Never Good Enough \\ n.h. au

Two

Within the week, the rumor died down, and I was completely relieved. I didn't talk to anyone, though. Chloe was still ignoring me, so I basically was alone.

At lunch, Niall walked by me and my empty table. I cleared my voice, and he looked at me.

"Thanks," I said, giving him a small smile. He furrowed his eyebrows at me, and just nodded slowly. My smile fell quickly, seeing the lack of emotion or sympathy in his expression. He walked away, and I sunk back into my seat, pushing away my lunch.

The next period was art with Niall and his two equally obnoxious guy-friends; Louis and Zayn. I walked in with simply a pencil in hand, and spotted the three immediately, asking the teacher to go to the bathroom. She accepted with a tired look as I sat down in the back. The class quickly filled up, and there weren't many seats anywhere but next to me.

Crap.

The door flung open in the middle of the teacher explaining, and in walked the three troublemakers. I groaned as they scanned the room with smirks on their faces.

"Go ahead and sit down next to..." The teacher scanned the large room as well. "Melanie," she said at last. Every single eye latched on to my body, and I could feel the chagrin rising steadily in me, threatening to overtake me. I looked down at the paper in front of me.

I heard the seat next to me squeak, since we were all sitting on old barstools. I glanced up briefly, coming eye to eye with Louis. He smirked at me, and I saw Niall in the farthest seat from me. Good.

The teacher explained the project that would take a month, consisting of things from our houses and around the school. I groaned inwardly. Art was not my strong suit.

"You will be working with a partner of my choice," she said. I slumped my shoulders, and she shot me a look. Everyone else looked around at their friends, while I went back to scribbling nonsense on my paper.

She called out our groups one at a time, and I sat waiting in agony. She told us they were very well thought over, but I really doubted that.

"Niall and Melanie," she called out, and went onto the next names. I facepalmed as I felt all the eyes on me once again.

No. Why does it have to be him? I yelled to myself. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him put his head on his desk with a groan. Zayn laughed.

I remembered when Zayn, Louis, and the other brown-haired one --I had forgotten his name-- had transferred from England a few months after Harry and Niall. They were rowdy, but bright spirited. I stayed away from them.

The teacher explained to us how the project would take place, and then gave out categories to each group like geometrical shapes, blue objects, green circles, etcetera.

"Alright. Get in your groups," she told us. There were only two minutes left in the class period, so I wasn't too upset I had to sit next to Niall.

"Hey," he grumbled, sliding in the stool next to me. I was a little offended at the way he had reacted to us being in a group together, so I gave him a 'hmph' in return. I wrote down our project description on the paper that had been passed out. I wrote quickly, my pencil making squeaking noises against the paper at my writing speed.

"You write fast," he observed.

"Yeah," I breathed, still writing. The bell rung loudly, and I sighed. I folded the paper and shoved it in my pocket. When I looked up, Niall was gone. I sighed and walked out, heading to my locker.

Why doesn't he like me?

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Ugh. I promised an update so here it is. I don't think this was really good, but comment below if you enjoyed it, please!

I love you guys. Each and every single one of you.

I'll beupdating Papercut next, so watch for that. ;D

Mel xx