Here is the beginning to this story. I hope you enjoy this. It definitely is a journey and a very angsty book, but it does have a happy ending. Check it out on AO3.
Enjoy. xxx
//
Summer only lasting just shy of 3 months was something Harry had envied, only because he got so used to the late summer nights. However, he had nothing against going to school. In all honesty, he loved going, but not for having to wake up at seven every morning consistently. Instead, he preferred seeing his friends.
Anne used to call him a "social butterfly " because of this love he had for making friends and meeting new people. He used to find the word odd, especially whenever she would say it around his friends, but the matter was that the term did apply to him. Harry was very social. He loved to meet new people and share his kindness with everyone around him.
But, with the end of this current summer approaching, Harry for once was dreading the following school term. His next year was going to be totally different from his past three years, and he was about to go through one of the most significant changes he wasn't prepared for. Like transferring schools. And not only did transferring schools suck, but it was the worst-case scenario of him transferring to a rival school.
Harry currently went to West Point, one of the highly ranked and most prestigious schools in West Manchester. He was top of his class at this school, maintaining high grades throughout his years. He had a reputation that he was proud of at West Point, a name he'd built for himself. Harry was the smart, curly-headed boy whose kindness was what brought him up the social ladder.
But sometimes, life threw curveballs.
It all happened because Anne had met Robin about three years ago. There was a neighbor down the road whose brother was Robin, and they ended up meeting at a backyard barbecue party. The two of them quickly fell in love, and then one thing led to another. Anne and Robin had gotten married right at the start of the summer, which meant households would be blending together. Harry would never seek his mother's happiness as an inconvenience, but the problem with everything was that Robin lived forty minutes north of their home. It wasn't like they could live in separate houses forever. Harry knew the move was inevitable, but it was unfortunate that it happened to be farther away from the school he was at now.
Harry was not only moving from his school, where he built his life and his name, but he was moving from his friends. And the hardest thing to accept was that he had to move from his boyfriend - Reid. Harry had tried countless times to beg his mother to let him finish his final year at West Point, but nothing was convincing enough for her. It was reckless, and Harry was only seventeen.
But, moving schools wasn't exactly what was causing his frustration. It was the fact that he had to move to his rival school of all places. And like any typical school, they had a rival sport. Theirs so happened to be football, which was the sport that all of Harry's friends played.
West Point and North Bridge were the most prominent football rivals all across the Manchester's schools. So with Harry's luck, North Bridge would be the place that he had to transfer to. And of course, everyone at North Bridge pretty much knew him. Only really because of his relationship with West Point's football team - those were his friends. So he had a name at his own rival school, ironically.
The rivalry between the schools ran deep, though. North Bridge had beaten West Point in the final championship cup consistently every year up until the past season. It took five years, but at the championship game last year, West Point had broken North Bridge's streak and won. So the tension between both football programs was more than substantial, and the argument over which team was the best still continued to this day.
But life was all about adjustment and change, so Harry could only feed positive thoughts as he prepared for the move. He could either let this move make him pity himself, or he could thrive from the chaos that was about to be brought upon him. He still didn't know which one he was aiming for, but he would at least attempt to make his last year of school somewhat memorable.
It was the end of summer vacation. Anne and Robin had already cleared out their old house and moved everything into his. Harry decided to stay behind to finish his summer days with hanging out with his friends and his boyfriend. So on Harry's last summer night, before making the forty-minute drive up North, he met up with his group of friends.
They all got together at Reid's house. The group sat around a fire pit to drink and smoke, laughing into the summer night and enjoying their last few days of freedom before school took over. But on this summer night, Harry used it as a way to reflect back on his life at West Point. Mainly reflecting on his relationship with Reid now that there was going to be distance between them.
Harry thought Reid was once the epitome of a perfect boyfriend. He could remember exactly the day he first caught sight of him in the hallway. The first week of his second year at West Point, he noticed Reid gazing down at him from the other end of the hallway. His golden, brown eyes got Harry, especially since those eyes were looking at him in a way no one had ever before.Reid was everyone's dream boy. It was no hidden secret that half the school wanted him. It's what came with being the football team's captain and one of the most popular boys in school.
Reid was beautiful, or Harry used to think he was the most attractive before they ever really started to date. Reid's structure was decent enough, thanks to football. Still, sometimes Harry felt like he over-romanticized him before getting to know him. Because, well, Reid had relatively lovely biceps. Thick thighs from all the running he did in football. Firm ass, not the biggest one Harry had seen, but it would do. He was kind of pale. Harry would prefer someone with a little more color, but Reid's skin went with his shaggy blonde hair, so he had grown somewhat fond of it all.
