the next chapter

thanks to maddie for writing the icicle scene, and courtney and maddie for helping with some of the many fire and ice puns. more to come lol.

-kyra