Chapter Thirty One

Harry Styles stood leaning against the doorframe of the art closet with a dorky smile on his face. His dimples were popped out, either side of the lopsided smile that was set in an upward curved line, as his emeralds watched his raven-haired boyfriend walk off into the sixth form and to his next lesson, his sketchbooks held into his arms tightly. He couldn’t help but give a little chuckle as he watched the boy disappear, before he scooped up his school bag and threw it over his shoulder, although his green eyes glanced down and saw the half folded letter that Zayn had written for him on the floor.

Almost immediately he bent down and scooped it up, not wanting to leave it laying around in case someone were to find it. He couldn’t help but unfold it once again and look over the beautifully scripted words, when he was reminded of something. He looked over how Liam’s name was written, and was suddenly reminded that his so-called best friend had had some sort of conversation with Zayn, convincing the boy that Harry wanted nothing to do with him. It was all false accusations, but it drove Harry made with anger. His fists clenched around the letter, the sound of the paper crumpling and creasing the only noise loud enough to hear by the small closet.

His feet set off before he could command them too. He couldn’t believe that his best friend would be so jaded and bitchy, Liam Payne was practically a teenage girl, and Harry wondered how an earth the boy must live with himself on days like this. Had Liam only ever spoken to Zayn once? His mind started to wonder how many times the two brown eyed boys had talked, and Harry grit his teeth as he hoped that it would have only been the once. And it will be the once, he told himself firmly, as he swore he would never let Liam Payne near his boyfriend ever again.

A small smile tried to tug at his lips as the thought of Zayn being his boyfriend echoed around in his head, but the curly haired lad was so mad that he captured the feeling of saying that in his head and locked it away deep in his mind, promising himself to return to it at a later time and fully rejoice over that beautiful word. A beautiful word, for a beautiful boy…his beautiful boy to be exact. Again, he locked it away as he started to storm round the sixth form, searching for Liam. Emerald eyes scanned every nook and cranny, before arriving in the common room, where he finally spotted the boy sat on his own on the sofas, tapping away on his phone.

Harry quickly stormed over and practically dived onto the opposite sofa seat, scowling at Liam as he looked up to see who was now sat opposite him.

“You look pissed,” Liam started but Harry quickly cut him off at the tongue.

“Don’t you dare!” Harry warned, his voice low and cold as he stared down into his best friend’s dark brown eyes, which were now sparkling with confusion. Liam’s brow was furrowed slightly, his lips twitched as if he tried to talk again but then stopped, as if knowing that Harry would cut him off anyway.

“What in God’s name gives you the right to go round telling Zayn that I’m only friends with him because I want to take his fucking virginity?!” Harry snapped, trying his hardest to keep his voice as low as possible, since he didn’t want the rest of the students in the common room to hear the commotion. Harry wasn’t normally one for confrontation, but when Zayn Malik was brought into it he’d go in with guns blazing if he had too.

Harry watched as Liam’s face slowly formed into a sly smile.

“Harry, you’ve got this wrong,” Liam started, but his words were once again cut off by the sound of Harry slamming the letter onto the small table that was placed inbetween the sofas. Liam looked down at the piece of paper and tentatively reached out for it, and when Harry slowly slipped his hand away Liam took that as the curly haired lad giving him permission to read it.

Liam took the letter into his hands and read over it, his dark brown eyes reading across the words that Malik had written. He wasn’t surprised that the boy had beautiful hand writing, most art students tended to have handwriting that looked like art itself. He read over the words, and even had to hide a smirk, as he sunk the top row of his teeth into his bottom lip.

“He doesn’t even know what his virginity is!” Liam giggled loudly. Harry’s hand swooped in, like a hawk catching it’s prey in a field, and snatched the letter from Liam’s hands in one smooth movement, not caring that the paper was already creased and rough looking enough.

“Shut the fuck up and stop being such a whiny bitch for two minutes so you can explain to me why the hell he wrote this for me.” Harry snapped. His emerald eyes bore into Liam’s face in a cold, demanding way, and his rocky sounding words only back up how he really felt. Liam’s eyes went wide for a moment in the same way that Louis’ would if a teacher snapped at him, and Harry had to keep his fists clenched and in front of him so as they would not swoop forward and smash into the sassy boy’s face.

“I was just doing what’s best for you, he’s weird,” Liam started but Harry quickly cut him off again.

