Chapter Eight

"Meet at the bus stop?" Sam questioned as they began heading towards his car. "Why not just catch the bus?"

"Don't question us or our methods," Louis said.

"God, I'm being replaced."

"I could never." Louis chuckled, as they reached Sam's car, an old red Jeep that probably shouldn't be allowed on the road.

"Let's get the hell outta here!" Sam yelled, jumping into his car.

"Yeah, let's get the fu—!" Louis started, but Sam cut him off with a bark-like laugh.

"Language!" Sam exclaimed with a fake stern tone.

"Sorry, babe," Louis laughed. "Let's go!"

Sam kicked over his car, and it roared to life. Louis thought it sounded like a dying cat and gave the dashboard a pat.

"You can do this, buddy."

"Oh, shut up!" Sam glared at Louis and put the car in drive, pulling out of the school car park before Louis turned the radio on.

It was calming, listening to the soothing music that played, though they only got to listen to it for a short while, as it wasn't long before Sam had stopped outside of Louis' apartment building; mainly due to his reckless driving.

"God, every time I see this building, I think it's gonna fall," Sam muttered, scanning the structure before him.

"Yeah, well, hopefully, it doesn't do that while I'm inside," Louis joked as he jumped out of the car and thanked Sam for the ride, as he always did, before heading inside the building.

As the glass door closed behind him, he turned back and waved at Sam, who was still sitting in his car outside. Every single time he dropped Louis off, he always waited to make sure Louis got inside safely. Like a mother would. Louis didn't mind. Having someone to care about him like that was something he needed. He was sure Kara would do the same thing. He knew for a fact Kara would do that; she'd probably walk him up the stairs too.

After walking to the top of the tall staircase, Louis stopped outside of his apartment door and stared at the door neighbouring his own. He was still unsure if someone from that apartment had spoken to him or not and wondered whether or not he should knock on the door and apologise for his alarm going off so much in the morning. It had been very loud.

It may not have been real. It was probably all in Louis mind. Though, he wasn't sure if he believed that.

Louis silently agreed with himself before unlocking his apartment door and walking inside. It was quiet as he stepped over the threshold. The only sound was the creaking of the floorboards underneath his feet.

Clenching his jaw at the crappiness of the apartment he lived in, he scanned the room. It was still clean. Obviously, his aunt hadn't been home since she left this morning. Sighing in relief, Louis carefully closed the door behind him and headed for the small kitchen on the other side of the living room. Louis didn't know where the living room ended, and the kitchen began; the only thing separating the two was a tiny bench at which Louis usually ate his meals. With every step towards the kitchen, the floor beneath him creaked, causing Louis to drum his fingers on his leg in annoyance.

Usually, he wouldn't bother eating anything as soon as he came home and wait until dinner. But he hadn't eaten at school, and he didn't eat the night before, so he thought he would slip in a meal now; mainly because it felt as though his stomach was caving in on itself. Knowing his aunt, she would probably get takeaway for dinner with money from God knows where.

Louis decided against a small meal and chose to make a full dinner. Mainly because he probably wouldn't want to come out of his room when his aunt came home. So, he thought it was a good idea.

After throwing together some stir-fry with random ingredients he found in the kitchen, Louis headed into his room. Sprawling himself in his bed, he laid the homework in front of him, dug into his food, and began reading the English class material. His homework was to dissect one of the works written by William Shakespeare.

Almost everyone in the class had chosen Romeo and Juliet, mainly because they just wanted to copy the work of the drama students, but Louis still hadn't decided which one he wanted to do yet. He pretty much knew most of them by heart, so no matter which one he chose, he would ace the assignment. Due to that fact, he made a choice not to worry about it and focused on his math homework. After reading it over, Louis saw that it was nothing difficult and decided that he would get it out of the way first.

Thinking he should finish his food before he got to work, Louis quickly downed his dinner before walking out of his room and washing his dishes, giving the kitchen a clean while he was at it. Happy with his work, he shuffled back into his room, closed the door behind him, and sat on his bed. Louis grabbed a pencil from a tin on his bookshelf and got to work, blazing through the math's problems. If only his real-life problems were as simple as the ones on the paper.

