Shattered

His hands outlined the large painting Lorel held up. It was him. Was it? The boy in the painting seemed eerily similar to him but maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him or his mind was just connecting them together but something said it was him even if the face was slightly turned away he could recognize that side profile.

Lorel didn't know how to react after the initial shock. She didn't know whether to laugh or be weirded out by the painting. "This is crazy." She went with both. "Flowers really?" You could have left out the flowers and left the dinner. Zayn?" She turned to her friend who seemed almost entranced with looking at himself. "I'm really surprised Parker has skills. This is really detailed."

"Yeah." Zayn's eyes were glued to it. The painting was snatched from the two by the artist who was beet red in the face not only by embarrassment but anger. He felt like he was exposed and put on the spot to explain why he painted it. He knew already so he had no questions to ask other than his initial shock.

"Why Zayn though? Oh is it because of the whole thing going on?" Christian ignores her words as he shoves the canvas back into the bag it was in.

"Oh my god, show me!" Chantelle strolls up to the four with a smug smile. Lorel could feel his bad energy. He placed his arm around Daniela's shoulder and for some reason she shifted uncomfortably that did not go unnoticed. With him he bought his crowd, his crowd that already Knew what was going on. "There's a rumor going around that I was right."

"Right about what?" Daniela gently pulls on Chantelle's blazer for him to stop but he ignores it.

"You like Zayn Snipes right?" Chantelle asks like that was obvious to everyone. Christian shakes his head and walks away from his spectators to hide his embarrassment. "I guess that's our answer. Show us the painting." Chantelle's large hand grabs onto Christian's shoulder to stop him but he whips around and punches him in the jaw. He raises an eyebrow surprised but laughs it off. "You got to be fucking dumb!" He pushes him away and grabs the painting. He unshields it and holds it over his head to his followers. "You see this?"

"Give it back to him!" Daniela grits while reaching for it as much as she could.

"It's pretty right?" Chantelle turns to the boy that now has his face in his palms shielding him away from the prying eyes. "Here." He passes it back to Christian who was too embarrassed to move. Daniela glared at her boyfriend as she took the painting herself. "I'm just messing with him. No hard feelings. If he's into guys he's into guys just don't hurt other people in the process." He said looking over at Daniela. "He doesn't deserve your sympathy Dani." Even if he was trying to derail her from doing a friendly gesture for Christian it wasn't working. She squeezed her eyes closed to push the thought out of her mind.

"Take it." She was uncomfortable being so close to him after crying for a hour with the thoughts of murdering him.

"Thanks…So-"

"Save that for later." She walked the other way pulling Chantelle alongside her leaving Zayn, Lorel and Christian together.

"I feel like if I stay I might say something that you consider insensitive." Lorel mutters walking off to her car. The two stood awkwardly not really knowing where to go from here. This was all really horrifying.

"I-I think I'll go as well." Zayn excused himself cringing inside.

The school grounds felt like stumbling through hell for everyone. No one, not even the school staff had any idea how to react to the fire, the injuries, the distractions, it all felt surreal.

Aaron crossed the field over to where Zayn stood watching the retreating crowd. A tap on his shoulder jolted him to turn around. Once look at Aaron and you could see how he was talking all of this. Like everyone he was panicking, it's all overwhelming. He stared for a few seconds into the others eyes blinking a few times to see if wasn't dreaming.

"Can you take me home, please."

"Uh, Yeah.." Things fell awkward as they sat in the car. Both didn't know what to say as they would take passive glances at the next.

"I heard about everything." Aaron didn't want to bring it up in case Zayn was uncomfortable with the thought but he was curious on whether or not it's true. "Is it true?"

"I guess." Zayn hesitated to say that.

"Zayn?"

"Hm?" He glanced over at the boy who stared out the window.

"Why are you being so… I don't know. You're avoiding me." Aaron asked, clearing his throat, as the tension thickened.

"I have my reasons why."

"And what are there?"

"I have faced it," Zayn sighed as he pulled to the side of the road. "There is no future for us because even I'm delusional to think that in reality you don't like me."

"What." Aaron asked him and he swiveled in his seat.

"Do you actually intend to date me if I wait for you?" Zayn didn't want to say it because he thought he would come off weak in his words but he kept thinking and thinking on it. "Because I don't think you actually like me. All you did was play with my feelings now you sit here acting like that didn't happen. I can't like someone I can't trust."

"I can't think that far ahead and I do but..." He trailled off looking out the window.

"Then why say it? I put my feelings out there which is a thing I never do and I am so afraid of them being stomped over and it feels like that's what you're doing right now." Zayn laughed with tears in his eyes. "I kinda feel now I should be listening to Lorel more often because she was right."

"Zayn I never meant it like that."

"What are you gonna do then? Try to date Aubrey and see how it goes and have me as a backup plan?" By the look on Aaron's face he couldn't tell if he was stunned or it was the truth. "Is that it?" Aaron's silence filled the car and made things so much more strained.

"I-I'm sorry!" All Zayn could do was sit and stew in this. It was already installed in his mind not to get his hopes up, still it was so painful to face. "Zayn I like you but I have my own thing like how I think you're using me as some sort of gay experience."

"What?"

"Zayn, I don't think you're into guys. I think you wanna use me to see if you might be into them." Zayn raised an eyebrow at the accusation. He scoffed and placed his hands back on the wheel.

"I don't even know Aaron. I like you, I seem to like you. Is that not enough?" He asks. He was feeling sick now. He wasn't processing this as well as he came off to Aaron. His feelings were utterly hurt.

"How much?" The question Aaron posed made Zayn's whole body itch and twitch then go numb. What type of question was that?

"I have never been like this before. You're making me throw away all that I believe in to blindly follow behind you and now you're asking me to measure how much I freaking like you!" He slammed his hand down into the dashboard. "If you don't plan to take me seriously just say that and get out of my car. I have opened up to you more than anyone else and you're just hurting me." Zayn's voice trembled as he stared down at his steering wheel. "What more do you need than I like you." That last part came out as quiet enough for them both to hear.

"I'm sor-"

"Get out of my car."

"Zay-"

"GET OUT OF MY CAR!!" He yells as he stretches across the passenger seat to open the door. "I don't want to see you again. I don't want to talk to you again or have anything to do with you again. You have proved you never cared in the first place. I am not accepting any of your empty apologies. They are not gonna fix the mess you already cuz so leave. " Aaron undid his seat belt and reluctantly stepped out of the car. The other now had wet tears staining his cheeks that he really tried to pretend they weren't coming out.

"I'm sorry." That remained unforgiven as Zayn sped off leaving him there to figure things out.

"What's up with you?" Kenji asked as soon as Zayn stepped through the door. Zayn's eyes were teary and red from sitting out in his car and crying. "Did one of your friends die?"

"We saw the school was on fire on the news but we knew you would come home on your own."

"Did someone really break their kneecaps and did that crazy girl really escape?" Zayn wasn't even listening to the twins questions upon question for him. His face twitched with another stream of tears on the way.

"What happened?" Laverne stirred Zayn away from their other siblings to his room. He just let it all down in front of his sister. He was doing a really good job keeping it together recently especially after all of today but it was all coming out. Laverne held him in his arms and slowly rocked him.

"I feel like I was as open as I can be and that wasn't enough." Those words were said so strained and broken up but his sister stringed them together and her heart ached for her brother. She didn't know what the boy was really going through. He hid a lot from his sister since he didn't want to be a burden to her. He was as independent as can be. He wasn't exactly closed off but there were lots of things she was out of the loop on. She didn't want to push him but she wished he shared more than tidbits of his life.