Pride

Like everybody who has hurt Melissa, the three devils – as she’s decided to call the three girls who had tried to humiliate her at the party yesterday – seem to have been under the impression that they’re the ones who could make her quit. Their eyes are big with surprise as they spot the brown-haired girl walking amongst the students like nothing happened the night before.

Melissa scoffs quietly, but still, some of the students hear her. They look at her with eyes that tell her that they’re weirded out by her expression of annoyance. Melissa just glares back at them before continuing on her way. There’s a class she needs to get to.

The first class is relatively uneventful. There are still students who use Melissa as target practice for their paper balls but other than that, she’s allowed to concentrate on what the teacher is saying without being bothered.

When the bell rings for lunch, Melissa is the first out of the classroom. She hurries down the hallway, avoiding crashing into throngs of students making their way towards the cafeteria. Some of them whisper nasty things, loud enough for her to hear, but she pays them no attention.

She has more important things to think about, like for example if Zayn is going to be at the fire escape. Please, don’t let him have been serious when he told her he was going to find another spot to spend his breaks. She doesn’t want to be the one who has chased him away from the place he goes to so he can be alone.

When Melissa has reached the door to the fire escape, she lays on hand on the metal that separates her from the outside world and takes a deep breath. Butterflies race around in her stomach as she tries to regulate her breathing.

Please, let him be there. Please.

Melissa pushes against the door, forcing it to allow her passage to the fire escape. Her eyes go immediately to the stairwell as she steps over the threshold. A sigh of joy escapes her when she sees Zayn sitting halfway down the stairs with his back to her.
Quietly, she walks towards him. She’s holding her breath while she makes her way down the stairs as if she’s afraid he’ll hear her breathe.

But apparently, she isn’t quiet enough because Zayn turns his head and looks at her with one eyebrow raised. “You still haven’t quit school? If I were you. I would’ve run away a long time ago.”

Melissa stumbles, but she catches herself just in time. Her heart is jackhammering inside her chest as she leans on the handrail for support.

“Why would I quit?” Melissa asks as she glares at Zayn. It’s a mask to hide the pain she feels stab at her heart.

Doesn’t Zayn want her at St. Bernard’s either?

Zayn shrugs his shoulders. “It would be easier on you. You could get away from all the people who try to hurt you.”

Oh, so he doesn’t want her gone. The hurt melts away at the thought and is replaced with joy. He’s worried about Melissa. That’s the real reason why he stopped those guys from raping her. He doesn’t want her to get hurt.

Why, though, is a mystery to her. He hardly knows her, they’ve only talked a handful of times. Melissa has always cared about Zayn, but as far as she knows, Zayn has never cared about her. Maybe she’s reading too much into this. Maybe he doesn’t like seeing people hurt, period.

Suddenly, her knees feel weak and she slides down the wall, landing on her bottom. She’s sitting close to Zayn - who’s still looking at her with one eyebrow raised – and there’s a smile on her face that probably looks more like a grimace.

“Why are you always pulling weird faces?” Zayn asks. He shifts his position, pressing his back to the banister and turning his face towards Melissa. “It makes you look unattractive.”

Melissa can feel her face flush. Her cheeks feel like they’re flaming red. It’s probably clearly visible, even with her tan skin. “Do you think my normal face is attractive?”

“Yeah, sure.” Zayn’s looks confused as if he doesn’t understand why she asked the question. “Why?”

“I was just curious,” Melissa quickly replies. Her eyes flee from the focus of Zayn’s and find safety in the sight of birds flying overhead.

They don’t say anything during the remainder of the break. Knowing Zayn likes silence, Melissa doesn’t try to start a conversation. Instead, she watches the students on the schoolyard as they talk about all the expensive gifts their parents have showered on them, but now and again her eyes wonder to her right to take in the sight of Zayn Malik, the guy she’s been crushing on ever since the first time she saw him from across the schoolyard. He is now sitting right across from her.

She told the three devils the truth when she announced they could have the F4, but only when it came to Louis, Harry, and Liam. Those terrible girls can have those three horrible guys, but they can’t have Zayn. Zayn’s too good for them. He isn’t cruel like they are. He doesn’t enjoy humiliating people the way they do.

No, she wants Zayn all to herself.

When the bell rings, signaling Melissa that she needs to return to class, she gets up and smiles at Zayn. His full attention is on her and it makes Melissa’s heart skip a beat. “See you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, see you tomorrow.”

Zayn’s eyes remain on her as she walks up the stairs and through the doorway. Melissa is grinning from ear to ear because of it.