It wasn't long before Louis was onto his next class' homework, and the next, and the next. He wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he kind of loved homework. Even though he knew most of the stuff he was given, it still gave him a chance to put his knowledge into practice without having teachers scold him or look at him as if he had three heads. It was refreshing. He often got lost in time, but that wasn't only with homework. That was with everything. Louis had the habit of drifting off and losing track of time, only to be hit with the realisation hours later. This just happened to be of those times.

The slamming of a door made Louis' head snap up. He sighed, knowing that his aunt had just come home. Glancing over at the clock sitting on his bookshelf, he saw that it was eight-forty-nine.

Jesus, Louis thought. I really need to stop doing that.

"Louis, are you home?" Louis aunt's voice slithered into his room, causing him to shudder.

He'd much rather she just left him alone.

"Yeah, I'm doing some homework!" he called back, trying to focus on the work in front of him.

He had finished all of his other classes' work and was now focusing on his English assignment. He decided that he was going to do it on Hamlet, knowing he was most likely the only person who was going to something other than Romeo and Juliet, and he thought Hamlet was a way to branch out.

"Are you hungry?" His aunt's voice once against skulked into his room.

"No, I've already eaten."

Silence followed Louis' response before he heard the floorboards creak as his aunt walked towards his room. Louis managed to let out a groan before his door opened, revealing a very tired looking woman. Her brown, streaked with grey, hair fell to her shoulders. Her eyes were a dull blue, no longer holding the light Louis used to see in them when he was a child, and the bags that sat under her eyes were worse than Louis'. The only thing that seemed to hold any life was the brightly coloured shirt she was wearing, which, surprisingly, complimented the dark jeans she had on.

"You've already eaten?" she asked in a monotone voice.

"Yes," Louis replied bluntly.

"Is there anything for me?"

"I didn't realise you were going to be home," Louis replied, realising his assumption from earlier was clearly wrong.

"Well, you should have been a bit smarter, shouldn't you?"

Louis bit his lip at those words. He didn't want to say anything that would get him into even more trouble than he, no doubt, was already in.

"I'm sorry," he stated before mumbling under his breath, "though, a note would have been nice."

"Excuse me?" His aunt's voice suddenly became raised and filled with anger. Louis should have kept quiet. "Don't you dare have that attitude with me! After everything I've done, you should be nothing but grateful—" she started but was cut off.

Louis knew he would regret cutting her off, but he had a bad habit of not being able to hold his tongue. Though Louis would always try to deny it; he did have some anger issues. He worked hard to try and fix it, but it was at times like these where all his hard work seemed to fly out the window.

"Everything you've done?" Louis practically yelled. "Like what? Getting drunk every night and trashing the apartment? Leaving me to cook, clean, and shop for food? Not to mention having to deal with my schoolwork and balance a job on top of that? While you do God knows what!" Louis got up from his bed and was now towering over his aunt, though she did not waver.

"I'm so sick of you thinking you've done the greatest good someone could do. I don't need this. I don't need this stress on me all the time! You're supposed to be caring for me! You're supposed to be looking after me! Not the other way around! My mother would be ashamed of you—"

"Don't you dare bring her into this!" Louis' aunt screamed, cutting Louis off. "If you hadn't been in that stupid play, she wouldn't have been out—"

Louis' aunt fell silent before she finished her sentence, and Louis felt as though a cold blade had been slid into his heart.

Before Louis could respond, his aunt turned on her heel and violently pulled his door shut. In a matter of seconds, he heard the front door of their apartment slam shut.

Louis remained standing next to his bed, staring at where his aunt had just been. His body was shaking, and tears were forming in his eyes before silently rolling down his cheeks. He hated it here. He hated everything. He just wanted to go back. Back to when everything was fine; when he was happy.

A small knock snapped Louis back to reality. He froze. It was an identical knock to the one he had heard in the morning, and it had come from the same place. The same wall. Just above the headboard of his bed. Louis stood as still as a statue, waiting for another knock, but it didn't come. Instead, he heard the smooth voice from that morning.

"Hello?"

-------------------------------------------

A/N: And heeeeeeeeeeeere's Chapter Eight!

The boy next door!!!!!

If you enjoyed it, be sure to leave a vote! Share it around! Have a party?

Okay, here's a question:

Was Louis' aunt right for being angry?