Harry strolled into class the following Monday in light washed skinny jeans and teal sweater with a pair of black combat boots. He always showed up early to say hi to Louis. Although, this time was different, since they could only be friends and nothing more.
"Hey," Harry said with a smile. Louis smiled at the younger boy after looking up from the papers that he was grading.
"Hi Harry," Harry looked at Louis' outfit, pleased with the lilac tie he went with today. It Harry knew that just being Louis' student or friend was going to be difficult. Because when Louis looked like this, Harry found it impossible to not kiss him right then and there.
"You look nice today," Harry said with a smile. "I like the tie,"
"You look quite nice today, too," Louis kept reminding himself to 'look and not touch'. "You know, you don't have to wait for me. I mean, if you want to you can, but in the mean time, you should date other people. You know, in the school that are your age," Harry snorted, tucking a strand of his longish hair behind his ear.
"You just watched me break up with my boyfriend to be with you. Plus, all of the other guys who go here are mainly straight and are assholes,"
"Yeah, I guess you're right, but I'm just saying. I just don't want you to feel like you have to wait for me. You're free to do what you want while the end of the school year nears," Harry gave a gentle, sweet kiss to Louis' cheek, smiling sweetly at him before going to sit down right before kids started filing into the room, taking their seats. Harry of course loved talking to Louis and vise versa, so Harry took out his phone and texted the man.
To Louis: Hi, friend
Harry and Louis made eye contact after Louis received the message, a smile on both of their faces. No one noticed their interaction, so that was good because no one would question why they were smiling and looking back and forth from their phones and back to each other.
To Harry: Hi, friend :)
To Louis: We should go hang out this weekend. You know, as friends
When Harry looked at Louis, Louis looked back and sighed, shaking his head. Harry's face fell a little bit. Louis went back to his phone,
To Harry: I'd love to, Harry. But, even that's not allowed. Imagine if we got caught? I know we said we'd have to stay friends, but in reality, we're supposed to just have a student/teacher relationship. That's it. I hate it too, trust me. I want to be more with you, but we can't. I can't risk my job and life
To Louis: I know, it just sucks
To Harry: Yeah, it does, but we'll get through it! I have hope
To Louis: Me too :)
The bell to leave homeroom and to go to first period rang, and Harry waited until everyone was out before going up to Louis.
"I'll see you later... friend," He said with a genuine smile before walking out and heading to his first class of the day.
Lunch came around agonizingly slow. All Harry wanted to do was go eat with Louis, so once lunch did finally arrive, he got his food and made his way towards Louis' room where he was focusing on what looked like a really important conversation with the rest of the English department. Feeling disappointed, Harry weakly smiled and turned around, heading back to eat alone in the cafeteria. He hasn't eaten by himself in a while since he always went to Louis' room.
Harry felt somebody standing behind him, so he sucked in a deep breath knowing who it was. A huge frown was plastered on his face when his suspicions were proven as Jacob grabbed his apple, taking a huge bite out of it, and keeping it from Harry. Jason was there too with their other friends. He just stood there watching while the others teased him and made him feel worthless, as usual.
"Can you leave me alone?" He asked calmly, earning a laugh from Jacob and his buddies, but Jason still just stood there not doing anything to stop the chaos from counting.
"Ya kidding me? This is a once in a life time chance. You always eat lunch with that Mr. Tomlinson because the only friend you've made is him, and today you've decided to eat in here," Harry pulled on the little fuzzies on his sweater to keep him from having to look at his bullies in the face.
"Please, I'm just trying to eat my lunch," Harry said, letting out a nervous breath. He turned to his usual, shy, nervous self in a matter of seconds. When Harry was around Louis, he never feared that he would embarrass himself. He felt comfortable around Louis the second he met him, and that usually never happens with Harry. Since he was a little kids, he's been really shy and never talked too much. It was just his personality.
"Guys, don't you think this is getting old? I mean, C'mon. Leave the kid alone," Jason shockingly said, making Harry's eyes widen a tiny bit, but because he refused to look up, no one saw. However, he did actually end up glancing up at his ex, seeing Jacob and all his friends glaring at him.
"Why? He's a faggot. You don't find it fun?" Jason shrugged.
"I mean, it's just getting old," Harry felt a wave of emotion wash over him as he watched what was going on. Jacob just rolled his eyes.
