The air whooshed out of my lungs as my ribcage hit the pavement. My mind taunted me savagely:

Really, two times in the same hour...

My adrenaline was still screaming through my veins and I felt my numb body scrambling on the ground. It felt like my body was somehow detached from me as I simultaneously groveled trying to get my legs under me and gasped (unsuccessfully) for air. I looked over my shoulder in terror, fully expecting the teenage mob to be upon us, when I heard the squeal of tires and someone's hands under my arms and around my waist.

"C'mon Quinn, stand up love, you can do it!" Harry was calling my name frantically but I just couldn't breathe and I was starting to get tunnel vision. I was officially terrified.

Have you ever had the wind knocked out of you? Well, in order to get your breathing to be normal, you've got to calm down and just ride it out. You will be fine, but if you're panicking or scared, it will only make it worse. So now I guess you can see what was happening...

I heard a door slide open not far away as I got a glimpse of three teenage girls opening the first set of doors inside the mall. That's when I got my first real breath back.

"Gahhhh!"  I gasped, latching on to the arms that were half dragging me as I finally got my feet under me and stood up. I could see the Range Rover with the door open, Niall and Zayn waving us in. I was suddenly borne up in the air by my arms and practically flung into the vehicle, just as I heard a scream pierce the air,

"LOUIS!!! WE WANT TO SEE LOUIS!! HARRY!! I LOOOOVE YOU!!!"

And the door slammed shut. The locks snapped closed as I sat up on the floor of the Rover.

What the heck...

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

I cowered down and covered my head.

"What IS that?!" I shouted above the noise.

"They're banging on the vehicle," Paul's voice answered. Dave was on the phone alternately with the police and mall security. Paul inched forward and honked the horn, but was making little headway with a few dozen girls now completely surrounding the vehicle.

"Are you alright?" I looked up and Harry was looking down at me with concern.

"I'm not sure yet," I answered honestly. Breathing still hurt, but I didn't think I'd broken anything, so I wasn't too worried. I had had anxiety issues in the past, so I knew if I was able to calm down, I would feel better physically too...and emotionally. At this point, it was taking everything I had to not burst into tears.

Something stirred behind me and I realized I was practically sitting on Louis.

"Louis! I am so sorry..." I started to scuttle off of him, but he looped his arm around my waist to sit me down on the floor with him again.

"It's completely fine, love. Just wait until you feel better and then we'll get into our proper seats." I felt myself start to relax. Louis must've noticed my tension, that's why he hadn't moved me.

That was...really nice of him...

I took another deep and shaky breath in attempt to calm down, just as Paul saw his chance.

"Hang on everybody!"

The tires screeched and the girls on the edge screamed and jumped back as Paul made a hard left where there were no crazed fans to run into and stepped on it. He raced the car to the far end of the parking lot, making a hard right towards an upper parking lot that led to the main road.

"We're almost there guys! I won't let you get caught again today!" Paul narrated like we were in a movie and all but ran a red light to get onto the main road and away from the mall.

"WE DID IT!" Zayn yelled and hi-fived Niall and Liam who were in the very back seats with him. I looked up from the floor at Harry in shock, taking in his disheveled appearance. I leaned forward and looked back at Louis who had a sheepish smirk on his face.

And then I laughed.

I laughed like I hadn't laughed in years. Tears were running down my cheeks and still I laughed. My abs ached until I coughed and I could still feel the giggles wracking my body. The boys originally looked at me in bewilderment, but Niall got the giggles and soon everyone was laughing. The relief was palpable as I finally wiped my eyes and hauled myself up into a seat in the vehicle. I looked out the window and realized we were a good five-ten minute drive from the mall and it suddenly hit me.

"Uh, guys...what now? My car...my shopping!" I looked at Paul's eyes in the rear-view mirror. He glanced back at me and said, "we are working that out. For now, you're going to be staying with the boys: for their safety and for yours..."

I felt my scalp get prickly and my face get hot as he put the emphasis on the word, "yours". Why was I in danger?

Dave must have read my thoughts because he turned around in his seat to look at me.

"Don't worry, we will figure this all out, and we will explain everything when it comes to safety precautions, but let's get you safe at the hotel first." Dave smiled reassuringly and then turned back around to face forward.

Oh. My. Gosh...

"I gotta call my parents!" I gasped, searching frantically for my phone in my pants pockets. Just as I found it, I gasped as a hand snatched it from me and Dave's voice commanded,

"Absolutely not. Not yet. I will keep this safe for you until we are at the hotel."

I felt a protest wrangle against my teeth, but the look on Dave's face as he took the phone Harry handed him kept me silent and I sat back in my seat in defeat.

"What if they hear about this and are worried?" I cautiously ventured.

"They will hear from you in good time. They will probably hear from the boys' publicist first," my eyebrows raised and Dave changed the subject, "anyways, we will talk about this later, for now, Louis, see if you can find the first aid kit and help stop the bleeding on Quinn's knee."

It was then that I realized that my knee stung like crazy. My nice Timmie Hillinger jeans were destroyed at the knees, gravel and blood soaking the torn fabric on my right knee.

"Aw man..." I muttered as I surveyed the damage, peeling the torn denim away from my skin.

"Niall, can you reach it in the back?" Louis held out his arm as Niall passed the kit to the front. Louis took it from him and he and Harry opened it beside me, figuring out what they needed and muttering.

"Do we need just antiseptic and a bandage or do we need gauze?"

"Don't give me gauze if there's no ointment," I fearfully demanded.

That's all I need, gauze stuck in the scabs in my knee!

I thought ruefully to myself as I located a pair of tweezers in the kit and began plucking out the little bits of gravel.

"Ah, it stings!" I hissed aloud, as I tried to get a particularly stubborn one free.

"Here, let me," Louis reached over and grabbed the tweezers from me. Harry looked a little sick, but smiled at me anyways. My knee really wasn't that bad, but the cuts were deep and the amount of blood would make most people queasy.

I smiled back at Harry as Louis went at my knee.

"Ah! Ughhh! Ngggg..." I kept groaning quietly in spite of myself.

"Sorry, love, hang in there Quinn, last one..." Louis kept his voice low and soothing as Dave and Paul discussed the safest way to enter the hotel we were now approaching.

I looked outside as Louis was applying a large bandage over my kneecap, covering it entirely. We had slowed down and were driving past a small crowd in the front of the parking lot of a nice hotel in town.

I smiled at Louis as he announced he was finished. "Thanks Louis, you know I could have done that, but I'm really grateful for you help." I let my smile spread across my face and he mischievously smirked back, but said nothing.

I squinted at the crowd outside, trying to figure out why they were there.

"Oh no."

In spite of myself, I felt the blood drain from my face. Normally I'm a pretty level-headed chickie, but after his afternoon, I was a little shaken.

The crowd was of mostly teenage girls.

They were looking for the boys.

They were aggressive and mob-like, even though small in number.

They could hurt the boys.

And they would hurt me...