You like to preach with a vodka in your mug

Chapter ten

"Miss Haywood!" Louis calls, waving awkwardly as all the eyes on the surrounding tables glare at him. So what, it's approaching exam season; Louis is still allowed to speak. "Do you have a few minutes?"

"Yes," she says as she calmly approaches the table and lowers her voice. "Is it about Harry?"

With a sheepish nod, Louis feels his cheeks flush a soft pink. She cocks her head to the side and Louis follows her blindly to her office, leaving all his work out on the side and making an unspoken agreement that Zayn will tidy it up before the start of the next lesson.

"Why have you sent him home?" Louis blurts the second her office door shuts. She sighs and offers Louis the seat in front of her desk.

"I've given Harry almost a month to readapt since he came back from hospital but all I can see is he's getting worse. He's not in very often anyway but when he is, he's disruptive and sometimes dangerous."

"He was not dangerous in that fight!" Louis snaps. "He could hardly open his eyes."

"From a safeguarding point of view, he used a sharp object as a means of force. It's dangerous."

Harry had tried to swipe at Zayn with his house keys but he'd hardly done a good job of it. Zayn wasn't touched besides when Harry had grabbed onto his clothes when Zayn was helping him up off the floor.

"Him being home alone is going to make things worse."

"We've offered talking therapies to him but he won't attend."

"What?" Louis exclaims. "He told me he's seeing a school counsellor."

Delicately, Miss Haywood shakes her head. "He went for one session but hasn't been in the past three weeks. I've spoken to him about it but he wouldn't give me an answer. If he was attending then I'd be more willing to compromise with his study leave."

"But you're getting rid of all his teacher and friend support when he's going to need them most. How is he meant to pass his A Levels?"

"Louis, we've spoken to his parents, we've tried to speak to him, and this is the most suitable solution," Miss Haywood says firmly. "Sorry, you can't change our minds on this one."

Louis huffs and picks his bag up off the floor, begrudgingly thanking Miss Haywood for her time as he leaves. Zayn hasn't packed his bag up; little shit.

"Your lesson is cancelled," he says, taking one earphone out. He's joking. Got to be.

"I've sat waiting for this lesson for three hours." Louis snaps. "What the fuck!"

Zayn shrugs and carries on with his artwork. Louis suspects he shouldn't be rushing it in the hour before it's due but he seems to have made decent progress on it. Sure, Zayn doesn't like biro sketches but he's fucking good at them.

Once Louis' out of school, he calls Harry. Harry picks up but the only words Louis can get out of him are, "tell me a story," and so Louis makes up something dumb with no real plot but it seems to satisfy Harry until he gets to his house.

Anne answers the door, which surprises Louis, and when she notices Louis' questioning face, she claims that her and Robin changed their days off to spend as much time home with Harry as possible.

"Can I see him?" Louis asks cautiously.

"If you want," Anne says gently. "I was just making some lunch. He's not great today."

"Do you know what he's had?"

"He keeps sneaking out in the night to buy more stuff," Anne sighs disheartenedly. Her shoulders slump and she fiddles nervously with a button on her shirt. "There's only so much we can sit and watch him and that's if he even lets us go and speak to him."