—- Melissa doesn’t see them coming. She’s too lost in thought to spot the three girls walking in her direction. However, they’re quick to make their presence known.

Of course, they can’t just start a conversation in a civil manner. They don’t try to attract her attention by talking to her. No, they use force.

“Hey,” Melissa yells when she suddenly feels someone grab her hair. A sharp pang of pain shoots through her skull. “Let me go.”

“Stop yelling,” a familiar voice hisses. “And don’t try to escape. You’re coming with us, slut.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you. I don’t even know your names.”

Despite her protests, Melissa is being dragged by her hair away from where the students are exiting the school. Some of them look at her, but of course, none of them help her. Melissa silently curses all of them.

“Why do you want to know our names all of a sudden? You didn’t ask when we invited you to the party,” another familiar voice sneers. Apparently, the redhead needs her friends to kidnap Melissa. “But since you want to know: We’re Barbara, Cassandra, and Sam.”

Suddenly the grip on Melissa’s hair is released but before she can try to run away, she feels an elbow collide with her side and taken by surprise, she loses her balance and falls to the ground with a grunt.

Fuck, her mother is going to kill her. Her parents have paid a lot of money to buy her this uniform and now she’s making it dirty.
The three girls look down at her in contempt and Melissa meets their stares with a glare of her own. Her hands are lying next to her on the ground, balled into fists.

She could jump them, take them by surprise. Wipe the ugly looks off of their faces. It would be a piece of cake. They’re fragile, pretty dolls, no match for her.

“What do you want from me,” Melissa hisses at the three girls. She moves to get up, but the girls are having none of it. The blonde one pushes her back to the ground, hands bearing down on Melissa’s shoulders as she looks at her with narrowed eyes.
“Don’t you dare. Stay on the ground, where you belong.”

“You have some nerve, talking to Zayn after we told you to leave the F4 alone,” the redhead barks at Melissa. Her friend lets go of Melissa’s shoulders and rejoins her. “Don’t even try to deny it. We saw you.”

“Do you make a habit of spying on people,” Melissa asks. One eyebrow travels towards her hairline. “You should really find a new hobby.”

Much to Melissa’s surprise, the redhead reacts to her taunt by pulling her lips into a smirk. “Oh, so you think this is funny?
Throwing yourself at Zayn is something you can joke about, is it? Let’s see if you’re still laughing when you’ve seen this magazine we bought you.”

The redhead turns to the blonde and holds out her hand. “Cassandra, the magazine, please.”

The blonde, apparently the one who’s called Cassandra, pulls a magazine with a pink cover from her Prada bag, a smirk on her lips. She hands it over to her friend.

“You see this girl?” the redhead asks. She’s turned the cover of the magazine in Melissa’s direction and is pointing with her long, manicured finger at the gorgeous woman depicted there. She has long blonde hair, big brown eyes and a figure most women would kill to have. Melissa doesn’t have to read the name printed above the picture to know who this is. It’s Suzanne Jones, a model who went to the same school Melissa is attending right now. Suzanne is St. Bernard legacy.

“Did you know she’s friends with the F4?” the brunette asks. She takes the magazine from the redhead and takes a step closer to Melissa. “Zayn has a crush on her. Who could blame him, I mean, look at her.” The brunette crouches down and looks Melissa in the eyes. There’s malice in them, making her pretty face look ugly. “Do you really think you have a chance if Zayn can have her?”

Melissa doesn’t know what to say. She doesn’t think she even could if she did know what she wants to say to these monsters. All Melissa can do is stare at the brunette and take one painful breath after another.

“I don’t believe you,” Melissa mutters after a few beats. All three girls look at her with surprised faces, the sight shaking her from her stupor.

Melissa jumps up off the ground, knocking the brunette over in the process, and stalks over to the redhead. “You came up with this story to mess with me. Suzanne Jones and the F4 are not friends at all and Zayn doesn’t have a crush on her.”

It’s the only explanation. Mellissa would know if Suzanne Jones and Zayn are friends. Hell, the whole world would know. It’s always public knowledge when celebrities are friends. No, this is nothing more than an attempt to mess with her head and for a moment she’d believed them.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

“We’re not lying, you stupid skank,” the redhead barks at Melissa. “And fucking don’t come near me.”

Suddenly, the wind is knocked out of Melissa’s lungs when a foot collides with her stomach. She’s knocked backward. A searing pain shoots through her spine as her ass lands on the cold, hard ground. But it is her stomach that hurts the most, it feels like a horse has just kicked it instead of a human being.

“Stop that” a voice suddenly yells, causes the three girls to turn their heads.

