Chapter 6

As I woke up, I felt a throbbing pain in my left cheek. I reached my hand up to touch it and to my surprise, it was covered with a bandage. I furrowed my eyebrows and thought of what had happened last night... Party... Niall and Liam.... Zayn.... Punches... Kicks.... Harry... Wait. Harry! We'd had our first conversation last night! Then Zayn had beaten me up, and Harry had taken care of me...

Wait, how come I was lying in my own bed right now? As far as I could remember, I had fallen asleep on a toilet seat while Harry had taken care of my cuts. So how had I ended up here? Unless someone had called a cab and taken me home somehow, that is...

Hmm, that must be it, because there were no other options. But who had done it? I doubted it'd been Niall, he'd been too caught up in Liam. So, then there was just one person left, and that was Harry. Did he really care enough about me to help me get home? If so, he was the most perfect, beautiful, and sweetest person I'd ever met, and my heart couldn't help but flutter at this fact.

Of course he is, didn't you already know that? Deep inside I know you did.

Those words made me smile. Perhaps I had always known that he was a wonderful person?

I got out of bed, and made my way downstairs to the living room.

"Loooouuuiiisss," two girls squealed when they came running towards me.

My face broke out into a smile at the sight of Daisy and Phoebe, and I bent down to hug them both. They were twins and the two youngest of my four sisters.

"Good morning, girls. Sleep well?"

I loved all of my sisters to bits, even though I didn't show my love as much to Lottie and Fizzy anymore. They would probably hit me if I tried to hug them the way I hugged Daisy and Phoebe...

Daisy nodded with a smile on her lips, but Phoebe furrowed her eyebrows and didn't make eye contact with me.

"What's wrong, Phoebe? Did you have a nightmare?" I asked concerned.

She shook her head. "No, but y-your cheek, Lou. What happened?" I reached my hand up to touch it instinctively, and then it hit me.

My eyes widened, and I ran to the bathroom as fast as possible. How could I have forgotten? What if mum would've seen me with the bandage? She couldn't know that I'd gotten beaten up because she would freak out, I swear.

As soon as I was standing in front of the mirror, I ripped the bandage off to see a long cut across my left cheek. I gasped. No way I could go out like this!

I searched the drawers and cabinets for some make-up, and no, I wasn't a girl, but this was necessary. I needed to cover the horrible cut up.

Once I found some kind of concealer, I smeared some of it over the bruise on my left cheek. When I decided it looked decent, I walked out of the bathroom and headed back to my sisters who were still in the living room.

"Nothing happened to my cheek, I just... Niall thought it would be fun to scare you guys since it was my first party. I didn't though, and would have taken it off as soon as I woke up if I had just remembered to," I lied. I didn't want to blame everything on Niall because he was completely innocent, but I had to come up with something.

"Oh, then I'm gonna hit him in the face next time he comes over, because that wasn't funny at all-" Phoebe frowned.

I chuckled slightly. "Do so if you want." I knew Niall wouldn't get hurt anyway, so why not just play along with her?

"Breakfast's ready," mum suddenly shouted from the kitchen.

"Coming," I replied, picking up Daisy and Phoebe and carrying them to the kitchen.

"Lou, how was the party yesterday?" mum asked with a wide smile playing on her lips as we entered the room.

I didn't know if I would jump around and fangirl or if I would just groan, because it had been both the best and the worst night of my life. I'd been humiliated in front of the whole school, but I'd also had my first conversation with Harry.

Eventually, I decided to smile. Harry was the one thing that could managed to beat everything else. He had been so sweet, the way he had so lightly dabbed my cheek with the cloth...

I sighed happily. I literally was on cloud nine.

"Oh, looks like my little Boobear is in love," mum chuckled, causing me to blush a dark red.

Fuck, was I that easy to read? Shit shit shit! What would I say? I was so dead right now...

"Sit down, Lou, and tell me all about the lucky man."

I blushed even harder at those words. There was no reason to try to run away, and I knew it. So I did as I was told, and sat down on a chair at the table, still with the twins in my arms.

"Our Louis is in love," Daisy and Phoebe sang happily.

I smiled at them, before I looked back at mum. "In fact, I've been in love with the same boy ever since I was fifteen."

Mum let out a loud gasp. "And you never told me! How could you?" She tried to seem hurt, but the way her lips twitched up into a smile told me otherwise.

I chuckled at her. "I wanted to keep it to myself. Oh, and Niall of course."

"So, you told Niall, but not your own mum? I'm very hurt here, Boo," mum said seriously.

I rolled my eyes. "Please mum, it's not that big of a deal."

"But it is! If you've been in love with the same guy for three years, I would say it's a really big deal!" she whined.

"However," I said, shaking my head at her childishness, although a smile was playing on my lips. "He goes in the same Math and P.E. class as me," I explained.

It felt really weird to tell her about Harry. I'd kept my feelings for him to myself for so long, and now here I was, telling her everything about what I felt for him.

"Oh, and what's his name?" she asked, now seeming eager.

I rolled my eyes again. "Eh... he's name is Harry Styles."

Her smile suddenly disappeared. "You mean Anne Cox and Des Styles' child?"

