She looked after me

Louis presence was enough for Lisa. He never left her alone, he stood with her every second against the whole world. They experienced a dominant friendship. They were together since primary school and they used to count on each other blindly.

Louis texted her something that made her smile and went to her room, where she found Louis sitting on her couch. She was super surprised because she wondered how he came here before her but it seems that she took him lightly. Louis spent some time with her to take her all bothers. Louis asked her about her stepmother in detail because he never had a chance before. She told everything from the beginning, how she used to punish her dad if he made any mistake and make her cook for her. She continued for minutes and after she sighed, looked at him who had tears forming in his eyes. He never realised that she suffered a lot but he wasn't familiar with it.

She wiped his tears and curved his lips into a smile.

"Why you never mentioned that before me?" he asked with a sad expression.

"Because I never considered her a part of my beautiful life," Lisa smiled with that phrase.

After few more minutes, he left her house and went away. He walked for few seconds in the opposite direction of his house. Lisa thought that might be he had some work. But he lied to her about one thing.

He checked his surroundings and went inside the house. There he was welcomed by a lady.

"How is she doing?" the lady asked Louis about Lisa's well being.

"I don't think she is happy with her life," Louis said while he looked out of the window.

'How long will you take to make that bitch pay for her doings?" Louis asked her.

"Just a few more days," she said and asked Louis about Lisa more.

He smiled before starting anything about her.

"Sometimes I feel she is so alone. Nevertheless, she managed to put a fake smile on her face to pretend that she is happy in front of the world. I don't understand her because I know that she is my best friend and the same goes for me but I feel somewhere she tries to hide her feelings of pain from me. I just want you to go before her and make her the happiest person," Louis said while imagining all those moments where she was depressed and tired of her life.

He checked the time on his watch and went away from there.

He felt bad for lying low the truth from Lisa. He was told by that lady not to whisper anything in her ear about her. Because he thought that might be after some time everything would be fine in Lisa's life. That's why he was considered to hide the truth for the betterment of Lisa. By any chance, if he would tell Lisa about that lady then it would be more than easy for her stepmother to know about that lady which would turn out very bad for them. He reached his house where he found Lisa sitting and chatting to his mother. He was so excited to see her but not for so long when she asked him about his whereabouts.

"Where you have been for this long?" Lisa asked.

"I just went out to meet a friend," Louis replied.

Again he lies about his whereabouts to Lisa for which he felt so bad. Never in ages, he lied to Lisa but then he had to because he wanted Lisa to live happily. He didn't even remember her laughs and her funny jokes. He cared for her more than anything.

"That emotion feels wonderful when you have someone around to love and support on bad days."

He didn't how Lisa would treat him after she would come to know that he hides the truth from her.

Coming out of his intuition, he went to his room.

Few days passed like the same, then it was going to be their exam time. All students were getting panic because those exams would decide their future. Lisa studied so hard to get good grades in exams but her stepmother used to make sure that she didn't get good grades in her exams. She used to disturb her every moment about anything and everything. She couldn't focus on her studies properly because of the disturbance caused by her.

The next day, it was her exam. Lisa was sad because she wasn't fully prepared for the exam. Louis always noticed her sad face and asked.

"What happened? You didn't seem happy today. Did your stepmother do something to you?"

Lisa denied the fact and said, "It's just nervousness before the exam." She never liked to make Louis worried for her.

They took their seats and waited for the question paper. Soon they got and started attempting the question paper. Lisa was unable to answer most of the questions and that made her sadder because she always gained good grades in every exam before. She was hardly able to attempt in exams so that she could get passing marks.

It was not just in her first exam but in every. She always got good grades in every exam before but she thought that she wouldn't be able to get even passing marks.

A few days ago, Tessa went to meet her mother and told her about upcoming exams. She also mentioned to Lisa that she always scored good grades in exams. Somewhere, she was afraid of Lisa, getting grades more than her. Her mother knew how to distract Lisa from her studies in the coming days.

So, she planned everything with Tessa. Her stepmother knew about her weakness. She took advantage of that and made her suffer in her exams times. But Lisa didn't know that her stepmother did that intentionally.

Lisa was so sad about her performance in those exams.

After two days, their results were announced. Louis got good grades but Lisa was sad when she got to know that her performance was not so good in exams by one of her teachers who admired her a lot. Louis wasn't known to be the reason for her grades.

Mr Robert was shocked when he came to know about Lisa's grades. So, he thought of having some minutes with her asking her if she had any problem. He called Lisa and talked to her for a while but Lisa didn't tell the actual reason behind her low grades. She ignored them and made an excuse that she wasn't feeling well those days. With that, she went back to her class. She was on the edge of crying when she saw Louis smiling towards her. She asked him to go out with her for some time to which Louis agreed and went out with her. He knew that something was off with her that day but he didn't ask because he was waiting for her to open up her feelings. They both sat down on a chair and Lisa put her head on Louis's shoulder. Louis caressed her head and asked, "Are you going to tell me or not?" She looked at him with teary eyes and said, "If I didn't have you, I don't know how would I be able to smile in my hard time, I am so grateful to have you." He turned his gaze to Lisa and saw a tear rolled down her cheek. As possible as he could, he wiped tears from her face.

He said, "I don't think I'm your childhood friend or not because you never let me be the part of sadness. You never tell me about your worries."

"I feel sometimes that if I tell you about my worries and insecurities, you would leave me too," she said as some water formed in her eyes.

"I already promised you that I would never leave your side no matter what," he said.

Lisa smiled and took his hands and said, "I know."

"Then why don't you tell me about what you are suffering through," he asked.

"I'm just fed up with my life," she said and turned her gaze towards the sky.

"Just think back to that you always have me," he said and smiled.

Lisa smiled too and held his hand tightly that made Louis's cheeks go red within a second.

Both of them went back home. She didn't let go of his hands. Louis noticed that and blushed. Soon they bid bye to each other and went in their directions respectively.

She always felt so good to have him by her side.

She entered the house and found it weird because there was so great of stillness. She sighed and thanked God for not overlooking her stepmother's face. She made herself some food and softened on the couch in the living room.

Louis also relaxed and had his food. After some time he went out of his house and put up with some steps ahead in the same direction to meet that lady. Soon he reached and knocked on her door. She came and cheered him.

He sat on the couch. She asked him about Lisa. He sighed before saying anything about Lisa. He didn't know what to say because every day he had to tell her about bad appearances in her life. She was aware of everything happening in her life because of Louis.

He started, "I don't even remember about the last time when she laughed without any fusses. But nowadays, whenever she smiles, I could see the darkness behind her fake smile."

She felt so bad to know that Lisa was not happy and also had no reason to be. She always saw her from afar but never dared to took her in arms. She missed her existence around her. She never saw Lisa's smiling after her dad's death. She knew that her stepmother killed her husband but she needed some time more to expose her stepmother and live peacefully with her daughter because then she was strong enough to stand against her. Louis hides the truth from Lisa that her mother was breathing but he was asked by her mother to keep that confidential between them.

Lisa didn't know that Louis and her mother looked after her, conserved her when she thought that she was lonely. She missed her dad's presence because that was not easy for her to forget him.

Her mother asked Louis to stand with her in hard times. He assured her to always take care of her because for him Lisa was so important to him. After few more minutes, Louis went away from there. Her mother made sure to know everything about her daughter but after Louis went away, she cried because her daughter was battling alone in her hard times.