You Think I Hate You? (Larry Stylinson AU) Stepbrothers

Chapter 25

Checking the clock on the wall, I noticed it was only a minute until class would start, so I didn't have time to check out Louis while he changed if I didn't want to be late. Mentally swearing, I followed a few other guys to the gym and made my way to the line where Mr. Wilson was waiting for us students to arrive.

Louis emerged from the locker room right when the bell rang, making Mr. Wilson throw him a warning glance, as if it was a close one and that it should not repeat itself. To the teacher's frustration, however, Louis didn't even look at him but joined a few of his friends instead. I rolled my eyes at the scene, not surprised at all that he acted the way he did. It was Louis after all, what else did anyone expect?

After that, the lesson started. We were playing dodgeball today, something I found quite fun even if I wasn't the best at it. Sure, I wasn't worst, but definitely not as great as the students who played a sport consisting of a ball were. Thankfully, I wasn't on the same team as Louis this time. Though, I wasn't sure that was better because now he could make eye contact with me since we were opposite each other, and the glares he threw my way had me swallowing hard and averting my gaze.

He didn't even seem to hide the fact that he was out to hit me with the ball. Even if I wasn't the closest one to him, he still aimed my way and tried to hit my body. It was pretty ridiculous, but I did kind of understand that he was mad at me.

Once the lesson ended, I hurried to change into my regular clothing before walking to the bus stop. Thankfully, the bus was already there so I didn't have to wait for it. I made my way towards it and hopped on. As I walked through the aisle to find an empty seat, I wasn't surprised to see one beside Niall. He waved at me happily and gestured for me to sit down beside him.

Swallowing hard and giving him a tight smile, I hesitantly took a seat next to him, placing my backpack on my lap. "Hi," I greeted.

"Hi there, beautiful."

We started talking about how our day had been and what we had planned for the remaining part of it. It should've felt awkward judging by the circumstances, but it didn't, and I had a feeling that was because it was Niall I was talking to. No matter the situation, things were never awkward with him, and that was definitely a positive skill he had.

The bus was just about to start moving when a familiar person showed up right in front of me. Well, he was walking past me to get to the back, more specifically. Louis' eyes met mine for a second before darting to Niall who was too busy staring at his phone to notice him. His eyes found mine again, and he just shook his head in disappointment. With that, he continued his way towards the back of the bus.

I let my eyes fall shut as soon as he was out of sight, and let out a deep sigh. Niall seemed to notice this and looked up at me. "You okay?"

My eyebrows were furrowed as I nodded my head. "Yeah, it's nothing. Don't worry about it."

He looked at me suspiciously, probably knowing that it wasn't nothing and that something actually was up. However, he didn't seem to want to push it because a second later, he slowly let his eyes fall back to his phone, and that was also when the bus started moving.

Unfortunately, it didn't take very long until the bus came to a halt again. I wanted the ride to last just a little bit longer, but of course I wasn't that lucky. I got up from my seat, sensing Niall walk right behind me as I did so. While we made our way out, he placed a hand on my hip to keep me from stumbling, which he knew I tended to do a lot on the bus. I should've felt weird about it, but to my surprise, I actually found it kind of cute. It just showed that he cared about me.

Once we stepped out in the cold weather, I turned to look at him. He was biting his bottom lip, watching me with a nervous smile. "So, I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"