Underscore | h.s. au

thirteen.

After a few more minutes, the sounds of hitting and punching subsided. The only noise I could here in the house was Harry's rapid breathing. At least I hoped it was Harry's.

I stood from the bed and moved to the furthest corner in my Quarter.

"Virginia?" A voice that I recognized as Harry's called. I let out a breath that I hadn't even noticed I'd been holding.

"In here," I called back. Part of me didn't want to answer, didn't want to allow him to find me.

Harry limped in, holding onto the door frame for support. I made no move toward him, unsure if he was completely sober or not.

"You okay?" He asked, and I nearly scoffed at the fact that he probably didn't give a damn.

"Yeah- apart from your damage I'm fine."

I wanted to pick this fight now, I wanted to know what was happening. I knew I couldn't leave but Liam was more important than whether I enjoyed Harry's company.

"Listen here," Harry's eyes were cold, anger rolling around in a circle like the dry ice and potions in a witch's lair. "I'm not the one who ran off to Nice-Little-Louis to pity me. You knew I was drunk, why would you put yourself in so much danger!"

His voice had risen at the end of his rant, and I was getting nervous. I took note that 'drunk' was the term for Harry and Zayn's smell and actions.

Part of me wanted to test my boundaries a with Harry, yell back at him. I didn't know which statement to address first, the fact that he thought I wanted pity or the real reason I had left. In the midst of my thoughts I hadn't noticed that Harry had inched across the room, starting to corner me as well.

Seeing that he was advancing toward me with the same look in his eye that Father had had, I decided to go with my natural instincts. At home, we were taught to absorb everything a Male said, meaning not to argue or question.

Harry took another step, his eyes moving back and forth as he searched mine. "Aren't you going to say anything? Gemma would take advantage of this silence and be screaming at me."

I looked down, unable to tell if this was a trick from Harry to witness me break the rules or not. When I didn't reply, he slammed his fist on the shelf that held the globe. I had glanced at the globe a bit, trying to guesstimate where Harry lived.

I focused my attention back to Harry, and I saw he'd followed my eyes to the globe as well.

Harry shook his head, using his fingers to fix it as well.

"Okay," He took a breath. "Gemma explained that anger and shit won't get through to you, since you are just used to blocking it out like at home." I could see his eyes soften from across the room. Harry's whole demeanor seemed to change as he sat at the edge of my bed.

"I'm America, women are thought of as the same as men. They don't have the evaluation or Underscores or Asterisks."

I cut him off, "Then why'd you call me one last night? you know that's the reason I left."

His eyebrows furrowed, "Called you what?"

"You know," I spat, not allowing the word come out of my mouth.

Harry sat there for a moment confused. I hope he had remember last night in detail to recall what I was talking about.

"An Underscore?" He questioned like he didn't even think that it was a big deal.

I nodded my head and he laughed quietly to himself. I moved toward the globe, the drawings and tiny words that were scrawled all over. I put one finger on it and started to spin it slowly, letting the countries distract my mind.

"Virginia, I was drunk. I know that is a horrible excuse and you've probably heard that a million times-"

"Males don't apologize to Females." I reminded him.

Harry sighed. "Okay, maybe you've never heard it, but that still doesn't give me the right to call you that. Maybe your self-respect expectations have risen because you're here, but... I don't know."

I felt slightly bad for him. We were both in the same boat, trying to keep others safe by protecting a distant person.

"To-" he let out a breath. This conversation was obviously overwhelming for him as well. "Make this work, we need to talk to each other. As least that what Gemma said. I need to understand your normal and you need to learn about the real normal."

"For Liam," I added, in a sense I was letting him know why I was even having this conversation with him.

There was silence as he watched me spin the globe.

"Do you want to know where we are?" He asked, looking at me. I could see in his bloodshot eyes that he was trying so hard to fix this.

I nodded my head and he immediately stood up. His presence was close, and something jumped in me. His hand lingered by mine as he reached for the globe to spin it.

He found a country that was completely on the other side of my home, and I saw the little spaced out letters reading America. His finger traced over the divisions in the country for a few seconds, until he set his finger on a final spot.

I leaned forward, trying to read the microscopic words printed onto the sphere. Harry moved his finger slightly so I could see the full word.

It read, Virginia.

"That's my name," My mouth fell open.

Harry opened his mouth like he was going to explain why I was named after a division of America, but the home telephone rang.

He started to leave but turned at last second, his hand on the door. "By the way, stay away from Louis. I brought you home last night."

I opened my mouth to ask why, but Harry beat me to it, "Because people change under pressure."