Part of You

I bounced on my feet, went for the door and swung it open.

‘’Hey, Hailie!’’ I welcomed her.

‘’Hello creepy guy.’’

‘’What did I do for having such a bad nickname?’’ I shut the door when Hailie stepped in.

‘’You have the face.’’

‘’Well, well, well. Harry...’’ My mum began. ‘’What have I told you when you bring girls home? I don’t want to hear the bed cracking!’’

Oh god, mum. I peeked at Hailie’s face. She was as red as a tomato.

‘’N-n-no! It-it’s not what you think! Ha-Harry has a sheet I need and…’’ stuttered out Hailie.

‘’Honey, I’m teasing you! Harry, you know the rule: at 23, everyone’s out.’’ My mother said. ‘’Oh! My show!’’ She ran back in the living room.

‘’Well, that was my mother.’’ I said, slightly embarrassed.

‘’Awkward.’’

‘’I heard you!’’ shouted my mum.

‘’Okay, let’s head to my kitchen.’’ I said, laughing because Hailie seemed flustered. We penetrated in. I closed the door so my mum’s scream of indignation wouldn’t bother us.

‘’Before we began, you need to know this: my mum loves to gently mocking people and making awkward situations. Especially when my frien…’’ I suddenly stopped. We weren’t friends yet.

‘’Friends?’’ She finished. ‘’That escalated quickly.’’

We laughed and my stomach gurgled. ‘’Want something to eat?’’ I asked.

‘’No, I’ll be fine, thanks. Where’s the paper?’’

‘’Look in my bag.’’ I responded, pointing it.

I opened the fridge, searching something to satisfy my hungry stomach. I took a bowl of strawberries and sat down at the table. Hailie put the sheet in front of us.

‘’Alright, let’s start!’’ She said.

Hailie’s POV

To be honest, I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea if we worked together. I don’t know, but I had the feeling we wouldn’t work and fool around. After ten minutes, that’s what happened.

‘’Hailie, let me write. Your handwriting sucks.’’ Harry said.

‘’You’re just jealous.’’

‘’Jealous of… that?’’ He pointed the sheet, disgusted. ‘’Hell no.’’

I punched his arm.

‘’I’m in such pain.’’ He replied, blank face.

I rolled me eyes and stared at the strawberries.

‘’Don’t even dare to touch-’’ I rapidly grabbed a strawberry and stood up, running away from Harry.

‘’Come back here you thief!’’ Harry yelled.

I reached the staircase and climbed it as fast as I could. I heard Harry’s footstep not so far behind me. I turned to the right and entered in what must be his bedroom. I engulfed the fruit in my mouth. Harry arrived few seconds later.

‘’Give. Me. My. Strawberry.’’

I showed and innocent expression. ‘’Bon’t know wha you’re talkin ‘bout.’’

I chewed the fruit. ‘’Mm… So good’’ I said.

‘’NOOOOOOOOOO! My precious!’’

We burst into laughter and sat on the floor.

‘’Harry?’’

‘’What do you want? Don’t you see I’m broken?’’

I giggled before continuing: ‘’Hum… I know we just met today… And I will completely understand if you say no!’’ He seemed more and more interested. ‘’Perrie is organising a sort of ’party’ on Friday. So… I thought maybe… you know… You would… You know…’’ Ugh... Not again!

‘’Why are you nervous?’’

I sighed. ‘’I don’t know. I guess I get all nervous when I asked people to hang out; I don’t like to be rejected. All of my childhood, I’ve been rejected by my m…’’ I stopped. Shut. Up.

Harry looked at me, hoping I’ll continued.

‘’Yes, I would love too.’’ He replied, a smile on his lips. Wow. He completely ignored my last words. Thank God!

‘’Oh… Uh. Nice! Well, I should get going.’’ I stood up.

‘’Wait up.’’ He jumped on his feet. ‘’I won’t push you, alright? But if you need to talk, I… Well I’m good to listen. And if Niall can’t, or the others…’’

‘’Okay…’’ I whispered my head down.

Harry’s POV

Hailie seemed really sad. She met my eyes and smiled weakly.

‘’I should really get going now.’’

I nodded and escorted her at the front door. She put on her shoes and turned on her feet, facing me. I was surprised what happened next.

She hugged me.

‘’Thanks. It meant something to me.’’ She mumbled in my ear. I hugged her back, trying to comfort her of whatever seemed to trouble her.

‘’Anytime.’’ She pulled away and I opened the door for her.

‘’See you tomorrow!’’ She smiled.

‘’Yeah, see yah.’’

I shut the door. Poor Hailie. I didn’t know her much, but I could tell she had a lot going on in her head. I walked back in the kitchen, grabbing my phone. I went on Facebook. Four friend’s requests? I clicked on the icon. Will Jensen, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Hailie Howell. I accepted all of them. A message popped on my screen: Finally, you accepted me! I thought you hated me :( I smiled and responded to Louis: Sorry, I wasn’t on my phone and my computer is still packed up :P I locked my phone. Damn, I’m tired. Jet lag, I guess. I went in my room and changed up.

Hailie’s POV

‘’Where the hell were you!?’’ yelled my father. Oops, I forgot to warn him I was not coming straight home after my job.

