Chapter 8

The game ended 5-2 to our team. The other team had scored another goal on Harry just two minutes after the first one. For some strange reason, he'd started concentrating after that goal and ended up playing really well. He'd stopped glancing up at the bleachers every now and then, and a smile had formed on his lips.

I had a feeling the reason why he'd played so well after those goals, was because he'd found the person he'd been looking for in the audience.

At the moment, I was sitting at the table in our kitchen with mum, Mark, Lottie, Fizz, Daisy and Phoebe, eating dinner.

It was silent, except for the constant sound of the cutlery that scraped against our plates.

Mark cleared his throat. "I was talking to my new manager today," he said, chugging down some water.

"And?" Mum wondered.

"And, he asked me if our family wanted to come and eat dinner at his place tomorrow," he continued.

"That sounds lovely, what was his name again?" Mum asked with a smile on her face.

"Robin Twist."

"Oh, right, you can tell him that we'll be there," she said, swallowing a piece of meat.

"Does he have any children?" I asked, looking at Mark.

"Well, he has a stepson about your age, Louis, and a stepdaughter who's three years older than the son," Mark smiled.

I thought about it. Did I know anyone who had a step-dad whose name was Robin Twist? Oh well, I didn't know many people, so let's just hope for the best...

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~Tuesday~

I walked to school the next day as usual. It was great that I only lived five minutes away from school, because I was running a little late, and I didn't own a car. Once I finally got there, I made my way to my locker and pulled out my science books.

"Whatcha doing tonight, mate?" I heard someone with an Irish accent say behind me.

I turned around to face my best friend. "I'm actually going to eat dinner at Mark's new manager's place or something," I sighed, shrugging.

Right then, Harry walked by me with a smile on his face. I decided to ignore him and stayed focused on Niall instead. His smile dropped and an obvious sigh escaped his lips.

"Oh, okay, maybe we can hang out another day?" Niall smiled.

I nodded. "That sounds great," I breathed, a little shocked by Harry's actions.

On our way to Science class, I just couldn't stop thinking about Harry. He had smiled when he saw me, but when he had noticed I didn't want to make eye contact with him, it dropped and he let out a sigh? Yeah, that must've been it. But why? Why would he even smile in the first place? I had pretty much told him I never wanted to see him again, so why the smile? Shouldn't he be happy that I had eventually told him I didn't want to talk to him, and ignore me like he wanted to? This didn't make sense at all...

The day passed by pretty slowly. I didn't have either Maths or P.E, so I didn't see Harry as much as usual... which was great. However, I was currently opening the front door to my house.

"Mum, girls, I'm home," I announced.

Seconds later, two girls ran down the stairs towards me. "Looouuu, you're home!" Daisy and Phoebe exclaimed in unison. They wrapped their tiny arms around my legs as they came up to me.

"Hi, girls, how's your day been?" I smiled, picking the twins up in my arms.

I kicked off my shoes, before walking over to Fizzy who'd come down the moment I'd picked up the twins. "It's been good, LouLou, mum drove us to the playground at the park so we could play football with our friends," Daisy giggled.

"That sounds great," I smiled, poking her cheek. "And you, love. How's your day been?" I asked, turning to Fizzy.

"Well, as any other day. Normal, I guess," she said, smiling slightly at me.

"Hi Boobear! Ready for tonight?" Mum asked excitedly as she came out of the kitchen and leaned against the door frame.

"As ready as I can possibly be," I sighed, putting the twins down on the floor.

I still had no idea who the guy my age could be, but I had a feeling it was someone I knew.

"You don't sound too excited, Boo," she said, raising an eyebrow.

I shrugged. The thing was, I was just down because I would rather have hung out with Niall instead of being forced to dress up and go to a place I hadn't even been to before.

Mum pouted for a second. "Well, we're going as soon as Mark comes home, which is in..." She glanced at the watch on the wall to her left. "Thirty minutes."