"Fine," Jacob walked away with his friends, Jason lagging. He turned to Harry, who gave him a small smile. Jason smiled back.
'thank you,' harry mouthed, tears in his eyes. Why couldn't he do this while they were together? Jason just nodded.
'you're welcome,' he mouthed before walking away with his friends. Harry turned back to his lunch, happy now that Jason stood up for him. No one ever stood up for him. Louis did, but kids his own age never did. Before the bell rang, Harry noticed Jason leaving with his group of guys, but as soon as he went to stand up, Jacob showed up by himself. He brought his lips down to Harry's ear.
"Meet me in the locker room after school today, yeah? You'll regret it if you don't come," Harry gulped, fear in his eyes,
"O-Okay," What he's learned from being bullied is to just do as he's told. Nothing as bad happens when you do what you're told rather than suffer harsher punishments for not listening. Jacob ran his hand over Harry's crotch, making Harry flinch.
"Fag," Jacob said laughing before walking out of the cafeteria. Harry's mood shifted right away from relieved to fear once again. Should he go? Or should he tell Louis? No, he couldn't tell Louis because then Louis would go blabber to the principle, and then Jacob would get in trouble, and that would result in Harry getting more backlash.
When the last period of the day rolled around, Harry was first to show up in Louis' class as usual, sitting in the front seat. He didn't looked Louis in the face, pretending he was busy looking at something on his phone.
"Hey, friend," Louis said, a smile on his face. Harry glanced at him, smiled, and waved his hand, looking back down at his phone. Louis frowned, not saying anything because people started to file into class. Instead, he texted him.
To Harry: Is everything okay?
Harry glanced at him after receiving the text message, nodding, still not saying anything. Louis began to teach the class, telling them they had to start an essay related to an article and how pathos, ethos, and logos are used in the article. They have to make a claim on the position and write based on the appeals to emotion. He gave the students the handouts of the article. As he approached Harry, he noticed him quivering a tiny bit. Louis brushed his arm against Harry's to get his attention. Harry jumped and looked up at the man. He had tears in his eyes, but quickly blinked them away, trying to assure Louis that everything was fine. Louis obviously didn't believe him, but ended up just going back to sit down at his desk in the front corner of the classroom. He announced that the kids could start their papers now and that it was basically a free period to do whatever because he was too worried about Harry to teach anything or go over the paper. Usually, Harry would be writing away and focusing long and hard on the paper, but he was on his phone instead. Louis cleared his throat, getting Harry's, and a few other students', attention.
"Are you working on your paper?" He asked Harry. Harry said nothing and set his phone aside, starting his work. Harry worked long and hard on his paper, eventually losing track of time. He actually managed to finish 2/3 of his rough draft, standing up ten minutes before class ended, bringing the paper to Louis.
"Can you read what I have so far?" He asked. Louis took the paper and a pen.
"Yeah, of course," Harry pulled a chair over and sat down for the conference about his paper. Louis always did this. He always had mini conferences with his students about their essays so they could fix anything they needed to fix.
Harry was acting so strange. He was acting like just any other student, which was odd considering Harry and Louis' relationship and where it was. This was unlike Harry, which was why Louis was so concerned, but he kept this conference professional and read Harry's paper, giving him feedback on what he can change or add to his paper to make it better. Before Harry went to sit down, Louis told him to wait a second.
"Can you stay after class? I want to talk more about this paper," He said, though Harry knew it wasn't about the paper.
"I can't, I have to head out immediately; I've got a doctor's appointment," He lied, and Louis knew it too, but he didn't bring any attention to it. Harry went back to his seat and started to pack up his things as there was only about three minutes left in class. As soon as the bell rang, he sped out of the room before anyone else could, heading straight to his normal locker to get his homework and all, and then waited in the bathroom for literally an hour because by then, everyone who did sports was no longer in the locker room getting changed, they were all outside or in the gym, practicing, so by then, it would just be him, Jacob, and whoever in the room. When he got there, it was empty, so it just sat on a bench and waited. He was scared, but he's been through this stuff before, so he was used to it by now.
A/N: Wowza. It's been a long time. Sorry about that. There has just been so much happening in my life at the moment with college, working, studying, and all that. I'm happy I finally got around to updating this fanfic because I love writing it! I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and I hope to update soon and not 100 years later! Let me know what you think of the chapter in the comments, and don't forget to vote! Love you guys!!