The Boy in the Bookstore | l.s ✔

Three

The weather reflected Harry's moods. The sky was a pale gray, and the rain that fell was fine, only enough to make someone feel cold. He was greeted by Niall and Zayn like usual, feeling too scared he would be a burden to them if he shared his issues with his two best friends. As they walked to form, Harry's -  already high - anxiety worsened. he was determined not to break down, not to look weak in front of his classmates and further prove their point that he was a freak. Zayn and Niall didn't talk much, not wanting to tip the poor boy over the edge. When the small group of friends arrived at the classroom, they took their seats, in the middle row, Harry sat closest to the door just in case he needed to get out. He could see his classmates looks of judgement, and felt butterflies in his stomach. He could only imagine what they were saying behind their whispers. This was one of the reasons Hhe hated form. It was half an hour at the start of the day when teenagers could just sit and talk about whatever they liked - the only reason there was a teacher present was to make sure there were no physical fights.

Mr Roberts was late, something that stressed Harry out. He didn't like it when people missed deadlines, or they were t on time. It made him uncomfortable. When he finally walked in, there were a few sarcastic cheers coming from the back of the room, but he didn't seem phased or offended. Laughing it off, he sat in his chair at his desk.

'Good morning guys, sorry I'm late. There was an issue with one of the year seven's, they freaked out about loosing their planner...' Mr Roberts started, but soon stopped when realising the students didn't care. Niall and Zayn looked at eachother, and then, after nodding, walked up to his desk. This made Harry a slight but concerned, but he figured that they would just be talking to him about Harry. He silently watched them talk, shifting uncomfortably in his hard, plastic seat. When Zayn, Niall and Mr Roberts started walking towards the door, the knot in Harry's stomach began to tighten. The two boys were basically bodyguards to him, who knows what would happen if he was left in the room alone. He quickly got his small notebook out and began to draw, using a blunt pencil he found in the bottom of his small bag. Slowly making small, faint marks on the clean page, he began to draw. He could still hear the other students making comments, but he was determined to keep his head down and not cry.

Ten minutes later Zayn, Niall and Mr Roberts entered back into the classroom. Niall sat down next to Harry and started talking quietly. Harry was too focused on his drawing - an eye - to focus on what his friend was saying, so kind of ignored Niall. When the bell rang, signalling the end of form, Harry slowly got up and started making his way to first period - PE, which he hated. He really wanted to get out of the lesson, but he didn't have a note so was forced to partake in the activities. Fortunately, he was with NIall and Zayn, so he would have some 'protection' if anything bad were to happen.

Harry started to feel his hands and legs shaking and his breathing quicken as he made his way to the boys changing room. Getting changed into his kit was the worst. All the other boys were shorter, yet more toned than he was. He couldn;'t help but compare himself to the other boys, and it hurt him that he couldn't like himself.

'Oi, fag! What are you looking at? You like what you see?' a deep voice Harry didn't even recognise taunted at him. Harry blushed dark red, wishing that the floor would open up and swallow him. Not knowing what to do, Zayn and Niall awkwardly stood by him, trying not to obviously comfort Harry so they didn't get the same homophobic abuse as their curly-headed friend had just received. Harry could see Niall starting to get agitated, feeling hopeless that he couldn't protect his fragile best friend from the awful words that he knew Harry took to heart. The most Zayn offered was a small smile, not wanting to make Harry upset by shining a light on the issue. Harry quickly changed into his kit, and was out of there as soon as possible. When he walked out, he saw Liam walking into the changing room that he was swiftly trying to leave.