[Harry]
"That was all for today, class. See you again tomorrow."
I shut my books and got up from my chair to make my way out of the classroom quickly, wanting to get home as soon as possible. Before I had even turned the first corner to my locker, I felt someone tug at my arm from behind, pulling me back. I turned around to face the person, furrowing my eyebrows because who in the world would want to talk to me?
My eyes widened at the sight of Louis Tomlinson, the most popular guy at school, standing there, his hands in his pockets, and a sheepish smile on his lips. He was looking at his surroundings every now and then as if he was worried someone might catch sight of him. "Come on," he said, pulling me by the arm into the janitor's closet across the hallway before anyone could see us together.
Once he had closed the door behind us, he turned to me again, giving me a small smile. "Hi."
"Uh, hi?" I said, feeling confused as to why he out of all people would want to talk to me. None of the popular kids had ever even acknowledged me before. I bet they didn't even know who I was... or maybe they did, considering Louis was standing in front of me right now?
"Harry, isn't it?"
I nodded slowly. "Yeah. Why are you talking to me? Or more specifically, why did you just pull me into the janitor's closet? Have I done something to you?"
He shook his head. "No, of course not. I wanted to talk to you about uh..." He trailed off, biting his bottom lip hesitantly.
"About what?"
He took a deep breath. "You're smart, right?"
Shrugging, I sent him a confused look. "I've got straight A's, if that answers your question. However, it doesn't answer mine. Why are you talking to me? How do you even know who I am?"
It didn't make sense to me at all. Louis was that kind of guy who would rather die than talk to a nerd like me, so how come he was standing right in front of me and actually being nice? Sure, no one could see us, but that was only expected. The fact that he was nice, however, was what really caught me off guard. Louis Tomlinson kind to a nerd? No, I don't think so.
"Harry, we have all our classes together if you didn't already know that. That's how I know who you are. Anyway, I wanted to ask you if you could maybe help me out with something, please?" He said, pouting his lips in an adorable way. He looked like an innocent puppy, and I could tell people had a hard time saying no to that face.
"What do you want my help for? If you're here to ask me if I can do your homework, then the answer is no. I don't do anyone's homework but my own. It doesn't matter who it is, a friend or a popular guy like you. I never accept those kinds of offers," I said firmly, crossing my arms over my chest.
He let out a chuckle, leaning back a little. "You've got an attitude, I like it. But no, I don't want you to do my homework for me. Actually, I would like you to tutor me. I am failing in almost all of my classes and I could really use some help seeing as the teachers don't have time to help all of us. Would you please do that for me?"
Raising my eyebrows in shock, I opened my mouth, but nothing seemed to come out. He wanted my help to tutor him? But why me out of all people? I was sure he had some smart friends who he would rather choose to ask than a loser like myself. There had to be some kind of catch, or maybe it was all simply a dare or something. "If this is a dare, I swear I--"
"No, Harry. No dares or bets, I promise. This is all coming from me. I want to improve in school because my parents have started noticing how low my grades are and they want me to do well and I just can't disappoint them. So please, help me out?" He pleaded, sticking out his bottom lip for more effect.
I rolled my eyes and let out a sigh. "Sure, fine. Is there a catch though? I would like to know that before I agree with anything else. Furthermore, I would like to get some kind of reward for this."
He grimaced as he nodded his head. "Yes, of course. Whatever makes you do it is fine by me. We'll negotiate about the reward after our first meeting. And yeah, there kind of is a catch actually. You can't tell anyone about this because I wouldn't want anyone to know--" He started saying, but I cut him off.
"To know that you're spending time with me, I get it. You also don't want anyone to know that you need help with your schoolwork. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone," I said, giving him a small smile.
He breathed out a sigh of relief. "Really? You would actually do that for me? I mean, we would have to hide from the other kids and probably have to have our meetings in the library or something, after school."
I shrugged. "Nothing I haven't done before. I usually spend time in the library after school, you know?" I chuckled, making him grimace.
"Yeah, forgot you are..." he trailed off, furrowing his eyebrows.
"That I am what?"
"Nothing. I gotta go. See you tomorrow after school?"
I nodded slowly. "Yeah, sure."
"Goodbye, Harry."
"Bye, Louis."
I woke up by the sound of my alarm clock going off, making me let out a loud groan. The dream was still very clear in my mind, and I was aware that it wasn't just a simple dream, but a memory. A memory of the first conversation Louis and I had.
You might think that he actually wasn't that bad back then, and the truth was, he wasn't that bad either. Sure, I didn't like him, but that was because he acted like a whole other person around his friends than it turned out he did when it was only the two of us. Before that meeting, I had never witnessed the nice side of Louis, so what else could I think of him?
