Grade 8

"How are you today?"

Usually when Dr. Bishop asked this question Lena would be forming a lie in an attempt to hide what was real lying happening. This time she didn't need to.

"I'm alright."

"Alright?"

Lena shrugged not having anything to elaborate on. "Yeah, not bad but not good either."

"Are you not happy to be home?"

"I am but it's different."

"Different how?"

"It doesn't feel like home anymore."

"You've only been home a week maybe that will change?"

"I don't, maybe, I haven't thought about it."

"Does London feel like home to you now?"

"Yeah, I think so. All of my friends are there."

"How did they take you leaving?"

"Some of them took it pretty hard."



Mia was crying. Big, mascara filled, tears because this was Mia and she was always one for dramatics. The small group assembled around Lena in the airport were holding themselves together focusing on Mia with a mixture of amusement and embarrassment about her crying.

"It's only a few months." Lena's words only made her wail louder.

"Oh for fucks sake shut up." Sam finally groaned fed up with Mia. "She's just going home not off to the bloody war."

"It won't be the same with out her!"

"She's right. We just get you back and you're already leaving us!" Louis dropped himself on Lena his body weight causing her knees to tremble. "I'm going to miss you!"

"Louis don't break her." Niall pulled his over dramatic friend off of Lena. "How long 'till you're back?"

"Until the wedding."

Gemma had made a point to invite Lena to the wedding and the bachelorette party. It was an event she was looking forward to.

"I should probably go through security now." It pained her to have to leave them but it had to be done. "Not that I want to."



"Have you talked to them since you've been home?"

Even she hadn't wanted to talk them thy still would have called daily. Mia and Niall both called her first night home. Since then she had talked to Zayn and Louis a couple of times but Niall and Mia being persistent as ever called daily.

"A few times."

"Tell me about them. Before you left you hardly said anything about you're friends."

Lena told her about her friends back in England. Dr. Bishop saw an excitement in her eyes that hadn't been there before she was an improved Lena. It didn't escape her notice that when Lena was done talking that there had been someone missing from the list of friends.

"Did you not see Harry?"



Lena hugged everyone quickly time was ticking soon she would be on a plain home. Mia's hug was last Lena held back her years while Mia sobbed.

"Call me when you land." Mia instructed wiping under her eyes but it didn't do much for the tears that were still steadily falling.

"I will, I promise."

She stepped away giving each of her friends one last look. "I'll see you soon."

Sitting on a plane that would take her away from the people who knew her best Lena couldn't help but to think about who was missing from her send off. Niall had said he was in Cheshire and no matter how much he begged him he refused to come. She had gone to England dreading seeing him and now as she left England she only wanted to see him.



"No, we aren't talking."

Dr. Bishop saw Lena withdraw from their session Harry was still a subject she couldn't discuss. "How does that feel?"

"Horrible."

He had called her once but he only let it ring once before hanging up. Lena couldn't pluck up the courage to call him back.

"Maybe it's for the best."

"How so?" Dr. Bishop glanced at her watch. They were going over their time.

"We were never supposed to be together, we couldn't stand each other, we shouldn't have been stupid enough to think it was going to work." Lena explained. "I think not being in each other's lives is what we need."

"But won't you miss him?"

"Of course but what can I do?"



After a week of nonstop rain in London it was nice to be in sunny LA for a while. They only had a month left before rehearsals for the next tour started so with that in mind Harry boarded a plane to LA.

Cal was waiting for him in the car Harry would be driving around for the next few weeks.

"Good to see you." Cal clapped him on the back.

They had seen each other days before so Harry skipped the pleasant greeting. "Food was shit on the plane."

"We can stop somewhere." Cal agreed. "Other than that how was the flight?"

Harry shrugged. "Nothing worth talking about."

Harry had been in a bad mood for weeks. He was rude to people and had a short fuse. He finally came to the decision that getting out of London was needed before he was forced to spend his every waking moment with the lads.

Before that morning it had been a week since he had gone to Heathrow in a failed attempt at a romantic gesture. It had taken too long to get from Holmes Chapel to Heathrow on the morning of Lena's departure. He couldn't stop thinking of her and it didn't help that Niall had called him trying to guilt trip him into coming. It worked.

He ran through the doors of the airport instantly spotting Mia's teal hair. He ran to them out of breath and hart pounding so fast and hard he thought he would fall over dead before he could see her.

"Did she leave?"

There was a collective gasp as he leaned over catching his breath. He had parked far enough away.

"You just missed her."

You just missed her.

Just thinking about that sentence made his fingers cult into a tight fist. He had been an idiot and now he missed his chance. Cal noticed the tension in his friend but said nothing as he drove them further into LA.

"How long are you staying?"

"Until I'm forced to leave."

He hadn't thought of when he would leave he just had to get out. He felt selfish leaving his family in the middle of Gemma's wedding planning but they didn't really need him.

Now he just needed to count down the days until the wedding when he would be face to face with Lena again. He hD hoped his friends would keep their promise not to tell Lena about showing up at the airport. He couldn't face her if she knew.