I nodded slowly. Where did this seriousness come from?

"I'm sorry to tell you this, but I think you should stay away from him, Lou."

I frowned. Why? What had he done that was so bad?

"Why should I do that?"

She sighed. "It's just... I went in the same class as his parents, and I can clearly remember what they were like. Des got Anne pregnant when they were only sixteen years old. Gemma, Harry's older sister wasn't even born before Des cheated on Anne and left her. Three years later, she made the biggest mistake ever by forgiving him and taking him back. That was when Harry was born. After that - yet again - Des left Anne all alone to take care of two children. They were both two people who played with everyone's feelings throughout their youth. Anne didn't even care that she had two children, she was still the school's biggest slut."

I swallowed hard. This was something I didn't know about, at all. But why would I stay away from Harry though? Okay, he may be with different girls every month, but that didn't mean he would do the same thing his dad had done. He wouldn't get a girl pregnant only to cheat on her and then leave her, right? No, he wouldn't.

"Mum, I don't get what this has to do with Harry, though?" I frowned. As far as I knew, he was the most amazing human being out there.

"It's just, I don't think he's gay and I don't want him to leave you for another girl or boy"

It was in that moment I decided to tell her about everything that had happened yesterday. How Harry had taken care of me when I was injured, that he somehow had helped me get home, how he had defended me against Ashley, his own girlfriend even though he barely knew me, and how careful he'd been when he'd cleaned my wounds.

I didn't want to tell her about Zayn, but I felt as though I was forced to right now. I wanted to defend Harry, because I knew he wasn't a bad person.

When I stopped talking, the twins had fallen asleep in my arms even though it was only morning, and mum let out a heavy sigh.

"I'm sorry to tell you this, but he sounds just like his dad. He always tried to seem like a nice guy. He knew he would get more girls and a better reputation if he was," she explained.

"You don't get it mum! I'm gay! He knew about it, but he didn't care! He chose someone who's gay over his own girlfriend!" I let out in frustration. She had to know that Harry wasn't like his father.

"I know Louis, and that was very sweet of him, but for how long do you think he'll stick around with her? It wouldn't surprise me if he has gotten a new girlfriend until Monday."

That was it, I couldn't hear it anymore. "Mum, I know he isn't gay and I know I can't have him, but you don't need to make it any worse by comparing him to his parents. He is a human, not a robot that's manipulated to do exactly what his parents did when they went to high school! Plus, I explained every little detail about what happened at the party, about how I was beaten up, but did you care? No you didn't!"

The twins woke up by my sudden outburst, so I put them down on the floor before I stormed out of the kitchen and to my room.

I knew I shouldn't have yelled at her like that, but I hated how she judged Harry for someone he wasn't.

Seconds later, there was a knock on my door. "I'm sorry, Boo. I just don't want you to get in wrong hands. I care about you, you know? I was going to ask you about how you were doing after what Zayn did to you yesterday at the party as well, by the way."

I just snorted. If she cared about me, she wouldn't compare Harry to a monster he wasn't.

-----

~Monday~

I walked on the small sidewalk, on my way to school. I had to admit that I was a little nervous and scared of how Harry would act now, after the party. Would he ignore me? Or even worse, had he found a new girlfriend just like mum had told me he probably would've done?

Let's say he had gotten a new girlfriend. Was he the guy mum had described him to be then? I told myself that no, he wasn't, but I had a feeling that maybe, he could be.

I sighed deeply. Soon I would get to see the real Harry Styles...

Five minutes later, I was standing in front of my locker and shrugging off my jacket. I was just about to hang it on my hook as I heard a loud manly moan.

I froze in my spot because I recognised that moan all too well. I slowly turned my head to my left, and there he was; Harry Styles, snogging a brunette girl.

No, please no, this wasn't happening. This couldn't happen.

I felt tears prickle my eyes. I forced myself to believe that he wasn't the guy mum had said he was. Okay, so what he had a new girlfriend - or whatever she was. He wouldn't ignore me, I mean, he would at least smile at me, right?

Right then, Harry pulled away, winking at her before he started walking to - what I guess was his first period.

To get there, he had to walk by me. Shit, what should I do? Ignore him or face him? I didn't have more time to think about that, because right then he passed by with no emotion whatsoever written on his face. The only thing he did was to clench his teeth as he caught me staring at him.

I swallowed hard. This wasn't reality, right? Mum couldn't be right. This was just a dream, a really bad dream. Because Harry was a great guy, he liked and cared about everyone, right? Or so that was what I had thought...

Right now, I wished I was one of those confident guys who would walk up to Harry and ask him what the hell was going on, but since I wasn't, I just stood there watching him round a corner and disappear. I was such a coward...

I just thought... for a second, I thought he actually cared about me, that he wanted us to be at least friends, but what was I even thinking? He would never like me, not even as a friend. I was an outcast and he was the school's most popular guy.

And here comes the depressing thoughts... I had hoped those thoughts would be gone by now, especially after what Harry had told me the other night.

You shouldn't be so harsh on yourself. We are who we are. The thing is, as long as you are who you are, you can become whatever you want.

