To everyone who's been reading and giving me a chance... I just really love you guys and want to say thank you :) x

In the morning when my alarm went off, I practically sprinted out of bed, excited to start the day.  After carefully getting myself ready, making sure I looked nice but not like I put in a ton of effort, I bounded down the stairs.  Breakfast was being prepared by my mother, who looked startled by my chipper greeting as I pranced through the door.

"Well aren't you in a good mood this morning," she observed, smiling at me over her shoulder as she flipped some eggs in the skillet. 

"It's Friday," I said simply, not bothering to hide by grin.

"That's it?" she asked, not believing that my mood was simply due to the end of the week.

"Um... yep!" I lied.  I wasn't ready to explain whatever was going on to my mother.  She was the type to pry and ask more questions than I was ever willing to answer; it was better to leave her out of the loop for a while.  She tutted as she set down a plate in front of me, raising one eyebrow skeptically.  I just smiled at her and began to eat my breakfast.  After I was finished, I said goodbye to her and headed out the door. 

When I got to school, I ran into Lydia in the parking lot.  She waved me over to her car as she ducked to open her backseat and extract her bag.  Maneuvering my way through the parked cars, I made my way over. She had just shut her car door when I walked up, and she straightened up to face me.

"Hey, Jo!" she smiled at me, which I returned.

"Good morning, how are you today?" I asked, a smile on my face as well.  I really was grateful she had apologized and was at least making an attempt to be nice.

"Oh, you know, just so happy it's finally Friday," she replied, starting to walk toward the school. "You?"

I shrugged, trying to appear casual.  "Yeah, I'm good as well."

"So you're sure you don't want to come to the movie with everyone tonight?  We're going to that new scary one," she wiggled her eyebrows at me, knowing how much I loved a good scary movie.

"Yeah, sorry, I've still got plans, otherwise you know I'd be there."

"I understand," she shrugged. "But you're still coming to my party Saturday, right?"

"Yes, Lyd, wouldn't miss it," I reassured her.  She must have had suspicions I was still mad and would change my mind about coming.  We had made it to my locker at this point, so I opened it up and took what I needed.  I had just finished when Haley and Jack strolled up. 

Besides Colt, Haley was my least favorite person at the moment.  Not only had she been extremely rude, but she had yet to apologize or show any remorse.  She started talking to Lydia, acting as if nothing was wrong.  When she turned to me with a smile on her face, I just stared at her, eyebrows furrowed in a slight frown.  She didn't even seem to notice when I hardly answered her.  Whatever, if she was that dense that she couldn't see I was upset, I wasn't going to cause a scene in the hallway.  Again.

The bell announced that it was time to go to class, causing my heart to skip a beat.  Just a few more minutes until I could see Harry again.  I rushed with Lydia to our class, in a hurry to arrive.  When I walked through the door, however, he wasn't sitting in his usual spot.  He wasn't anywhere in the room, in fact, and I felt like my heart had plummeted in my chest.  I told myself to relax, that the final bell hadn't rung yet, and he was most likely on his way right now.  I had beaten him to class before, after all.  He was probably just behind schedule. 

I started toward the seat next to him, but Lydia stopped me, practically begging me to sit by her.  Reluctantly, I agreed and followed her to the back of the room.  I sat down and immediately glued my eyes to the door, waiting for his arrival.  But the minutes ticked by, the bell rang, and there was still no sign of him.  I started to feel extremely anxious, wanting to know where he was. 

I began to assume the worst; Colt hadn't been spotted yet today, what if he was doing something to Harry?  What if he took his childish bullying a step farther today and had actually hurt him?  What if Harry had gotten into a car accident on his way to school?  Maybe there was some freak accident and he had been mauled by some rabies-ridden animal?

My mind was running away with every possible worst case scenario, and I had myself all but convinced Harry was dead in an alley somewhere when his lanky figure made its way through the door.  I let out an audible sigh of relief as his eyes caught mine quickly and grinned a bit before averting his gaze and hastily making his way to his seat. 

He was clearly embarrassed to be walking in late and having probably the whole class stare at him.  From what I could see, he was unharmed, although I wanted to talk to him to be sure.  I couldn't stand to wait until the end of class, so I sneakily took my phone out of my bag and brought up his number to text him.

J: Are you alright? Why were you late?

I sent the text before it occurred to me to worry about sounding overbearing.  I saw his body tense up as he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.  The last time I had texted him in school, he had taken ages to reply.  This time, however, he slowly slipped his hand into his pocket and extracted his phone, reading the text under his desk. 

He turned his head in the slightest in my direction, as if he was going to turn and look at me, but then turned back around.  I could see his thumbs moving across his phone, replying to my text.  Soon, I felt my phone buzz in my hand and I opened his text immediately.

H: Yes, I'm fine, my car wouldn't start

I felt another sigh of relief leave my body.  Thank god it was something as simple as a stalled car and nothing like I had been imagining.  I looked down at my phone, trying to think of what to reply, when it buzzed again in my hand.  Harry.

H: Don't let your imagination get the better of you, I'm not dead

It was like he knew I had been having a panic attack the minute he walked in the door.  Apparently I hadn't been very good at hiding my anxiety if he had seen it on my face.  I let out another heavy breath before texting him back.

J: Very funny, Harry.

I looked up to see him receive the text.  I stared at the back of his neck, watching his head tilt down to look at his phone.  I could see his shoulders lift just slightly, as if he were laughing slightly at my text.  His hair, still in its regular style, was just long enough to graze the top of his neck, curling up just slightly from where it met his skin, which taught as it disappeared into his collar. 

