Adopted by Harry Styles

The End of the Day

(Song: Fingertips by one republic)
Harry's POV
"I swear there not mine, Dad. Please...," she says.

"I need you to explain to me why you have drugs, El, okay? I believe you, but I have to know what's going on," I tell her, trying to prevent myself from sounding mad. I'm not mad at Ellie, I'm mad at Kimmy and Dan for getting her into this mess.

El sniffles and nods her head. "They... they told me I had to, or else they'd post the photos," she says quietly. "Dad, I hate the pictures!" She says loudly while pulling at her hair. "I hate Kimmy! And I hate Dan! And I hate school!"

"Hey, hey, hey. Shh, calm down. I'm not going to let anything bad happen. I know this sucks, but we're going to get through it together," I say while pulling her into a hug.

"It's not fair!" She sobs into my chest, her tears soaking my shirt. I feel so bad for her; she's so broken.

"I know... I know," I say quietly. I run her back, feeling her uneven breath move my hand up and down. "I promise, Kimmy and Dan will be punished. I'm not going to let them get away with anything," I say, protectively.

Ellie doesn't respond and the only sound in the room are her silenced cries. "I know today has been rough," I start. "But tomorrow is a fresh start. I'm not going to make you go to school tomorrow, unless you want to, okay? You deserve a break if you want one," I tell her.

"N-no. I can go. Thank you, though," she tells me releasing from our hug and sitting up in front of me.

"Okay, as long as you feel comfortable. You're very strong, you know that right?" I ask. I know I definitely wouldn't go to school the next day if this happened to me.

She gives me a small smile. "I spoke with the cops. They said that Dan will not be at school tomorrow," I tell her.

Ellie looks up at me and shakes her head. "Dad... I thought you said we would decide what to do together," she says. I can tell she feels betrayed.

"El, I know, I should have let you know what I was doing before I did. I broke our promise, and I'm sorry," I apologize. "But, this isn't some random high school drama; this is serious. You knew I would have to tell someone about this. I know you knew that," I say more seriously.

"I know," she says with a sigh. She clearly is too tired from crying to be upset with me. I hope she will come to terms with what I did. I would never do anything to hurt her in any way. The only way I can help is by calling someone to let them know about what happened.

"Let's go get some food, and then we can head to bed. I think we both need some beauty rest after today," I say with a small smile on my face. I need to get Ellie back in a good mood.

"Okay," She says.

We walk down the stairs together into the kitchen. She sits down at her seat and fiddled with her fingers.

"Any preferences?" I ask, hoping she'll tell me something she wants. I know she doesn't enjoy food, so the least I can do is give her a food that she thinks tastes good.

"Whatever is fine," she says.

I nod my head and look in the fridge for something to eat. I decide on chicken nuggets and some fruit. It's kind of a weird dinner, but I don't think she'll mind.

I lay about twenty nuggets onto a tray and put them in the over while I get a bowl out for the fruit.

"Here you go, love," I say, placing the fruit in front of her and sitting down with another bowl of fruit.

"I want to thank you for telling me what happened, El. That was very brave," I say.

"Yeah," She says sarcastically with a chuckle. "And it only took me two hours to do so." She pushes around the fruit in her bowl.

"Don't say that," I scold. "Some thins just take time. And it's very hard to talk about how you feel. I'm proud of you, even if you aren't."

Ellie doesn't say anything but she nods her head a little. I get up and grab the chicken nuggets from the oven, placing five on a plate afterward.

"I want you to eat all of these. I know you can do it," I say, putting the plate in front of her. I grab my plate and sit back down, looking at her fruit bowl, I notice that she has barely eaten anything. She's not leaving until she eats, and that's final.

Ellie picks at her food for the next few minutes, occasionally taking a piece of fruit and putting it in her mouth. "I'm just not hungry..." she says while moving around the chicken nuggets on her plate.

"I know, but you haven't eaten since school. I understand that you're upset, I truly do, but that's no reason to not eat, okay? We have to stick with our healthy eating decisions even when we go through hard times ," I tell her, hoping she'll listen to me.

She doesn't say anything and we continue sitting in silence. "Okay, lets eat our food now, love. No more playing with it," I say, trying to avoid my annoyance. I'm not mad with El, I just need her to listen to me when I speak with her. I am only here to help her.

"Fine," She says, letting out a sigh and picking up a piece of chicken. She slowly begins to eat.

"Do you know when you start the musical rehearsals?" I ask in attempt to change the subject and make her think less about food. She doesn't say anything, but shakes her head, signaling she is unaware about any rehearsals.

Ellie eats three chicken nuggets and most of her fruit and then stops eating. I think for a minute before deciding that I'll let her skip the last two chicken nuggets. After all, she has had a really rough day.

"Come on, follow me," I say walking up the stairs. "You can sleep with me tonight. I want to keep you by my side." I am honestly too scared to let her sleep in her own room. I don't want her to harm herself anymore.

Ellie doesn't respond, so I assume she understands and is okay with it. "Here you go," I say, throwing her one of my T-shirt's. "You get changed. Tell me when I can turn around."

"I'm done," Ellie says quietly after a few seconds.

I turn around and sit on my bed next to Ellie. "Come here, sweetie," I say, holding my arms out for her to come into. She lays down and snuggled into my arms.

"Goodnight. I love you," I say.