Once I had talked to him for the first time, I thought I had got the opportunity to get to know the real him, but after he stopped showing up at our meetings, I started doubting myself. It felt like that Louis was only a stupid act to get me to help him out or something. No matter what, it didn't feel like that side of him was the real him anymore, and now I was almost sure that assumption was correct.
For some reason, though, I couldn't shake the memory of him being so kind to me out of my mind. There was something about the way he had acted back then that made me think that it was actually real, that it wasn't some stupid act he had come up with. Maybe it was because of the way his eyes would crinkle when I used to pull my stupid jokes or the way his high-pitched laughter would make my stomach do somersaults. Either way, it had actually felt real, and no matter how much I wanted to forget about it, I couldn't. It was like an annoying, nagging headache that you couldn't get rid of.
Letting out another groan (this time not from tiredness), I sat up and tried rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. It was only seven in the morning, yet my brain was working at high speed. It was definitely not smart to start the day by thinking about Louis. He was like a puzzle that was impossible to solve, and just the thought of him made my head hurt. The fact that I would have to face him in mere minutes didn't exactly make matters better.
Finally crawling out of bed, I made my way over to my mirror to take a quick look at myself. My curly hair was standing in all directions, looking as though it hadn't been washed in weeks, and my eyes were still half-open after my sleep. Sighing heavily, I decided I would have to take a quick shower before going down to join the rest of the family in the kitchen.
I walked over to the bathroom door and opened it. My gaze was turned to the floor and I had no perception of my surroundings, so when I looked up and saw a bare back in front of me, I almost fell backwards to the floor in shock. "What the fuck?" I gasped, staring at the boy who was standing at the toilet in only his boxers, taking a piss.
Louis turned his head to me, his mouth hanging open due to shock as well, I presumed. "I should be the one saying that. What the hell are you doing here? Are you seriously that desperate to see my flawless body?" He scoffed, flushing the toilet and adjusting his boxers a little.
Rolling my eyes, I leaned against the door frame. "You wish, Tomlinson. Now, would you please get out of here so I can have my well-needed shower?" I urged, putting emphasis on the word 'please'.
"Whatever," he muttered before exiting the bathroom to go into his bedroom.
The first thing I did once I was sure he wouldn't return was to strip out of my pajama pants and t-shirt along with my boxers. I then turned on the water, waiting a little while to get in since the hot water didn't come on right away.
A few minutes later, I finished and got out before hurriedly wrapping a towel around my waist. If Louis decided to come in here again, I didn't want to take any risks by standing here stark naked. Therefore, I also grabbed another towel to dry my hair quickly before returning to my bedroom. At least I felt safer in there since I knew he wouldn't come into my room willingly.
I dropped the towel to the floor and walked over to my closet completely naked. After a short while of contemplating, I decided to put on a pair of black, skinny jeans and a white, plain t-shirt. I wasn't much for dressing up myself (I liked to keep it simple), so I usually wore a pair of jeans and a simple t-shirt to school, or just daily. It wasn't like anybody cared anyway.
Once I was dressed and had run a hand through my wet curls to not make them stand in different directions, I went downstairs to where my family was sitting at the kitchen table. Even Louis had decided to get there on time, unlike yesterday when he had arrived at least five minutes late.
"Good morning, honey," mum greeted when I sat down in the seat next to Gemma.
"Morning," I smiled, avoiding the glare Louis was giving me from across the table. No one else seemed to notice it, which even I was happy about since I didn't want a replay of what happened yesterday. Therefore, I decided not to care about him at all.
Pouring cereal and some milk in my bowl, I picked up my spoon and started chewing on the food. "Harry, could you show Louis where the bus stop is today since he doesn't know that yet?" Mum asked, looking at me expectantly.
I furrowed my eyebrows. "Why can't Gemma do it? She knows where it is too," I muttered, staring at the surface of the table.
"Because I asked you to do it. Besides, a bird told me the two of you have all your classes together, so you even start school at the same time," she said firmly, clearly not pleased with my behavior.
Looking over at Louis, I saw him staring at the milk package before himself, trying his best to stay out of the conversation we were having even though what we were talking about concerned him. Troy, who was sitting beside him, had a proud smile on his face because of this, most likely not wanting a fight to unfold like it did yesterday.
I then flicked my gaze to Gemma whose face showed guilt. I knew she was this 'bird' mum was talking about because I was sure neither of Troy or Louis had told her that. To say I was mad at her would be an understatement. I thought I could trust her with these kinds of things, but no, she had gone to mum and immediately told her stuff about me and Louis. I just hoped she hadn't told her anything else.
