NERD- Larry Stylinson

0-0 Chapter One 0-0

The halls are mostly empty as Louis walks to third period. He's late, but he doesn't really care seeing as it was his teacher's fault. She just had to make him stay after the bell rang because he was causing a disturbance in her class. So maybe he likes to gossip in class, who doesn't. The teacher dismissed him three minutes later, which in turn made him late to his next class. It's fine really. His third period teacher will be cool about it... mostly.

So he walks lazily, not worried about the time. Just as he's about to round the corner, he hears someone's harsh whispers.

"Hey nerd, shouldn't you be in class?" A voice says. It's filled with malice and discord and Louis wonders whom the guy is talking to.

"Yeah is little old Harry trying to be a rebel." It's said in a childlike manner and Louis already wants to punch the guy.

"I uh forgot my book so I had to go back and get it." And Louis recognizes the small voice. It belongs to the whiz kid who he has Bio with. He peeks around the corner to see what's happening and almost wishes he hadn't. The guys are hovering over the poor lad who looks like he wants the world to swallow him whole. Harry seems scared shitless and Louis hates when people make fun of others.

"Oh are you talking about this book here." The first guy sneers and Louis can see that the guy is holding a Bio book. He then realizes that it must be Harry's book.

"Yeah so can I uh have it back?" He asks quietly, afraid the guys will hurt him if he speaks louder.

"I don't know Nathan do you think he deserves it?"

"Nah man, he's too much of a nerd." And Louis has had enough. He steps out of the shadows and heads to the little group.

"What's going on here?" He shouts, catching their attention. The two tormentors look frightened at first, but they hold their ground.

"What's it to you Tomlinson?" The second guy huffs, trying to appear more confident than he is.

"Well it matters because you seem to bothering a friend of mine."

"This guy is your friend?" Nathan laughs, not believing that someone like Louis could be friends with someone like Harry.

"Yes he is. Isn't that right Harry?" He directs his attention to the scared lad. Harry seems confused, but quickly catches on to the fact that Louis is trying to help him.

"Yes?" He says it like a question, but it seems convincing enough to the lads who were bullying him.

"Oh well then I guess we should be going." The second guy says already moving away in fear.

"Yeah we'll be seeing you. Bye Louis." Nathan says cheerily trying to get on Louis' good side. Louis has no intention of talking to those guys again. They walk off, leaving a still very terrified Harry behind. The guy had also dropped Harry's book, so Louis bent down to pick it up.

"Here you go." He says to Harry, handing him his textbook. Harry is cautious, but he easily accepts the book.

"T-Thanks." He stutters, hugging the book to his chest.

"Glad to help." Louis tips his imaginary hat, and turns to walk away when he hears a quiet 'wait.' He turns back around to a blushing Harry. "Yeah?"

"Why did you help me?" He whispers, gaze still set on the ground.

"Well I have a thing against name calling. You might wear glasses and be super smart, but that doesn't mean you're a nerd. You're just you Harry. You're a human being. No one deserves to label you but yourself." Harry is now starring at Louis in awe and Louis can feel a blush rising to his own cheeks.

"You have an incredible perspective on life." He mumbles, head going back down when the words leave his mouth.

"Yeah well I make it my mission to make sure people are treated fair." Louis feels strangely warm at Harry's words. He's always been complemented on his opinions on the world, but something about the fact that it's Harry makes him feel strangely... happy. "Well we best be off to class, no need to be more late than we already are." Harry nods and they walk silently down the hall to the last door on the left. Just before entering,

"Thanks Louis for being nice to me." And Louis spends the rest of the class period studying Harry.

xxx

"What do you think about Harry Styles?" Louis asks Niall during lunch. Ever since third period, he hasn't been able to stop thinking about him. He doesn't understand why. He's just Harry, the same Harry's he's gone to school with for almost eight years.

"I think he's a genius. That kid can do math faster than a calculator. Why?" Niall says through a mouthful of pizza. Louis just sighs, not truly understanding why he asked in the first place.

"I don't know it's just- I- like talked to him this morning and I was thinking about him."

"Oh what did you talk about?"

"Not much, he was pretty shy."

"That's Harry for you. He's great at the school thing, not so much the social thing."

"Yeah." Louis doesn't say anything after that, just sits in thought as he continues to think about Harry. He's seen Harry around since junior high. Even then he was still as shy as can be, shaking like a leaf when people got too close to him. He wore his oversized glasses and walked hunched in on himself, scared by the older kids. He had always been smart, getting the best grades on test and acing all his classes.

Now its years later and Harry is still Harry, he still reads in class when the teacher isn't looking or bites his pencil when he's trying to figure out a question. He's the same smart kid who people have a hard time friending because he's bad with social skills, but he always tries his best to be nice.

Louis doesn't know why it's taken him this long to notice Harry in this way, but he realizes that whatever the strange feeling in his heart is, it isn't going to go away.