"Pardon the way I stare, there's nothing else to compare."

°°°°

Niall

In all honesty, I didn't think Zayn would get so riled up over Corona. He already expressed how much he didn't like her. And personally, I don't think that Zayn Malik would be one to commit a random act of valor. Not saying that Zayn isn't like that!

He's a good person, really. We just rarely see the side of him that's truly the definition of a man.

Then again, I'm short, Irish, everyone thinks I'm adorable, and my voice is high pitched. That's what makes Niall Horan Niall "Irresistible" James Horan.

Now Zayn wouldn't allow her to walk through the parking lot. He carried her in his arms, much to Harry's distaste. He said it was because he didn't want her running off and fucking another guy. It made me snicker at the thought, because before last night, Zayn hadn't a care in the world if she ran off and did what she usually did in life.

I remember seeing how disturbed he was when he saw the names carved onto her back. Then the whip lashes and the handcuff burns. And I suppose me and him were the only ones who noticed the faint rope burn that circled her neck sloppily. We never spoke of it. Every time me and Zayn looked at it at the same time, he would look at me and his eyes welled up with tears.

That's when I saw the real man in Zayn.

We were swamped by fans, I tried to veer away since I was holding Corona. Me and Zayn switched between who carried her. She wasn't heavy. At all.

Some of the girls glared at her momentarily sleeping figure, some would manage to snag a piece of her hair and they tugged hard, making her wince in her sleep. Zayn and Harry finally had enough of it and they gave off animalistic snarls, scaring some off. Harry snatched Corona from me and held her close to his chest.

He held her close to his chest, whispering that everything would be alright.

Me and Zayn exchanged confused looks.

Now I knew very well that nobody I was aware of could love this girl more than Harry. After all, when he noticed the middle seat lacked a seatbelt, he said that he would go into the trunk and provide himself as a seatbelt for Corona by popping out and hugging her close.

Poor Harry..

So lovestruck.

I could tell Corona wasn't sure about how she felt. Or what she wanted to feel.

"Lets wake her up."I said to Louis. Louis passed the message to Harry.

"Hm. Hey, wake up beautiful. Can't believe you managed to sleep with all this noise."Harry shook Corona softly as he pulled her closer to his face. She groaned and pinched his nose.

"Shhh. Sleeping soothes my hunger."She mumbled.

He shook his head and pulled back quickly in surprise when she reached up and pinched his nose again, harder.

"We're gonna go to buy you some new Converse. C'mon."I tried my hand at waking her up.

Her eyes opened wide and she jumped out of Harry's arms. (A/N|| There's the Author-chan aspect. I love Converse. I won't settle for Vans, Adidas, etcetera, only Converse.)

I chuckled. And Harry was busy rubbing his pained nose.

We headed into the giant Converse based store and Corona stared through the aisles. I stood at her side, looking off and wandering.

Then I heard someone talking to Corona.

Looking back, I saw two girls.

"So, you're that girl that One Direction has been with? Hm..hah, look at those handcuff burns, been whoring around, haven't you?"The raven haired sneered.

The ginger gave a small snicker.

Corona narrowed her eyes and ran her hand through her own black hair and leaned in, examining the girl who insulted her.

"Well, at least I admit it. When are you gonna come clean about fucking your friend's fiancee, huh?"She replied calmly, standing tall again. The ginger's blue eyes widened and she began arguing with her friend. Corona took the Converse box she had been looking at then strode back over to me.

I stared at the converse in her hand. They were black based, of course. One looked splashed with several shades of neon acid green/yellow. The other looked like it had been slapped with paintbrushes coated with neon purple and blue in different shades. Both had star like patterns on the back. My eyebrows raised, that was an impressive design.

"I like these. They have patterns I didn't paint on. Patterns that express me. I'm just splashed light on a plate of black darkness."She shrugged innocently.

"You love painting on your shoes, don't you?"I laughed. She nodded.

Harry

I slid into the aisle that Corona and Niall were in. We took her to pay, Zayn handed over the money, and we walked out of the store to some really dark lighted store she took us to. She grinned and dashed off.

She came back holding a black sweatshirt that said in white sharp fonted words on the front

CAN'T HAVE A RAINBOW WITHOUT YOUR TEARS

I guess she thought it meant something profound. She dropped it into my arms and disappeared. Then came back with yet another sweatshirt. It was white with cursive words on the back that said

If you're reading this, I'm obviously not listening to you.

Wow.

Then she got black ripped jeans and large black spiked cuffs to cover her handcuff burns. Zayn paid and we went on another adventure.

