^ December 22 ^
Being the smartest people around, El, Louis, and I went Christmas shopping three days before Christmas. We were each carrying at least six bags.
"Who's left?" I asked.
"I still need to get gifts for Harry, Louis, and," the brunette mused, "Niall."
"I have you, El, and Beth left," the guy answered.
"And I have Jake and you left," I growled. I was exhausted and wanted to eat.
"Oh, so what did you get, Niall?" El frowned.
"Nothing. And I'm not going to."
"Aw, come on. Buy him something. It's Christmas," Louis started. "And my birthday."
"Oh, right. Your 24th, isn't it?" He nodded. "Do I need to buy you two gifts, or will one suffice?"
"One will be enough from you," he smiled.
We had just entered another store that primarily sold only sweaters. Seeing the line, I sighed heavily. We all split up in different directions. I bought Jake a blue sweater with the inscription, "Best friend you can't have." I bought Louis a green sweater with the inscription, "Carrots."
I had absolutely no idea what to buy the others, especially Niall. I walked past all the sweaters and finally found what I had been looking for so long. A light blue sweater with the inscription, "I'm stupid." Since I didn't have a better option, I grabbed it.
Finally, I paid for everything and rushed out of the store, sitting on a bench to wait for the couple. I just enjoyed the pleasure of not moving. After a few minutes, El and Louis came out of the store, talking about something. They approached me when they saw me.
"Can we go back?" I whined.
"I think so," Louis replied, and a smile instantly appeared on my face.
"Best words I've heard all day," I said, energetically standing up. They started laughing but followed me with quick steps toward the car so they wouldn't fall behind.
We all got into the car, and first, we drove to the dorm. Louis dropped us off and, after saying goodbye, drove off to the fraternity house where he now lives with the other guys and a few people I don't know.
El and I struggled to get back to the room. We dropped the bags and agreed to wrap the gifts tomorrow. We gathered our toiletries and, grabbing a towel each, headed to the showers. We locked ourselves into one stall, and I got in first while El was removing her makeup and brushing her teeth.
"Have you noticed how weird Niall has been lately?" she asked.
"Do you realize I don't care?" I winced when shampoo ran into my eyes.
"I think you're slowly changing him with your comments," she mused. "You could say you're slowly killing him," she laughed.
"Good. He deserves it," I answered without thinking.
"Don't you think you're being a little too harsh on him? I understand he hurt you badly, but he was young, stupid," she defended him.
"Are you defending him?"
"No, but still. He's our friend, and I just think he's suffered enough. These past three months, you've been picking on him about his weight, and he doesn't eat as much as he used to. We can both confirm that he doesn't have a problem with his weight," she explained.
I felt guilty for a moment, but remembering what he had done to me, the guilt vanished.
"I still think he deserves it," I snapped back. "He picked on me about my weight for two years, plus the pushing, so he's getting what he gave."
"And you're going to do this for two years?"
"No, my studies are quite short if I don't want a Master's degree," I replied.
"Ah. I still think you should stop. It could be a Christmas gift to him, and to all of us, because we're all sick of your fighting."
"I know, but I can't just drop everything like this," I said, letting El into the shower. "I'm doing well, and it's working. He's sad and unhappy. That's what I aimed for."
"But you can't act like this. Understand that it's genuinely affecting him, and it might even accidentally lead to suicide," she threw out. "Do you want him to kill himself?!"
"I don't know…" I trailed off, but El quickly stuck her head out of the shower and looked at me sternly. "No, no. It would be good for him to suffer a little more."
"And are you ever going to tell him who you were to him?" she asked.
"I think so. I'm not sure, but I might give him a hint if he asks. Maybe it will be worth telling him because he'll realize how badly he treated me, and I'll already be gone, and we won't see each other again in this life. And that will torment him for the rest of his life," I finished explaining.
"I see you have a serious plan," she chuckled. "But I still think you should stop. He's not as cheerful anymore, he's lost weight, and his under-eyes are perpetually dark. He's not doing well."
"We'll see," I said, and El finally got out of the shower. Dripping wet, we walked down the hall in our towels toward the room. She struggled to unlock the door, and we both rushed inside. After drying our hair and getting ready, we lay down in our beds. Eventually, I fell asleep.
^ Morning ^
I was woken up by El's usual squealing. Jumping out of bed, I started getting ready. I did my usual morning routine.
Finally, as always, I dragged El out of the room to get breakfast. After getting our food, we sat down at the same table. It was strange that no one even tried to sit at it. Everyone sat down with us: Harry, Liam, Louis, Jake, Zayn, Beth, Josh, and Niall. It was odd that Niall was only eating one apple. Everyone looked at him strangely but didn't say anything. I wanted to say something biting, but I restrained myself. I don't know, but I felt a little sorry for him.
There was an uncomfortable silence that was broken by El standing up from the table after some kind of exchange of glances with Louis. Grabbing Beth and me, she dragged us out of the cafeteria.
"What's going on?" I asked, confused.
"It was just so uncomfortable, so I wanted to leave as soon as possible," she quickly mumbled.
"I agree," Beth said. "I don't understand why it's so difficult for people to make it so we don't have to go to classes the day before Christmas Eve?"
"I don't know, but they are seriously stupid," I added. "But we'll get a week and a half off."
"Maybe we should plan a trip somewhere all together?" El suggested.
"Good idea," I said, and just then, we walked into the classroom. All eyes were on us.
Louis's POV:
We were all looking at Niall, who looked worn out, thin, and unrecognizable.
"Niall," I addressed him. "This can't continue," I shook my head.
"What do you mean?" he laughed nervously.
"You're not yourself anymore," Harry added.
"Look at yourself! You look awful," Liam said.
"You have to sort things out," Josh continued. "You're not sleeping at night."
"You're not eating enough, and you can't handle practice anymore," Jake said.
"If this continues, you—you'll die," Zayn finished.
"I'm fine," he grumbled.
"You are not fine. Is this because of Luanna?" I asked. He sighed heavily and nodded, closing his eyes.
"But why are you doing this?" Harry looked at him sadly.
"She's right. I'm fat, and I need to do something. And besides..." they didn't let him finish.
"Are you an idiot?! You're in the best shape out of all of us!" Josh snapped. "At least you were," he quietly muttered.
"I just... maybe she'll like me at least a little bit," he answered sadly. This guy was in deep depression. It was painful to look at him.
"No, Niall. That won't happen. We're doing everything we can to end this. El is talking to Luanna so you two can make up, but you have to pull yourself together," a weary smile appeared on his face.
"I—I," he looked around at everyone at the table. "I'll try," he finally said, and we all started clapping.