Guarded

||ten||

"Niall brought me home early because I was tired," I reply to Zayn after he asks me why I wasn't there when he was ready to leave on Saturday.

"Niall? You left our date to go home with Niall?" He sounds disgusted.

At this point, I'm fed up with Zayn and all his bull. He keeps turning it around on me. Me. Like it was my fault.

"Kyla?! You left our date to go make out Kyla?!" I mimic him. He draws back a little, obviously not knowing what a good comeback to that is.

"Listen, I just needed a way to get Kyla's attention. That's-"

I hold up a hand. "Shut your mouth, Zayn. I don't want to hear it."

"I-"

"She said she didn't want to hear it, mate," Niall says firmly, showing up behind me.

"Go away, Niall. No one wants you here," Zayn snaps.

I admit, I am even taken aback by what I do next.

I stomp my sharp heel onto Zayn's toes and he flinches in pain. I take his notebook from the desk and threaten to rip it.

"I want him here." I throw the book to the ground and it lands with a large thud as I storm off. I can feel people staring at me, but I don't care. I'm not in the mood. Zayn is a douche and Niall made me happy when my date went off to snog the slut.

My actions were kind of childish, but to be completely honest, I've never actually been in a situation like this. I've never actually been this upset with someone. And I don't plan on ever being this upset with someone ever again.

I feel someone grab my arm and pull me aside. I turn to see Niall, his expression serious. I lay my back against the wall and he puts one hand next to my head on the wall, as well. He leans in close to my face and I can feel his warm breath.

"What was that?" He whispers.

"What do you mean?"

"You know. The whole 'I want him here' thing?"

"Oh," I say. "That."

I take a deep breath, not even knowing how to explain what I did, because frankly, I don't really understand what I just did either.

"Well, nobody should be told that they're not wanted in this world. Everybody deserves to be here, just as much I do. It just really, really pisses me off when people tell other people they're not wanted or to kill themselves or something insanely stupid or rude like that."

Niall's lips form into a warm smile. He leans in and kisses me on the cheek, sending chills through my body.

"W-what was that for?" I ask, my words shaky. He just shrugs. He takes my hand in his and we walk down the hall. We soon split apart, for our last class of the day we are not together. The most awful period of the day.

Math.

I walk into the large classroom, already full of buzzing teenagers.

Kyla walks up to me. "Cassidy, right?" She says in a high pitch tone.

"Yeah. And you're...Kyla?"

"Yep," she answers, pursing her lips. "So, did you like Zayn? 'Cause I'm not big on taking other girls' guys. That's why I always go for the single ones."

I'm a little taken aback by her statement, but quickly reply. "No, no. I mean, he seemed really sweet and all, but I'm not really interested in a relationship right now." I try to be as nice as possible, even though Zayn practically ruined the entire night and probably all the dances for the rest of my life.