And another one. I don't even know what to say about this one. We have to get somewhere but believe me, you won't like it. I don't like it either but I have the plot planned out and yeah

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Friday was a weird day for Harry. He was in a strange mood and being at odds with Louis wasn't helping his mood. He could still feel the fight freshly in his bones and didn't know how to act. He was still mad at Louis for treating Jake like this and letting Zayn influence him like this but he also missed his best friend.

Their PC course has always been tense because Harry was sharing it with Louis and Sean but today was worse than ever before. Sean was sitting in between them and seemed to sense the weird tension. A few times he had looked like he wanted to say something but, in the end, he had chosen against it. Harry felt bad for him.

"Jon ... Louis, could you help me with this? He wants me to finish it but I can't seem to make it work" asked Sean Louis hesitantly and pointed at his open document on the computer.

Knowing where this would lead to, Harry squeezed his eyes together and prepared himself for the next drama. But it didn't come. He only heard how Louis stopped tipping and probably saved his own document.

"Sure. What's the problem?" leaned Louis over to him.

Perplexed, Sean blinked and then showed Louis what he was talking about. Harry just watched their interaction completely puzzled. He had expected a snappy comment but not Louis actually helping him without one sassy word. That was unusual and Harry wasn't sure what to think. Yeah, today was really weird. No, strange.

If Louis really thought acting nice towards Sean now all of a sudden just because Harry mentioned it during their fight would make things better then he was totally wrong. It was just adding to the strange feeling inside of Harry.

In English, Harry could still feel the tension hanging in the air. Niall was absolutely oblivious next to him and Harry was thankful for that. It wasn't like he didn't care but he could be a bit ignorant to obvious feelings sometimes. Well, he was working on it and still young, so Harry didn't care that much.

Sean had relaxed a bit and was talking to Niall and working on the given tasks. Liam was sitting next to him and seemed to be deep in thought, occasionally glancing back and forth between Louis and him. He had probably noticed something was wrong or Zayn had told him everything. They've always been close, gossiping about everything.

While Louis was painfully focused staring down on his papers, avoiding any eye contact, Zayn was constantly glaring at him like he was trying to kill him with his eyes for murdering Louis' puppy, because that's what Louis looked like. Harry was sure Louis was so down because of something else. The fight wasn't that bad from Harry's side. He didn't do anything wrong so Louis had no reason to be sad about it. It had to be something different. Right?

Physical Education has never been this long. Normally, Louis always tried to keep Harry away from the things that could hurt him or chose him for his team or distracted the teacher so Harry could take a break because he just wasn't very sportive. Today Harry had to go through a whole lesson of pain without his saviour saving him because he was clinging to Zayn and Liam. Seeing that made Harry see red. He felt anger boiling in his veins but before he could do anything, Sean dragged him to the side over to him and Niall, distracting him successfully. Harry couldn't remember a time where they had been this broken. Parted into two groups and that all because of Zayn.

"Where are they?" looked Niall around in search of Louis, Zayn and Liam.

"Not here. That's for sure" stated Sean the obvious.

"Why would they not show up to lunch? Did something happen?" wondered Maya worriedly.

"We had an argument. Nothing big. No idea why they're missing" confessed Harry shortly.

"With all three of them?" raised Maya an eyebrow at him.

"Only with Louis" mumbled Harry and felt weird with his friends' eyes on him.

"How could that happen? You never fight" frowned Aria deeply.

"He was being mean to Jake and I snapped. Zayn couldn't shut his mouth and I left. He didn't even apologise" summed Harry up curtly.

"You fought because of Jake?" gaped Aria at him.

"Yeah".

"No guy is more important than your friendship" said Aria wisely.

"Great friendship when he can't even help me with my crush" snorted Harry defensive.

"He is fake dating you to help you. He w ...".

"He is such a great 'boyfriend' and is even missing, making me look dumb. Wonderful" cut Harry heroff.

"You don't need him for that" muttered Àmber under her breath.

"Hazza, what Aria was trying to say was that Louis does everything for you and this fight shouldn't matter. I can't see him being mean to Jake for no reason. That's not how Louis is" stepped Sean in now.

"You're taking his side although he has always been mean to you?" gasped Harry shocked.

"I'm just trying to make you see how dumb this is. Talk about it and make up again" advised Sean him.

"He is right. There is no Harry without Louis. I don't wanna see you two like this" agreed Niall with Sean.

"You noticed that?" was Harry surprised.

"Of course. I was just trying to give you some space. I'm not that ignorant" huffed Niall almost hurt.

"Of course not. Sorry, Niall" mumbled Harry ashamed.

"No harm done" smiled Niall at him.

"Why would you be harmed?" appeared Liam at their cafeteria table.

"Doesn't matter. Where have you been?" asked Niall curiously.

"With Z and Tommo. We had to talk about some things" answered Liam vague and Harry was sure he was keeping something from them.

"And where are they? Are they invisible now?" questioned Maya nosily.

"They um ... needed some time alone. Left together to have more privacy than in the hallways" cleared Liam his throat suspiciously.

"Are they okay?" checked Àmber in a weird voice.

