Chapter 4
Vanessa's Point of View
I woke up late, my face snuggled into an old shirt. I moved closer to the cloth, and then jumped up when a hand stroked my hair.
"Ryan, what did I tell you about- oh, it's you." I sighed in relief as Harry yawned and stretched his arms.
"Who's Ryan?" He asked. I lay back down and replied, "My ex-boyfriend. He used to stroke my hair when I was asleep, he knew I didn't like it though." Harry smiled and rubbed my head again. I scowled at him and crossed my arms around my chest.
"So why are you here?" I asked, and Harry turned serious.
"You don't remember last night? You were screaming and crying out in your sleep, and I came in, thinking you were hurt, and you woke up and asked me to stay with you. So I did." He looked concerned at my confusion, but I couldn't remember. Then, suddenly, it hit me.
"Oh my gosh. I remember. I was having a horrible nightmare, I can't remember what it was, but it was so scary," my voice caught and tears pricked my eyes, even though I couldn't remember what the dream was about. I shook it off and slipped out of bed. I grabbed some clothes and said,
"I'm going to take a shower. Can you see if anyone else is awake? We should start to get ready for the beach." Harry nodded and went out, calling out,
"Boo Bear! Nialler! Everybody, wake up!" I giggled at their nicknames and turned on the shower. My stomach was feeling bruised and when I undressed, I realized why. On my stomach, there was a huge bruise where Ray had punched me. The skin around my belly button was stretched tight, and colored purple and yellow. I touched it lightly and yelped; it was very sore. I tried my best to avoid it as I turned on the shower, and then looked for more bruises. There was another one on my lower back where I had hit the wall, and a small one on my upper arm where Ray grabbed me. I carefully avoided them while I showered, and then got dressed. I pulled on a long sleeve shirt to cover up the bruise on my arm, and a pair of dark jeans along with dark blue sneakers. And with my stomach numb from the hot shower, I walked into the kitchen.
The boys were all ready and sitting at the table, eating breakfast. One or some of the boys had made scrambled eggs, and when I went over Louis offered some to me. I politely took it from him and ate it. It was surprisingly good, so I hummed my approval, and Louis smiled.
I swallowed and said, "Are you guys ready to go to the beach?" They all nodded and smiled. I swallowed the rest of my food, and ran to grab my bag.
"We should go now, it will take us a while."
We rented a dark blue mini-van, and got in. Zayn and Niall sat in the back, while Harry sat shotgun and Liam and Louis sat in the middle seats. As I started the car, One thing came on, and the boys started singing along. I laughed as they got out of their seats and danced around the small space in the van. I sang along, and tried my best to keep my eyes on the road, instead of on the dancing boys.
I pulled into a parking spot near the beach boardwalk, and the boys jumped out. Harry opened my door for me and said, "My lady, your door." I giggled and thanked him as I hopped out. My stomach started throbbing, but I ignored it. We were there to have fun, not worry about me. The boys got onto the beach, and started running around chasing each other. I dropped my bag onto the sand and set out a blanket for us to sit on, when I felt a tap on my shoulder.
"You're it!" screamed Louis, and I laughed and got up to chase them. I tapped Niall, and ran away from him, screaming "Niall's it!" Everyone ran in different directions, trying to find a hiding place. I hide behind a big clump of frozen snow (remember, it's December) and waited. Suddenly, someone collided with me. I almost screamed, but remembered I was hiding. I looked up to see Liam had run into me, trying to hide. He smiled at me and mouthed, sorry, and I nodded and tried not to laugh. He got up and snuck off to another hiding spot, while I sat down again. After a little while, I heard someone yelling, "Liam's it!" and I felt a little bit bad, because it was my fault he had to leave this hiding spot and get caught. I shook it off, and moved to go to another hiding spot. I walked to my left, but stopped when I heard, "I found you Vanessa!" and turned to my right. Liam was running towards me. I screamed and ran as fast as I could away from him, my stomach prickling the whole way. I started to get winded, and then someone tackled me. Liam had caught up, and was now poking me, repeating, "You're it, you're it, ha ha you're it!" I got up and pretended to be upset about being tackled.
"Liam, I don't want to be it." I said, trying to give him puppy dog eyes. Bad mistake. Liam gave me an evil look, and said, "I can make you feel better!" He started to tickle my stomach, and it flared out in pain. I screamed and fell over, but Liam, thinking it was a scream of laughter, kept going. I shrieked at him to stop, and then he realized I was crying out in pain, not joy. He immediately jumped off me and said, "Vanessa, what's wrong? What did I do?" I whimpered in pain and held my stomach protectively. Liam took my hands away and lifted my shirt to see my stomach. It was worse then in the morning; the bruise had grown bigger, and was a variety of ugly colors. Liam sucked in a shocked breath, and then yelled for the boys. I begged him not to tell them, but it was too late. The boys came running to us, looking worried at me on the ground.
"What's going on? Why's Vanessa on the ground?" asked Niall, and Liam answered for me.
"I tagged her, and she pretended to be upset, and so I started to tickle her, and she screamed in pain, and clutched her stomach. I lifted her shirt to see why, and I saw this." Liam lifted my shirt again, and the boys stood frozen, shocked. Then before I knew it, Harry was at my side, holding my head, and the rest of the boys were gathered around me, looking upset. Liam mumbled something to Zayn about leaving, and I tried to protest, but could barely breathe. Harry looked into my eyes. "Love, can you get up?" I tried to sit up and cried out in pain. The slightest movement of my stomach area struck me like a knife. I fell back down into Harry's arms, and tried to take deep breaths. Harry said something to Louis, and then he picked me up and carried me back to the car. Harry drove back to the apartment, while I lay in Liam's arms, trying not to move.
"I'm sorry guys. I ruined the whole day by being hurt. I wish we could stay longer," I trailed off, and Zayn rubbed my hand kindly.
"Vanessa, it's not your fault. Plus, we were going to leave soon anyway." I smiled at him and closed my eyes. Soon enough, everything faded to black.
I hope you guys liked it! Sorry it took so long, had a busy few weeks.