‘’I’m sorry dad… I forgot to tell you I had business somewhere else…Oh, and anyway, my phone's dead.’’ I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and showed him.

He was really angry. I put my free hand in front of him.

‘’Please, dad. I’m in no mood for another battle with you. Can I just go to bed?’’

He looked at me; all of his anger had disappeared from his eyes. ‘’Wow, this is new. Are… are you okay?’’

Yeah, this is new.

‘’I… I guess…’’ I snapped my lips together. My eyes were getting moist. Stop, you promise her you’d never cry.

‘’Don’t lie to me, Hailie.’’ My dad stepped forward. ‘’Come here, let it all out.’’ He hugged me.

‘’I… I’m alright dad…’’ I wasn’t used to this sudden attention from my father. ‘’Just… I’m just tired, that’s all. I had a rough day.’’ I pulled off.

‘’Okay. Goodnight, sweetie.’’

‘’Night dad…’’

I climbed slowly the stairs and headed in my room. I put on my PJ’s and went in the bathroom to brush my teeth. I went back in my room and place my glasses on my night stand. Now, where is my charger for my phone? That’s a battle, I'll tell you. Whenever I needed it, that stupid wire always sneaks under super hiding places. Ugh, where are you!?

Niall's POV

I was laying on my bed, waiting for Hailie to respond to my text. Even if today was the first day of school, our math teacher figured out a pretty long homework for us to hand back tomorrow. I know, I promised to Hailie during the summer that I'd stop falling asleep in classes, especially in math, since I barely passed last year. But... Old habits die hard, so I texted her if she could recite me the formulas and all the shit that goes with it.

But it's been a pretty long time since I sent my text. I sighed impatiently and I dialed her phone’s number.

‘’The person you called is not able to-’’

Nice, her phone’s dead. I hung up and tried her phone’s home. It ringed 3 times before someone picked it up.

‘’Hello?’’ It was her dad.

‘’Hi, uh. Sorry for calling so late, Mr. Howell.’’

‘’Niall. What have I told you for a trillion time?’’

I searched in my mind what he was talking about. Oh, right. He hated when I called him Mr. Howell.

‘’Sorry, Oliver.’’ I corrected myself.

‘’ I don’t get it, Niall. We’ve known each other since you picked in your nose!’’ He laughed. ‘’Hey, uh. Yesterday night, Uh… Did… Did Hailie was okay?’’

‘’Uuuh…’’ Why was he asking that? Hailie slept at her house, right? And since when did he start to care?

‘’Well… We had a rough fight and… she just left like the usual, you know…’’ He explained.

Hailie didn’t crash at my house. I was confused; I didn’t want to put my best friend in trouble, because it was easy to see she lied about where exactly she had gone. And then it hit me: Hailie might have told Oliver she was sleeping over at mine, but in reality, she went at the party with Will.

‘’Oh! Yeah yeah. She was alright, don’t worry Oliver.’’ I lied, trying to save Hailie. ‘’Talking about the devil, could I have a word with her? I tried to reach her on her phone, but I think it died.’’ I asked.

‘’Oh, yeah. N-no problem. Oh, before. Could you not tell Hailie I asked you if she was alright?’’

I accepted and he went searching Hailie. I knew every inch of the stories happening between Hailie and her father. I understood why he was asking me this favor: it’s been five years they were both on each other’s back, yelling, arguing, and not caring about the other.

Every time Hailie described me one of the many clashes, I always felt bad for her. She always had problems with her family. In elementary, her mother was ignoring her most of the time.

I think the first time a saw my best friend truly happy, it’s when we started Middle school. Yes, her mom was still not acting like a real model, but Hailie saw Middle school like a fresh new start. She forgave everything and only thought about the positive aspect of her problems.

But then, life had to throw back misfortune on her face.

Hailie wasn’t able to say one word without offending Oliver since then. And all of the sudden, he wants to know how she felt after arguing with him? That was really weird and unusual. Maybe Hailie had put on practice my advice…

‘’Ni, do you know what freaking time it is? You better have a damn good reason for calling!’’ Hailie hissed.

I got straight up to my request: ‘’Gimme your math’s homework, please.’’

I could saw her rolling her eyes. ‘’Wow, you’re good to keep your promise up! You perfectly know that I could refused and let you sink in your own trouble alone?’’

‘’Fine, I’ll get it myself. See yah in a few!’’ I hung up before she could protest.

I jumped off my bed and put some clothes in my bag. I exited my room and I went to inform my parents I was sleeping somewhere else. Their door was crack open, just enough to see the lights of the TV painted on the walls. I opened the door slowly.

‘’I’m sleeping at Hailie’s. Is it okay?’’

My mom was resting on my father’s chest, fighting with her eyes. My dad was calmly reading his book.

‘’Yeah, no problem. You can take the car, I’m not working tomorrow. Be safe.’’ My dad said, not leaving his eyes from his book.

‘’Thanks. Goodnight!’’

‘’Goodnight Niall…’’ My mother muttered.

Notes

Hey hey hey!

-What is the real reason for Hailie's hesitation?
-To who did Hailie promise not crying and why?
-What happened to Hailie in the past years?