Chapter 12

**Harry's POV**

I sat in a daze and stared at the spot where Louis had just been standing. Each pair of eyes in the classroom were focused on me, even the teacher's. I felt my cheeks heat up a little, and I knew it wasn't only because of the throbbing pain I felt in my left one.

I knew I had deserved the blow though. I'd treated Louis like shit the past few days, ever since that 'almost kiss'. I didn't even know why I had run out of his room! It must've been due to embarrassment or something because it wasn't due to the fact I didn't want him to kiss me. Hell no! I'd dreamed of those lips on mine ever since that party where he'd been sitting on that chair, looking lost, but yet so cute and adorable. Actually, that was the first time I'd properly laid my eyes on him. Sure, I had seen him at school, but he was an outcast that was invisible to everyone. However, ever since our eyes locked that night, I'd wanted to kiss those cute, pink lips.

I was scared, I'll admit it. First off, I was afraid of being laughed at. I'd always been, even though no one knew it. Secondly, I was afraid of being in love with a guy. I didn't really know if I loved him yet though because I'd never been in love before, so all this was new to me. I had always thought that if I ever were to fall in love, it'd be in a girl, and not in a boy. That was why I kept dating girls every now and then. I wanted to find love. It seemed to be so amazing, the way you always had a smile on your face every time you caught sight of your lover.

So, if I had feelings for Louis, did that mean I was gay?

I thought of how a girl's lips felt against mine and no, I wasn't. Then I thought of how I'd been checking out some other guys lately and came to the conclusion that I was bisexual. Wow, that felt weird to admit, but I guess I was.

An image of Louis' angry face played through my mind. I couldn't believe I was the reason  he was angry in the first place. I didn't want things to be like this. I wanted to hug, cuddle and kiss him, not fight him. I needed to solve this, and since I was the one who had started this fight, I was going to be the one to fix everything as well.

"Eh... well, we should probably continue the le--"

"Mr. Hendricks, may I please be excused for a minute?" I asked, cutting him off.

He looked up at me. "Sure, if you promise me to go to the school nurse so she can check on your cheek. It looks rather painful," he grimaced.

"It is," I lied. It really wasn't, I just wanted to go find Louis and tell him how sorry I was for everything.

"Then you're free to go."

I stood up and gathered my books before I left the classroom without glancing back at any of them. Quickly, I made my way to my locker to get rid of my books. When I was just about to leave, I heard a quiet whimper, followed by a voice that said, "These are the consequences that follow when you leave class before it has ended."

I knew that voice, it was Zayn's. It suddenly dawned on me what was going on over there and I started running as quickly as possible, following the sounds of whimpers.

No, please don't let it be Louis. Just please, not him.

I rounded the corner, and there they were; Louis lying on the floor, his face bleeding heavily from a few opened cuts, and Zayn with one foot on Louis' chest, pressing him down against the hard surface of the floor.

Anger boiled up inside me. How very dared he!? How dared he touch my Boobear for a third time?!

Without a word, I grabbed Zayn's arm, spun him around and pinned him to the wall of lockers in front of us. "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?! WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LEAVE THE BOY THE FUCK ALONE?!" I spat in his face.

Zayn's eyes widened in what seemed like fright. "I-I'm sorry, he just... he's a fag Harry! Why are you defending him all the time?!"

Without knowing what I was doing, I punched him square in the face, causing the back of his head to slam into the lockers. The blow was apparently hard enough for his eyes to roll back in his head and for him to fall to the floor unconscious.

My eyes widened in shock. I had just hit someone and made them unconscious!

Enough with the thoughts Harry! Go help Louis before he dies of blood loss or something!

I quickly kneeled down on the floor next to Louis, cupping his face in my hands. "I'm so sorry Boobear. I shouldn't have ignored you... just please, tell me you're okay," I begged, wiping the blood away from his face the best I could.

He looked into my eyes, a weak smile playing on his lips. "I forgive you, Harry," he whispered before his eyes fluttered closed and his smile faded away.

I let out a strangled noise, picking him up in my arms and hurried away towards the school nurse, running as quickly as I possibly could. I carried him bridle style all the way there and managed to open the door with my foot. Without saying a word, I laid him down on the bed while the nurse ran over to us quickly. "What happened?"

I took a deep breath, trying to steady my rapid heartbeat. "Just help him, I'll explain meanwhile you do so, yeah?"