“You’ve only ever talked to him once in your life, Liam. You don’t know him, you really don’t so don’t you dare judge him because he gets enough of that both here and at his home!” Harry snapped, his fists shaking a little. The more he was around Liam, his stupid words and the way his eyes would stare sassily around the room, the more the boy was starting to make his blood boil inside of his veins. He’d never had such a bad temptation to hit someone like he did at this moment.

Liam looked up at him deeply, a slight frown on his face, as the true envious boy inside of him started to creep out from it’s hole deep inside the boy’s being.

“I knew more about him after one look, let alone a few secretly sordid meetings in an unused art closet.” Liam’s words seemed to roll from his tongue in a slow, smooth way, a smirk rising on his lips after the words left, like he was proud of his work, proud of his voice. Harry’s fists clenched once again, a hasty breath exiting his mouth.

“You’d never give the boy the time of day if none of this had happened,” Harry started, but it seemed that it was now Liam’s turn to cut in.

“And what is happening, Harry? What is really going on here? Is this a little crush or do you really just fancy taking the mute kid’s precious little virginity-which he seems to want to hand you on a silver platter?” Liam spoke, leaning back in his chair and looking at Harry through cocky eyes. Harry simply scowled at him. He wouldn’t dignify that with an answer, why should he? He wasn’t going to give away anything for Liam’s use, especially not now, anyway.

The two boys stared at each other for a short moment; the air cold and silent. Harry glared at the boy so that he’d realise that he would never, ever, tell him one tiny detail about him and Zayn’s time together. Liam however stared delightfully at the curly haired boy, waiting for him to snap again, since he enjoyed seeing it so much. He never knew that Harry could be such a firecracker, and it really was a tantalising sight.

“Come on Styles, it’s not like he’s your boyfriend, is it?” Liam said with a slight sigh, as he adjusted the sleeves of his blazer before looking up expectantly at Harry, the small smirk still on his face. Harry’s green emeralds couldn’t help but identify the look in Liam’s eyes as a look of knowing. Deep down inside, both boys knew that Harry wouldn’t confess to Zayn being his boyfriend. Harry let his teeth sink into his bottom lip, as he buried deep down inside of himself to try and find some sort of courage, for Zayn’s sake.

“He could be.” Harry answered, his teeth gritted together as he looked at Liam. He just couldn’t remember the last time he despised him this much. Liam let out a joyful laugh.

“Come on, babe, it’s either a yes or no.” Liam replied, tilting his head a little to the side as he waited for another indecisive answer from the curly haired lad in front of him. Harry stayed quiet. His Fluffball meant the world to him, but he just couldn’t. He hated himself for that, and deserved the rumbling sound of his conscience that he got in return. He tried to tell himself that even if he could tell the truth, he would had never given Liam an answer anyway.

Liam smirked and reached for his phone with a delighted sigh. He started to nonchalantly tap at the screen.

“You should invite him to have lunch with us. I’m sure Andy and Louis would love to meet your little boyfriend. I’m sure Zayn will open up to us straight away, bet the little cutie won’t be able to stop talking about all the things he gets up to with his confident, proud boyfriend,” Liam’s sarcastic suggestion was quickly shut off, but not by words.

Harry’s hand had reached out and grabbed hold of Liam’s folder, where he had scooped it up and swung it into the side of Liam’s face. Harry was past keeping this talk on the down low now, his anger was screaming inside of him like a high-pitched noise that wouldn’t shut off.

“You don’t fucking speak for him, got it? And you leave him alone, if I hear you’ve looked at him in a funny way then we’ll have trouble. You’re such a sadistic teenage boy, Liam, and it’s times like this when I prefer Zayn’s company to yours.” Harry spat angrily, as he dropped the folder back to where it was and glared at the boy opposite him. Liam was looking at him through glossy wide eyes, his hand stuck to his ever-growing pink cheek.

“It’s times like these when I wonder how someone as nice as your brother could be stuck with someone like you for an older brother. You make my stomach churn, Li.” Harry spat, scowling at the boy in front of him. Liam would never hit Harry back. Liam was a true definition of ‘all bark, no bite’. He’d talk the talk but he wouldn’t dare reciprocate Harry’s actions. Deep down he was way too much of a pussy. Liam’s bottom lip trembled a little and he took off in a flash. He was gone in seconds, leaving the common room quiet, with only the noise of the common room doors swinging slowly back into their place to echo around the room.