I choked on my own spit. "Thirty minutes?!"

Oh my... how was I going to make it in thirty minutes? I was literally on the verge of having a panic attack. No one could possibly make it in such short notice!

I sprinted up to my room without uttering another word, and headed into the bathroom. Once there, I stripped off my clothes and turned on the shower. Five minutes later, I stepped out and wrapped a towel around my waist. I walked into my bedroom again and headed straight to my closet, opening it. I felt myself tensing at the sight of all my clothes in a messy pile in there. What the hell was I going to wear?

I felt a similar panic attack that I'd had before, enter my body as I scanned through every little garment in my closet, but still couldn't find anything to wear.

I took a deep breath, searching the room for my phone. As soon as I found it, I dialed Niall's number quickly.

"H-hello?"

I raised an eyebrow. Why was he panting like he'd just been running a marathon? "Hi Niall, it's Louis, if you didn't know already. Why the hell are you panting?"

Right then I heard another voice. "Niall, who are you talking to?"

Oh, I knew that voice. Wait for it... Oh my God, it was Liam!

"Liam? What is he... Oh shit, don't tell me you are..." I trailed off as I heard Niall moan. "Oh, come on, why did you pick up if you're doing... that?" I groaned.

"I'm sorry Louis, just... Oh God Liam... tell me why you called me in the first place."

"First off, ew. Secondly, I'm so happy that you're finally with Liam! And thirdly, I don't know what I'm going to wear for tonight, and we're leaving in..." I checked the time on my phone. "Fifteen minutes!"

"Please Liam, s-stop. I'm talking t-to Louis."

I heard a grunt, then Niall was back on the other end. "Louis, just take what you wore at the party, or at least something similar to it. You looked absolutely amazing."

I thought about it. He was right, it was actually a great idea. "Thank you Niall, you're the best! I'm not gonna let Liam wait any longer, so see you tomorrow, bye!" I hung up before he even had a chance to say 'bye' back, but I really didn't want to stay to hear another moan escape his mouth.

I walked over to my closet again and picked out a white shirt with dark blue stripes and another pair of red chinos. As I had put everything on, I rolled up the ends of my pants so a bit of my skin was exposed. I then turned to my mirror and styled my hair into a quiff.

Once I was finished, I picked up my phone from the bed and checked the time. Two minutes to go.

I walked down to the kitchen where the rest of my family was waiting for Mark. Mum gasped as soon as she saw me. "Loubear, you look absolutely stunning," she smiled widely.

I thought back on the time when she'd told me about what she thought of Harry, and how I'd hated her after that. Well, when I realized yesterday that he actually was just like she'd told me he was, I had apologized to her.

"Thank you mum," I said, returning the smile.

Right then, the front door swung open, and slammed closed just a few seconds afterwards. We all made our way into the hall to greet Mark. The twins threw themselves at their dad and mum kissed him on the cheek, while Lottie and Fizzy stood beside me and just waited for us to go.

Five minutes later, we were standing outside the front door to a big white house. I swear, whoever lived here was really rich.

Right then, my thought about going here changed, and I suddenly felt like this could be a somewhat fun night after all.

Before I knew it, a man opened the door for us and let us in. I assumed the man was Robin - Mark's manager -seeing as they hugged each other. He was about to greet my mum as well when a rather high pitched voice was heard from the kitchen.

"Rob, who was it?"

I felt my mum stiffen beside me. I was about to question her about it when the woman came out of the kitchen. She had long dark hair with green familiar eyes. Where had I seen them before?

"Oh, hi, nice to meet you." The woman stepped forward and shook Mark's hand and was about to do the same to my mum when she froze in her spot. "Jay?"

"Anne," mum said through gritted teeth.

Wait, Anne? Why did that sound so familiar?

"You know each other?" Robin and Mark asked in unison.

Anne and mum nodded. "My worst enemy in high school," mum muttered.

