January 21st 2009

The kids were all at school, and Jay was cleaning up about the house, when she received a phone call. "Hello?"

"Hello, is this Johanna?" The voice on the phone replied.

"It is, may I ask who's calling?" She asked nervously.

"This is Mr. Cowell at Hall Cross Academy. I was calling regarding your son, Louis." He said.

Jay frowned, knowing that it was Louis' principal. "Oh? What about him?"

"Well, we need to discuss a few things that have been brought to my attention by his teachers. Would now be a good time for you to come?" He asked.

"Oh, um, yeah. I'll be right there." She said hanging up the phone, and carding a hand through her caramel colored hair with a sigh. This wasn't going to be fun.

***

"It's good to see you again." Mr. Cowell greeted when Jay stepped into his office.

"You as well." She said with a half smile.

"So, the last time I saw you was the beginning of the fall, when you told me about Louis' Alzheimer's." He said rather bluntly, Johanna grimacing at the word.

"That's right." She said quietly.

"Well, I believe that you should take your son out of school." He said, his voice lacking any sympathy.

"What? Why? He can still learn! He's not an invalid!" Jay said, getting defensive. "He may not be doing as well as he used to, but he's getting by."

"I'm not so sure about that... his English teacher, brought this to me today." He said sliding a paper over to Jay. "That was his most recent writing assignment."

Jay started to read the paper, not finding anything at all wrong with it at first, until the fourth paragraph. The paper was supposed to be about the book they were reading in class;

I think that the reason Mr. Hyde is such an important part of Dr. Jekyll is because there is this darkness that - the paper completely changed to another topic at this point, as Louis had forgotten what he was writing about. Back in the 1700's there was a group of people who decided to leave our nation, and form their own. Jay stopped reading, unable to handle more. Tears welled up in her eyes, blurring her vision as she passed the paper back to Mr. Cowell.

"This isn't the first time apparently. He's losing focus." Mr. Cowell said, his voice monotone. "I really feel it would be best if he leave school. It's doing him no good."

"I um, I don't think he will like that idea." Jay said, "Wouldn't it be possible to let him just come to school, without worrying about his grades and stuff? So he at least feels normal? Because for the most part he is. He's still completely functioning, and he has awareness. He's just forgetful, for right now at least."

Mr. Cowell sighed. "I suppose we can figure something out, and we will let you know. Alzheimer's is a very serious-"

"I know! Okay?! I know." Jay seethed, she was sick of people who acted like her son was suddenly a nobody. That's why she only told the teachers and his doctors, and of course Harry had found out. None of his friends knew. None of his peers. Not even his sisters knew yet.

She and the principal said their goodbyes, and soon she was out the door, headed back home. Unbeknownst to her, there had been a listening ear outside of Mr. Cowell's office, and she had heard every word. Ashton Irwin. The most popular kid, as well as the biggest bully in the school. With a smirk, he pulled out his phone. He was going to ruin Louis.

***

"What's on your locker Lou?" Niall asked that afternoon as he followed Louis to his locker to get his lunch. There was a note taped on Louis' locker. "It better not be something from a secret admirer, Harry would have a bitch fit."

Louis giggled, and took the paper off of his locker, flipping it over to read it. He brought a hand to his mouth, as tears welled up in his eyes when he saw what it was. Someone had photoshopped his face onto the body of an old man with a walker.

'Young Geezer' was what was written on it.

"What does it say Lou?" Niall asked trying to look at it, but Louis crumpled it into a ball angrily.

"It's nothing." He muttered, "Let's go."

Niall frowned, trying to get the paper from Louis, who was suddenly distracted by Ashton, Michael, Luke and Calum, laughing at him and walking like old men.

"Hey Louis, what class do you have next?" Luke asked with a smug look on his face.

"I uh-" Louis frowned, not even sure.

"Oh right, sorry I forgot your memory problems!" Luke laughed.

"No worries though, I can help you remember. It's down the street, the water aerobics class at Sunnyside resting home. You're a long way from there." Calum said. "Need some assistance getting back?"

Louis glared at them, with tears in his eyes. He knew they were cruel, but how could people take such a horrible disease and make fun of it? He shoved past them and ran down the hall to the bathroom, tears streaming down his cheeks.

"What the hell was that all about?" Niall glared at them, confused.

"Oh you haven't heard? He's got the old people disease." Michael laughed. "What's it called again?"

"Alzheimers." Ashton chimed in.

"He what?" Niall's eyebrows went up in shock.

"Yeah go ask him. Maybe he'll tell you. If he remembers that is." Ashton smirked, earning a slap in the face from Niall, who quickly ran after Louis.

Niall rushed into the bathroom, seeing Louis' little body curled up on the floor in the final stall of the bathroom. He knocked on the stall door softly. "Louis? It's me, Niall. Can you open up?"

He heard a small click, and the stall swung open, revealing Louis' tear stained cheeks. Niall immediately sat down on the floor beside him, wrapping his arms around him.

"I'm so sorry they did that to you, no one in their right mind would ever treat someone that way." Niall murmured.

Louis stayed silent, just burying his head into his friend, and crying.

After a long while, Louis ran out of tears, and was now just silently leaning against Niall.

"Louis? Can I ask... is it true? About the alzheimers?" Niall asked.

Louis swallowed the lump in his throat. "Yeah, it's true." He whispered.

Hi everybody!!! Thanks for reading!! I haven't been very active on wattpad lately, but to all those who I'm reading your books, I promise I'm still reading them, just haven't had much free time recently. I would love feedback and votes!!! Have a beautiful day! xx

-sunnie