She nodded without bothering to say anything. I explained everything about all three times I'd caught Zayn beating Louis while she cleaned his cuts and took care of him. Throughout the entire process, I held his hand in mine, caressing the back of it with my thumb soothingly.

When I had finished my explanation and the nurse had cleaned all of Louis' cuts, he was still unconscious but looked better now since he didn't have blood all over his face any longer. "He's not awake yet, shall we call an ambulance?" I asked worriedly.

She shook her head. "No, I'm positive he'll wake up within the next few minutes," she smiled.

I nodded. And as said, Louis opened his eyes just a few minutes later. The first thing his blue eyes met was my own green ones. "What are you doing here?" he asked rather harshly for just having woken up.

I was taken aback by his tone of voice and just stared at him in shock. "I... I helped you. You got beat up by Zayn, then you said you forgave me, so I thought... eh..." I mumbled, trailing off.

Louis just shook his head. "I may have forgiven you, but that doesn't mean I'm not angry with you," he said through gritted teeth.

"I'm gonna leave you two to this," the nurse said, walking out and closing the door behind her.

"I'm sorry, Lou, for everything. I don't know why I ignored you, I just... I was scared, okay?"

"What do you mean scared? Scared that everyone would laugh at you for almost having kissed an outcast?"

I looked down at the floor. "Well, sort of, but that's not--"

"Out!" he exclaimed.

I looked at him pleadingly. "Please, Lou, let me explain, I--"

"No, get out! I don't want to see you ever again!" he spat, cutting me off.

"I'm afraid you'll have to," I mumbled.

"Get out."

I got up and started walking towards the door, but hesitated when I was in the doorway. "I'm sorry, Lou, but if you would only let me exp--"

"GET OUT!"

I nodded, mumbling a last 'sorry' before exiting the room.

As I shut the door behind me, a single tear rolled down my cheek.

-----

**Louis' POV**

I didn't know why I was being so harsh... Well, he had been a jerk, after all. I already knew he was embarrassed of me, but I didn't know he was so scared, and I couldn't be friends with someone who was afraid of being seen with me, I just couldn't. On the other hand, if I was being totally honest, I didn't want to be friends with him. I wanted to be more than that. Though, that seemed even more impossible now than ever before. So, what else could I do besides kicking him out? If I was going to try ignoring him, I would have to start now.

A few tears left my eyes and ran down my face. I really didn't want to do this. He was so perfect, inside and out, but I couldn't be with him because of that one thing.

I didn't know how long I was lying there before the school nurse walked into the room again. "Care to explain why first Harry, and now you look as though you've just been told your grandma has died?" she asked politely.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "He was upset too?"

She nodded, sitting down in the chair Harry had been sitting on just a few minutes ago. "His head was hanging low the second he walked out of the room."

"Well, what can I say? We're quite different from each other, y'know? He's popular and I'm an outcast. It's quite difficult and complicated to be friends then," I mumbled.

She rubbed my back reassuringly. "I'm sure everything's going to be just fine."

I shook my head. "No, you don't understand. He's embarrassed by me, and whenever we talk or are with each other he's afraid that his friends will laugh at him if they ever find out."

I didn't know why I was telling her this, I'd never talked to her before and I didn't even know her name, but it felt as though I could trust her.

"I'm sure he'll change if he really wants to be friends with you, or else he's going to miss out on an amazing person."

I laughed at her words. "Thank you."

She smiled at me. "Oh, you're welcome darling, I love to help people."

"I don't want to seem rude or something, but what's your name?"

"You're not rude, and my name's Jessica Johnson."

Discreetly, I eyed her. She had blonde hair that was set in a bun and a pair of piercing blue eyes. By the looks of her, she only seemed to be in her late twenties. "Well, in that case, thank you very much, Jessica," I smiled.

I was soon allowed to leave the room with band-aids all over my face. I had begged for her not to put them on, but she said it was necessary if I wanted the cuts to heal, so I had given in eventually.

Once I was out in the hallway, I headed straight home without even looking back once.

-----

The next day was... silent? As expected, Harry didn't talk to me, and I tried to tell myself I didn't care that he didn't either. If I wanted to get over him, this had to happen.

Every time I walked by him in the hallway, my eyes darted to the floor and I hugged my books tighter against my chest. I could swear he looked at me however, even following my figure with his gaze until I was out of his sight.

At lunch, I sat down at the 'outcast table' and to my surprise, Liam was sitting there beside Niall. I knew they were together, but they'd never sat beside each other during lunch before. They always sat with their own friends then.

