by Jason Vasha
But there were still the others and if she was indeed considered their friend as well, she might as well start focusing on them instead of Niall.
Olta did decide that some pay back was in order, though. Unfortunately she was rather bad at giving it.
Getting ready Olta wondered if Niall would pick her up today. She wondered if he could drive at all. Probably not.
It wasn't even seven yet when Olta went downstairs. An idea came to Olta's mind. She'd have a quick breakfast and walk to school. Getting there early would give her chance to roam the school some more, something she hadn't been able to do since her first day. Even though she knew her way around well enough, she still needed to familiarize herself more. And the upside was that if Niall did want to give him a ride to school she'd be standing him up. It wasn't a particular inspired payback but it was payback nonetheless.
The school was still virtually deserted. If it wasn't for the few cars in the parking lot, Olta would have thought she was the first to arrive.
Examining the inside of her locker Olta was surprised by the mess she managed to make of it in just one week. She'd thought it would take her at least a fortnight.
"Olta, right?"
Olta jerked around. Behind her there were a girl and a guy she both knew from a couple of her classes but she couldn't remember their names. The girl was inconspicuous enough. With her no-nonsense jeans and sweater she reminded Olta very much of herself. The guy was a different matter. His hair was dyed black and he had a lip ring. Olta had seen Niall talking to him on several occasions.
"Ehm, yes." Olta started uncertainly. "I'm sorry, I know your faces, but I can't remember your names."
"That's okay. It's not like we've been introduced." The girl smiled.
"I'm Josie and this is Sam." The girl said, nodding her head back to the guy behind her dismissively.
"Hi." Olta replied smiling a small smile at both of them.
"So what brings you around this early?"
"Oh, I kind off woke early this morning and decided to roam a little." Olta said, feeling rather stupid right now.
"Figured you could do that all by yourself now, did you?" Sam said eyeing Olta with even look. Josie only rolled her eyes.
"Pardon?" Olta asked confused and slightly affronted. Why in the world was he talking to her like she was a toddler?
"Didn't need Niall then, did you?" Sam said by way of an explanation.
"To walk? No, I am perfectly in control of my own legs." Olta retorted. Some people really should learn to mind their own business.
Sam chuckled.
"See why he likes you."
Olta was starting to get really confused now and looked at Josie questioningly. Josie just shrugged.
"What Sam is trying to say in is own unique language is that we are rather surprised to see you around on your own when you've been tied to Niall' hip all week."
"Have you been watching me or something?" Olta asked, a little harsher than she intended.
"What did you think? That a new edition to Niall' group would go by unnoticed? You're sitting at his table, girl." Josie said, laughing lightly.
"And this is of interest to you, because?" Olta already knew the answer but she needed it to be spelled out. Even though Niall had explained the social structure to her Olta had thought herself a bystander. She really hadn't given any thought to her own status within the pack. She was a non-entity.
"Hello, where have you been? NiallFoy allowed you, some new girl to sit at his table, after knowing you just one day. That gets tongs rolling around here." Now Josie sounded just a bit exasperated.
"Not quick on the uptake, are you?" Olta glared at Sam. Could he be any more condescending? He did have a point though. Apparently she was anything but a non-entity. That was a strange epiphany
"Apparently not, no." Olta shook her head wearily.
"Now, this roaming. How about we show all the good spots?" Josie asked. She seemed shy all of a sudden. Sam even gave her a small smile.
Surprised but pleased by the offer Olta smiled.
"Please do."
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Niall parked his car in the school parking lot. He took his meds out of his bag and swallowed them down with some discarded Gatorade. Then he banged his head very lightly on his steering wheel. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. But then again, his life just wasn't going his way.
The idea had been simple. Send Olta a text message and pick her up. This would serve several purposes. It would make clear to Olta that his cowardly exit the night before had nothing to do with her. Because after that kiss, which really hadn't been more than a good peck on her lips, he knew for once and for all that he had it bad, truly bad. Hopefully the message had been able to convey everything he felt about her, even if he hadn't said in so many words.
And then there was the matter of making sure that everybody in school, Daniel first and foremost, understood that Olta was the truly his friend and no longer some sort of assignment. And well, that she was his. Although he figured that was an established fact by now.
However, the plan had pretty much been shot out of the water when Olta hadn't been home.
Sandra had clearly been surprised to see him and had informed him that Olta had already left, on foot. Apparently she had assumed that he wouldn't able to drive.
Admittedly, forgoing his meds in favour of driving was a painful affair. Matilda had shaken her head in bemused dismay when he had declined her offer to give him a ride.