"Fine," I muttered under my breath. "I'll show him the damn bus stop if it's so fucking necessary."
Mum slammed her fist in the kitchen table, startling all of us except for me. "Harry Edward Styles, I do not accept you using that tone on me, let alone your swearing. If you don't start behaving right now, I'll suggest you go up to your room and stay there until you have to leave for school. Is that understood?" She snapped, making me flinch.
I nodded my head slowly, not making eye contact with her.
"Good."
From the other side of the table, I could hear Louis sniggering quietly, and I swear, I had never wanted to hit him as much as I wanted right then. Anger boiled up inside me, and I had to clench my hands around the side of the table to restrain myself from lunging at him. "Shut. Up," I seethed, staring at him.
He looked up at me and noticed that I was fuming, which of course only made him laugh even harder. Troy shot him a warning look, which eventually caused his laughter to slowly die down. "If the two of you are going to continue acting like this towards each other, I'm going to make you sit down and talk whatever your issue is out. And if that doesn't work, I will get both of you a job or something so you have no other choice but communicate with each other," Troy hissed, flicking his gaze between me and Louis.
Mum nodded in agreement, crossing her arms over her chest. Neither of Louis and I responded to Troy's threat, but I was sure the both of us got the point. Though, I knew it would be hard to follow his orders because Louis and I couldn't act otherwise towards each other, but I guess we just had to tone it down a little bit.
Once all of us were finished eating breakfast, we separated from each other. I went up to my room, followed by a silent Louis while Gemma went into her own bedroom and the adults to work. I was quite aware of his closeness, but I didn't say anything about it. Instead, I wordlessly made my way into the room and sat down on my bed, running my hands over my face.
Not even two minutes later, I could hear a knock on the door. At first, I thought it was Louis who was here to say something bitchy to me, so when the door opened and Gemma's head was revealed, I let out a sigh of relief. "Can I exchange a word with you before you leave?" She asked sheepishly, entering my room before I had even replied to her question.
She sat down beside me on the bed, giving me a guilty smile. "I'm sorry I told mum that you and Louis share all your classes. I mean, maybe it wasn't something huge, but I told her something I'm sure you didn't appreciate, and I apologize for that. It's just... I want the two of you to get along as much as mum and Troy do. It's hard to witness your hate for each other when I know you could be the best of friends if it weren't for your 'issue'." She ran a hand through her hair in slight frustration. "I mean, you even were kind of best friends once."
Furrowing my eyebrows, I shook my head. "I'm not happy about what you did, but I guess they were bound to find out about it eventually anyway. As long as you promise not to tell her or Troy something else, I'll let it slip. But, you can't just tell them things just because you want them to help me and Louis get along, it doesn't work that way. Neither mum nor Troy can fix mine and Louis' relationship," I told her, leaning back against the headboard with my arms crossed over my chest.
She sighed as she nodded her head. "I know, but I feel as though you need something or someone to push you to get on the right track. That's why I told mum about you two sharing classes, so she could tell you to show Louis the bus stop... I'm sorry," she added when she saw my angry expression.
"Honestly, I can't believe you actually wanted to put me in that situation. Do you know how fucking awkward it's going to be, walking with him for at least ten minutes? And if it won't be awkward, it will surely be unpleasant, and you know it. A single walk is not going to fix our stupid relationship, Gemma."
She pulled at her lip with her thumb and index finger, a crease evident between her eyebrows. "Well, maybe it wasn't the greatest idea I've come up with, but it was at least something. We all really want the two of you to get along, so when I told mum and Troy about the idea, they instantly agreed. Troy was the one who came up with the work thing, though," she muttered, glancing at me from the corner of her eye.
"I don't care about who came up with what, okay? I know mum and Troy are on your side, but it's not going to change anything. Louis and I still won't get along, alright?" I tried to convince her, raising my hands for more effect.
Letting out another sigh, she nodded her head in defeat. "Alright. I'm sorry for caring, Harry. I just want what I think would be the best for you," she mumbled.
"I know," I said, giving her a sad smile. "But I don't think Louis and I going back to being friends would be the best for me."
"And why not?"
"Because we're too different. We don't belong in the same surroundings. I'm sure this was bound to happen to our friendship sometime."
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Alright, I'm sorry for cutting it off there. The walk will be in the next chapter, so be prepared.... or well, that depends on how you look at it. However, thank you for reading! :)
Edited by: Lacy
Pauline .xx