Saved || Harry Styles

Chapter 3

Song of the Chapter: Bulletproof by La Roux

Chapter Three

Harry’s POV

“I don’t understand. If he raped her, why isn’t he locked up? Why does he still go to our school?”

“Harry, this is America. We don’t lock innocent people up. There’s not even any proof. Darren has an alibi. Some of his buddies say they saw him at the party the whole time. It’s his word against hers. She didn’t even come out with the accusation or whatever until two months after the party. They were both gone for like twenty four hours after the party but he says he was on a train with his mom. He even has the tickets. She says he locked her up and beat her. Most people think she just ran away and concocted this whole story.”

“So you don’t believe her?”

“I don’t know Harry. Why is this so interesting to you?” he complained.

“Her story sounds bogus to me.” I said but I wasn’t even sure if I meant it.

“I think I believe her. I didn’t see Darren for the rest of the night.”

“You were there?”

Jake nodded.

“It was my house Harry. I had to talk to the police and I got grounded for like a year. My parents were so pissed. I didn’t see him though. He disappeared when she did. Then she came back to school and was all bruised and battered. She didn’t even look human anymore.”

“He beat her?” I asked.

“I guess so. She got a restraining order though. He supposedly came to her house a couple of times and was yelling at her for ruining his life. He can’t come within fifty feet of her. It was weird after it happened. The guidance counselors like got involved and they were seated at opposite ends of the gym during school functions.”

“Well what about her friend Leah?”

“She felt like shit for getting drunk. We actually used to all be friends but then people started to think that Addie was lying so they all just kind of cut ties with the group. Marshall and Leah were the closest to Addie so obviously they believed their best friend.”

“Did you not talk to them about it?”

“I don’t think they really wanted to talk about it. I just figured it was best for me to just stay out of it. I’ve never really been friends with Darren but he is part of our group kind of.”

“Oh.”

I changed into my gym clothes and walked out of the locker room, dropping the subject. I had no right to have an opinion about the situation at all. I was the new kid and I didn’t really want to think about the whole thing considering Darren had befriended me on my first day here.

……………

Darren and I weren’t close like Jake and I were but we’d partied together a few times. He was a little cocky but I couldn’t see him doing something like this. I didn’t know why I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Addie’s POV

As I walked to my car in the parking lot, I looked around, scanning the ball field and the tennis court just in case. Everything made me nervous these days. I didn’t like going places alone and I didn’t like parking lots. We were in a parking lot when it happened. Now I wanted to cry every time I saw a parking lot. His hands…they held me down and I couldn’t move an inch.

I stayed after school to help tutor a freshmen and it was nearly five o clock by the time we left the library. It was even starting to get dark at five this time a year. The lot was almost empty except for a rusty black truck parked right beside my Rav-4. I bit my lip hard, tasting blood when I saw Harry Styles leaned up against the hood of the truck smoking a cigarette. Cigarettes reminded me of him, of Darren. Something about Harry scared the living daylights out of me. I turned around to look at the school which was a good hundred feet away. I couldn’t run but I couldn’t just stand here either. I knew I was acting like a crazy person but I didn’t care. I pulled out my keys, holding my pepper spray keychain in my hand. It was pink and my dad had given it to me the day of the trial at the courthouse. I unlocked my door and slowly started walking to my car.

“Um…hey.” A deep voice said and I looked over the hood of my car to see Harry in the same spot.

His eyebrows were knitted together in confusion.

“H-Hi.” I stuttered, my voice hoarse and barely audible even to my own ears as I climbed into my car, immediately locking the doors and driving away.

Harry’s POV

She was scared of me but I didn’t know why. I didn’t want her to be scared of me. When I saw her come out of the school, my heart started to race and I didn’t know why but something about her made me nervous. When she looked at me in that way and pulled out fucking pepper spray, I had this weird feeling. I wanted to let her know that I wasn’t here to hurt her and that I was just having a smoke before getting in my truck. She looked like she wanted to cry and when she spoke; her voice was so uneven that I had a hard time even hearing her. Her hands shook as she opened up her door to climb into her car. I didn’t want to walk up to her car and freak her out even more but I had the urge to talk to her. I only had one thought that continuously ran through my head; Maybe she’s not lying.