Chapter 5

(In case you didn't know, Harry and the others play football as in soccer)

I remained in my seat for the rest of the night after that. No one came up to talk to me, not even Niall. I didn't feel disappointed that Harry didn't talk to me again either, it was only expected. He would most likely never talk to me again, I mean, who wanted to be friends with me anyway? But then again, the words he'd said had really gotten to me. I had always told myself that it was impossible for anyone to want to be friends with me because I was an outcast, but his words had actually given me some kind of hope.

I didn't have any confidence whatsoever though. If I did, I wouldn't have told myself that I wasn't worth having friends. According to me, only the popular people seemed to matter to everyone at school anyway. No one cared about the others. Perhaps I should prove that they were wrong somehow? The only thing that remained though was how? What could I do?

I sighed and looked around the room. Bodies were still grinding on others, but I'd begun not to care about it anymore. It was probably something they did at parties, so why not try to get used to it?

I tensed as I caught sight of Harry dancing with Ashley. They were swaying along to the slow music, Harry's hands on her hips. I swallowed hard, averting my gaze from them.

My life was literally miserable. There was no doubt Harry was in love with her. He wore a smile on his face every time she was around him. But, I knew he wouldn't be with her for long, he always moved on pretty quickly. I didn't get why everyone was with him when they knew he would break up with them after a few weeks anyway... Okay, I did understand. I could kill to be together with him just for a day, but since he wasn't gay nor showed any sign of being into guys, that would sadly never happen.

I sighed, looking out on the dance floor again, but this time also trying to ignore Harry. I caught sight of another certain person instead; Niall was dancing with none other than Liam Payne himself. Their bodies were moving in sync to the music without barely any space between them. I couldn't help but smile. They were so cute together and I wished the best for them. Maybe Niall and I could go watch football together now...?

I smiled at the thought of not having to hide anymore, just sit on the bleachers acting as if I were there just to accompany Niall.

Oh, I hoped they were together already.

If they were, that meant an outcast was together with a popular student. That was a good start to prove everyone that outcasts were as worthy as everyone else. And it was a good start of my and Harry's relationship.

Wait, what am I talking about?! My and Harry's relationship?! We didn't even have one! Could you even consider us as more than strangers. I mean, we'd only talked once?! He would probably never talk to me again...

"Why are you sitting here all alone?"

I froze in my spot as I heard that voice. I recognized it very well, and I didn't dare turn around to face them, let alone reply to their question.

"Shouldn't you be at home, reading a good book?" the voice chuckled evilly.

I swallowed hard, squeezing my eyes shut. A hand moved from the back of my neck to my collarbone, causing me to shiver in discomfort.

"Won't you turn around, fag?" he whispered in my ear.

I was scared to death when I spun on my heel slightly.

Please don't hurt me, please.

There, in front of me was a familiar raven haired boy with brown eyes standing. The one and only Zayn Malik, also known as my bully.

"What are you doing here, fag? I thought you weren't into parties."

"I-I'm not," I managed to let out.

"Then why are you here?"

I gulped. "I-I was forced b-by a friend."

He laughed in my ear. "You mean the fag who's dancing with my mate?"

I nodded hesitantly.

"He should get beat up too," Zayn said threateningly.

"Don't touch him." I tried to hide my fear by sounding harsh, but it didn't go well. He just chuckled at me.

The thought of Niall getting beaten up by Zayn was unbearable. I would do anything to stop him from doing so.

"Ooh, you have a crush on him?"

"Of course I don't, but don't touch him. You can hit me instead, he doesn't deserve it," I mumbled weakly.

Right then, a fist collided with my cheek. My hand instinctively reached up to clutch it as the pain started making its way to the throbbing skin, tears prickling my eyes.

"I beat whoever I want, understood?!" Zayn spat in my face.

Before I even got the chance to reply, he grabbed my arm and pushed me down on the floor to kick me in the guts. "Did you hear me, fag?"

I whimpered as pain shot through my body, tears running down my face. Couldn't anyone see that I was getting beaten up? Were they blind? Why didn't they do anything?

He bent down so he was only a few inches away from my face. "Hope you've learned a lesson from this. Don't ever tell me what to do, okay?!"

I nodded jerkily.

He punched me in the face once more, before he was suddenly lifted up in the air. His face turned into confusion, and so did mine. Who had decided to come to my rescue after all?

"What the hell, Zayn?!" Oh that voice. I would recognize it anywhere, just that the usually angelic voice now sounded angry.

"What gives you the right to hit him?!" Harry wasn't angry, he was furious.

My hand wandered up to my cheek again, and I could feel a hot liquid running down from my cheek to my ear. Shit, I was bleeding.