I turned to them with a small smile on my face. "Hi, Nialler and LiLi, how's things?"

They glanced at each other. "Um, okay, I guess" Niall said eventually, hesitating a little.

I raised an eyebrow at the two of them. "Sure about that, mate? You seem hesitant."

They shared another look before they both let out a deep sigh. "Well, it's not easy, you know? First off, we're the only gay couple at this school and well, it has its consequences. Secondly, our friends are quite different from each other. You probably already know that outcasts and popular people don't workwell together, don't you?" Liam sighed.

I nodded bitterly. Yes, I knew about that all too well. Harry and I worked well together of course, better than well actually, but we were so different, maybe too different... "So, what you mean is...?" I asked confusedly.

"We're getting bullied," he mumbled.

I swallowed hard. No, that couldn't be true. I mean, they were so cute together! How could they possibly get hate?

"It's mostly Ni, since he doesn't have the same reputation as me," he explained, looking at Niall with sad eyes. "If I leave him for only a second, he can be injured when I find him the other," he muttered, brushing his nose against Niall's shoulder lovingly.

Niall tried to ease the tension by laughing. "Li, you make me sound like a little kid who can't take care of himself," he said, rolling his eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me, Niall?" I frowned, ignoring his words.

He shrugged. "Didn't seem important, and I didn't want to let you know what could happen if you and Harry ever--" I cut him off by smacking my hand over his mouth.

"First off, that won't ever happen, and secondly, not that loud! People can hear you for crying out loud!"

He chuckled while I looked around the room, noticing that no one was looking at us... well, except for Harry.

I sighed. "And it is important, Niall, you should've told me," I muttered.

I felt a little guilty. Here I was, complaining that he wasn't telling me that he was getting bullied when I, myself, had been getting bullied for more than three years without mentioning a single word to him. What a friend I was...

"Sorry, Louis" he said, cracking a small smile, and I couldn't help but return it.

"It's okay."

It fell silent for a few seconds before I spoke up again. "If you don't mind me asking... who's bulling you?" I questioned, biting my bottom lip.

Liam furrowed his eyebrows slightly while Niall swallowed hard. "Zayn."

I tensed as the name left his mouth. Who else...? I turned to Liam, feeling anger boil up inside me. "Can't you just stop him?!" I asked frustratingly.

He shook his head bitterly. "If only I could... I've tried so many times, but it's like he doesn't hear what I'm saying to him. He's so mysterious sometimes."

I nodded in agreement. He really was. "He's beaten me too," I whispered, looking down at the table. "Last time was actually yesterday, and I swear, if someone doesn't interrupt him when he's abusing his vitctim, he can go so far as to even kill the person." I looked up to see Niall and Liam staring at me, their mouths hanging open.

"He what?!" Niall exclaimed.

I hushed him. "Not so loud! What's wrong with you today?!"

I looked around and noticed that people actually were looking at us this time. My eyes found a pair of emerald green eyes and I gasped when I saw who was sitting beside the curly haired lad. Zayn. He never sat beside him. I thought Harry hated him after what he'd done to me...

Harry turned to Zayn and exchanged a few words with him before looking back and forth between the two of us angrily. What the hell?! I suddenly felt sick to my stomach, and stood up before sprinting out of the room and straight to the bathroom.

I opened an empty stall and shut the door behind me, also locking it. I sat down on the toilet seat, pulling my legs upp to my chest. This was so weird. Why did Harry talk to Zayn? And why did he look angry? I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down.

Why was I so weak?

I grunted. Why did I even care? Why did I care that Harry was talking to Zayn? He could be friends with whoever he wanted... Only that he didn't seem to want to be friends with him.

Ugh, this was too much.

I took a last deep breath, opened the door again, and made my way over to the sinks. After having rinsed my face with hot water, I looked at my reflection in the mirror.

You can do this, Louis. Don't be weak, just go out there and act like everything is normal.

I repeated this to myself several times when I walked back to the lunch room. Everything looked the same. Zayn and Harry seemed to be having a deep conversation, and Liam and Niall were still sitting at the same table. I looked away from Harry and Zayn, and headed to Liam and Niall who flashed me a confused look as I sat down beside them.

"Sorry, I just... well, let's not talk about it," I muttered.

They nodded and we started talking about other things instead, like what we would do in Music class after lunch.

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So, this is chapter 12 :) What's going on with Zayn and Harry hmmm... ;)

Hope you enjoyed reading in Harry's POV :)

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