Artwork [h.s]

forty-eight

Harry opened his mouth to reply, but shut it, not a word coming out, right after, making me realise that he had no idea.

I stared down at the table in front of me. I'd already suspected it, but Zayn's outburst had taken any doubt away from me. Without even meaning to, I'd come between him and his friends. I sighed, trying to push away the guiltiness as soon as it poked up in my mind. Was that the reason why Zayn disliked me so much? And most importantly, was I the reason of the argument? The simple idea made me feel sick. I didn't want to be at fault for having pushed one of Harry's friends away when he most needed him.

"That's it, Harry. I'm not gonna let you push me aside like you did with all the others. I have a dignity. Bye, I hope your behaviour will not make you wind up alone in the end." He stood up, grabbing his phone from the table and his coat from the chair next to Harry's before walking out of the room, leaving us in the middle of the room with everyone looking at us.

I glared at a couple of people before turning my head to look at Harry. He was hiding his face in his hands, a position I was starting to become a little too familiar with, his elbows on the table.

"Hey" I said quietly, scooting my chair closer to his and putting my hand on his shoulder, hoping that it would've been enough to reassure him in some way without having to hug him in the middle of the cafeteria. I wouldn't have had any problem with that if I had to be honest, I just wasn't that sure he would've been okay with it as well.

All of sudden a ring broke the silence and I looked up fast. It sounded somewhat familiar, but I knew it wasn't my phone, given that I always kept it on silent when I was at school.

"I think your phone is ringing" I said quietly, glancing up as I spoke to discover that everybody had gone back to whatever they were doing, and that we weren't the centre of their attention anymore. I couldn't help but be glad about it, it had unsettled me deeply to be stared at that much. I really didn't understand how Harry could go through that every single day so carelessly.

"Pocket of my coat" he replied quietly, not making a move to get it himself.

I nodded, even though he couldn't see me, and checked the pocket that was closer to me, just to find it empty. I sighed, uncomfortable with the fact that he'd left me to go through his things, standing up and rounding his chair to get to the right pocket.

I put my hand inside, touching the side of the phone right away. I pushed my hand in a bit more to grab it, my fingers touching something else that was inside. I furrowed my eyebrows when I realised it was something made of plastic, confusion on my features as I quickly debated if I should've gone into the matter or not. It probably just was a packet of tissues or something like that, if I had to be honest, but it didn't make it any less curious to me.

I nervously bit my lower lip, hoping that Harry wouldn't catch me as I crouched down next to his chair, taking the thing I'd found and slowly sliding it out of his pocket, my eyes widening when I saw it was a little plastic bag containing what seemed to be over fifteen pills, the anonymous way in which they were put making me feel like they weren't any kind of prescription pills at all.

I quickly shoved it back inside his pocket, quickly taking his phone - that had stopped ringing at that point - and putting it down on the table before standing up fast. "Let's go outside" I said quietly, trying to keep a soft tone despite what I'd just discovered, putting my hand on Harry's arm to catch his attention.