"I-I..." he stuttered, trailing off. If we wouldn't have been in this kind of situation right now, I would've laughed at him. I'd never heard Zayn sounding so scared in my whole life.

Harry let him go, but not before he spat, "We'll talk about this later."

Zayn just nodded and ran off.

I looked around and noticed I was surrounded by people. I blushed, this was so embarrassing. I'd just gotten beaten up in front of the whole school. And Niall had promised me that I wouldn't get humiliated... so much for that promise.

"Are you alright, Lou?" Harry asked worriedly.

My heart stopped right then and there. He remembered me, and he called me by the nickname. His nickname... Oh my God.

"I-I'm fine, I think. My cheek's just throbbing like mad, and m-my stomach hurts." I grimaced as I felt a stab in my belly.

He bent down beside me with a worried look on his face. "I don't know what got into him, he's never done something like this before."

I really wanted to snort at that. He had no idea of what Zayn did when he wasn't around. I decided not to say anything though, because I didn't know how I would put it. I couldn't just say 'Well, you know, that happens every now and then, but you haven't laid eyes on me before, so you haven't noticed anything' because that would sound so stupid.

Harry looked at the people around us and frowned. "Don't you have anything better to look at since none of you even considered stopping Zayn?!" he spat.

I placed my hand on Harry's shoulder, trying to calm him down. The crowd around us slowly dispersed so only Harry and I were remaining.

"T-thank you for saving me," I whispered weakly.

He smiled at me for a second, but it soon faded. "You're still hurt though, so I won't leave you just yet."

Suddenly, I wasn't on the floor anymore but in Harry's arms. He carried me bridal style across the room, towards what I guessed was the bathroom.

"Harry, what are you..." but I trailed off when I saw the scene that was taking place right in front of me. Harry had opened the bathroom door, and in there, Niall was pressed against the sinks by Liam, their lips moving eagerly against each other. I couldn't help but let out a loud gasp.

Harry froze at the sight before him and stared at the two snogging boys with wide eyes, before he composed himself enough to shut the door in front of us again. "Well, I wasn't prepared for that," he said, looking at me.

I shook my head. "Neither was I."

We fell into a silence, but it was a comfortable one, and you could tell the both of us were in deep thought.

"Harry, what are you doing with that... that thing? Come have some fun for God's sake!" a high pitched voice yelled from behind us.

I turned my head to the sound, just to see one of the people I hated most at the moment. Ashley was leaning against the wall, an annoyed look on her face. You could tell by the looks of her that she was really drunk.

I sighed deeply, and expected to be put down on the floor any second now. Harry wouldn't care about me when his girlfriend asked him to go join her, I was sure of it. I mean, we were just strangers after all, so why would he pick me over her?

"Please babe, I need to do this, I'll be there in a few, I promise. However, 'that thing' has a name, and it's Louis," Harry frowned.

Ashley snorted. "He's a fag."

I felt tears welling up in my eyes. Why did she have to ruin everything? Harry would put me down, or even throw me out of his arms any second. Out of all people, Ashley had to be one of those people who knew I was gay, and of course she had to tell Harry about it just when he'd started talking to me.

Harry tensed and looked at me. "I-is she right? You're gay?"

I so badly wanted to tell him that, no, I wasn't, but I couldn't lie to him, so I just nodded.

He thought for a moment before sighing. "Whatever, it doesn't really matter. Besides, you need help before you lose consciousness due to the pain or something."

I stared at him, dumbfounded. Did he actually not care about the fact I was gay? He only cared that I could lose my consciousness! I seriously couldn't even have wished for this.

"You, what?! You're helping a nerd who's gay! What the hell happened to you, Harry?" Ashley shrieked frustratingly.

"Please, I don't want to argue about this, Ash. See you later, okay?" he sighed, walking by her with me still in his arms.

He went to the other bathroom that was upstairs and put me down on the toilet seat. I followed his figure as he searched the cabinets for something he could use to clean up my cuts with. He found a cloth and some sort of liquid that would help my skin heal faster, and started dabbing the cloth on my cheek.

I whimpered in pain, trying not to let any tears spill from my eyes.

"I'm sorry if it hurts, but there's nothing else I can do about it."

"It's okay, I trust you," I mumbled, fluttering my eyes closed, and tried not to think about the pain.

What a day, I thought before involuntarily drifting off to sleep.

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Another chapter! This is a bit confusing and... eventful.

However, I'm soooo happy for all the feedback! I woke up the day after I'd published chapter 4 and noticed I'd gotten like 7 votes over a night! That's freaking unbelievable! Thank you so much! :)

I'm so happy when I see people add my story to their reading lists, I can't believe how someone can like what I'm writing! :)

VOTE, COMMENT and FOLLOW

Love you lots .x

Pauline .xx