You Make Me Strong

Chapter 2:

"Piper come say goodbye to our guests!" My father's voice bellowed throughout the house.

"Goodbye!" I shouted down the stairs.

"No, Piper. Come down here!" My father replied, annoyed.

I sulked down the staircase and over to my sister who stood with Gemma chatting.

"Hey, wanna stay the night? I have FIFA World Cup on Xbox!" I overheard Andy ask Harry as they walked into the room from the kitchen.

"Sure!" Harry agreed and they gave high-fives.

Typical boys.

"You changed already?" Corinna frowned at the sight of me.

"Sorry, I wanted to feel comfortable," I stated flatly.

My moms' worried eyes flickered from me to Anne who stood there in shock at the sight of me.

"I'm thin. I get it. You don't need to keep staring at me!" I snapped and my parents' mouths' flew open.

My mom's face turned a bright red, in embarrassment, I assume.

"I'm sorry, she's not normally that..rude," my mom apologized to her guests for the second time this evening.

Apparently I embarrass them. I'm not good enough, never have been and never will be. I'm sorry that I'm not precious Corinna or Andy, I'm sorry I'm the problem child. I didn't plan on this.

"This is exactly why I avoid coming here, I get nothing but judgmental stares and rude comments like that by all the people that supposedly care about me!" I spat.

"Nice meeting you!" I yelled less harshly, fleeing up the stairs.

"We should get going, thanks for the dinner, Natalie. It was nice. Tell Piper we said we apologize," I heard Anne say to my mom.

I headed to my room, not caring what they thought. I was so done with everyone here, I just wanted to go home. How was I gonna last 6 more days with these people?

"Hey," my door creaked open and the curly haired boy appeared in the doorway.

"What do you want? Do you want to take a picture, it'll last longer," I scoffed, turning back to the window.

"What? No! Piper, I'm sorry about what happened down there. You shouldn't be put through that," Harry said to me as he took a seat on the edge of my bed.

"Shouldn't you be hanging out with my brother?" I asked him, rather harshly.

"He's cleaning off the table and putting the dishes in the dishwasher. Your mom said I could go up to his room and wait for him. I thought I should apologize, so here I am," Harry explained.

"No need to apologize. I know I'm a disappointment. I know I'm an ugly sickly freak," I finally sighed.

"If it helps, I think you're beautiful," Harry whispered.

"Yeah, well I don't agree," I rolled my eyes, clearing my bed off some.

Harry reached over, rubbing my arm. As I looked up, hesitantly, he have me a crooked smile, whispering, "you are," to me.

Our eyes were locked in place, staring at one another. And it felt...nice. It wasn't like the uncomfortable stares that I come to know, it was nice. I couldn't explain it to you, really.

"Hey, Harry! Where are you?" Andy yelled, coming up the stairs.

"See ya," Harry whispered, standing up.

He walked to the door, turning back only once to give me a small smile.

"Hey, man! I got lost, did you say last door on the left or right?" I heard Harry lie, closing the door behind him.