Always be who I was? Okay, so if I should be who I was, then Harry should be who he was, right? Then who was Harry? Because right now I wasn't so sure about who the real Harry Styles was. Was he the caring or the I-don't-give-a-shit guy?

"Louis! There you are!" Niall exclaimed as he came running towards me.

"Oh, hi Niall," I tried to smile, but it was really hard to do so at the moment considering everything that was going on.

"How's your cheek? Harry out of all people came up to me at the party and practically begged me to take you home since you were asleep and injured."

My eyes widened slightly. Niall had helped me get home? Well, that explained why I had woken up in my own bed, because he knew we had a spare key under a rock by the front door.

"My cheek's fine, but I still have to cover the wound up with make-up though."

He nodded, smiling slightly.

"So, you were the one who helped me get home?" I muttered.

I didn't want to sound so disappointed that it was him and not Harry who had done it, but I had really hoped that it had been Harry, but I knew I couldn't ask for such a thing. Not after what I had been witnessing today.

"Yeah, but you should thank Harry. It looked like he was really worried about you," Niall smiled.

I snorted. "Yeah, sure he was. Everything was probably just a game."

Niall frowned. "Why would you think that?"

"Because," I started. "Mum told me a story about his parents' past, and it was like she could tell what would happen today, because everything she said would happen, happened. He wouldn't even glance at me when he walked by me, Niall!"

He swallowed thickly. "Well, I don't know anything about what your mum told you, but I'm sure Harry genuinely cared about you."

"You sure everything wasn't just a game? That he cared about me just because he wanted to seem like a guy who defended an outcast? I mean, he does want to uphold his reputation about being the most popular guy at school after all."

Niall shook his head hesitantly. "I'm not sure what he thinks now, but at the party all he could think about was for you to get home in safe hands as soon as possible. And I'm sure he meant everything he did that night too, Louis."

I looked down at the floor. I wanted to believe him, but I couldn't. At least not yet, not until Harry had proven to me that he wasn't the bad guy he appeared to be right now.

"I don't dare to believe you before I see it with my own eyes," I muttered. I was about to walk away, when I suddenly remembered something.

"Enough about me... So, you and Liam?" I asked with a smile on my face. I forced myself to stop thinking about Harry for a second so I could be happy for my best mate.

Niall blushed a crimson red. "Oh, you saw that?"

I rolled my eyes. "Come on Niall, you two were inseparable the whole night!"

He shifted uncomfortably. "Well, we've been talking to each other a few times before. He asked me to go to the party, and I just couldn't say no," he said, scratching the back of his neck.

"So, you had to bring me with you so you wouldn't have to go alone?" I asked, already knowing the answer. I wasn't mad at him though, I just couldn't be.

"When you say it like that... I really am sorry, Louis. I shouldn't have used you like that." He looked down at the floor in shame.

"Don't be, I'm so happy for you! I couldn't help but smile when I saw you two dance so intimately at the party!" I smiled, nudging him in the side.

He chuckled slightly. "Thank you for not being mad at me. I love you Louis," he mumbled, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me into a bear hug.

I laughed against his shoulder, returning the hug.

Seconds later, I pulled away and looked at him with a smile on my face. "So, you're together now, right?"

The smile on his face faltered and turned into a look of disappointment. "No, Louis. We're not. I thought he would ask me out during the party, but we just danced together and said our goodbyes."

I frowned. "But I saw you two snogging your faces off! That must've meant something!"

He stared at me in shock, his mouth hanging open and his eyes widened. "B-but we only kissed when we were in the bathr-room," he whispered.

I nodded. "Yes, me and Harry..." I trailed off as I felt a stab in my heart at the sound of his name, but decided to continue anyway. "Eh, we opened the door, and well, there you were," I smiled weakly.

Suddenly, flashbacks from the night of the party played through my head. Harry's light touches, his hand in mine, his gorgeous face... I couldn't hate him, I just couldn't.

"Oh," Niall blushed, looking down at the floor again.

Right then, the bell rang, signalling we had to get to our first period.

There was only one thing was on my mind as we walked through the hallway;

Maybe Harry was a selfish, stupid, cold-hearted fool. And maybe I was invisible to him, and would forever be so. I just couldn't care less about it though. I mean, how could I when I loved him more than anything else?

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Before anything, I just want you to know that I absolutely love both Anne and Des. This is just fiction...

So, another chapter! Whooop! I love you guys sooo much! Seriously!!! Love the feedback as well! OMG, I received more this time than after chapter 4! You're truly amazing!

Sooo, what's on Harry's mind? Why was he so cold towards Louis after the party? What has Louis done wrong? Hehehe... What about Harry's past? Has his parents' past something to do with how Harry's acting?

I'm sorry if you want to see through Harry's point of view. It's just, I want this story to be a little secretive. Not that it contains many secrets, but I want to keep Harry's feelings as one ;)

Photo: I don't know if I'm right, but I think the pic is similar to the expression Harry's wearing when he's passing Louis in the hallway.

I love you and please keep COMMENTING, VOTING and FOLLOWING. You probably know how much I love it by now... ;)

Pauline .xx