Ariella's POV

“Hello Mr. Horan, what brings you here?” she asked him.

“Hello Head Mistress, I just came to walk Ariella here.” He said happily.

“Alright then, you may leave now, Ariella has some work to do. Make sure you tell the others, so they won’t bother her and she could focus.” She said impatiently as she looked at the end of the room, where there were still food stains and drinks stains that stayed from earlier.

“Yes ma’am.” He said to her. He then faced me and placed a gentle kiss on my forehead before walking out of the room. I watched him leave, and when he got to the door, he turned back, and smiled before leaving completely. A loud, high pitched shriek followed right after, already knowing that Brittney was still out there and she found Niall. Without me. My anger slowly arose until I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around to see a furious Head Mistress.

“What took you so long?” she asked me, crossing her arms.

“Well, I went to my dorm and-“

“You were supposed to come here right after class. Brittney and Keith both came, cleaned, and left before you even got here.” She said, anger in her tone.

“Well, sorry I went to change to do the job right.” I muttered, and began to grab my cleaning supplies and walking over to the end of the room and began my work on dried ketchup that stained the wall. It was silent, until she spoke up.

“Why were you with Niall?” she asked me.

“Because he wanted to walk with me here?”I quoted Niall with my back to her. Even though I couldn’t see her, I knew she sat at a closer table, crossing her legs, looking straight at me.

“Why?” she pressed on.

“Because he’s my boyfriend?”

“You two broke up years back.”

“So? Doesn’t mean we couldn’t fix what was wrong and go back to the way things were before.”

“I know, but I didn’t think you guys would get back together.”

“Why are you asking?” I shot back, turning away from the wall to face her. She only shrugged.

“You have been late to things lately, have you noticed?”

“Things that I can’t fix with an alarm clock.” I said as I continued on the ketchup, that won’t come off.

“He’s becoming a distraction. I don’t want you with him anymore.” My mouth fell open. I slowly turned to face her, to see her face, and waiting for her to say that she was kidding. But she hasn’t said anything.

“You’re kidding…” I said, while scoffing. She shook her head.

“I’m not kidding. I don’t want you two seeing each other anymore. You were doing so well when he left, and when he came back, you just became lazy at things that you do best.”

“I have not!” I protested. She stood up, and walked over to where I was.

“Oh really? How about when your friends told me the time when you first saw him at the city, you know, the day you were kidnapped, because you let your guard down because of him. You are going back to square one. You were doing so well before he came in. You are being distracted by him. He is no good. Now you have to break up with him.”

“What if I don’t?” I threatened. She smirked at me.

“Just do it. It will do you better than how you are now. Mother knows best.”

“You aren’t my mother!” I accidentally yelled. She looked at me wide eyed.

“Of course, I am! I always have been!” she yelled back.

“But not my real mother. You never knew her the way I did.”

“Like you even remember at this point. You probably forgot about her.”

“Of course I remember her! She was more of a mother than you will ever be!” I threatened her, which only pushed her more.

“I AM your mother. Now listen to me, when it comes to Niall, I don't want you with him at all. All boyfriends like him just come and go. I should know because..." she yells, but pauses.

"Because what." I tried her.

"Your father..." She started, making my heart race faster. What about my father? "He was my ex-boyfriend back in high school."

“What...?” I whispered. She just continued to yell, ignoring the water pooling up in my eyes.

“Your father meant everything to me. When your 'mother' came in the picture, he lost interest in me and asked if we could be 'just friends'. He even asked me if I could attend the wedding and your birth, to prove our friendship. I lied to them and said I had plans. If your parents didn't beg me to keep you here, you would be in a foster home right now!" She yells at the top of her lungs, walking her way to me, cornering me to the wall.

"What...?" I muttered.