"They will be" threw Liam her a pointed look that she seemed to understand.

Watching this weird interaction, Harry was sure that Liam and Àmber knew about Louis and Zayn's fuckbuddy affair and were keeping it a secret for them. How could they be so okay with this? It was horrible.

Because his swimming Coach was sick Harry was spending his last hour of school time by watching the football practise. He'd prefer to watch the basketball practise but that would make everything blow up. Now Harry at least looked like a supportive boyfriend and Jake's friend, who was on the team because he was too short for basketball, could tell him about it.

Something was off though. Louis wasn't as good as he normally was. He seemed unfocused and tired, almost down. The Coach didn't like this and was especially hard on him and this made Harry feel really bad. After all, Louis was his best friend, no matter what. The fight was unimportant right now. The only thing that mattered was Louis' well-being.

That's why he was waiting outside of the locker room for Louis after practise. He wanted to talk to him and no one could stop him from doing so. No one except for Jake, who was walking directly towards him now.

"Waiting for the boyfriend?" stopped Jake in front of him.

"Yeah, um" nodded Harry nervously.

"At least, he is here now. I haven't seen him at lunch, just you all alone with your friends. Where has he been?" Jake wanted to know.

"A teacher held him back. A misunderstanding" lied Harry and had no idea why.

"Was this misunderstanding also involving Zayn? I didn't see him either" hooked Jake knowingly. Harry stayed silent. "Hopefully, he is not cheating on you with him".

"Louis wouldn't do this" claimed Harry quickly.

"I wouldn't be so sure about this. No idea why you are with him if you could have someone so much better. Someone who is actually nice and not a mean bully, putting others down for nothing. I mean, on the outside he is this nice guy but behind your back he is the worst bully. At least, stand behind your actions" made Jake Louis look bad and Harry just looked at him.

"But of course, he can't do that, our little Mister Football Captain. He isn't even that good. Was he good today?" asked Jake Harry directly and he just shook his head honestly.

"See? At least, you're honest. No idea why he is the captain. He has no talent and covers it up with sassy comments and sarcastic insults, which are actually true. He hides behind Zayn and thinks his band makes him a superstar. The music isn't even good and his voice his horrible. Even Zayn would be a better lead singer. Hazza, you could have a way better boyfriend. An attractive handsome one, who is worth your time" Jake just didn't stop and Harry let him but his head snapped up at his last words.

"What are you trying to say?" hooked Harry eagerly.

"Just that other guys could be better for you. Maybe you want something better. Someone who is tall, strong and on the b ...".

"Bafort, what are you doing here?" appeared Louis behind Harry and directly wrapped his arms around him from behind.

"Just having a chat with our lovely Harry" answered Jake sugar-sweetly.

"He is lovely, isn't he?" tightened Louis his grip on Harry's waist.

"He really is" eyed Jake them up and down. "I gotta go home. See you around".

Harry looked after Jake until he was out of sight. He felt Louis' arms unwrap from his body and could directly feel the cold between them again. He had to admit, Louis was a better actor than he had thought. For a second, he had seemed normal again.

"You're good?" broke Louis thesilence.

"Yeah, I am" cleared Harry his throat and felt bad for not defending Louis when Jake was saying those things, but some were kind of true in some way. Maybe ...

"Great. Should I walk you home?" asked Louis tensely.

"No need. Gem is picking me up for a shopping trip. You know her" declined Harry awkwardly.

"Yeah. Okay, have fun with her. See you tomorrow?" offered Louis him a smile.

"Sure" smiled Harry back but for some reason it felt forced.

Slowly, they parted ways and left the school building. Harry pushed the awkwardness aside and went over to his sister's car. He hopped in and closed the door.

"You alright?" checked Gemma as a greeting, probably wondering why Louis wasn't here.

"Yeah. Everything's alright" assured Harry her, believing himself, and then they drove off.

In town, they walked through many different stores and Gemma tried on dozens of outfits but was never satisfied with anything until they reached her favourite store. Harry didn't understand why they didn't go here from the start. It was obvious she wouldn't buy anything else outside of this shop. He sat down in a waiting chair and helped Gemma choose the best clothing items.

Afterwards, they took a deserved break in a café and ordered two milkshakes and some cake. As much as Gemma could annoy him he also loved spending alone time with her. Since she attended Uni they didn't have that much time for each other anymore and now with Harry being a senior it has gotten even worse. Luckily, she was still living home so they could at least eat dinner together every day.

"Any progress with Jake yet?" asked Gemma after a while.

"A bit, I guess. We talked again and he seems to be interested in some way. I just have to find out in which way" reported Harry shortly.

"With Louis' help you'll find that out in no time and everything can go back to normal just with you having a boyfriend" was Gemma sure of it.

"I really want him to be my boyfriend" sighed Harry out dreamily.

"Ew, you're so gone for him. Its disgusting" gagged Gemma.

"You're one to talk" shot Harry back.

"Touché" laughed Gemma freely. "C'mon, let's go home. Mum's waiting for us".  

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Thoughts on this chapter and Harry's thoughts and actions?

Why is Jake acting the way he does?

Your support means the world to me. Thank you so much, Loves <3