Harry watched the doors close before looking down at the messy piece of paper that was on crumpled up on the small table. It was past any type of renovation, once a piece of paper was creased those creases were there for life. Harry’s large hands reached out and slowly tried to uncrease it anyway, his fingertips holding down one day of the piece of paper while he used the side of his hand to slowly press over the rest to make it as flat as possible. Of course, even with a much bigger effort the paper would never be rescued. 

Harry looked down at the piece of paper, more upset that the paper would never go back to it’s beautiful flat form rather than feeling bad or guilty about slamming a school folder into his best friend’s face. But right now, Zayn needed Harry more than Liam ever would, and Liam, and all the others, just wouldn’t understand that. No one could ever understand how Zayn’s mind worked unless they gave him a chance.

Harry wished he had granted the brown eyed boy a chance sooner. He gave up on trying to flatten out the piece of paper anymore and simply folded it up and gently placed it in his top pocket with a heavy sigh, before pulling his bag over his shoulder, determined to think up a good enough reason as to why he was late for his Law lesson.

‘Come to toilets, NOW.’

Liam sent the texts to both Louis and Andy as he stood by the sinks of the empty sixth form toilets. He slipped his phone into his trouser pockets, knowing that either one of his friends or both of them will show up eventually. His guess was on Louis coming first, out of pure curiousity. Liam looked into the sink mirror a little at his glossy eyes. They were thick with tears. He hadn’t expected Harry to explode at him, or even find out that he’d practically threatened Zayn.

It felt like Harry well and truly hated him, and in return, Liam hated that feeling. He sniffed again and looked at the large red mark on the side of his face. A sob broke from his body as his cheek began to burn in pain once again, his mind going over how Harry had just grabbed his own folder and slammed it into the side of his face. He knew Harry was angry but he never thought he’d ever hit him. He clutched the side of his face and sank down onto the floor, tears flowing from his eyes. All he ever wanted was Harry and now Harry wouldn’t be his, because he was stuck pretending to be some sort of Disney prince. Liam sobbed again as Harry’s words attacked him once again.

The boy he liked would rather spend time with people like Zayn Malik and his brother instead of him. He hated that, God, he hated that so much, it physically felt like it was tearing him apart. He just tried and tried so much when it came to Harry, and everytime he thought Harry was starting to like or fall for him, Zayn fucking Malik seemed to swoop in and hit Harry over the head with his sketchbooks and making him fall for Zayn instead. Liam hated it, he hated that little brown-eyed kid so much; the kid was a liar, after all! Staff and pupils were all convinced that he was mute, but he could talk well and fine, and in all honesty his voice was an absolute orgasm to listen too.

Liam sobbed again, more tears spilling from his eyes as the door to the boy’s toilets opened. A part of him wanted it to be Harry, the curly haired lad rushing in to apologise for everything he had ever done and blaming it on how he was confused on who he really loved; which would ultimately be Liam. He knew deep down inside that if that ever happened he would let all of this slide and be Harry’s boyfriend.

A slightly different part of him wanted it to be Zayn. He wanted nothing more than to drag the scrawny ass kid in here and beat some sense into him. He wished he’d punched him harder now. Liam wiped his eyes a little and looked up to see who had really walked in, and thankfully, it was Andy and Louis, who’d both come from their joint lesson to see what was wrong. Andy frowned a little when he saw Liam on the floor crying his heart out, while Louis dropped to the floor by his best friend, taking his hands.

“Liam, babe, what happened? What’s wrong?” Louis asked quickly, his blue grey eyes looking at Liam in worry. Liam shrugged a little and wiped his eyes, his breathing a little uneven as he prepared to tell them everything that had happened between him and Harry, when Andy unknowingly cut him off.

“Did someone hit you?” He spoke softly as he crouched down too, worried about his best friend. He reached out and brushed Liam’s red cheek as he waited for Liam’s answer. Liam sat in silence for a moment, before nodding.

“Who was it? How could someone hit you?” Louis asked quickly, trying to think of any reason why someone would ever lay a finger on the puppy like boy. Andy kept stroking his cheek.

“Tell us, Liam, who was it?” Andy asked again, his thumb wiping away tears from Liam’s face. Liam looked up at his two best friends.

“I-it was that Z-Zayn Malik k-kid. I don’t even know why! H-he just went c-crazy, I-” He croaked, before burying his face in Louis’ shoulder, another sob erupting through his body. Louis wrapped his arms around Liam and shushed him gently.

Louis and Andy exchanged a firm look, and both gave a slight nod, knowing what they were going to do next.