Melissa is doubled over, her arms around her stomach in the hope it will help against the pain and her eyes are pressed closed, but she doesn’t have to look to know who just interrupted.

“Louis. What are you doing here?” the blonde squeals in excitement. “Do you want a go at Melissa yourself? Have a bit of a good time? We’ll be happy to give her to you.”

“Did I say you could hurt her?” Louis barks at the blonde.

Why is Louis here? Why has he interrupted the three monsters? Is this not what he wants? The whole idea is her getting hurt. It’s way her gave her the red notice. What the hell is he playing at?

“But, you issued her a red notice,” the redhead protests, her voice full of confusion.

“Well, I changed my mind. Now, go away, or I will put red notices in your lockers too.”

The girls don’t have to be told twice. Melissa can hear the rustling of leaves as the three monsters hurry to make themselves scares.

When Melissa hears Louis walking towards her, she lifts her head to glare at him. He ignores her angry glare and holds out his hand. Melissa grabs it and uses it to get back on her feet. The palm of his hand is surprisingly soft and warm.

Melissa takes a step back almost immediately, pulling her hand from Louis’s. She narrows her eyes at her tormentor who has suddenly decided to become her rescuer. “What are you playing at? What do you want from me? Why can’t you just leave me alone?”

“Stop being so ungrateful,” Louis barks at Melissa. His eyes are angry as he looks at her, his stance as haughty as ever. “I just helped you.”

“It’s your fault those girls are harassing me. You gave me a red notice.”

Melissa can’t believe she needs to remind Louis that it’s his fault she’s in trouble. He’s the one who has marked her as prey for the vultures to devour. And now he’s expecting her to be grateful for rescuing her. He must be delusional.

“And I made a proposition that could’ve made your life easier here at St. Bernard, but you refused, remember.”

“Because I don’t want to be friends with you,” Melissa yells in frustration.

“Well, I don’t want to be your friend, either,” Louis fires back.

Melissa lets out a groan of frustration and put her hands in her hair. This boy is driving her crazy. He really seems to think the world revolves around him and that people should just do whatever he says, be grateful when he gives them the time of day.
But, she’s having none of it. She isn’t going to let him walk all over her. She isn’t going to give him what he wants, not now, not ever.

Melissa untangles her fingers from her hair, takes a deep breath and straightens her back. Louis is looking at her, face red and frustration clearly visible in his eyes.

“I don’t have time for this. You may not have to work, but I do and I’m going to be late if I don’t go now.” Melissa doesn’t take is eyes off of Louis as she grabs her backpack from where it’s lying at her feet. She’d dropped it when the redhead had thrown her to the ground. “Goodbye, Tomlinson.”

He doesn’t stop her as she walks past him and towards the gates of the school. But she can feel his eyes on her.

—–
On her way to work, Melissa always stops at a Starbucks to get a coffee latté. Next to the coffee shops are three billboards she has to walk passed to get inside the coffee shop.

Normally, Melissa doesn’t pay attention to what they’re advertising but today her eyes are immediately drawn to the big adverts. There, with a can of deodorant in her hands and a smile on her face is Suzanne Jones and leaning up against one of the billboards is Zayn Malik. He has his head pressed against the poster and he’s looking at the enlarged head of the model with his intense brown eyes.

People are staring, some of them commenting on how gorgeous Zayn is but most asks each other if Zayn is right in the head. The onlookers let out gasps when Zayn turns his head and kisses the poster.

Melissa hurries towards Zayn, the eyes of the audience suddenly on her. She taps him softly on his shoulder, heart beating rapidly in her chest.

There’s a smile on his face when Zayn turns his head to look at Melissa. “Hey, Melissa. Do you know the time difference between America and England?”

Melissa is too dumbfounded by the question to reply. Her eyebrows furrow in confusion, not really understanding why Zayn wants to know. She tells the smiling boy just as much.

“Suzy’s in America.” He turns his head to look up at the big brown eyes depicted on the poster. “She’s an old friend of mine and I want to know when I can call her.”

Melissa’s heart sinks at the last bit of information. So, what the brunette said is true. Suzanne Jones and Zayn Malik are friends. And he does have a crush on her.

“I need to… I need to go to work.” Melissa is backing away, tears brimming in the corners of her eyes. He doesn’t pay her any mind, too enamored with the woman who isn’t Melissa. “Goodbye, Zayn.”

And like that, she flees, leaving behind the small hope she had that maybe she and Zayn had a future together.

Notes

So, I would love to know. Who do you guys ship Melissa with? Louis or Zayn? Oh and, what did you guys think of this chapter?