I waited outside of the electronics store with Zayn and Niall with a soft sigh. Louis and Liam were off buying our stuff and some food.

I peeked back and saw a young man with sandy blonde quiff styled hair and a chiseled jawline plus some amazing crystal blue eyes. He was talking to Corona, smiling and laughing with her. His looks shamed Niall's poor innocent adorable face.

I shoved Niall harshly into Zayn. They looked at me, angry, until I pointed out the guy talking to Corona. Zayn's face relaxed.

Me and Niall walked closer.

"So, these are the best pair of headphones you've got?"

"Da. I'll give you the best pair of earbuds we've got for free if you'd like. Just a discount for being so pretty and making my day better."A Russian accented voice replied.

"Alright alright, stop sugar-coating it Sasha. How about the phone? I mean, I sure am loving this Samsung..."

"Ah..Well I guess I should give you a celebrity discount for that, sweetheart. Here's my number, I'll pay for your service if you call me for a coffee someday."I could hear the smile in his voice.

"You're so fucking cliché. I guess I could..but I'll call for a sparring match. Still can't believe you're an upcoming contender in boxing. I love boxing...Alright. Zayn!"

Zayn was staring at me with a pissy look. We walked over to her and smiled. This Sasha she was speaking to was a bit taller than Zayn. His teeth were so white..and he looked like a model.

He worked here, obviously.

Zayn gritted his teeth and sensed that his territory was being invaded by a stray male. And he sure as hell didn't like it. You can fangirl all you want, it's just not pretty when Zayn Malik gets territorial over things that aren't his.

Zayn

That voice in the back of my head told me that Sasha must be terminated.

With his perfect blue eyes and his..strong jawline..His straight posture...Just everything perfect about him!

Damn Russians...breeding these beautiful stallions into the damn world. People that good looking shouldn't exist. Then again, there's me.

I kindly paid the man, and he programmed his number into Corona's new phone. He didn't put any weird names for him in the contact. It merely said 'Sasha Slokov' with his number.

Which I respected.

Louis and Liam came back with the food. Liam's smile faded when he saw Sasha."Who's this?"He growled.

Sasha held his hands up in defense."I work here. Sasha Ire Slokov. Just hooking up this lovely lady with her real teenager gear."He laughed. Oh my god his laugh is a perfect tone.

"Oh thanks, sugar lips, you make me feel young again. Butterscotch?"Corona said sarcastically, laughing with Sasha and leaning her head on his shoulder. She slapped his chest playfully and he flicked her nose teasingly.

She said goodbye and we left, stopping off at the bathroom to let her change into her new clothes.

----

We walked outside and I picked her up again."What's wrong with you Zayn..jeez.."She growled at it.

I snarled and dropped her."You want to know what's wrong? Do you know how it feels to see those names fucking carved into your back!?!"I barked.

She shrugged, as if it was a minor innocent thing. And for some reason, that pissed me off beyond compare. I just couldn't stand to see her like this. She believed that all this harm done to her body was wrong. I couldn't let anyone trick her into thinking any of this was okay.

I looked over to Louis."Give me your pocket knife."I demanded.

I made him carry one everywhere we went just in case. He handed it to me as we walked back to the car. I ran my finger over the side of the blade in anger, until we got to the car. I stared at Corona, who was still rubbing her behind from me dropping her.

I closed the knife then opened it again. I pressed the blade to my skin, feeling the very painful sting as I dragged it till I made a decent straight line. I repeated this until I had carved my name into my arm. It bled, dripping onto the steaming asphalt. Corona's eyes widened. She grabbed my arm and pulled it close, running her finger over the name. Louis stole back his knife and began to do the same thing to his own arm. Corona began to panic, I could see it.

When the knife got to Niall, she suddenly started begging for him not to cut himself.

I gave him a look and he nodded in agreement. Niall carved his name into his arm regardless how loud she screamed. Niall was precious with his unscarred clean skin. His precious face. And I could tell Corona caved in when she ruined that innocence by letting him scar his soft arm.

"Now you know how it feels when we look at the names carved into your name. It makes us want to scream blasphemy. Niall's skin will heal up, don't worry. It won't leave a scar...hopefully."

She nodded shamefully. But then she grabbed my arm again. She stared at the name before grabbing Niall's arm next. She kissed the cuts, not caring if she got blood on her lips. She kissed Liam's, Louis's, Harry's, then mine. She smiled then licked her lips clean of the blood.

