Those Five Boys {EDITING ATM}

Chapter 39

Zayn's POV

Claire told us the whole story, and I mean the whole story.

Logan, that f.ucking dick. I'm glad that Harry beat him, he deserved it.

I'm sitting on the other side of her, the side where the bruise is visible. She turns toward me and smiles, but she looks so broken, and yet she smiles.

"I'm fine, really." She tells me, noticing me staring at her unintentionally.

"The hell with it, no your not fine." I take my phone out and snap a picture of her mark. The picture is shown to her but she shows no emotion. "Look at yourself," my voice breaking a little.

"I look at myself everyday and you know what I see?" We're all paying attention to her now. "I see a beaten down girl that manages to get back up everyday just to be broken down again. A broken down girl that still manages to get good grades but guess what? Her parents don't care."

"They're too busy working, having no time for her. She doesn't even remember her dad saying goodnight or good morning to her anymore. She cries herself to sleep. Every. Single. Night. And it's never good to feel that no one loves her." She's now in tears as she heads upstairs.

As instinct, I run after her, heading into what it looks like her room, she's in the bathroom. The door is wide open but she doesn't notice me, my eyes widen at what she's holding in her hands.

"Drop the blade," I take a step toward her. She doesn't look at me as she examines the blade.

"Why should I?!" She shouts and the boys come running in. "Just look at it." Her eyes almost twinkle at the material. "It's so amazing how such a thin piece of metal can cut so effortlessly." She takes a hand towel from the sink and runs the blade across the cloth. The towel splits in half and she laughs softly. "So sharp."

"Claire," I step towards her and sit on the floor next to her. "Can I see it?" I ask her. She looks at me in fascination.

"You want to cut too?" She asks me, the boys are staring at us, trying to keep quiet.

"No, I just want to see how it sparkles in the light." I lie, hoping that she takes it. She cocks her head to the side a little.

"Oh okay here," she hands it to me. I quickly stand up and drop the blade in the toilet and flush it.

"No! What did you do?" She looks at me then at the water going down before rising again.

"It was for your own good." I tell her, she looks at me with an expression I can't decipher.

"Why? I thought you cared for me? I thought all you guys cared for me? Why? It's gone forever, it's gone." She looks at us.

"We do care for you, that's why I flushed your blade. You don't need it anyway." I reach for her but she flinches. I feel hurt at her state right now: looking at me with looming eyes as she brushes past me and the boys. We follow her downstairs and she spins around.

"Get out," she states. We all stare at her, unable to move our feet as she requests.

"Get out!" She shouts at us, causing me to jump a little. Claire looks at me with a blank expression on her face.

"Just leave me alone already." Her tone is tired and depressing. I walk to her and tilt her chin up.

"I'm not going to leave you." I tell her. "I'm not leaving until you're happy again. Where is the Claire that we know? She was laughing, making jokes, playing Call Of Duty, sharing food, smiling. She was smiling whenever we were near her. Be happy, be loved, by us. You're loved by us." Claire starts to cry as I hug her. She's smiling as the boys are piling in for the hug also.

"You know that we care about you, enough to know that your breaking. We're trying to fix you." Louis speaks up.

"I love you guys so much," we pull away as she wipes her tears. "Thank you for flushing one of my blades."

"You have more than one?" Liam asks her.

She nods timidly and heads back upstairs, rummaging through her drawer to pull out two others. Then she heads to her bag and pulls out her pencil case, revealing another. The bathroom light is on and she takes out three more, then lays them on her desk. Six blades before my eyes, she must've used them all.

I shake the horrid thoughts out my head and focus on Claire.

"I've been stashing them all over my room, ever since freshman year." She explains to us, taking out a small metal case, she puts them in and closes it.

"Take them," she says, handing them to me.

She's trusting me to keep them?

"I don't need them, I have five people that deserve better that those." She points to the casing. I'm filled with happiness and trustfulness, a warm feeling erupts in my body. I take the casing from her and slip it in my pocket before we all head back downstairs.

"It's getting late," she looks toward the clock, it's 5 o'clock at night, I don't want to leave her though.

Next time, maybe next time, my subconscious assures me.

"Alright, bye Claire." We all give her a hug as Harry opens the door. "Stay strong." I mumble before walking out an heading home.

Claire's POV

"Stay strong," I hear Zayn say before closing the door.

Those words made feeling somewhere, my heart. The words impact me hard, like a burst of motivation flows through my body. But my surroundings make my mood saddens, no one's here, again. Sighing tiredly, I head into the kitchen and make myself dinner.

When I'm finished eating, I wash the dishes and take a warm shower. Slipping on a pair of pajama shorts and a loose shirt, I lay on my bed and pull the covers over my body. I keep tossing and turning, nothing helps me fall asleep, but one solution always makes me sleep, listening to my music.

I pop my earphones in and listen to the most sleepiest song on my phone as I close my eyes and take in the beat.