Chapter 16 ~ The Attention

[Louis]

Christmas rolled around and we were finally free from school for a couple of weeks. Well, it was just two weeks, but it was definitely well needed. Not only because I needed to get my head around everything that had to do with Harry, but also because it was always nice to be off school and just relax.

I spent Christmas and my birthday together with mom, Fizzy, Lottie and gran. I was happy it was only the five of us. It was just my eighteenth birthday anyway, no need to go all out for that. However, I did call Hannah over in the evening so we could spend some time watching a good movie and just enjoy each other's company. Of course, she'd bought me a present, which I found totally unnecessary, but she insisted, telling me I deserved it.

With a roll of my eyes, I had opened it only to realize she had bought me an expensive watch. I couldn't believe my eyes. What had I ever done to deserve something as pretty as that? One thing was for sure, and it was that I had not been the best boyfriend at least.

I met up with Niall and Zayn a few days after that too, playing some FIFA. Ever since the party, I'd been suspicious that there was something fishy going on between the two of them, and after hanging out with them that day, my suspicions hadn't faltered. The way they acted in each other's company... I could tell there was something going on there, but I wouldn't be too hard on them to find out. They would tell me when they were ready. Maybe they hadn't figured everything out themselves yet.

It was now Saturday, only this weekend left until school would start again, and I was sitting in the living room, munching on some cereal and milk with a blanket on top of me. The TV was on, but I wasn't too concentrated on it, too busy being caught up in my phone.

However, when I heard a certain name being mentioned, I couldn't help but snap my eyes up to the source. Harry was on television, being interviewed by some journalist. I could tell by the uncertainty in his eyes that it was live, otherwise he'd never show uncertainty nowadays.

Feeling a bit infatuated with it, I turned the volume up and put my phone on the couch beside me. He was sitting in an armchair, one of his legs over the other.

"It's a pleasure to have you here, Harry Styles."

He nodded to the middle-aged woman, a genuine smile on his lips. "It's a pleasure to be here."

She returned the smile, looking down at the cards in her hands. "Alright, so you've been off tour for about three weeks now. How does it feel to be in your hometown again?" She asked, looking up at him.

Harry swallowed hard. "I'm sad to see that I had no other choice but to cancel a few concerts, but I am enjoying my time at home, yes."

I narrowed my eyes at the TV. Why was he lying? I knew for a fact that he did not enjoy his time here. Or well, he wasn't exactly showing it at least.

"That's great. How are you handling school? It's been quite some time since you were sitting at the school desk, right?" She had a cheeky look on her face now, and by the looks of it, Harry didn't really like that.

"Right. It's pretty tough, I'll admit it. I was a bit critical in the beginning, but I think I'm adjusting to it quite well if I do say so."

I rolled my eyes at his conceitedness. However, he was probably speaking the truth this time. At least about the fact that he was critical about school at first. If he was adjusting to it well, that was his thing to answer.

"Are you happy to meet your old friends that you had before you were famous?" The girl asked, and I could clearly see how he swallowed hard at the question and also how he visibly fidgetted in his seat. Actually, I was doing the same thing.

"Eh... well, yeah. I guess. To be honest, I didn't have that many close friends back in school, so there weren't really many people to get back to," he shrugged, making my blood boil.

Sure, he didn't have many friends back in school, but he had me! Had he ever mentioned that? No. I was all he had and he had always mentioned how he didn't want to be close to anyone else. I was all he cared for. That lying bitch.

"I see..." The girl trailed off. "So, you don't have an old crush or something who you've been able to meet again?" She winked, making Harry bite his bottom lip.

I hadn't seen him this uncertain on television since The X Factor days. Not that I usually watched him on TV, but I could tell judging by his personality nowadays that this was not how he usually acted in front of the camera.

"I mean... Obviously, there were a lot of pretty girls, and still are," he said, giving her a smile.

She nodded her head. "No one certain, though?"

He shook his head, looking down at his lap. And that was when I'd had enough and turned off the TV with a frustrated groan. Was he ever going to change?

-

Just two days later, it was time for school again. As usual, I walked to Hannah's after leaving my house to walk with her there. When we entered the school building, I could instantly tell that something wasn't right. Or, something was at least different.

It wasn't until we were walking through the hallways that I noticed what it was. People were staring at me. It wasn't just one person when I passed them, but every single one of them. This hadn't happened since it was Harry's first day back of school, which had me wondering if this had to do with him as well.

"Hannah?"

She turned to me questioningly. "Yes?"

"Do you feel people staring at us?" I asked hesitantly, catching a girl's eyes as I did so.

"I thought I was just being paranoid," she laughed flatly, giving my hand a tight squeeze.

"No, love. I can definitely feel it as well."

Once I had dropped her off at her locker and walked to my own, I could finally let myself breathe again. Not that people had stopped staring, but I could at least shield myself with the door of my locker. I hated having attention on me like this. Sure, at the party I'd had a lot of attention, but I wasn't aware of it then. Harry had been the only thing I had been focused on.

"Hi there, mate."

I turned to my right, seeing Niall standing on the other side of my locker door, a bright smile on his face. When he saw that I looked almost frightened, the smile faded away and was replaced by a frown. "What happened and what have I missed?"

I shook my head, letting out a sigh and turning back to my locker. "Nothing. I'm just feeling uneasy today," I admitted.

"Why is that?"

I shrugged. "I just have this feeling that people are staring at me. It's kind of creeping me out."

Niall looked around, probably trying to understand what I was meaning. "Mate, no one's looking at you. What are you talking about?"