Anyways, at the end of the summer, Reid would typically invite both his and Harry's friends to their get-together. Their friends consisted of a few football members and about half of the cheerleaders at West Point. Will, Brad, Alex, and Roy were the first-string starters alongside Reid, so he always hung around them the most. The cheerleaders, however, were more of Harry's crowd; Nadine, Cara, Kendall, and Gigi. As cliche as it sounded, it went with the jock and cheerleader stereotype. Harry had fallen under the cheerleader tag the most since he always stood in the stands.
But, Harry liked their group of friends and how well they mingled together. Their group combined was considered the popular ones at school. He never really cared for that term, but he knew they were. They always had a good time together, especially when it came to the annual fire pit at the end of summer.
The group decided to drink beer around the fire and cook up some smores as their final hoorah. Will and Brad were busying themselves by kicking a football around off to the side. Harry was snuggled up against Reid with his arm slung over him. He hummed softly at the comfort and rested his head on his boyfriend's shoulder, smiling as he watched Reid bug Kendall and Alex over their incisive flirting.
Cara and Gigi were sitting on the other side of Kendall and Alex. The two of them giggled every time the other two would get flustered with one another. Soon enough, Cara and Gigi joined in on the teasing, making the conversation even more awkward by bringing in sexual remarks that made Kendall shy away.
Roy and Nadine had gotten up shortly when the bucket of beer was running low. Harry's eyes followed their movement as the two of them got up. In that moment, he realize he was really enjoying his time with his friends. He let out a sigh as he looked back over to Kendall and Alex, biting his smile back when Cara ended up pushing Alex off his chair.
"Hey," Reid nudged Harry, grabbing his attention. "What's on your mind?"
Harry bit his lip as Reid pulled him closer to his body. He shifted his head to where his chin was resting on his boyfriend's shoulder. "Just happy," He sighed, so content.
The conversation was stopped when Roy and Nadine had returned, each with a whole bucket of beer. They sat back down on the other side of Reid and began passing around some bottles. That caused Will and Brad to stop messing around with the football and join in on sitting around the fire pit.
"So Haz, you ready for the new school?" Cara asked after she popped open her beer, finally leaving Alex and Kendall alone. Harry blinked over at her and gave her a snarky smile, causing her to let out a little laugh. He loved her the most.
"That school sucks," Gigi piped up, rolling her eyes bitterly as she took a long sip of her beer. "Their cheerleaders are peppy as shit. Miss Calder is the bitchest of them all."
"Please, don't remind me that I have to go there," Harry laughed. He picked up a marshmallow from the bag on the floor and tossed it over at Cara, smiling when she flicked it off her thigh. "Of all the fucking schools in Manchester, I have to go to North Bridge."
"Well," Will then spoke up. He reached over to ruffle Harry's hair before he grabbed another bottle for himself. "Don't let those pompous wankers change you, Harry. They think they're the shit, and I can guarantee you, they're not."
"I know," Harry grumbled under his breath, rolling his eyes again as he felt Reid squeeze his shoulder. He sighed in response and crossed his arms over his chest, resting them on top of his knees. "It's just such a big change for me. Leaving you guys. Going to a school that I've hated for so long. S' weird."
"Well, don't forget about us, you twat," Cara shot back, raising her glass in the air until Harry did so as well. They pointed their bottles in the same direction before the two of them took a sip. Harry giggled in to his drink when she winked.
"Enough of this boring crap," Nadine snapped. Harry looked over her way and grumbled underneath his breath. Out of all the cheerleaders, Nadine was probably his least favorite. Given that she was snobby and a brat, sometimes caused quite the drama in their mixture of friends, she and Harry were never the closest in the group.
"I've got something to lift the mood," she then smiled, pulling out a baggy from her pocket.
"We don't get drug tested until the season," Roy bit his lip, snatching the bag from Nadine's hand and pulling out some joints. They soon started passing them around the circle, each taking a drag when it was in their posession. Harry's eyes followed each of them with a long sigh, watching as the end of the joint lit up before smoke was being blown between different pairs of lips.
Harry may love to hang with his group of friends and party with them, but something he didn't like was the drugs. As much as he tried to ignore the fact that he had pot-smoking and snorting friends, he seemed to never avoid catching them in the act. It was one of the things that bothered him the most, especially when Reid was the one condoning it most of the time.
When the blunt made its way towards Reid, Harry immediately reached over to grab it. He pushed Nadine's hand away when she offered and frowned at the annoyed expression on Reid's face. Harry already knew an argument was in the brewing the minute he prevented him from smoking. It's happened countless times. Harry hated the way Reid acted whenever he was on drugs. Most of the time, he was reckless, especially towards him.
"I don't like it when you smoke," Harry stated the obvious, trying to keep quiet, but Nadine heard him and rolled her eyes. She passed the blunt on to the following recipient while Harry focused on Reid, noticing his eyes hardening.
