Ruined // Zayn Malik AU

Chapter 5

arabelle 's pov

The next day, I noticed that Zayn was once again missing from school. He seemed to miss school a lot, and I had a gut feeling the reason behind his absence wasn't an illness.

The school day went by excruciatingly slow, but eventually the seven hours of daily Hell were over and I was walking home with a heavy bag on my bag. Oh, the joy of homework.

I was extremely bored and my phone was out of battery, so I couldn't listen to music, which completely ruined the walk. I boredly kicked at one of the rocks at my feet as I walked and continued to kick it along with me for as long as I could to entertain myself. 

Soon enough, the rock ended up getting accidentally kicked under a car, so I had to stop messing with it. I was bored beyond compare and the walk seemed to be taking ten times as long as usual. I realised I had a pound or two in my pocket, so I took a different route to buy some chocolate or something of the sort.

When I got to one of the nearby corner shops, that was off on it's own rather than squashed together in a clump of shops in the town, it was quite empty, just a car or two here and there.

I went into the shop and ended up buying Coca Cola rather than chocolate, because I was thirsty, and the Coke was practically calling my name. Upon departure of the shop, I took a sip of the drink and then started walking again, bored out of my mind and trying not to focus on the cramp in my back due to the heavy weight of my schoolbag. 

I sighed as I walked down the pathway and then looked up at one of the only cars in sight. It was a dark green in colour and looked fairly old and well used. It wasn't exactly the best looking car I had ever seen, but not the worst either. As I got closer, I became more aware of the fact there was a figure sitting down in the front seat, appearing to be lighting a cigarette. I grimaced at the sight; I hated cigarettes. The smell of them almost made me want to gag, and I didn't see the point in ever trying one. They were stupid, in my opinion.

In order to get home, I had to walk past the car, but as I got closer I recognised the person and my eyes widened. It was Zayn.

I shouldn't have been surprised he smoked, but I was. He didn't seem to give a shit about what he should or shouldn't do, but I still wouldn't have expected him to smoke. It could fuck with his lungs and his breathing. Even he should know better than that.

I don't know what came over me, but I found myself storming over to his car, a feeling of anger coming over me. I don't know why exactly I got so angry that he smoked, but I did. Just as I was reaching the car, I snapped back to reality and realised what I was doing was absolutely stupid - first off, Zayn wouldn't care what I had to say about him smoking, and second, to be honest, I was very intimidated and maybe even a little scared of him. I couldn't go back now, though, so I had to continue walking up to his car.

He puffed out some of the cigarette smoke and then looked to me, seeming confused for half a moment until his expression changed to one of amusement. He put the cigarette back to his lips and waited for me to say something.

"Y-you shouldn't be smoking," I said, trying to sound strong and confident but failing, as I usually did whenever I talked to him. "What are you, sixteen? Seventeen? You shouldn't smoke. It can kill you."

Zayn puffed out the cigarette smoke again and then chuckled. "You say it like I give a fuck."

I furrowed my eyebrows, trying not to do or say anything stupid out of frustration. "Why weren't you in school today?"