Turning around, I slammed my locker shut and took his hand in order to pull him towards the classroom I was going to be in. It didn't take long until he understood what I meant and pulled me aside.

"What the hell? What did you do to earn the attention?"

I rolled my eyes. "That's what I'm wondering too. It's creepy as fuck because I have no idea why people are staring at me!"

He hushed me, placing a hand over my mouth. "Shush. We don't want more attention to us than we've already got."

I rolled my eyes again, pulling his hand off my face. "Whatever. It's not like it's already bad enough."

Once we were outside my classroom, Niall walked off with a wave and a 'see you later. Don't do anything stupid'. I scoffed at that, but he was kind of right. Nowadays I was almost afraid of myself because I acted on impulse.

Harry walked into the classroom a minute later, looking down at the floor. Weird. He usually had his head held high, looking nothing but proud. That was not today's case though. The sight had me frowning and very curious as to what had made him so insecure all of a sudden.

It turned out I wouldn't get any answers to anything until lunch. All day, I'd been wondering why people kept staring at me and why Harry was acting so weird, but no one told me and I couldn't figure it out either. Hannah and I entered the cafeteria together. I kept my gaze to the floor, not wanting to see all those faces looking at me as we made our way towards the table we usually sat at.

Niall, Zayn, Eleanor and a few other girls were already there, and I couldn't help but let out a frustrated groan as I plopped down on my chair. "Can someone please tell me what's going on because I'm going insane. What have I missed?"

Niall and Zayn just shrugged, not making me feel any better. However, Eleanor looked at me as if I was stupid. "What? You don't know?"

I raised my eyebrows at her, surprised that she out of everyone knew what I was talking about. "No? Should I?"

She rolled her eyes, looking over to the table where the pop star was sitting. And it wasn't until then that I noticed that Liam wasn't here today. Or, he wasn't with Harry at least. "You didn't watch his interview on Saturday?"

Shrugging, I unwrapped my sandwich. "Parts of it, but not the entire thing. Why?"

Eleanor pulled her phone out of her pocket and pressed on the screen for a couple of seconds before standing up and walking over to me. By now, Niall, Zayn and Hannah had got curious too and were hanging over my shoulder to see what Eleanor's phone was showing.

It was the same interview I had been watching on Saturday, as she had said. I recognized the environment and also Harry's uncertainty. To be honest, I didn't want to watch it again, but since Eleanor said it had to do with why everyone was acting so weird, I supposed I had no other choice.

"What the hell," Niall snorted as we came to the part where Harry was declining he had any friends back in school. I didn't say anything though, nor did anyone else but I could tell they agreed with him.

"So, you don't have an old crush or something who you've been able to meet again?" The interviewer asked, making Harry look nervous.

"I mean... Obviously, there were a lot of pretty girls, and still are," he said, giving her a smile.

She nodded her head. "No one certain, though?"

He shook his head, looking down at his lap.

That was when I had turned off the TV, so from now on everything was new to me.

Harry was quiet for a few seconds before he looked back up at the girl. "Or... There was someone, but I kind of fucked it all up."

My heart literally stopped beating in my chest by those words. Did he actually say that on television? I must be dreaming or something. I mean, was he really talking about me?

"What do you mean you fucked it up?" She asked, curiosity bubbling up within her. I could tell she knew this interview would be talked about after getting that fact out of him.

He didn't seem to be wanting to talk more about it though. Instead, he shook his head, letting out a deep sigh. "I'd rather not get into details, please."

And that was the end of the conversation. The interviewer seemed to want to get more out of him about the topic, but she was probably interrupted by the team behind the camera considering she opened her mouth to ask him something else but suddenly stopped herself and said it was time for a break. Harry seemed relieved by this and let out a deep breath.

Eleanor turned off the video and sent me a knowing look. "You understand now?"

I couldn't get a word past my lips, and seeing as Niall, Zayn and Hannah stayed quiet too, I assumed they had the same problem. I could only nod once, staring with wide eyes at something ahead of me, but I didn't know what.

"Well, in my opinion, that was kind of his way of showing that he hasn't quite let you go yet," she shrugged, looking over at Hannah.

With that, she walked back to her seat and continued eating. It took some time until the four of us got ourselves together and the three of them sat back down in their seats too. However, none of us had spoken a word yet.

"It's quite weird too because I haven't seen his friend the entire day," Eleanor wondered, looking back to the table where the curly haired boy was sitting, munching on a fry while talking to some girl.

"The fuck does he think he's doing?" Zayn eventually said, causing all of us to turn our heads to him.

"I'm wondering the same thing," Hannah agreed, a frown between her eyebrows.

I swallowed hard, my eyes wandering to my ex across the room. Suddenly, he looked up, meeting my eyes with his own. His facial expression stayed emotionless even though he kept looking at me for at least ten seconds. My heart wouldn't stop racing the entire time, and I couldn't look away either.

Eventually, he broke eye contact and I could finally breathe again. Well, there was no doubt that interview had to do with why people had been throwing glances at me all day. The students at school knew Harry must've been talking about me. So, he was the reason for all the attention directed at me yet again.

What had I ever done to deserve that? I never wanted this. All I ever wanted was for Harry not to be ashamed of me when we were still together. I didn't want to get in this weird situation. And just like Zayn just said; what the hell did he think he was doing? Did he seriously think that just mentioning he had fucked a relationship up was going to solve anything between us? Well, good look with that because no, it wasn't.

If he wanted to apologize, he would have to do a lot better than that. Asshole.

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Hello again, guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter because I'm quite happy with how it came out :)

Pauline .xx