He turned his head just slightly, looking up nonchalantly at the teacher, as if to hide what he was actually doing.  The muscles and tendons in his neck flexed as he did so, becoming more prominent with every movement.  A breath was sucked into my mouth before I was aware it was happening.  I shook my head quickly, trying to clear my mind of the haze that seemed to settle over it whenever I examined Harry.  I snuck a look over to Lydia to see if she had noticed anything that I'd just done, but was relieved to see her head folded into arms on her desk, presumably asleep. 

As disappointed as I was that I couldn't sit next to Harry in class, I was also slightly excited about the opportunity to observe him without the chance of him catching me for once.  Every other time I had tried this, it was like he could feel me examining him and called me out on it.  This time, though, with his focus on the lecture and a clear view of his back, my eyes were free to roam.  He hunched over his desk, left arm set to prop his body up as he took notes. 

He wore a plain white t-shirt today, and as he wrote, I could see slight muscles moving in the back of his right arm, the tiniest flexion drawing my attention.  My gaze moved up his arm to the span of his shoulders, which for the first time I noticed was quite expansive.  His narrow hips were thrown into sharp relief with his broad back, something I had never seen from this angle before.  With every slight movement, I could his back muscles move beneath his shirt.  I could feel that my jaw was hanging open slightly, so I quickly snapped it shut. 

To say that I was surprised by this apparent definition of his muscles was an understatement.  Clearly this was just another layer to Harry that I was slowly discovering. 

Before I was even close to satisfied with my inspection of the back side of Harry, the bell rang.  Lydia jerked up next to me, a small drool spot on the sleeve or her shirt.  She had slept through the entire class.  She gave me a startled look before grinning guiltily at me.

"Shoot," she said as she gathered her things from her desk.  I just giggled at her and swooped up my bag.

"I'll see you later, Lyd, I have to ask Harry something," I said over my shoulder as I started toward the front of the room, well aware by now of how fast he could disappear. 

"Uhh okay, see you at lunch!" she called.  I distractedly waved my hand over my shoulder to acknowledge that I heard her.  I was surprised to see Harry waiting for me at his desk, nervously fiddling with the straps of his backpack.  His eyes continually darted up to my face and back down to his feet while he waited.

"Hey," I said, smiling at him.

"Hi," he replied, still not firmly looking me in the eye.  The fact that he still found it so difficult to look me in the eye was baffling to me.  Surely he didn't have to be nervous around me anymore.

"So car troubles, huh?" I asked, choosing to ignore his nervous behavior, almost used to it by now.

"Yeah, I must have left it on or something... I just jump started it from Gemma's car," he explained.

"Gemma? Your sister?" I probed, assuming that was her name.

"Yeah," he said, nodding at the same time.

"So are we still on for tonight?" I prayed he wouldn't say no; I was really looking forward to spending an entire evening with him without the distraction of the project. 

"Oh, um..." he mumbled, trailing off quietly, eyes darting away from mine as he bit his lip nervously.  

I felt my heart sink in my chest.  "Harry, come on, it won't be that bad," I urged, reaching out to nudge his arm slightly.  His eyes widened at my touch, looking around the room as if he was afraid someone would see. "Please?"

He finished looking around the room and finally focused his eyes back on mine. "Alright, yeah, we're still on."

Relief flooded through me again, and I smiled up at him.  He returned mine with a slight, closed-mouthed grin.  He still looked nervous, but at least he had still agreed to hang out.

"Want to hang out at your house for a change?  I'm kind of sick of mine, to be honest," I said, chuckling slightly.

"Erm... yeah we could do that.  My mom and sister are going to be gone though, they're visiting my aunt," he said.  While the idea of being alone in his house seemed to make him even more nervous, it only excited me even more.  He shuffled his feet again, reaching up to run his hand through his hair. 

This was the first time I'd seen him do this, though it seemed to be a habit he was maybe trying to break.  His carefully smoothed down hair looked a bit ruffled when he tore his hand away, breaking up the uniform shape.  Again, I was stunned by his appearance.  Even the smallest change to his hair and my breath was caught in my throat.

"Oh, I don't mind.  What time should I come over?" I asked, deciding not to comment much on the fact that we would be alone. 

"Um... whenever you like," he said vaguely, clearly not sure about how this whole thing worked.  He was so adorable trying to hide his nerves, even though he was failing miserably.

"Hmm... I could just come around 7? Want to just get a pizza or something?" I asked, trying to make him feel like it wasn't a big deal.  I figured the simpler it was, the more relaxed he would be.

He nodded at me. "Sure, sounds g-good." Suddenly the first warning bell rang, causing him to jump.  I hadn't even realized we were still standing in our biology classroom, now the only ones left in it.  His eyes widened in fear of being late to his next class.  I giggled as I saw his eyes dart towards the door, clearly not wanting to be rude but also desperately wanting to avoid being late.  I leaned up on my tip toes to press a small kiss to the side of his neck.

"Go to class, Harry," I said, smiling as I pulled back.  He looked down at me skittishly, hands back to fumbling with his straps.

"See you, Joey," he said as he started toward the door, smiling shyly at me. 

I stood there for a few seconds, smiling and still feeling his skin on my lips before realizing I also had to hurry to get to my next class.  Rushing out the door and down the hall, I headed in the direction of my next class.  Luckily, I had just made it through the doorway for the next period when the bell rang. 

I spent the entire next class thinking about Harry and what we would do that night at his house.  Most of all, I just wanted to talk to him, to learn what it was that made him how he was.  I had noticed that he was much more at ease outside of school, so I hoped that would still be the case tonight.