Never Good Enough \\ n.h. au

Sixteen

I dreaded school on Monday -- but when did I not? The fact that he acted the way he did, and that I would have to be looking at the person who did those things was a little upsetting. I had to accept the fact that he wasn't coming back. I convinced myself it was a dream, and it worked.

Until I saw him Monday morning. 

I was wearing something nice, as always, so he complimented me. 

"You're so beautiful," he said as we hugged. It sounded like he had when he was drunk, saying the same thing, so it hurt. 

"Thanks," I smiled falsely, looking down. 

"Hey," he called, pulling his phone out of his pocket. "Let's take a picture," he suggested, making me cringe. I hated pictures.

"Okay," I complied, sighing to myself. We took the the picture (pic on the side), and it was actually pretty nice. He posted it on Instagram, and I told myself that I needed to see the comments later. 

We stopped at the door to his first period, like everyday, and I heard a few girls passing by give out aw's. I grinned at Niall because he had heard it, too. 

"See? It's working," he shrugged, giving me a smile back. I nodded, taking a second to tell my heart to stop pounding. 

"See you at lunch," he spoke, putting a hand on my waist and kissing my cheek like he always did. 

"Tell everyone how much fun you had with me at the party," he whispered into my ear. I hummed at that, remembering like I always needed to that it was an act. 

"Bye, babe," he winked, making me blush. As I started walking to class, some girl approached me. I was pretty sure she was a freshman. 

"You and Niall are so cute together," she smiled. I tried to holding back a laugh, just grinning at her. 

"Thanks." She nodded, running off. I hurried off to class. 

At lunch I talked a little bit about how much fun I had to the guys, but I knew they couldn't care less. 

Niall whispered to me to lean my head on his shoulder, and I blushed, doing it anyway. 

I pulled out my phone to distract myself, pulling up Instagram. I found the picture Niall posted, liking it. The caption read, "I'm her Man Crush Monday." I rolled my eyes, scrolling to look at the comments. He had like a thousand followers, and the kids in school didn't care about getting caught with their phones, so there were nearly fifteen. 

Some said cute, some said I was a slut, and one or two pointed out that I was at the bottom of the food chain, while he was at the top. 

"Forget about that," he spoke quietly, turning off my phone screen. I glanced at everyone else, but they were watching some YouTube video. 

"Do you remember anything from the party?" I asked him, turning so I was sideways in my seat and facing him. I put my leg up on the bench of the table. 

"Not much after I got drunk," he shrugged. 

Does he remember how we almost kissed? my brain itched to know. 

"What do you remember?" I urged him. He chewed on his lip for a few seconds, using his fingers to tap my thigh. 

"You came and found me in the bathroom, and then you were calling someone," he started, using his fingers as the legs of a person on my leg once more. My stomach dropped, hoping he didn't remember. 

Or would it be a good thing? 

"And then..." He trailed off, glancing at my lips for a split second.