Tapping on the windshield brought Niall out of his reverie. Looking up he saw Bailey grinning at him broadly.
"Didn't get enough sleep?" Bailey joked, loud enough for Niall to hear him through the window.As Niall looked up at him, Bailey’s face clouded over. He had noticed the bruises.
Niall got out of his car slowly. It would a good time for his meds to start kicking in.
"We couldn't agree on a movie." Niall said without preamble. Bailey looked skeptic.
"Sure." Bailey's tone amplified his incredulity tenfold. Niall knew the excuse sounded lame but as long as they just went with it, all would be well.
"So where is the movie, sorry, Olta then?" Niall winced at the words. Why was everybody being so fucking difficult about it? And why did the guy have to choose today off all days to be astute?
"She walked." Niall snapped. The throbbing pain was incessant, his plan had been foiled, Bailey wasn't cutting him any slack and he hadn't even seen Olta or Daniel yet. Today was going to be a bad day.
Perhaps he should have taken the good doctors advice and never gotten out of bed.
"And she wasn't supposed to do that, I take it?" Bailey asked lightly. Niall groaned inwardly.
"I kissed her." Again Niall groaned. Now his mouth was committing treason.
Bailey stopped dead in his tracks. Niall walked on, trying to pretend he hadn't said anything.
"Oh no, you don't. You're going to spill." Bailey smirked, holding out his arm to prevent Niall from walking along.
Niall looked at his friend wearily. He really didn't want to discuss this or anything else right now. Had he mentioned the fact that this was a very bad day?
"Ry, I'm in no mood to discuss my pathetic attempts at getting a girl." As briskly as possible Niall moved around Bailey's arm and continued on his way inside. After a few steps Niall turned around. Bailey hadn't yet moved.
"Look, Ry, sorry. But really, not now, okay." He gives his friend a wry smile.
The sympathetic nod Bailey gave him were enough to take the edge of his foul mood. Silently they made their way inside.
Niall hadn't missed the looks he was getting. In his bathroom mirror he had seen just how bad the bruises on his face still were. Hell, they were still there, so they were bad. Before lunch everybody in school would have a theory on how he had gotten them. Throw Olta and the state of Daniel's face into the mix and all the gossipers were bound to h
ave a field day. He wondered how many theories would be close to hitting the nail on its head. Quite a few, probably.
"So, Peter and Alice skipping first period again?" Niall smirked as he got his things out of his locker. Bailey shrugged but matched his smirk. Right then a girl, who Niall recognized vaguely, walked by and obviously caught Bailey's eye. She smiled shyly at him and Niall noticed Bailey's smirk turning into a shy smile as well. Shy and Bailey weren't usually things that went together. Niall leant into Bailey.
"It seems that I'm not the only one who needs to spill." He said with a knowing smirk of his own.
Bailey looked at Niall like he did when he accidentally broken Niall's favourite Action Man some years ago. It only served to improve his already rapidly mellowing mood. His meds were kicking in, no doubt about that. Now if only Olta would turn up at her locker and life would just be dandy.
"It's nothing." Niall heard Bailey mutter and now it was Niall' turn to look skeptic.
Just then the bell rang. Niall patted Bailey's shoulder.
"Sure.Whatever you say,man." And with that Niall took off for Took, unfortunately without Olta by his side.
As Niall entered Took's classroom he spotted Olta immediately as she was chatting amiably with Josie and Alice. It was an odd sight.
At seeing Niall enter the classroom both Olta and Alice looked up at him but they're faces darkened immediately as their gaze moved to something behind him.
Niall was knocked forward. Daniel.
"Oh, hey bro, didn't see you there, sorry." Even if Daniel had actually managed to sound apologetic Niall wouldn't have cared. As he righted himself he caught his brother's eye and was shocked by what he saw. Outside of their private encounters, Daniel had never before looked at him with such blatant hatred . But at least his face was bruised too. As Daniel walked over to his seat, he looked from Niall to an unaware Olta and back at Niall again. Niall felt the hairs in the back rise at the small twisted smirk Daniel gave him. Well, let the games begin.
Niall gave Olta a small smile as he made his way to his usual table. Just as he was about to his books on the table Alice slipped into the seat.
"I think you should take my seat. Too much light isn't good for eye, slows the healing process." Alice said in her mothering voice but a wink contradicted it. Niall looked at her confused until he realized that it would mean he'd be sitting behind Olta instead of next to her.
"Why, I didn't know you cared." He purred with a smile. Alice swatted his arm lightly.
