Barely Gone (one direction)

Chapter 3

At this point harry, Louis and liam had gone home and it was just zayn and maddy sitting on some swings at a childrens playground.

"Well she's super nice" zayn said as he dragged in the cigarette he just lit.

Maddy spoke before taking a drag herself.

"Yeah she is, I feel bad for her tho"

"How come?"

"She just doesn't have her life together, you know?"

Zayn nodded before maddy spoke again, this time looking down at her hands.

"Shes so hated at school, just because of this one girl, and like she has no friends, but I mean I'm not her friend because I feel pity I was actually really into her when we first met and I still am, I just feel bad."

"Yeah I get it, but I mean now she has you, and us, she'll probably gain her confidence back, don't worry."

"Yeah i know"

Maddy took another drag of her smoke before throwing it on the floor and putting it out with her toes, thinking if hailey was okay.

"We should get going"

"yeah let's go I'll drive"

***

"Yeah i should get going before my mom freaks out knowing i cut school and all, nice meeting you guys, bye maddy"

She walked away as she heard them all say goodbye in unison. Hailey walked about 2 blocks down when she saw Monica coming her way.

"Just ignore her, don't make eye contact" hailey continued to whisper this to herself until she heard Monica speak.

"Ewww look at this tramp, where ya going, smut?"

Hailey tried to walk the other way but she found herself surrounded by Monica's posse, and at this point her heart was beating ten times faster.

"What..what..do you want?"

"Nothing we just wanna talk"

Monica said, an evil smirk spread across her face, then one of the guys who always called her a cry baby smut said

"yeah talk, and well Monica tells me you like some dirty action, so why don't we do a little something"

He grabbed Hailey's waist, and she pulled away, as she felt the tears at the back of her eyes, fighting to come out.

"Eww Jake, not her, she probably has an std or something." Monica said in a way hailey thought sounded like jealousy.

"Leave me alone *sobs* please"

"Come on guys, let's not waste our time with this loser, she's probably late for a job, if you know what I mean."

At this Hailey broke down not being able to hold back the tears anymore, she ran past them as fast as she could. She ran into this dark alley and sat on a bench nearby. She knew it was extremely dangerous to be there this late, especially alone, but she didn't care. She tried to catch her breath as the tears were streaming down her face.

"Why? Why me? What have I ever done to deserve this?"

She buried her face into her hands, letting her elbows rest on her thighs, not caring if anyone heard her cry.

"Hey little lady, you alright there?" Hailey looked up to see a man, around the near age of 60, wearing what seemed to be really old clothes, and spoke in a western accent.

"Listen, if you come here trying to get money from me or something else," using her fingers to emphasize quoting something else "then you've come to the wrong place, cus I've got nothing, so just leave me alone."

She saw the man's face expression change from worried to offended and she couldn't help but feel bad.

"I'm sorry if I came off like that its just I heard you crying and wanted to know if you was alright."

"Oh I'm sorry, I'm just not in the greatest mood"

"Wanna tell me what's going on?"

Hailey looked up at him, not sure if she should tell him, but the way she was feeling made her tell him anyway. There she told him what had happened earlier, and then she told him how it all started in the 7th grade and how it never stopped after that.

"So ever since then she's hated my guts, which I find so ridiculous because he was just a boy, but, yeah and the teasing never stopped."

"WOW"

She saw the look on the mans face, worried if she had said too much.

"Honestly I get it."

"You do?"

"Yeah she envies you, she feels the need to humiliate you in order to get more attention than you"

Hailey was completely surprised, to know Monica could feel something like that, and found it hard to believe.

"Um...I don't know...I don't think its that."

"It is trust me, look she feels bias towards you, she felt you were gaining something she wanted. She's pretentious, and unable to feel any sort of sympathy for you because she's selfish and arrogant. The only thing she feels is happiness because maybe, for once in her life, she feels likes she's coming out on top and this superficial person who's taken over her body is the real her. You were just blinded by her kindness to see it sooner. You were a kid and unaware of what was real and what was just an act. That girl won't stop, she's spontaneous, really. She's full of fear that someone else could take her place."

Hailey was stunned.

"I....I actually have never thought of it like that."

"Yeah I could tell by the expression on your face, but take it from an old man like me, who's seen it all, been through it all."

"Yea, i guess you're right and I'm really sorry for misjudging you earlier."

"Nah its alright, don't worry about it, I mean you were alone at 9 in the night, in the middle of nowhere."

Hailey laughed telling him he was right.

"Why don't you head on home, your mama must be worried."

With that hailey said goodbye and started walking away before he yelled out

"and hey, watch out for the monsters"

making her smile, and wave goodbye.