Suddenly, everything fell into place in my brain. Anne Cox, none other than Harry's mum!

As if on cue, a mop of brown curls stepped down the stairs, followed by a girl who looked almost exactly like Anne, but younger.

"Louis," Harry breathed, his eyes widening in shock.

My heart fluttered involuntarily at him calling my name. I should really get rid of these feelings I had for him, because he would never love me back anyways...

I stared at him in disbelief. This couldn't be true. What were the odds that Robin's stepson was Harry out of all people?

"You know him?" Anne asked through gritted teeth, staring at her son in disbelief.

"Eh, mum, we've been in the same class since middle school, of course I know him," he replied to her mum, rolling his eyes.

Yes, but you've only known me in person for five days... I thought to myself.

"How come I didn't know that?" Anne asked angrily. "I would've warned you about him. You shouldn't be near this family, they're bad people."

"Easy now, darling, we don't want to put up a fight here," Robin said, trying to calm Anne.

Anne just glared at him. "Yes we do."

Robin sighed and flicked his eyes between Harry and me. "Think you two can solve this?"

I looked at Harry. Could we actually do it? It felt like there was a really deep hatred between these two women.

"Yes," Harry said with no hesitation.

I raised an eyebrow at him, but he just shook his head.

"Girls, let's go into the living room, shall we?" Mark said to my sisters.

They nodded in agreement and followed Mark, Gemma and Robin into the room.

Me, mum, Anne and Harry went into their kitchen and sat down at the table, my mum and I opposite Anne and Harry.

"Let's start at the beginning," Harry said, looking between both Anne and mum. "What happened?"

Anne glared at mum before speaking. "She went in the same class as me and your dad."

Harry nodded. "Okay, and?"

"She was together with a guy named Troy, right?" she said, looking at mum who nodded. I recognised my father's name immediately, feeling like someone stabbed me in the heart.

"Yes, that's right."

"Me and your dad were happy together. Well, I wasn't the most faithful girl at school, but your dad wasn't either. We slept with other people every now and then," Anne explained.

Harry cringed at those words, and right then, I understood that he didn't know anything about his parents' past.

"Go on," he gulped.

"Well, when I was sixteen, your dad got me pregnant with Gemma. At first, I didn't care, and continued to sleep around with other men, but after a while, I grew to love the child inside me. I wanted to start a family with your dad and stop sleeping around with other people. All I wanted was a real relationship with Des where both of us would be faithful. I told him about it, and he agreed. It went well the first weeks. He cared about me like never before and visited my house after school every day. But after approximately three months, he became distant. He stopped visiting me and didn't even stop to say hi to me when we walked by each other in the school's hallways. It didn't take long before I caught him having sex with another girl in a classroom. It's just... it wasn't just any girl, but it was my best friend, and my best friend was you, Jay."

I gulped. No way. My mother couldn't have done such a thing, she just couldn't.

"Mum, please tell me she's not telling the truth," I whispered with tears in my eyes.

Mum looked at me with sad eyes. "I'm sorry Lou."

I got up, ready to leave, when she grabbed my wrist and pulled me down on the chair again. "Please, Boo, let me explain."

I took a deep breath, nodding hesitantly.

"Well, just like Anne said, me and your dad, Troy, was together. I thought I was happy, until I started develop these feelings for Des. I don't know where they came from, but they were suddenly there. I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to hurt my best friend's feelings, but one day when Des came up to me right after a lesson, and started kissing me, I couldn't stop him. I wanted to, because I hated to feel guilty, especially when Anne was the one to suffer from it.

A few days later, we had sex in a classroom, and I swore I could see someone looking at us through the door's window, but I shrugged it off, thinking it was just some random kid who just walked past the door. I was wrong though, because the next day, neither of Anne or Des showed up at school. I thought Des was sick or something, but the day after that, they were both back and didn't as much as glance at each other.