Niall turned and took his seat behind Olta. She seemed to have forgotten all about his presence as she was scribbling something on a piece of paper. Niall followed her movements as Olta took the note and leant over to Josie.The girl accepted the note with a grateful smile.
Then Olta turned around in her seat and cocked her head at him thoughtfully. Niall only smiled while he regarded her face. A strand of hair which had fallen forward was particularly entrancing.
"How are you?" Olta asked. Her voice was laced with concern but there was something else too.
"I'm okay." Olta smiled at his answer.
"Good. I thought you might have had a bad night's sleep." Now there wasn't any concern in her voice. Niall saw a twinkle her eye. She was teasing him. He wondered just where she was going with this.
"No, I slept very well. Very pleasant dreams, it was a pity to have to wake up, really." Niall said as he took and twirled the loose strand between his fingers. Olta started to blush but thankfully she didn't pull away.
"Yeah, I slept very well too." She said with a coy smile and her blush deepened.
"Until some git thought it funny to send me a wake-up message, that is."
Niall looked up from his fingers and into Olta's eyes. He couldn't help but notice how green they were today.A slight blush creep up. Niall was about to say something bordering an apology but was cut off by their teacher.
"Miss Mehmeti and mister NiallFoy, if you two could disentangle yourselves from each other. I really would like start right now."
Olta spun around in her chair and Niall knew she was thoroughly embarrassed right now. Niall wasn't exactly embarrassed, he felt more proud, relieved and downright giddy. But that was due to the drugs. Niall didn't do giddy.
He leant back in his seat and couldn't help but grin widely at the girl in front of him.
Today was going to be a very good day.
Chapter Sixteen
Niall took a deep breath.
"Once upon a time there was this only son of a very wealthy and important member of society. This man lived in New York and worked for one of the family businesses. Life was good . Then one day he met this girl in the park. It was love at first sight and for a while they were blissfully happy. Life was wonderful. But the love they shared wasn't enough. They were from different worlds. When their families found out, they were forced to break it off. Or rather the girl was shipped of to Europe and disappeared for quite some time. The man was left behind, heartbroken and feeling betrayed. He thought that she hadn't cared enough to stay and fight for what they had."
Niall paused for a moment wondering whether this had been good idea. He hadn't thought that telling everything would prove to be so difficult. Even in this overly detached manner it still proved hard. A small squeeze in his elbow, however, reassured him to continue.
"Meanwhile the man's father was getting anxious. He wasn't getting any younger and the mansion in which he lived was starting to feel like a mausoleum for the living. So he introduced his son to the daughter of an equally wealthy and important family. Actually they already knew each other. She was a friend of both him and the girl. The man and the woman cared for each other very deeply.The man figured he had lost the one love of his life and the woman admitted that she might be in love with the man. So out of familial duty and hope they decided to get married. The man's father was overjoyed and had them move into the mansion. He hoped that the mansion would come alive with sound of children soon enough. And indeed, after only a few short months of marriage the woman found herself pregnant. Again life was good. Then, one day, the man ran into the girl who had broken his heart. She had been well and was now engaged. But there were a lot of things unsaid between them and the two ex-lovers engaged in a one-day affair to put the past behind them. The man confessed everything to his wife as he came home and promised her that it would be a one time deal. She forgave him and called their meeting serendipity. The wife then knew for sure that her husband did love her but would always be in love with the girl."
Again Niall paused. His voice had started to falter.
"Two months later, however, the girl showed up at the mansion, distraught. The wife was home alone. The attempt to put the past behind them had backfired severely. The girl had ended up pregnant. She knew for a fact that her old lover was the father for she hadn't seen her fiancé in months. When her family had discovered they had cast her out, saying she was a disgrace to the family. The girl swore to the wife that she hadn't meant for any of it to happen and that she had come to them as a last resort. The wife assured the girl that things would work out just fine. She called it serendipity. The wife brought the girl to a hotel and set about to deal with this situation. They were both pregnant by the same man and now the girl had nowhere to turn to. According to the wife the solution was very simple, if a little problematic. The girl would just have to move in with them. The only true problem was that her father-in-law would probably never agree to such an arrangement. Surprisingly enough, it only took her husband and herself two weeks before the man begrudgingly agreed. The wife had been happy with the girl in the house. The three of them had been friends before and they managed to be friends again. The grandfather to be, however, called the whole deal an abomination and withdrew himself in a secluded part of the mansion. Four months later the wife gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Soon after complications arose with the girl's pregnancy and on New Years Eve she had to be rushed to the hospital. The doctors managed to deliver the baby safely but t
he girl never made it."