"You heard me. Did you think that I actually wanted you? I've always wanted a son, but after I broke up with your father, I met Mr. Edwards who didn't care that I cannot reproduce. Your father knew that I couldn't, which was probably one of the reasons why he broke it off with me...” she paused again, as she was soon calming down, but was still mad. “That’s why you are here..." She looks away from me, looking out the window. "You’re just charity.” She said quietly.

Tears were now streaming down my face. She saw my tears and calmed down a bit more, but continued to speak. “You barely see Niall throughout the day anyways. Only in lunch. That’s no relationship to me.” She looked up at the ketchup stain that I’ve been trying to remove. She took the rag from my hand, applied a little bit more of water, and removed the stain with ease.

“Keep going.” She handed me the rag back, and walked out of the café, leaving me alone in the darkening room. The light from the outside was dimming as the sun went down and the moon rose. The only lights that were on were the ones where I was at. At the end of the room. The only noise you could hear was my uneven breathing, and my silent cries. I still stood, watching the door, hoping that she would just come back and tell me she was just kidding.


She didn’t.


I finally processed everything she just told me in my head, from her being an ex of my father, to what I am to her. What I always have been to her. That explained why she was always frustrated with me, whenever I did something bad… When I came back last month and the way she hugged me incredibly tight. That was just a public act. She’s fake. Stage name.

I covered my mouth with both hands, holding in the screams that I wanted to release from me. I let the rag fall to the floor beside me, as I fell down and laid on my side, bringing my knees up to my chest, and hiding my face in it while silently crying my eyes out. I’ve never felt so unloved before. Maybe she’s right about Niall… We do only see each other in lunch, and after classes are over… Maybe sometimes when we walk past each other in the hallways, but never a class together. At least, not since he came back… He was probably with Brittney right now. Maybe he’s better off with her… Maybe...

---

“CARE BEAR!” I heard someone yell from the door, my eyes slowly opening. I must’ve fell asleep on the floor, which would have been why I didn't hear him come in. I look up to see Louis frantically running, sliding on his knees as he got closer, and stopping right in front of me, rubbing my exposed arm with one hand and caressing my cheek, wiping my tears away, with the saddest face I’ve ever seen.

“Care bear, talk to me, what’s wrong??” he quietly pleaded. I choked on some tears, as he helped me sit up and rest my back against the food-covered wall. He then kneeled on one leg, keeping one hand on my face to wipe tears while the other rested on his other knee that wasn’t on the ground. I shook my head.

“How long were you there?” I asked him, avoiding his question. What if he heard what she told me?

“I literally just got here. What’s wrong?” he asked again. He didn’t hear it, then… I can’t bring myself to tell him what she told me.

“Nothing. Why are you here?” I said quietly. He scoffed.

“Don’t give me that bullshit. I can tell when something’s up. I came because I thought you might use some help, as it was a disaster in here. Obviously now that I found you like this, I was right. What, happened.” He asked sternly. I breathed in, then sighed.

“It’s a long story Lou… I’ll tell you later.” I told him. I looked down at my fingers, picking at them. I felt a hand bring my chin up, as my dull brown eyes met Louis’ ocean blue ones.

“Promise?” he said quietly. I nodded.

“Promise. I just can’t bring myself to tell you right now.” He sighed sympathetically.

“It’s alright. Take the time you need. I’m here you know.” He assured me. I smiled at him and wrapped my arms around his neck out of nowhere, and squeezed tight, while burying my head into the crook of his neck, letting all of the remaining tears that I had come out. He wrapped his arms around my waist and held me closer, leaning his head so that it rested on top of mine. I continued to cry, as he held me and told me everything was going to be alright, but how can it? I am basically indirectly told that I can't be loved by my only mother figure.

I felt something vibrate on him, like a phone. Louis pulled back slightly but still held me and pulled out his phone. He scrunched his eyebrows and typed something on it before placing in his pocket once more.

“What was it?” I asked him, sniffling.

“It’s nothing. Just a bud asking something from class.” He assured me.

"You can go, you know. You don't have to stay." He just shakes his head.

