The Jock

Chapter 3

Chapter 3
As I got off the bus, I saw Harry was already there, waiting on my front steps. "Let's get this over with." I mumbled unlocking the door. As I opened the door, Belle greeted us and once again growled at Harry. "Fuß!" "What??" "It's German for heel." "Why German?" "She's from Germany and most of her commands she already knew were in German." "Oh." I sat my books down and grabbed a water. "Want one?" "No I'm good." I shrugged and opened my book to Chapter 4. "Okay, so we have to make a dictionary from this era, correct?" "Yeah. We just need 25 words right?" "Yeah. Here, how about you make the design and the actual book part and I do the typing?" "That'll work for me." "Alright. I'll go get my laptop real quick." He nodded as I ran upstairs. I grabbed my laptop, and as I came back down, I saw him looking at a picture of my family. "You're an only child?" "Yeah..." "I never knew." "I never would've expected you to." We went silent for a while, as the computer started up. "I have a question..." "Yeah?" "Why do you hate me?" "Seriously? I should be the one asking you." "What do you mean?" "You're always bullying me! You have since 4th grade!! You and your little followers." "Name one bad thing I've ever said to you." I thought for a moment. "Exactly. I've never done anything personally to you." "Yeah, but you still sit back and watch them do it to me." "Did I not catch that ball? Or tell them to stop?" "Well, 2 times. What about all of those other times?" He shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know why I didn't stop them." "I know why. It's because you're afraid of ruining your image!" He sighed. "No, that's not true." "Why didn't you then?!" "I'm sorry...I didn't want you to hate me." I rolled my eyes. "I've gone through torture for 8 years!" "I'm sorry. I really am." I shook my head and looked down. "I just-nobody ever seemed to notice." "I'm sure that's not true." "Actually, you're right. Karen and Jimmie notice and they try to make me feel better so I try to be okay around them but-it's hard. It is. It doesn't help that my parents are always gone so I can't talk to them about my problems and then I have to keep up my good grades and it's just frustrating." He walked closer to me. "I'm sorry." He actually sounded sincere..."It's fine, let's just get to work." I walked away and pulled up Word. He was working hard on the cover and everything as I was typing. "Let's take a break." "No, we need to finish." "We've got four days!" "I don't care. I want to finish to we can relax for a bit." "You sure?" "Positive." "Fine." I only have 10 more words. I was almost done with my 16th word when I felt him tickling me. "Harry!! Stop!" "Nope! You need to loosen up." "No! Harry! Stop!!" "Oh come on love. Let's go for a walk or something. I can't sit here. I have to do something." "Fine. We'll go for a walk. Belle, komm!" She came to our side as we stepped out. I turned around and locked the door. "Doesn't she need a leash?" "She'll stay by me." "Alright." We started off walking down the street in silence but he spoke up. "So, where do your parents work?" "My dad's a police officer and my mum's a lawyer." "Oh alright. So how long have you had her?" "Belle? I've had her for about 3 years." "Oh alright." He gave a slight smile. "Why do you want to know so much about me?" "To show you I'm not a douche like the others." I nodded and kept my head down. "So how well can you see without your glasses?" "Try em on." I took them off and handed them to him." "Wow. You really can't see well can you?" "Nah not really." He laughed and gave them back to me. "You look a lot different with them off." "So I've been told. So how about you? Any siblings?" "I've got an older sister, Gemma and a younger one, Abby." "How old is Abby?" "Six. Gemma's 21." "And you're 19?" "Yeah. You?" "18." "Wow. So you're younger, but you're the smartest person in our grade?" I laughed and tucked my hair behind my ear. "So you're in marching band?" "Yeah. First clarinet." "Nice. So any plans for college?" "Um no actually. I guess I'll take care of that when it comes." He nodded understandingly and kicked a stone. I looked up and noticed a familiar car and waved. The car slowed to a stop and the window rolled down. "Hey dad." "Hey Penelope, and this is-?" "Harry sir. Harry Styles." "Ah, I've heard some stories about you...I'm watching you." I rolled my eyes. "Bye dad." "Bye." He said, still staring at Harry. As he drove off, he looked at me. "What was that about?" "Nothing..." "Um alright...can't we try to get along?" "I thought that's what we were doing." He smiled wide. "Good. I always thought you'd be really nice." I smiled. "I have a question..." "Yeah?" "How does it feel being so popular?" "What do ya mean?" "It seems like it's be great. Everyone knowing your name, not having to worry about fitting in or getting picked on, and having infinite friends." "It's not that great actually. You never have true friends, and you get almost no privacy." "Oh..." "We should go to my house tomorrow. I'll drive us after school." "Alright." "Friends?" "I don't know...." "Please?" "Why do you care so much?" "I'd like a true friend..." "...I'll think about it." He smiled. "Let's go ahead and head back." "Wait, can I try something?" "...sure??" He ran off, about 15 yards away, and stopped. "Belle, komm!!" She looked up to me and I gestured for her to go. He smiled as she ran to him. "She's awesome. Komm Belle!" He jogged, her running beside him. I ran to catch up and continued to jog home with him. As I opened the door, their eyes went to me. "Ah there you are." "Yeah, dad you just saw us. We just went for a walk." "Mhmmm..." I walked with Harry into the kitchen where his bag was. "Here ya go." "Thanks. I'll see you tomorrow?" "Yeah, bye." "Bye." As soon as the door shut, my mum spoke up. "Who was that?" "Harry." "Harry who?" "Styles...?" "I thought you hated him." "Not anymore. He's nice. I realized he never bullied me like the others..." "Why was he here?" "We're partners on a project at school." "So you didn't get to choose?" "No." "Who'd Karen get?" "Jimmie." "Ah, that was lucky." "Yeah...I'm going to go upstairs..." I ran upstairs and collapsed on my bed. Maybe he wasn't as bad as I thought...then again, this may just be because he's my partner...