Riley's POV:

"You can't be here." I whisper into his chest. His body tense up around me as I try to pull away, but he won't budge.

"Did you hear me? I love you Riley." He says into my ear, sending chills down my body and to my feet. I nod my head into his chest, and let out another sob.

"That doesn't change anything Harry, it only makes it harder." I sigh, slightly mortified that he would tell me this now. "I want to be alone." I sniffle, finally detaching my arms from his waist. I look up at his bewildered eyes, and guilt washes over my body.

"I just want you to hear me out. Please Riley, let me explain what I meant by this happening again." He begged, holding onto my hands tightly.

"Fine." I sigh, giving in. To be honest, I think I only agreed because my body is too weak to get up from the ground.

He took a large deep breath, ran his fingers through his messy curly hair and tears welled in his eyes.

"Alright. We used to have another gang member, his name was Eric. We all got along great, but we picked on him a lot. We all thought it was harmless, until he got so fed up one day he switched gangs... He betrayed our trust and joined forces with Seth, Brian and all of them." He sighed. I could tell how hard this was for him.

"Why did you pick on him?" I asked before he could finish.

"Because we're assholes and we thought that he wasn't strong enough to stand up for himself. He was like the little punk of the gang, and we thought he could handle it until he got angry." He let out a sharp breath and shook his head.

"Continue." I demanded, inching myself away from him.

"So we kept at it, we kept fucking with him. He was best friends with Seth and all of them, and to be honest that hurt. He was supposed to be in our gang!" He shouted, rage filling his eyes. I nodded my head, begging for him to continue.

"We embarrassed him in front of the whole school. Everything we had on him, every picture, every story... We even got all his ex girlfriends to tell the the popular kids he was gay. He just became this little, nobody loser. Seth and his guys were all there for him, but it wasn't enough...."

"Harry, what happened to Eric?" I gasped, feeling so sick to my stomach.

"Sometimes I think, if he couldn't handle it, why not speak up? We would have stopped picking on him if he had asked, but he just took it and took it until he betrayed us and switched to Seth's gang."

"You're all intimidating as fuck! Why would he dare speak up? You're a cynical jackass! Tell me what happened to Eric." I commanded. His chest was rising and falling rapidly and he shook his head.

"Riley please just know, I never meant for this to happen... I regret everything that happened. Okay?" He sighed, and I slowly nodded my head in fear.

"He hanged himself." He said, and my blood ran cold. I started shaking, I started coughing. Who in their right mind would do that to a person?

"And that's what they wanted to happen to me? They want me to go over the edge like Eric did?" I gasped, putting the puzzle pieces together.

"I'm a changed person now, Riley. You've made me better. You can't care what other people think... It will destroy you. That's what I've been telling you all this time, this is why I tried to teach you--"

"It already has destroyed me!" I screamed, standing up and ripping at my hair. "Look at me, Harry! I'm falling apart at the seams. My family is ashamed of me, all my friends either hate me or are embarrassed by me, and you and all you friends.... you're monsters! The only constant I have in my life right now is Zayn." I choked out, stomping my feet on the ground.

"Zayn?" Harry gasped, coming towards me from the floor. "What about me? I love you, Riley! With everything in my being, you enchant me. When I look at you, I see bright lights and fire, you're my heaven and hell all wrapped into one. How can you look me in the eyes and say Zayn is the only constant in your life?" He asked, voice full of hurt and horror.

"Harry, please..." I cried, inches away from his face. "I can't do this... I can't be with you. Do you know how much I'm hurting right now? It's unbearable." I shouted, walking towards the door.

"I know..."

"You don't know! You'll never know!" I screamed as he followed my outside. With one quick motion, I was pinned against the wall and his succulent lips were placed on top of my swollen mouth. He poured everything he had left into this single kiss; his passion, his fears, his love. It was all there.

"This isn't enough. A kiss can't make things better." I pulled away, placing my hands on his shoulders. "Nothing can..." my voice cracked, and I walked away without looking back.



My ride back to the school was numb, and when I pulled up Zayn was already waiting outside for me. Without a word, I climbed into the passenger side and he slid into the drivers seat.

"Where to?" He asked pulling out of the lot.

"Home." I sniffled, tugging my knees into my chest and grabbing Zayn's phone from the cup holder it was sitting in. I opened up to Instagram and Twitter, reading all about myself. People are really creative with rumors, it's almost funny.

"Don't read any of that." Zayn begged, reaching for his phone. I swatted his hand away and continued reading. Dixie had tweeted the worst and the most, it's like the pieces of me falling apart were the stepping stones she needed to escalate herself to the top.

Stepping up the stairs to my room was walking a mile - grueling and full of thought. My mind raced with everything Harry had said, combined with what everyone at school said.

Eric. Why couldn't Harry just leave him alone? All the other boys, Louis, Liam, Niall... They could have also left me alone. I could have been left out of the equation--I should have been. They're so selfish....

And now I find myself contemplating the darkness Eric entered into. I wonder if it made him feel better, if the pain in his chest went away. If suicide can cure this pain, maybe it's worth it?

"Riley, come down stairs. We need to discuss a few things!" My mom shouted from downstairs. My feet carried me down the stairs to speak with her, but the rage and twisted thoughts engulfed my mind.

My brain thinks back to a song by the All American Rejects that I danced to a few years back, it was called Move Along.

'So a day when you've lost yourself completely, could be a night where your life ends.'

It's amazing how those words went from being a simple song lyric by a random alternative rock band, to the exact situation I'm in.

Nothing's in the way of me doing this, and it's starting to look like Eric may have been a lot smarter and tougher than anyone thinks.

How funny, I have no friends left but I'm still capable of making plans? I know what I'm doing tonight.

Notes

I worked really hard on this chapter, lots of metaphors and that kind of stuff.

comment / rate the story / subscribe for more! :)

WARNING: the next chapter is going to be very, very dark and sad. If you don't like reading that kind of stuff, please skip it.

thank you guys for all your comments!! xxx