Unbreak Me

★ CHAPTER FORTY-THREE ★

ZAYN
This was so not what I expected to be doing right before taking an exam. Not just any exam. A freaking CIE. Hell, I half thought I would be lined up in the bathroom waiting for my turn. Thank God, that only happened the first day. It wasn't an experience I wanted to repeat.

Dirty boot marks on the floor, no water in the Muslim shower, no light coming from the small window and the best part? The door was cut from the bottom, allowing anyone who wished to bend a little, see what was going on inside.

I shivered just thinking about it. I might be many things but God had put quite a lot of shame inside me.

And this fierce protectiveness.

Which is why I had been looking for Leia for the past fifteen minutes.

With rather difficulty, I found her among the hoard of students.

What the hell was she doing sitting next to a boy from another school? And why did she keep nervously looking about?

Well, I was more concerned with the former so I trudged up to her, watching her eyes widen as she took me in. There really wasn't much to take in, actually. My uniform was pressed to perfection and not a hair on my head was out of place. I suspected there might be eyebags under my eyes but didn't quite care.

For the time being, the guy sitting next to her on the bench was my problem. And what a big problem he was.

"Zayn?" Leia looked up at me with wide, innocent, caught off-guard eyes and I tried not to get lost in those honey-coloured irises.

"I need to talk to you," See? I sounded civil. I didn't shout 'get up!' the way I wanted to. I didn't grab hold of her and drag her away like I so, so much wanted to.

Even I was surprised at the gentleness of my tone.

"You need to?" She tried being a smart-ass and I pretended she was smiling under her veil. It was a good fantasy compared to the blank look in her creaseless eyes.

"The exam starts in forty-five minutes so we don't have time to argue. Come with me now so we can quickly get this over with."

I cringed at my choice of words. Get this over with. As if I was going to perform a duty or something.

She narrowed her eyes but didn't say anything. Shoving her books and pencil into her backpack, she clutched it to her front. "All right. Let's go. It better be something important."

I held out my hand. She stared at it for the longest time. "Your bag, Leia," I drawled out. "I'm not dumb enough to hold your hand." I liked my privates intact, thank you very much.

If possible, she held it even closer to her. Then, she got up. Not gracefully like she usually would. In fact, she got up like it pained her to do so. I tried not to overthink but still tried to understand what was going on.

She didn't allow me a single thought as she brushed past me and into the hallway, crossing people who threw glares at her. I followed her, wanting to murder a few of the onlookers. What was their problem if she chose to wear modest clothing? If wasn't their damned business.

"Fools," I muttered.

"Excuse me?" Leia said from beside me.

"Nothin',"

Okay, so I had no idea where that accent just came from. I was a total Paki but watching and reading everything in English was driving me crazy. I tried my best to have only a Pakistani accent but I had discovered early on that us Pakistanis didn't have one. It was either American or British. And mine was a combination of both.

Talking to Ammar had obviously ignited the British side.

I shook my head, mad at myself for some reason.

Leia looked up at me, laughing lightly.

"No comment," I warned when I sensed she was about to say something.

"I wasn't going to say anything."

I tried changing the subject. "Do you even know where we are going?"

"In a vacant room, of course."

"Speaking of which," I took a sharp left, throwing the door open. "Here we are."