Scared (L.S)

one

Part 1 - Where they fall

 "Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson." Harry kept his gaze trained on his desk, not daring to look up as the teacher called out the pairs for their assignment. He knew who Louis Tomlinson was: the most popular boy in school, the captain of the football team. Harry also knew that this boy was incredibly attractive, as it seemed that everyone had a crush on him, and he also knew that this boy hated him.

That, him hating him that is, wasn't new. Harry knew that everyone in this school hated him. He had no friends and he liked it that way. He also knew that this was his fault. He was the one that had refused to talk to anyone for the past two years of high school and now that they were in the senior years of high school, no one cared to make new friends, or even speak to the weird kid who talked to himself and never took out his earbuds.

"Hi." A voice pulled Harry from his thoughts and he looked up to see Louis Tomlinson looking down at him, illuminated by the harsh lighting of the ceiling. Louis Tomlinson looked like an angel to Harry. His feathery brown hair, outlined with a glow, his smile which extended to his bright blue eyes and greeted Harry, with probably the most welcoming expression the younger boy had ever received. It was safe to say that along with the rest of the school, Harry had a crush on Louis Tomlinson. "Harry, right? I think we're partners?"

Harry gave a slight nod of his head, slipping his hand into the pocket of his hoodie to turn down his music a bit, one earbud dangling along his left side, the other stuck firmly in his ear.

"Great!" Louis said, almost too excited as he slipped into the seat in front of Harry, which no one ever sat at, sitting backwards to face the younger boy. "Any ideas on what you want to do for this?"

Harry panicked for a moment, he hadn't listened to anything the teacher had said, hell, he didn't even know what class this was. Louis seemed to notice the frantic look hidden in the boy's green eyes and reached over to Harry's desk, pulling the handout away from the younger boy and reading it quickly in his head.

"So we've got to do some sort of creative presentation on something to do with the catcher in the rye," Louis said, glancing up at Harry for just a second. Right, this is English class, Harry thought as Louis continued speaking, "I thought maybe we could do some sort of interview type thing? One of us could ask Holden a variety of questions and then the other could be Holden and I don't know, umm..."

Louis trailed off and looked back up at Harry. The problem was that every time Louis looked at Harry, Harry's mind went blank, his only thoughts being of the pretty boy that was staring at him. The two boys stared at each other for a few moments before Harry could no longer stand the eye contact and glanced back at his desk.

"How about we work on this after school? We can go to your's or my house, or-or the library or something?" Louis suggested, stuttering slightly. Harry, confused by the older boy's nervousness, shakily nodded his head before speaking for the first time in this entire conversation.

"Sure." Louis glanced up at the deep voice of the boy, shocked by the sound of his voice. To be fair, no one in that school had heard Harry speak more than a few words, let alone Louis Tomlinson, who was way too busy with football and being the most popular boy in school to pay attention to or even notice a boy like Harry.

Harry lived the life of a loner and he liked it.

Harry watched as Louis snapped out of the daze he had been in and a smile replaced the dopey look that had been on the older boy's face just moments ago. "Great, give me your number, I'll text you and we can figure everything out."

Harry nodded and took the shiny new iPhone from Louis' outstretched hand, typing in his number before handing back the phone. Harry's mind drifted to the old, beaten Samsung in his pocket and couldn't help but feel ashamed.

"Harry?" Just as Harry looked up at the sound of his name, he saw a flash and, as his eyes adjusted back to normal lighting, he saw that Louis was holding up his phone, having just snapped a picture of the younger lad.

Harry's brows furrowed and Louis just gave him a smile as bright as the sun, "For your contact picture."

With that said, the bell rang and Harry watched as Louis took the few steps back to his desk, grabbing his bag. Harry packed up his own stuff as well, keeping his head down as he stood up and pulled his heavy backpack onto his shoulder. As Harry made his way to the door, after the majority of other students had left, he was pulled back by a gentle hand on his elbow.

"Don't worry," Louis said, picking up his phone and motioning with it, "You look cute." With that Louis winked at Harry, sending a weird feeling right to the pit of Harry's stomach as the older boy pranced out of the room.

--------

It was when Harry was sitting in the library at lunch that the first text came through to his phone. Harry always ate lunch in the library, among the shelves bursting with books. He didn't have any friends and the cafeteria was filled with loud noises and weird smells. Harry could eat outside, and sometimes he did, but given that this was England, it was fairly cold outside for most of the year. Too cold for Harry to spend an hour outside every day.

So he ate in the library. The librarian knew him by name and the other students who were regulars in eating there knew to stay away from where he liked to sit, which was the back corner, surrounded by the astronomy books. Not that Harry particularly liked astronomy or space or anything, he just liked being surrounded on all sides so that no one could sneak up on him and this was the only section of the library that allowed that.

Harry had just sat down and was choosing a new playlist when he received Louis' first texts.

Louis: hi it's Louis, i tried finding you between classes but couldn't, when do you wanna go study

And

Louis: i was thinking we could go to your house ? i have lots of sisters so my house is pretty crowded and loud

Harry: that's fine

Louis: great ! Meet me in the parking lot at the bell ? I can drive us

Harry: okay.

Louis: *animal gif*

Harry couldn't help but wonder if this was what it was like to have friends. Sure he had his sister but they never really texted or sent each other any funny pictures or videos. As much as Harry liked his life as a loner, he kind of liked Louis and the energy he emitted. It was just so positive.