Love, Birdie {h.s au} ON HOLD

prologue

~Harry Styles~

She crashed into his life the same way she had the lecture hall that morning.

Her eyes wide with a captivating gaze that hid behind the circular lenses. Her hair was pulled back in a way that made her chubby cheeks more prominent, the autumn air causing the flesh to turn rosy as small pieces of her hair fell down in front of her face. She gripped the textbooks in her hand as though they were her lifeline, her head hung down as she moved through the lecture hall. She had on a pair of 'overalls', the denim a light blue with a brown shirt underneath. The knit sweater she had on completely swallowed her whole, the ends of the sleeves covering her hands almost entirely as she sat down in the only open seat... the one next to him.

She huffed as she placed her things down, pushing her glasses up on her face as she leaned forward onto the table and placed her chin in her hands.

"Good luck at the game tonight," she said, not even turning to face him as she opened up her small journal. "You'll need it. Heard they're on a winning streak."

"Uh..." he stuttered, caught off guard as he cleared his throat. "Thanks, I guess."

She hadn't even bothered paying attention in the lecture. Off in her own little world as her left hand dragged across the journal, the brown leather straps falling onto his side of the desk. Her legs were crossed over one another, the denim rising up her leg allowing her beat up Chuck Taylor's to be seen.

He had known very little about Birdie Jacobs, only that she seemed to wear the same footwear almost daily.

Though he always thought she liked it that way, being the girl with the wide gaze that could move mountains if given the opportunity all while remaining one of the biggest mysteries on that shitty campus. Everyone knew her 'name'... yet no one knew her story. All they knew was that she was never seen without a book in her hands and her head always in the clouds.

A Farewell to Arms was sitting beside her as her hand moved across the paper of her journal, the sound of the ballpoint pen completely grabbing all of Harry's attention that early November morning.

The rest became a blur after that. He didn't remember how long they were sitting there for listening to the professor carry on and on... all he remembered was seeing the boy stand up out of the corner of his eye.

He remembered the way her eyes widened with fear before Harry finally understood what was going on. The sound of the screams coming from their classmates still sent chills down his spine. He remembered finally turning his body to face the boy standing with the trembling hand... the silver end of the barrel facing directly towards them as a smirk fell onto his face. Harry remembered hearing the gasp leave her lips before he noticed that the barrel of the gun wasn't just pointed towards their direction anymore... it was aimed directly at her.

It happened in a matter of seconds.

One moment he was sitting in his chair beside her and the next his body was shielding hers, a small whimper leaving her lips as tears streamed down her face.

He didn't feel the bullet graze his body, all he felt was a warmth slowly pooling down his leg before his vision started to blur.

"You're going to be okay," he heard her whisper. "Just stay awake, Harry. Please stay awake."

And then suddenly... his blurred vision turned to black.

~

I am so fucking excited for you all to read this one. I have been working on it for so long... I can't wait for you all to see what's next!

Thoughts on the story so far??

- Lizzy :)