"I'm here for you. They can wait." I nodded my head. He then released me completely and stood up. "Come on, we got work to do.” He said as he towered over me, smiling, as I was still on the floor.

He extended his hand towards me, and I gratefully took it. He pulled me up and grabbed the rag from beside me and handed it to me, as he grabbed one for him. He then took out his phone and played the radio. We started to dance around while cleaning. We thought we heard the door open but no one was there.

We continued cleaning and dancing around what was left of the left over food. Every once in a while he would glance at me and smile. Louis would even stop cleaning completely and just start dancing with me when one of his favorite songs came on. We were acting like idiots but it was totally okay. This really made me feel a bit better, but what Head Mistress told me earlier still rung on my head:

“That’s why you are here... You’re just charity.”

When we finished, it was about 11:00 pm since all of the stains had dried up and hardened during our dancing, and it was really dark out. We put all the cleaning supplies away and walked out together. Louis walked me to my dorm and we just talked about random things, since we haven’t spoken much and we needed catching up to do. When we got to my dorm, he pulled me in for a hug.

“I’m here for you. Remember that. Talk to me when you’re ready. Don’t keep it in, that's bad for you.” he said to me in the hug. I smiled.

“Thanks Teddy Bear. I will. Night.” I said I pulled away.

“Night Care Bear. See you tomorrow.” He smiled at me before walking away. I entered my dorm quietly and saw that the girls were asleep. I slipped out of my clothes that I wore and changed into some pajamas. As I crawled into bed, I saw a note was taped to the headboard. I peeled it off and read the note:

Ariella,
You probably came back pretty late, and we were tired to wait for you. Carie started sleeping first so I’m writing this note :P We just wanted to let you know that Niall stopped by and told us that we couldn’t bother you while you were cleaning. Carie is eager to know what you were talking about with Drake, so be prepared tomorrow to tell her what’s up. As for Niall, he also wanted us to tell you good night and that he loves you. Yeah… Lol see you in the morning!

Sleeping Nicki and Sleeping Carie xx

“Night guys.” I whispered quietly. “Night Niall.” I whispered while facing the door before sleep took over me.

Notes

Sorry if the chapter was a bit harsh... I guess you can tell how I am today... Thanks to mother nature... and other stuff... :P but literally..




this was me... Because while I was at school I decided to check if anyone commented, voted, or subscribed. I wasn't expecting anything as usual but when I saw the comments I felt so relieved and happy.

So: shoutout to
@directioner 2 the end ,
@CyanluvsHoranHugs,
@Love 1D !
and especially
@Ayyeeeitsmmmmaaaa
for commenting. :)

@Ayyeeeeitsmmmmaaaa your comment made me cry. I love you so much like I can't even begin. :D lol that literally made my day so thank you sooooo much!!! <3 In fact, I love you all soo much, all of you! I'm glad that you guys think that the story is doing good :) SO im going to keep writing because of you guys :) <3 love you all so much :* I can't stop saying that lol, I'm sorry.

GUESS WHAT ELSE!!! JUST GUESS!! OKAY, NO ALRIGHT.... GUESS WHO'S ON PG 6 OF THE POPULAR PAGE????????!!!!!!!!! (On the Niall Horan Website, idk about the others) I literally almost had a heart attack when I saw that lol... <3 u guys til the end :)


Lol. So! Now that's out of my system... What did you guys think of this chapter??

When Head Mistress/ Ariella's Adopted Mom snapped at her?

The Loriella Moment? (Louis, Ariella btw)

Comment below guise!!! <3 Love you all for reading and hope that you guys keep commenting/voting/subscribing and if you haven't yet please do so!! <3 love u guys!!! :*

(P.S. Guess who has the next chapter done already? :P )




SPRING IS NEXT WEEK GUYS..... :D personally not a fan of the winter as it is too cold :P don't hate plz!! :3 Once again, I LOVE YOU ALL :)


a.r.<3