Salute » Harry Styles

Chapter 4

∞ Chapter 4 ∞

The Curly Haired Bitch retracts from me, giving me one last glare before his lips curl up into a smirk. I roll my eyes and storm out of the room. I walk into —I guess you can call it —my bedroom. Gemma is sitting on the bed, tears streaming down her face as she has different clothing on the bed.

"I picked out something for you to wear. I know you don't have much experience with style and all so I helped you with it," she says, smiling weakly. I sigh, smiling slightly.

"You didn't have to, Gem," I say with a shrug. Her eyes widen and I furrow my brows. "What's wrong?"

"H-Harry used to call me Gem," she mumbles and I nod.

"I won't call you that then," I conclude and she shrugs. Then she looks up at me, wiping the tears away before smiling brightly.

"Let's get you girlified," Gemma says with a smirk. I roll my eyes as she forces me to change into a shirt with a cartoon character all over it and denim jeans. She hands me white, black and red sneakers that say 'Adidas' with a red bow on it.

"Hmmm," she hums, looking at me while cocking her head to the side. She pulls the sleeve of my shirt down so it exposes my shoulder. Then Gemma smiles. "That's Minnie Mouse. She's a character from this children's telly show called Mickey Mouse."

"Then why am I wearing a children's telly show character on my shirt?" I ask oddly. Gosh, people have some shit style. And I have absolutely no sense of style so that says a lot.

"Well, when I look at you, you have this innocent and cute look. And Minnie Mouse is innocent and cute," Gemma says with a shrug. I nod. Then she rummages through the drawers, taking out a hairbrush and something that looks like a red handkerchief. My brows knit together as I look at her oddly.

"It's for your hair," she explains but that only causes my confusion to enhance.

"But why would you put a handkerchief in my hair?" I ask curiously and Gemma chuckles.

"It's not a handkerchief, it's a bandana," Gemma says but I just look at her plainly. "Let me do your hair then you may have second thoughts." I shrug at her offer.

Gemma makes me sit in front of her, pulling my hair out of its bun. She takes the hairbrush and brushes through my tangled hair. I wince every time she entangles a knot, Gemma saying a soft 'sorry' each time.

"So, tell me. What's it like in Salute Institution?" Gemma asks curiously, as she styles my hair.

"Two words," I start. "Absolute Hell. The officers there —what I like to call 'bitches' —treat the women there like shit. There is hardly any food to eat and if there is, it's absolute rubbish anyways. We have to sleep in cells that are so fucking freezing; we only get a small, miniature towel as a blanket. But we don't complain, we can't complain. And if we do, we get whipped or beaten."

"That's horrendous," Gemma says, shaking her head. "What happens when women get Chosen?"

"Well the bitches call everyone out of their cells and crowd us together once every week. They have the Board and call out some women's names. But this time was a bit odd. They usually don't assign us. They just say —for example —'Jade Thirlwall' and just call our names. It's odd that Eleanor, Jesy, Perrie, Leigh-Anne and I were assigned to individual people," I say.

"And I'm guessing Eleanor, Jesy, Perrie and Leigh-Anne are your best friends?" Gemma concludes and I nod.

"We all met when I was three and shipped to the SI. I met Leigh-Anne and we just were closer. Then we met Eleanor and Perrie. And lastly, we met Jesy. Ever since then, we've been together since and inseparable. We would always hold hands, praying that we wouldn't be Chosen because we couldn't bear the thought of leaving each other. But this time was different. At least we're in the same destination," I say with a shrug.

"Wow... you're like sisters, huh?" Gemma says and I nod. She plays around with my hair some more before saying she's done. I look at myself in the mirror to see that my hair is left out, the red bandana wrapped around my hair. I cock my head to the side like Gemma had done before.

"It's missing something," I say, getting up from the chair and to the drawers. I open the first one and pull out a red bow. I pin it to the side of the red bandana and turn to Gemma. She smiles, nodding her head approvingly.

"May be you do have some sense of style," Gemma says and I laugh. "Come on, let's go and show mum." I nod and we walk down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Mum! Look at Jade's new—" Gemma stops midsentence, both of us stopping as we see Anne crying. "Mum, what's wrong?" we both walk into the kitchen, sitting at the table. Anne shakes her head.

"Des... he's back..." she chokes out. Gemma's eyes widen while I look at them in confusion.

"Who's Des?" I ask. Gemma gulps, looking down to her lap.

"He's... he's my... father," Gemma says, biting her lip. "You remember how I said he is a very powerful and wealthy man, right?" I nod.

"Well he doesn't really like Harry or me," Gemma starts. Anne gets up, leaving the room so she does not have to hear Gemma's story. She sighs. "He used to abuse us both, saying we're shit. He's the only man that Harry is terrified of. By the time Harry was two and I was five, —when the SI didn't exist —the police came to our house and arrested Des because of the abuse he did to not only us but also mum. He had to give up all of his power and money and give it to Harry because he was the only other man in the house even if he was only two."

"That's terrible! So he's out of jail?" I ask and Gemma nods.

"Usually they don't have jails anymore because of the SI but he was sentenced there for life. So they can't do anything about it now. I guess the Law changed... again," Gemma says with a sigh. Before I can say anything else, three loud knocks come from outside of the front door. Gemma gulps and walks over to answer it.

The Curly Haired Bitch and another man walk into the mansion. The other man has identical brown curls and the same evil eyes as the Curly Haired Bitch. But the Curly Haired Bitch looks a bit different. His —mind I say neatly tied —tie is now tangled and loose. His white button up shirt is torn with his pants and shoes dirtied with mud.

Anne walks into the room, examining the scene. She gasps at the sight of both the man and the Curly Haired Bitch's face. He has a black eye, a purple bruise forming on his jaw and his right cheekbone.

"What did you to him, Desmond?!" Anne exclaims, a new side of her showing. Probably the aggressive side. The other man —Desmond also known as Des —cackles, throwing his head back as he watches Anne baby the Curly Haired Bitch. She runs her hand through his curly hair.

"I'm fine," the Curly Haired Bitch says, shrugging Anne off.

"No you're not," Anne protests. "Gemma, get the first aid kit from the kitchen." Gemma leaves the room, going into the kitchen.

"Quit babying him, Anne. Does he look like a fucking little boy?" Des sneers. Anne glares at him while the Curly Haired Bitch bites his lip nervously.

"Fuck off," she says, surprising not only the Curly Haired Bitch but also Des and me. "He may have done some stupid decisions in life but he's still my son." The Curly Haired Bitch smiles lightly at her while Anne does the same.

Gemma walks back into the room, handing the first aid kit to Anne before quickly grabbing my wrist and urgently leading me out of the room.

"And where do you two think you're going?" Des says, ceasing both of our actions. Gemma turns around slowly, making me do the same as she swears underneath her breath.

"And who is this, Gemma?" he taunts. Gemma sighs.

"A Slut from the SI. That's all, father," the Curly Haired Bitch answers for her. I roll my eyes at him and he smirks at me.

"Well then it must be all right if I have a bit of fun with her," Des says with a smirk, inching towards me. Anne and Gemma open their mouths to protest but a deep, raspy voice beats them as it surprises us all.

"Don't you dare fucking touch her!" the voice says as it echoes off of the walls.

The Curly Haired Bitch...