"Harry, it's weed," Reid argued, "Chill out."
Nadine took another hit and tried to give Reid the blunt back whenever he reached for it again. Harry grunted before pushing her hand away. "No. He doesn't need it," He argued, looking between Nadine and Reid until she finally got the point and backed off.
"Aw, come on," Will whined from across where Harry and Reid sat. "Haz, It's your last night here," he justified, already lighting up the next blunt Nadine had in the baggy.
"Yeah, Haz," was soon following around the circle, besides from Cara, causing Harry's face to heat up. He looked at each one of them and realized no one was on his side. He was alone in this battle. He then looked over at Cara to get some sort of support from her, but even she shrugged her shoulders and looked away. Harry huffed.
"You can't keep telling me what to do," Reid added, raising his eyebrows when Harry frowned at him.
Ouch, Harry thought, feeling a jab go straight to his chest. Did Reid really need to have this argument in front of all their friends? What a typical way for him to ruin the night. He always got in some sort of argument with Harry, and then would make the group go awkwardly silent. The worst was that most of the time, the fight was about drugs.
" Uh oh," Gigi teased , chewing on her bottom lip, "Looks like there are problems with the power couple," she giggled under her breath as she turned towards Brad, seeking a reaction out of him.
The power couple , Harry thought with a bitter scoff, replaying that word over and over again in his head. That was something everyone at their school called Harry and Reid, assuming they had such a strong and powerful relationship. It was such a dumb word that he never cared for either, but he constantly heard it.
Sometimes the power couple wasn't always happy and loving. Actually, it hadn't been that way since about six months into their relationship, if Harry could remember correctly. They go through problems that a normal couple would go through, or Harry tried to convince himself that what they were was normal. They sometimes fight more than they actually love, and then they put on the perfect couple persona for school. Almost 2 years together, and it seemed like nothing really got better.
"How about this?" Reid interrupted Harry's thoughts, giving him a bitter smirk before he reached over to snatch the blunt from Brad's hand. Harry widened his eyes horrifically as he held the blunt in between his fingers, then he turned to shove the head of it straight between Harry's lips.
"Wha-" he whined but having stopped when his mouth was intruded with the smoke.
"Just take a hit. Stop bitching.," Reid snapped.
Reid held the blunt up against Harry's mouth until he finally breathed in the smoke. He coughed the instant the it went through his windpipe and infected his lungs. He pulled back immediately and tried to blow some air out before Reid pushed the blunt back in between Harry's lips again.
"Damn," Blake laughed, trying to hide it behind a cough as he took a sip of his beer, "No goodbye sex tonight, then."
"Bullshit," Reid smirked. He pulled the blunt back from Harry's lips and handed it over. He then gripped the back of the boy's neck and pulled him forward harshly. "I'm definitely getting that goodbye," he mumbled against Harry's lips, pressing them together and breathing in the smoke as they kissed.
Everyone ended up staying in Reid's backyard for a couple more hours. They finished out the fridge of beer and ate all the smores they could. New rounds of smoke were being passed around until the bag was completely empty of drugs. At least Reid didn't try to start any more arguments by doing any. He stopped at the blunt he shoved in Harry's mouth and left it at that. Instead, he drank more beer than the others, so he could at least be drunk instead of high.
The minute the last person had finally left, Harry shifted his body to straddle Reid's lap. Reid bit back a smile right away as his hands ran down Harry's back until he had a good grip on his ass. He then yanked him forward with his grip, making sure they were pressed entirely together.
"M' gonna miss you," Harry pouted, cupping the side of Reid's face carefully. He leaned down and kissed him, savoring the way he could taste every drop of alcohol on the tip of Reid's tongue.
"Stay away from the football players, okay?" Reid warned after he pulled back from the kiss. He moved his hands from Harry's ass and wrapped them around his waist, hands sneaking underneath his shirt to press against his skin.
"Why?" Harry questioned, not entirely understanding.
He knew Reid wasn't the best of friends with North Bridge's football team, but maybe there was more to the rivalry than Harry had suspected.
"Because they are assholes. Fucking dicks who can't keep their mouth shut," he bellowed out, lowering his voice and mumbling, "Fucking Tomlinson. Stupid prick."
"Don't worry. M' with you," Harry reminded, smiling as he rolled his hips in Reid's lap to get the attention back on him. "You know I am going to hate it there. My heart belongs here."
Reid twisted his lips to the side and shrugged his shoulders. Harry giggled and leaned down again to press their lips together again, humming softly.
"Besides," Harry then pulled back with a laugh, "What's the worse that can happen? It's just North Bridge."
//
My first part. I hope you all enjoyed it, I see good things for this book. (:
Please leave comments and votes, I would love to see some suggestions or hear opinions!
I promise it'll get better. (: