Wait (Harry Styles)

f i v e

5

"Rosie! My castle doesn't allow barbies!" Zack fussed as he tried to block her from shoving her barbie against one of his play knights.

After I had named the boy, Harry, I decided to bring him downstairs and make something for him to eat. Not crackers. Mainly because we didn't have anymore, but also because I wanted to be a bit more hospitable. I was looking through the cabinets while Harry sat on the floor watching Rosie & Zack, adjusting the towel around his neck every couple of seconds. I was afraid he was going to catch a cold-shirtless in this frozen temperature, but he didn't seem affected by it. And get this-when I accidentally brushed my hand against his shoulder, he didn't feel the least bit cold, but actually kind of warm.

Rosie wailed in protest, her pom poms flying around. "Ammy! Zack won't let me play with him!"

Zack rolled his eyes and got up. "Whatever, i'm heading upstairs. You can do whatever you want with the toys." He dropped the two figures he was holding and raced up the stairs.

Rosie collected the fallen knights and scooted over to where Harry was sitting. Her small fingers reached out to him with the figurines.

"Wanna play?"

I had turned around just in time to see Harry delicately grabbing a purple knight from Rosie's left hand, bringing it up above his head, clueless as to what that thing was. Was he so deprived of his childhood that he didn't know what toys were? That would explain him running away from home. Or wherever he came from.

"You'll be in charge of protecting barbie from the bad guys!" Rosie told him, while setting up a makeshift castle out of wooden blocks. Occasionally she would turn her head around just to make sure Harry didn't eat the knight- the way he was staring at it, almost made the plastic play toy seem edible.

My hand wrapped around a box of instant mac & cheese-hopefully he liked 99c artificial cheese, although he wasn't in the position to complain.

Setting out the pot and tearing open the box, I waited for the water to boil while tapping the wooden spoon on my side.

What was I going to say when Mom got home? She's sure to kick him out right away without hearing an explanation and ground me for the rest of my life, reprimanding me about stranger danger. I should probably make up a bunch of exaggerated lies. Such as, he was barely wearing any clothes outside and I was afraid he was going to catch pneumonia? Which was half the truth, but I would leave out the fact that he was staying in the shed. Or maybe I should just make up a story about how Rosie was about to be hit by a car and he saved her life, therefore I was re-paying him with a shower & food. But that wouldn't explain the fact that he would have to stay here for a couple more days-since he doesn't seem to have a home besides the outdoor shed.

I furrowed my brows in irritation. Great. This just had to happen the day before school started. I already had enough stress with the fact that I'm going to be a new student in a town where everyone knows each other-they'll probably gang up behind my back and make up false rumours about where I came from. I was so immersed with my thoughts that I nearly didn't notice the pot boiling. Quickly grabbing an oven mitt, I lifted up the lid and threw in the pasta. I was halfway through opening the cheese mix when I heard the door open.

Mom was home.

My head whipped around so fast I thought I was going to break my neck, I raced over to where Rosie was sitting and scooped her up.

"Hey!" She cried out in surprise.

Harry had then dropped the play toys and cocked his head to the side in pure curiosity, probably wondering why I was freaking out. I kicked the figurines to the side, and raced back with Rosie to turn off the stove.