Anne didn't talk to me. She ignored me like she'd never done before, and that was when it hit me. She was the one who had caught me and Des having sex in the classroom the other day. I suddenly got scared that she was going to tell Troy about it, but I didn't have to be for too long, because a week later, your dad broke up with me.

I knew it was Anne's fault, I just knew it, and therefore I was so mad at her that I wanted to kill the little baby that was growing in her stomach. I didn't though, because that would consider me a murderer and I didn't want to be a monster.

Years passed, and soon I figured that Anne was sleeping around again. I once caught her in bed with Troy at a party, and that was when I swore I would always hate her. So, that was the reason why I slept with Des when she had forgiven him and was pregnant with you, Harry." She stopped and glanced at him, before turning back to me to continue.

"I made sure I did it when Anne could see, and that was when she broke up with him for good. Half a year later, your dad and me apologised to each other, and we got you. High school ended, and my feelings for Des had faded a long time ago. I never saw him or Anne again, and I was happy with that. Your dad and I stayed together for five years before we fell out of love and he left us... Now, did I miss something, Anne?" Mum asked her.

Anne just shook her head and stared down at the table. "No, I'm pretty sure you didn't."

I looked at Harry with my mouth wide open, and so was his. How could this be true? It was like some sort of film. Something that never happened in reality, but in stories. I couldn't blame mum for everything that had happened between them in high school, but I couldn't blame Anne either. If there was someone to blame, it was actually Des. He'd been the one who had cheated on Anne in the first place, even though mum had been the one he'd done it with. He was the reason why mum and Anne started hating each other, and without him, they would still have been best friends today... But then again, the world's most beautiful man wouldn't have been sitting across from me right now if so.

"I can't believe my dad was such a slut," Harry murmured under his breath.

"Wait... you don't know him?" Mum asked Harry in shock.

Harry shook his head. "I've never met him in my entire life."

This caused mum to gasp.

"What did you think, Jay? That I would show my beautiful son to that twat?! It was enough that he had met Gemma."

"So you never met him again?"

Anne shook her head. "Never."

"Wait a second," I spoke up with a frown on my face. "Did you lie to me mum?"

She looked at me with confused eyes. "What do you mean?"

"I told you about Harry, and you immediately said I couldn't be friends with him because he probably was just like his dad, that he only cared about me because he had to live up to his reputation. How could he be like that when he has never met his father in his entire life? He didn't even know what Des was like! How could you have been so sure?!"

The room fell silent. What did I just say? Shit, the one I was talking about was sitting across from me for crying out loud!

Harry looked up and locked eyes with me, before turning to my mother.

"You said what? Did you actually tell him I didn't care about him when he was beaten up at the party? Did you know I was the one who helped him get back home that night? And did you know how much I truly cared about him? Sure, I was a little drunk, and yes, I talked to him for the first time that night, but that doesn't matter!"

I was a little taken aback by his harsh words. I didn't know he had truly cared about me... but he did, and nothing could change that fact anymore.

"I'm sorry," mum whispered. "I just didn't want my Boobear near anyone of you, so I had to come up with something. I didn't know what Harry was like, Louis, and when you said yesterday that he was exactly what I'd told you he was like, I was so shocked."

I swear, I could've hit her in the face right now. He was fucking listening! Didn't she care about him at all?

I turned to Harry who was looking at me with hurt in eyes. "About that, I'm--"

"So, how did it go?" Robin questioned, walking into the room.

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Cliffhanger!!! What was Harry about to say? :o Bet some of you already know.

However, English isn't my first language. I'm from Sweden! :)

So, I'm sorry for any mistakes or miss spellings, but now you at least know the reason as to why there are some of them :)

What a past Harry's and Louis' parents had, right? Seriously, that was very weird to write. It became really... much, huh?

I'm not gonna ramble about how amazing the feedback is, but, I just have to mention it... Really love you guys, and thank you so much for reading this story.

Don't forget to FOLLOW, COMMENT and VOTE

Pauline .xx