Where your loyalty lies

The words Aaron said to him had him grinning ear to ear. Lorel creased her brows as she turned to her friend who was smiling like an idiot beside her. She already had the idea why he was in such a good mood.

"What happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're peppier than when you left earlier."

"Oh, things went well I guess with Aaron, He said the future is open…?"

"Is it not dawning on you? Like you use that line, what does it mean when you say maybe in the future or some variation Zayn?" His smile dropped at the suggestion his friend was making. He did use that and it was a small simple gentle let down and some people picked up the hint and others were blind and Lorel suggested he was in the latter category. "When I say that I mean never in fucking hell. Why are you being blinded? The fuck is wrong with you?" She said her words so animatedly it stinged him.

"I don't think it's like that. He's not like that."

"Yeah I know but that's what it seems like. I'm just looking out for you, it's up to you what you do with that information." She shook her head and layed back on her desk turning the other way. Zayn walked out into the hallway considering what Lorel said. He didn't want to place his own notions to what Aaron said but Lorel was making since but they both might be stuck in a pit of "Things only mean what they say" when it could be the other way around. He wandered down the hallway until he heard some commotion around the corner.

Something was off in the Chronicles friendship group that Saintclair failed to take care of. It was just dawning on him his relationship was over and this was sending him into a new mental breakdown that everyone looked at him like he was crazy. He knew thins time something was up when they were being short and passive with him and seemed to be withholding information. He chuckled to himself and pulled up a chair to the one person who could answer his questions. The only person that seemed to be still Loyal to him:

"What's been going on recently?" Mormon was wiping his glasses while Saintclair slumped in him palm.

"What do you mean? Everyone turning on you or you personally?"

"All of that." He mumbled.

"Ask your best friend Aubrey. I hear everything from him or ask Renee- Oh wait they don't seem to want to talk to you." Mormon sarcastically delivered in his monotone voice. "You're not intimidating that much anymore, just deranged. Peoplearen't afraid of deranged people, they just feel bad." Saintclair sized up Mormon which didn't phase him. "Maybe the reason Aaron wants nothing to do with you has something to do with you allegedly sleeping with Renee the same weekend you Aaron broke up." Saintclair's eyes widened and it clicked. He left Mormon and rushed the hallway to where Renee was with Aubrey, Harry and Tiffiny. He needed to confirm it was true before he messed up.

"What did you do?" He turned Renee's chair to face him and her face dropped and she rolled her eyes.

"What are you talking about?" She looked at her nails as his face was way too much in her personal space.

"What did you say?" She looked at him with a hanging mouth, confused expression.

"I. Have. No. Idea. What. You. Are. Taking. About!" She clapped in his face and turned her chair to face the others but he swiftly turned her back to face him.

"So what's your thing? You're like the only person I know who prides themself in being a homewrecker." Her face changed to a neutral one as he spoke and she felt uncomfortable. "I don't know what kinda satisfaction you get out of it but it's not attractive. I like that when I say jump you say how high but this is not one of those situations where I like it. All this fucking time, I thought Aaron was just overreacting but you told everybody. If I knew you were going to go around telling everyone like you won something I would have slammed the door in your face." He could feel himself becoming burning inside from this conversation and realized he needed to pull away. His hand wiped down his face as he pulled away from the girl. "This is the first and last time I would EVER have ANYTHING to do with you in that nature!" He was almost outside the room when he remembered he had another person in mind. "Oh and Aubrey, you're a piece of shit. I'm gonna mess up your whole agenda without even trying."

"You need to stop! Stop bothering me, things are over and they are going to stay that way. I love you but you're so unlovable and you know that. You make it so hard to like you in any way when you act the way you do. You showed me where your priorities are and I respected them. LEave me alone." Saintclair continued to knock and shake the handle of the door Aaron stood behind pleading for him to open the door. "Leave me alone, Saintclair."

"I miss you, I miss us. Come on Aaron. I know I fucked up but I miss you."

"C'mon you told me not to worry about her and I know now I had so much to fear. I can't forgive you because I voiced my concerns and complaints and you always said, "It's not like that" EVERYTIME! I just need you to stop Saintclair. I need my space. Leave." The jiggling ceases and silence. Zayn silently tried to walk the direction he came in without detection and pulled him back.

"It's just me, sorry." He drops his hands he put up in defense. "What are you doing here? Were you listening?"

"No, no…Yes." Aaron shrugged in response.

"It doesn't matter if it wasn't you could have been someone else but what are you doing here?" What Lorel said echoed in his head still. "Just… thinking." Aaron realized Zayn's energy felt off. He seemed to be anxious and different from when they met early. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, I'll go…" He walked off but Aaron still felt thrown off.

Zayn walked to class and sat parallel to Lorel who rolled her eyes. "What happened Now?" She crossed her arms and scowled at him.

"I saw Aaron and Saintclair and he was begging him to get back together and when Aaron saw me and I talked to him what you said got in my head. I don't want to doubt him because it took me so long to get to this point but I just…" Zayn shook away his thoughts. "Right now in my state of mind Lorel, I don't want to think about that."

Zayn went home with intent. Intent to leak something to do something with the drive instead of it sitting in his draw collecting dust. He didn't know who to pick off first but they all could go. He felt bad at all the sabotage Spencer Matt Venice was receiving so he hoped their contacts were stored on the drive. He scrolled through the files and found what he was looking for and if this wasn't self sabotage on their parts he didn't know what is. They had ties to Ebany's parents gossip network. Zayn smiled as he made a separate file to send to Mattew directly but from a different account. He didn't want to be too involved. He didn't want anything to get back to him. He sent it off with a wide smile.