zero • njh

• two •

  The rest of the day I spend walking from class to class with a cooling pack pressed to my eye and trying to keep Zayn from losing his shit so he wouldn't jump at Niall and beat the living hell out of him. He has always been very protective of me and wasn't afraid to show everyone how serious he was about that. After school Zayn drives me home as always. I'm quiet the whole time, thinking about Niall's words. Does he really think I don't care about my appearance? I mean, I don't think that much about what to wear. Is dressing casually suddenly considered not trying?

   "Are you sure you don't want me to beat the crap out of that asshole?" he asks me as we arrive at my house. I just nod, looking at him exhausted from all the weird looks I was getting today. Although I liked the idea of him beating up Niall, I really didn't want him to get in trouble.    "Do you think I'm ugly?" I address my worries, still pressing the cooling pack against my throbbing eye and he gives me a confused look.
  "What? No, why would I think that?" Of course he'd say that, what did I think he'd respond to that?
   "No, honestly. Do you think I don't try? Like, with my choice of clothing and stuff."
  He is thinking about my question, casually checking out my outfit for today. It's nothing special, just some jeans I grabbed from my dresser and a grey sweater. Casual, nothing more and nothing less.
   "Well, it's a normal outfit. Nothing wrong here." Zayn gives me the purest smile and I sigh, nodding. "Why are you asking me that, though?"
   I knew he'd ask me that and honestly I don't know why it was such a big deal what I'm wearing all of the sudden. Maybe I'm just not used to being called out for my looks. "It's nothing." I say, smiling back at him. I unbuckle my seat belt and reach to open the door.
   "Alright, but if you wanna talk just give me a call." I smile at him, to show him how grateful I am for him to offer this to me and get out of the car.
  "I will, don't worry. See ya."

   Inside, I am greeted by the smell of pizza and make my way to the kitchen, where dad is sitting at the counter reading a cook book. "It smells like heaven in here." I say and throw my bag into a corner. Dad doesn't bother turning around to look at me.
  "How was school?"
  "Oh absolutely wonderful!" I gush and let myself fall into a chair. "You won't believe it, dad, but schools so fun and great. I love it." 

Confused by my words he turns around and his eyes widen immediately at the sight of me pressing a cooling bag onto my eye. "What happened? Did you get into a fight? Do I have to talk to the principle? God, please don't make me talk to him. I hate that man." I chuckle at his comment. You really shouldn't get on the bad side of Mr. Carlson. He's a big chunky man with bald head and weird obsession with tortillas. 
   "No, don't worry. Do I look like I'd get into a fight?"
   "Thank god." he sighs relieved "What happened then? And how did that happen?"
   "Some jocks thought it would be funny to play around with a soccer ball before history class." I explain. Dad just grins at his book, knowing that it would be wrong for him to laugh. 
    "Which one of the soccer jocks?"
    "Niall Horan." A small smirk forms on his lips as he looks up at me again.
   "The one that used to swear he'd marry you one day?"
   "Are you like friends with her?" My dad chuckles and looks down at his book again.
    "His mom works at the book store downtown, we always talk when I come in. You two were inseparable when you were younger, so she and I were updating each other about what you were doing."
   Thinking about it always made me feel somehow warm inside. I loved to hang out with him, he always knew how to make me laugh and we'd always do fun stuff with Zayn, Louis, Liam and Harry. All the girls would always be jealous of me for hanging out with them, so I didn't bother making any girl friends.
  Shaking my head to stop myself from thinking about it for too long, I get up from my chair and grab my bag again. "Well that sounds lovely, but I hope you found other interesting subjects to talk about."
     "There's nothing more interesting than teens growing up." he mocks me, making me roll my eyes.