Smalltown {h.s.}

{4}

Flirt Alert: Does Harry Styles have his eye on someone?!

That was the headline on the front of the magazine Jenna just pulled out of her book bag. Flip to page 27 and there is a picture of me smiling and Harry looking at me while we sat at the table in the cafe. That must have been taken while I was talking to Niall and Louis. It was totally taken out of context but I can see where the headline came from. The way it looks, it looks like Harry and I are there together.

"That's you isn't it?" Jenna exclaims with excitement in her voice.

"Yeah.. I guess it is." I reply shocked. I can't believe this.

"So wait, are you like dating Harry Styles?" Maggie half-whispers.

"Absolutely not," I say with my nose scrunched up.

"Are you not a fan of One Direction?" Brooke asks.

"No, it's not really my style," I reply.

"Yeah, me either. They're totally overrated." Jenny says. Hmm, I thought I was the only girl in the world who thought that.

"I totally agree," I tell her.

•••

I went the rest of the school day feeling like everyone was staring at me. There's no way that magazine got around school already is there? I thought to myself. Maybe it is all just in my head. Maybe I'm just overthinking it. Maybe if I just don't make a big deal about it and ignore it, it'll go away.

After school, my mom and I decide to go to the store to get something for dinner. My mom and I are pretty close so I decide to tell her about the magazine Jenna had shown me.

"Wait. You're in a magazine? That's so cool! If there is one at the store I'm definitely buying it!" my mom starts to get excited about the whole situation.

"No mom, this isn't cool. It's humiliating. I mean, everyone who sees it is going to think I'm dating Harry Styles. I swear everyone at school was staring at me all day" I say, beginning to get frustrated with the whole situation.

"That's not so bad. He was a sweet boy. They all were. You're making a bigger deal out of this than you need to."

"They're famous, mom. Nothing good ever comes from getting involved with someone famous. Have you heard Taylor Swift's songs?" I jokingly ask.

"Well, at least you made some friends at your new school. Aside from the magazine thing, did you have a good day?" she asks.

"Yeah, it was a pretty good day aside from that," I tell her.

As we are walking through the store, I once again get the feeling that people are looking at me. I hate this. I wish I never would have run into Harry Styles. Literally.

•••

"Sophia, your birthday is Saturday. What are you wanting to do to celebrate?" My dad asks as we sit around the dinner table.

"I don't really feel like celebrating this year."

"Honey, we have to do something. You only turn 17 once. And your birthday is in five days. So come on, what do you want to do?" my mom encourages.

"Can we just go to dinner? Just a nice family birthday dinner. That's all." I suggest. A simple dinner with my family seems to be the least painful option. I really don't want to celebrate at all but it seems somewhat important to my parents. They've always been pretty big on birthdays.

"That sounds like a great idea, sweetheart," my mother smiles.

The rest of the dinner consisted of my mom showing my dad the magazine she bought at the grocery store. They laughed and laughed at how embarrassed I looked while they talked about how cute they think Harry and I are together. I don't think I will ever live this down. At school or at home. I really hope this doesn't blow up. Hopefully by next week there will be another picture of Harry and some girl in a magazine and everyone will forget about me.

•••

It's Saturday. My birthday. I spent the rest of the school week walking the halls and eating lunch with Jenna, Brooke, and Maggie. All week I kept getting stares and funny looks from kids in the halls and in class. It's getting really old. I had expected this to blow over by now. I guess I was wrong.

I am getting ready to go out to dinner with my parents. Once they told us we were moving Boston finally decided it was his time to fly out of the nest; all the way to Becca's parents house. Not even our parents moving to another continent could force him to grow up.

For dinner I decide to throw on a black skater skirt, a floral crop top, and a beige cardigan. I also decide to curl my long, brown hair in tight curls. For make up, I am going with a neutral colored, slightly smokey eye with a wing and red lipstick. I slip on some red pumps to complete my birthday outfit.

My parents decided to take 'nice family dinner' to a whole new level and take me out to one of the nicest restaurants in town. We pull up to the restaurant and step out of the Uber. As we are walking towards the door I see what looks like a flash of lightning out of the corner of my eye.

Oh no, please don't rain. I thought to myself since we were planning on walking to the shops down the street after dinner.

Dinner with my parents goes smoothly and we start walking to the shops when I see another flash. I tell my parents it about to start raining and we decide to get an Uber and go on home.

When I get home I kill some time by getting on Twitter. When I open up my laptop I see tons of notifications. I see that Niall, Louis, and Harry have all tweeted at me saying happy birthday. I also see tons of comments, a lot of them quite hateful, and a few message from Briana.

________________

BRIANA:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEST FRIEND!!!! I miss you so much and I so wish I could be there to celebrate with you. Also, we really need to talk about you being in a magazine!! How could you not tell me you're DATING HARRY STYLES?!

________________

Oh no, the picture has gotten all the way back home. And I have been thinking about it so much that I haven't really talked to Briana at all since it happened. I am such a horrible friend.

________________

BRIANA:

Ummm dude, check this news page out.. trouble in paradise already?? Lol. By the way, you look SMOKIN BOO!! (;

________________

She sent me a link to a news page on twitter. I open it up to see a picture of me walking into the restaurant, a picture of me walking out, and screenshots of the boys tweets saying happy birthday to me.

'Harry's girl alone at her birthday dinner? Did she get stood up? Did he lose interest already? Is it because Liam and Zayn don't approve as they failed to tell her happy birthday?'

This can't be good. So much for blowing over. For one, I wasn't alone. I was with my parents. And for two, IM NOT DATING HARRY STYLES!!!!!

••••••••••••••••

AUTHORS NOTES

Hey y'all! I know these chapters a kind of short. I'm really just trying to get a feel for what it's like coming up with the story on my own. It's a learning experience. It will get better I promise! Haha. As always, if you have any suggestions or tips comment those and don't forget to vote. Thanks for reading!!! ✌🏼