When Harry saw that, I thought he would throw up because of his shocked face. Instead, he stole Liam's jacket and wrapped it around his waist to cover his crotch. His face flushed red with embarrassment. Oh wow, my mate's got a boner in public because a girl kissed his bloody arm then licked the blood off her lips. He's amazing.

"You, uh..wanna take care of that?"I asked, holding back a snicker. I gestured to his crotch then to the car. He nodded with a frustrated look. He glared a little at Corona and she was busy on her phone, shrugging innocently.

"Don't get any of your damn liquids on my car. I swear, if I even see a drop of your fucking seed on my dashboard, I'll murder you Harry."Corona snarled as Harry handed Liam his jacket back, then dashed to get into the car.

We waited outside as poor Hazza wanked off his accidental hard on. Corona handed him wet wipes when he was done, then left him to his confines in the trunk with the rest of the stuff we bought.

Louis

I thought it was precious what Zayn did. The way he helped Corona understand how we felt about her scars by carving his name into his arm. She looked terrified...

Then Harry decided to get turned on by her licking off his blood, and it was barely any blood, then we were forced to wait for about 15 minutes in the searing heat so he could finish...

Fucking Harry, man..

Corona wouldn't let Harry hug her, because of where his filthy hands had been. Our arms stopped bleeding, and we used the last of the wipes to clean off the blood before school.

I looked at Corona's phone, she was texting Sasha. I didn't intervene or mention it to Zayn, I saw that the conversation was far more mature than it would've seemed to be. They spoke about education and how much they love cars. It was weird for a woman to fall in love with the engine of a Crown Vic but I didn't want to judge her. Niall didn't give a shit, he put her on the damn hood and made her so happy by revving the engine

I wasn't very eager to go to school. After all, we have better things to do with our lives. Quite obviously. But I guess this is a chance to make normal friends who don't want to use us for our money and publicity.

Like Corona.

She turned off the screen and closed her eyes, resting her head on my shoulder. I knew I'd do anything to keep her safe.

I didn't really see Corona as a romantic interest, like Harry. But I guess something so heartfelt could develop later. I just wanted a friend besides the boys. Corona was very nice and she could relate to lots of things we talked about.

She laughed with us, played around with us. But sometimes I felt like her smiles weren't exactly...genuine.

My opinion of her wasn't going to change because of that small detail. It concerned me, that's all. Whenever Zayn did something or said something that gave even a slightest hint that he actually cared about her, that's when I saw the genuine smile.

I didn't know why she smiled realistically when Zayn cared. Maybe if I asked Liam he would know...He always knew when it came to Corona's actions for some reason. I guess he had been in her position when he was younger. Not abused and such. I mean..an outcast. A social outcast. It made me curious to wonder that..

I recall when he carved his own name, he didn't wince or curse in pain. Maybe he was the stronger one of us all..

Next to Corona.

She mumbled to herself a little, yawning.

Zayn looked back at Corona and smiled a little.

"How come you act like you don't care when you clearly do Zayn?"I asked, running my fingers through her bangs lazily.

Zayn exhaled shakily and looked at us in the rearview mirror. He shook his head softly as he drove, his hands gripping the steering wheel very tightly.

"Because, Louis..I can't express such a feeling. If it gets out, the media will smell blood and come right after her. Even after we leave her. She'll be haunted by the terrors of media. People will bother her. She won't get a normal proper life. And who knows..maybe if it goes on long enough, she'll finally break. And kill herself. I don't want that on our heads."He said, his voice shaky.

It was quiet in the car after that until we came to a red light.

"The less human I become, the more knowledge flows into my head, the more willing of a robot I become. You guys are a simple reminder that I'm here for a single reason. To provide for people who deserve better than what they have now. That's the only thought I can latch onto to remain sane. I look at you guys and the little bit of sense in me says 'You're human, don't let go.'"Corona suddenly said.

She smacked her lips tiredly. But her eyes did not open.

"I can't just not feel anything forever. So when I'm ready, I'll come back to Earth. For now? I'll just be an emotionless slave."She didn't respond to anything else.

And all Zayn did was frown.

A/N|| I'm sorry there isn't a Liam POV, not this chapter, I'm more eager to get the blood flowing in this book. I got the idea of the boys teaching Corona their pain from @fanfictionersss Kian Lawley Imagines's "Depression" It was a damn good reaction to someone cutting. I always see imagines where the guy finds out the girl cuts and all he does is cry and beg her not to do it again. When he took the blade and cut himself, I was like "Woah, that's new. I like it. I love it. Yes. Good. Beautiful." Love your book, love you, love Kian, love everything!