Storms {z.m.}

Chapter 38

Chapter 38 – Zayn

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“I can’t believe you,” I mutter as I bang on the steering wheel of my mum’s car. I’ve been telling Liya how disappointed I am in her for every second of this short car ride, and it still doesn’t make me feel any better. I got a sick feeling in my stomach the second I saw my baby sister and my best friend holding a big box of pills. I don’t even know exactly what they were, but I don’t need to know.

When I left Bradford, I didn’t ever plan to come back, but I also didn’t plan on leaving my family here. It’s not the best of cities; there is a lot of gang activity and drugs coursing through the veins of this town. Granted, any place will have its fair share of that, but Bradford is just not one of those places where you want to live if you don’t have to. I’d planned to buy my mum a house in London close enough to mine so I could visit them whenever possible, but with all of the band’s touring and hectic schedule I never got the chance to. I regret that now more than ever.

“How long have you?” I ask, not quite being able to form a sentence. I swear if she says more than a year my heart will explode with guilt. There’s already enough there from being with Christine while Perrie is at home crying. Couple that with the guilt of my procrastination turning my baby sister into a drug dealer and I just won’t be able to hold myself together. I love my family more than anything in the world and I let them down.

“Couple years,” she mutters under her breath. I can’t bring myself to look at her. I want to yell at her for being so stupid and getting caught up in something like this, but I don’t know all of the facts yet. I don’t want to assume that my sister is selling drugs just for the hell of it. But the main reason I can’t look at her is because I failed her. If I would have gotten her out f here sooner she might not be involved in this world. If I would have bought them a house before buying my own, this wouldn’t be happening. If I hadn’t been so selfish…

I park the car in front of our house and lay my head on the steering wheel. I shut my eyes to think of the best way to proceed with this, but there are so many things running through my head, the main one being an image of a red-handed Christine.

I should have known that she was involved in that world; you can read it all over her. I guess I just hoped that my Crissy was still somewhere in there talking some sense into her, guiding her to only make half of the bad decisions she would otherwise make. But now I know better. The girl I grew up with is gone, and in her place is a selfish, dangerous version that resembles her. How could she put my family in danger like that? She, more than anyone, knows that this is the last thing I would want my family in the middle of. Specially my little sister. I don’t know who to trust anymore.

“Are you going to tell Mum?” Liya asks me in a scared voice. I can’t see her, but I know her lip is trembling in fear. I know telling my mum is the right thing, but it would absolutely tear her apart. She would feel even guiltier than I do right now.

“She doesn’t have to know. But you’re not getting off that easy. You and I are going to have a talk. And I’m moving you all out to London with me within a month,” I say into the speedometer. I hear her huff in disapproval and she opens the door and quickly gets out.

I open my door and follow quickly after her but halfway up the concrete walkway leading to the front door my whole body bumps into her. She just stopped abruptly and is looking straight ahead in shock.

There’s a familiar figure sitting on the front steps of my house. Last time I saw her she stood tall and confident, but now she’s hugging her knees and has her head down, like a puppy with its tail between its legs. Her then platinum blonde hair is dyed a darker shade, and her once pale face is now tan. Her thighs are a bit thicker, but in the best way possible. Her cheeks and midsection have also filled out a bit. Her nose ring is in the same spot where I last saw it, but it no longer catches the light like it once did. It lacks its luster, much like her blue eyes. Where they once shined a proud blue, they’re now a cloudy shade of navy. But they still give me all the proof I need to convince myself that my Perrie is standing only a few feet away from me.