Eighteen year old, high school heartthrob, Louis FREAKIN' Tomlinson
Harry was walking the halls, head down, books tightly in his arms as close to his chest as they possibly could be. Anyone looking at him may think he held them there because of their importance, however, Harry knew the real reason he held them over his chest. It was a barrier, a layer of protection. That way if someone pushed him it would be less lightly to leave a mark.
Yes, okay… it still hurt like a bitch, I mean, if anything the heavy textbooks made it hurt more but at least he didn’t have to explain any bruises to his parents or anyone else.
“Hazza!” Yelled a boy running down the corridor after him, “Where ya going Hazza?”
Harry ignored him and kept walking. Keeping his eyes trailing on the floor. Not looking at who was following him.
“Hazza!” He called again, “Hey, didn’t daddy teach you it’s rude to ignore people?”
Harry kept walking. Causing the boy to lose his patience.
“Oi! Fag!” He yelled, pushing Harry so his back slammed into the lockers. “Look at me when I’m talking to you!”
Harry tried to keep hold of his books but one by one they slipped from his grasp and tumbled to the floor.
“I know your secret Styles. Don’t think I won’t tell people.” Taunted the boy.
“W… What secret?” Asked Harry, trying to keep his voice stable but it failed miserably as the words came out as more of a whimper.
“What secret!?” Laughed the boy incredulously before leaning closer to Harry and whispering into his ear.
Harry felt intense panic rise up in his chest as the boy informed Harry of his secrets.
The boy pulled back, not before lightly licking Harry’s ear, causing the younger boy to shudder visibly.
“So don’t test me alright, Styles.” The boy said, giving Harry a hard knee in the gut making him double over in pain and slide to the floor, before walking away laughing.
The bell for fourth period rang but Harry couldn’t bring himself to move. He knew… how could he know… no one knew…
Harry was sitting there as the halls emptied out, no one stopping to see if he was okay, everyone rushing to their lessons. He was there for god knows how long when he realised if he didn’t move soon the teacher on hall duty would give him a detention slip and send him to class. He knew he had to go but he didn’t want to go to class. He couldn’t sit in a room with him for an hour. He needed to find somewhere to hide.
He slowly pushed himself to standing. Walking on shaky legs, not even bothering to gather his books. He just didn’t care about them anymore. He just needed to hide. He could always get new books. His secret was already out, he didn’t need his protection anymore, there was no point.
He slowly made his way through the halls trying to keep in his sobs and avoid drawing any attention to himself. He slowly made his way to the library on the second floor of the building, luckily avoiding any pupils or teachers. He slid through the door and nodded at the librarian with a small smile.
The librarian knew Harry well. She knew he should be in class but she also knew that if Harry was cutting class then something was wrong and he needed his space so she always let him get away with it.
He made his way across the library and around the corner to the classic literature section. He made his way to the shelves labeled W-Z and slipped through a small gap in between two shelves.
Very few people knew about this corner in the library and so it was Harry’s favourite place to hide out and think. Plus, it helped that he loved classic literature and so he could never get bored there.
He let himself sink down against the wall so he was sitting on the floor. He pulled his knees up to his chest and let out a shaky breath, finally allowing his tears to silently fall.
He was lost in his emotions. Finally letting out his broken sobs and hiccups. He took in yet another shaky breath, running his hands through his hair. Briefly looking up, then…
Harry didn’t know what to do. There he was. Louis Tomlinson.
Eighteen year old, high school heartthrob, Louis Tomlinson, asleep in the library.
He didn’t move, he couldn’t move, he didn’t know what to do. Louis had moved in his sleep, he was partly blocking the gap. He couldn’t get out without waking him.
Shit… shit… shit… Harry thought to himself. His breathing picked up. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t leave. He couldn’t breathe.
He tried to take in a breath but it ended up coming out as a strained whimper.
He saw Louis move slightly. He was waking up…
Harry felt like he was going to be sick. He didn’t know what to do but he did know that he was getting dizzier and dizzier by the second.
“Hey… hey… look at me?” Called a voice but Harry couldn’t see. He was too dizzy.
“Hey, you’re okay, just look at me.”
Harry felt his eyes slip closed.
“No, you need to stay awake. Hey, look at me.”
Harry tried to open his eyes, he tried to find the source of the voice but he couldn’t. He couldn’t breathe. After struggling he finally got his eyes to open but everything was blurry.
“Okay, good.” Said the voice, “Now, take deep breaths, you’ll be okay.”
Harry struggled to suck in a breath but he tried, he really did. However, his body had other ideas. As he took a breath he choked on air and began to gag.
“Woah, you’re okay…” Soothed the voice.
Harry felt a hand on his back rubbing soothing circles on his back as he retched and gagged. He felt the burn on stomach acid making its way up his throat until it landed in a foul smelling puddle in front of him on the carpeted floor.
“It’s okay, you’re okay.” Once he’d stopped retching he felt something brought up to his lips. He went to push it away when he heard the voice again.
“No, let me… take a sip,” instructed the voice, “It will help.”
Harry was too tired not to comply and so he did as the voice told him.
The voice was right. The cooling liquid that entered his mouth soothed the burn in his throat and took away the vile taste of stomach acid.
“That’s better.” The voice smiled.
Finally, Harry had calmed down enough for his breathing to even out and his vision to no longer be blurry. Harry turned to look at the person next to him and was shocked when his sight landed on the blue eyes of Louis Tomlinson, senior heartthrob.
“Hi,” Said Louis gently,
“H… Hi…” Stuttered Harry in return.
Louis’ face morphed into a bright dazzling smile.
“Are you okay?” He asked,
“Yeah.” Replied Harry quietly.
“What happened?” Louis asked, gently tucking some of Harry’s hair behind his ear.
“Nothing… I just. Nothing.” Replied Harry, shying away from Louis’ touch.
“You sure?” Louis tried and Harry just nodded, “Okay, well. Fourth is over in ten and then it’s lunch, you got any plans or any important lessons that you absolutely cannot miss this afternoon?” Asked Louis,
“I… no…” Harry thought for a second but then he realized he really didn’t want to face any one this afternoon. He just wanted to go home and sleep.
“Good. Let’s get out of here.” Louis stood up holding a hand out to Harry to try and help him up.
“Where are we going?” He asked as he allowed Louis to help him up.
“To my car,” Smiled Louis, “And we’re just going to drive and have a good time.”
Harry smiled and allowed Louis to drag him out of the library and down to the car.
Of course what the boys had said about his secret being out shook Harry to his core, however, right now he couldn’t find it in himself to care because he was hanging out with Louis Tomlinson, eighteen year old, high school heartthrob, Louis FREAKIN’ Tomlinson.
His textbook protection, long forgotten.