Rest In Peace (Doublesided sequel)

Chapter Eight- Rumors Repercussions and Returns

"I know you heard about what happened, considering that you live with Zayn," Louis said as he dug into his prepackaged pasta, "No, no I haven't, what happened with Zayn," I asked, with a little bit of chicken hanging out of my mouth. Louis looked like he saw a ghost, "you mean you haven't heard about what Zayn did to Peyton last night," he questioned. "He talked to him, told him to leave me alone," Louis swallowed the remaining fettuccine and waved his hand in the air. Everyone else at the lunch table stared at Louis, not knowing what happened either, where he got his information, we would never know.

"If you believe that Zayn was going to Peyton to, 'just talk,' you have to be crazy," Liam stuck out a hand trying to understand this all, "what did Zayn do then?" Louis shook his head with a sinister smile on his face, "he beat the shit out of Peyton, but not like the normal way that Zayn beats the shit out of people. He literally fucked Peyton up, he's in the hospital with broken ribs, an arm, and his whole face is just crushed to pieces." Everyone's mouth fell open, "how did his arm even end up broken," Eleanor asked, "he snapped it at the elbow," he answered simply.

"He must've been furious," Harry inferred as Louis continued eating as if this wasn't big news, "he made sure that no one reported him and that they said it was a drunken accident by threatening to do the same to them." The bell then rang signaling that it was time for the last class of the day, "well, I'm talk to you at home Nialler," Liam departed as I walked to Mr. Tucker's room, gaining many stares from people, now I know why.

I sat in my seat, with a mixture of thankfulness and confusion from Zayn and Peyton; I was glad that Zayn stuck up for me, but he didn't have to be that bad. My phone then buzzed in my pocket, 'you have two days left to pick someone for me, Niall, choose wisely.' These text messages didn't bother me nearly as much as they used to, but having to pick someone on the spot like this was just tearing me apart.

'I picked myself.'

"Are you alright, Niall," Mr. Tucker asked before beginning the class, I must've been shaking harder than I though I was, "um, yeah I'm fine, thank you." Another text came through and I reluctantly looked down at my phone.

'That's not good enough, good luck son :)'

~

I kissed Zayn and walked out of the door to Liam waiting in the car, "wait," he ran to grab his leather jacket and wrapped it around my shoulders, "it's really cold tonight, I love you," he kissed me one more time. "I love you to Zaynie," I quickly closed the door, knowing that he hated when I called him that, "DAMMIT NIALL," I heard him yell as I continued to walk away with a satisfied smile.

"I can't wait to see them," Liam said as I got in the car, "I know right, my mom texted me and said that they just got back." Liam's eyes shot over me, "I thought they were still on the plane," I disagreed with a shake of the head and he started driving. For about half of the ride, we couldn't contain our excitement, constantly tapping feet, unexplainable giggles, and constant grins on both of our faces. "So how do you feel about the whole Zayn and Peyton thing," Liam asked, making me do an emotional 180, "well I'm happy that he loves me enough to do that, but if I was there I definitely wouldn't let it go as far as it went."

He nodded, "yeah I thought you would feel like that," I shifted in my seat getting a little uncomfortable, "I just don't like how little I know about all of this, Peyton could be dead right now or completely fine and this was all one big lie. I- I don't like depending on rumors for very serious shit that I caused."

Liam took one hand off of the wheel, "have you talked to Zayn about all of this yet, get some clarification," I disagreed with a shake of the head, "no, but I hope I can soon." I ran up to my mom and hugged her as if she was the last source of water in a vast desert. "MOMMY," I screamed, "okay, okay, Niall I love you too, you're choking me," she laughed. Liam tried to stay stern and well grounded, as Liam usually does, but eventually crumbled to pieces. Both of us ended up crying on our parents shoulders as they hopelessly stared at each other.

~

"One thing, Niall," Liam asked as he drove home through the darkness, "why didn't you just tell Zayn about your dad; why did you tell him about Peyton instead." I balled my fists together uncomfortably, "I- well I, I can't, actually I wish you kinda didn't know," I answered honestly, "why," he turned to look at me with a completely hurt face. "Not because I can't trust you or anything- I probably trust you the most out of anyone- but theirs just nothing we can do about it, he wants what he wants."

Liam played with his lip with squinted eyes, trying to focus on me and the road at the same time, "what does he even want," I shook my head, "I don't know." He knew this much already, I figured that I should tell someone the whole truth, "he's forcing me to pick someone that he's gonna do something to, and I have to do it before tomorrow before twelve at night, or he picks." Liam abruptly pulled to the side of the road, "so you mean that all of our lives could potentially be in danger and you didn't tell any of us, what the fuck, Niall," I tugged at my hair, "no no, Liam, I knew you would get mad. I didn't tell you because all of you guys would want to confront him, and if you did, he would go ballistic and do something worse."

Liam was obviously fuming, which was unusual he never got this mad at anything, "we could've turned him in to the police by now, or we could've resolved this issue, but you kept it to yourself, that's fucking selfish and idiotic."

He turned the car back in and sighed, "you need to fix this because I can't help you anymore, you let this go on for too long," tears started streaming down my face, I never thought I would see the day that Liam would give up on me, "no, I was trying to protect you all, you don't understand, Liam." He ignored my pleas and drove, "whatever."