Chapter 6

When I walked into the living room, I saw Liam, Louis, Hannah, Harry and Zayn looking very anxious. My brother, mom and cousin, on the other hand, looked like they were watching a rerun of Lost; they totally knew what was going to happen next.
"Again?" Jessica asked. The boys and Hannah looked at her confused, then their looks shifted to me as I sat between my mom and Jeremy.
"Yeah," I said with a sigh.
"Will someone kindly clarify?" Hannah asked.
I sighed again. "This isn't the first time this happened," I said. "And I haven't been completely honest with you guys.."
"Keep going," Harry said.
"Remember the reason I told you I moved here?"
"You're dad got a new job," Louis replied.
"Yeah, but that's not the only reason... I got expelled from my previous school," I said shyly.
"The local rebel, and the rebel imported from USA," I heard Zayn softly quote Micah.
"I have no idea how he found out about it!" I said to my mom. "Anyway. The reason I got expelled was similar to what happened today at lunch. You see, I was never the popular girl in school. I wasn't the smartest either. I wasn't the cheerleader, I wasn't dating the hottest guy in school, I never got invited to all the cool parties like Jeremy. I was your average girl who got bullied a lot. Then in sophomore year, I met my boyfriend Daniel. We got expelled together with this guy Shaun. Shaun was the quarterback who constantly bullied me. I knew how to stand up for myself, so I knew what to do. I knew that defending yourself with words could only go so far in high school. I got in a lot of fights-"
"This girl can pack a punch," Jessica commented pointing to me like a proud mother watching her son score the winning goal in a football game. "Sorry, carry on."
"I got in a lot of fights, got suspended a few times. And one day that same school year, Shaun came over the lunch table my friends and I were sitting at and he called Dan. Apparently, Shaun was cheating off Dan on their Spanish tests, so Dan purposely wrote his original answers wrong before erasing them so Shaun would cheat and copy the wrong answers. Shaun failed and blamed Daniel for it. Daniel.. he was never the one who fought with his fists. So I knocked out Shaun and I ended up getting expelled."
"What about the cuts on your wrist?" Zayn asked, and I immediately crossed my arms across my chest. My mom and Jessica looked at me.
"I stopped! The scars just haven't completely healed yet," I said showing Jessica my wrists. "How'd you know about that, though?"
"Remember that day when I wanted to help you wash up but you grabbed my hands?" He said. I tried to remember what happened that day and I nodded. "Well, I caught a glimpse of your cut marks."
"Right," I sighed. "Well, that's my story."
"The imported rebel.. insane," Liam said.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys. I just thought that if I told you, it would change your impression of me and I'd be alone again."
"Aw, no matter what kind of person you are, we'd never hate you. You were such a nice person when we met you, you still are that person we met," Hannah said walking to me. I got up and gave her a hug. Then everyone else joined in in our group hug. It made me feel good, too. It made me feel like I finally belonged somewhere.

The next day at school, Micah wasn't there, he had fallen sick so the school was different.
"Hmm. This is nice," I said with Zayn's arm on my waist. We were still pretending to be boyfriend and girlfriend. I didn't tell anyone I wanted to be that in reality, and not just pretend anymore.
"What is?" Hannah asked.
"The happiness. Without Micah, everyone in the school seems so happy. So carefree. Like they don't have to watch out for Micah all the time."
"Well, days when Micah and Monica aren't around are always a celebrated occassion," Louis said.
"I could get used to this," I said.
"Don't get too used to it," Zayn said. "He isn't gonna be sick forever."
"I'm still gonna cherish this happiness," I joked. What they thought was that I was talking about Micah being gone... When in reality, I was referring to Zayn treating me this way.