CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CRYING

I walk up to my dorm with a smile on my face but it vanishes as soon as I see Mel. She's sitting on her bed, her face in her hands, her body shaking with sobs. It's just me and her in the room. I sit next to her and pull her into a hug. She cries on my shoulder for a while before taking a deep breath and pulling away. Her eyes are red from crying and mascara tracks run down her face.

"My Mum was mad at first. More because I hadn't told her than anything else. Then we hugged and made up. But Daddy just sat there. And- and it was like he wouldn't even look at me. And then right before they were supposed to leave he just turned to me, really calm, and said "You're going to break up with that boy, today, and that will be then end of this nonsense." and I told him no, I wasn't going to do that. And then he just started shouting all this stuff and - and -" She starts crying again and I hug her and stroke her hair.

"Shhh. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. Shhhh, it's OK." She takes another shakey breath.

"He said he had heard about Louis' "womanizing-ways" and that by going out with him I'm making myself look like a slut. And that I'm just embarrassing myself because Louis probably doesn't care about me at all, that he's just using me. You don't think that's true do you?"

"Oh Mel. How could he say that about his own daughter? About you? You are in no way a slut. At all. And Louis obviously cares about you. I mean, yes, he was a man-whore but he's stopped that now ... for you." She wipes her eyes and gives me a small smile.

"Thanks, Lils. You always know what to say. You're a great friend." She pulls me into a hug.

"Hey, what about me? I'm a great friend too!" Says Rikki from the doorway. We giggle and she jumps on the bed and pulls us into a group hug. Then we spend loads of time talking and gossiping and laughing. We haven't done this in ages and I feel great. Then my bag makes a noise. It's the family parchment.

"What the hell is that? It's coming from your bag, Lily." Says Rikki. I run over to my bag and peek inside.

Room of Requirement NOW - James

"Em, It's nothing. Look, I got to go. See you later." I see Mel and Rikki shoot each other a look but I don't have time to analyse as I rush out the room.

When I get to the room, the only person still to come is Molly. Caleb is sitting with Al and Louis again but nobody seems to care anymore. It's like he belongs here. He smiles at me when I walk in but I don't smile back. I know what this meeting is about. Sure, they're probably going to talk about Louis and Mel but then I'm sure James will bring up his views on my "recent behaviour". I'm so scared. Molly walks in and she looks awful. Her hair is pulled up in a messy bun and her glasses are sliding down off her nose. Her eyes have bags underneath and her clothes are crumpled and untidy. Very un-Molly-like. I should probably ask her what's wrong. It should be Molly that James is worried about. She looks really ill and stressed, whereas I'm just happy.

"Hey. Well now that everyone's here, I'll start." Begins James, "Things haven't been going well this year for our family. So far we have had three untrue articles published about us and it doesn't seem close to stopping. This morning Louis' secret relationship with a girl was uncovered. But there were lies about it spread too and these lies could've lead to their breaking-up. Now it's one thing to publish untrue things in general but it's as if this family is being specifically targeted. And it's affecting us all. Even Lily." Oh, Merlin here we go. I see Caleb sit up straighter and he - as well as the rest of my family - shoots me a confused glance. "I have noticed that she has been getting drunk at parties. Also she has been dissapearing and her friends have had to come to me and Al, wondering where she's gone. I've talked to her about it and she has no interest in sorting herself out." Caleb opens his mouth as if about to say something but I shake my head at him. He closes his mouth but glares at James, who doesn't seem to notice. He's to busy talking about me as if I'm not in the room.

"It's true" Butts in Louis, "Mel's mentioned it to me. She can tell somethings up. She says Lily's been acting strange. I didn't want to say anything but if you're drinking Lil..."

Gee thanks Mel. Nice to know your relationship with Louis won't affect our friendship. I don't really blame Mel but I'm so mad right now. I stand up with tears in my eyes and they still don't notice me. They are all whispering and talking over each other - about me! The only person paying me any attention is Caleb. I clear my throat and they still don't look.

"Oiiiiii!" I shout as loud as I can. A couple of them jump and they all turn to look at me. "You are all a bunch of hypocrites. How many of you get drunk at the parties? Nearly all of you! And most of the time it was me who put your sorry-asses to bed! So I want to let loose sometimes. So what if I want to party and get drunk. So what if I need to go off alone sometimes, huh? Well, I sure as hell don't need to explain myself to you lot anyway. So you can shove it." And I run out the room, crying, for the first time in years.