[Harry]

"We did it for Harry because we know the real Louis Tomlinson, and the real Louis Tomlinson is not worth someone like Harry Styles."

Liam let out a loud snort. "Is that supposed to be some kind of excuse? I mean, come on guys. Don't you have anything better to come with?"

While he continued being upset about it, I studied Zayn. His eyebrows were pulled together and he seemed to be in deep thought. It was as if he knew something. That was why I was the only one who wasn't surprised when he eventually opened his mouth.

"I think I know what Niall means by that..." He trailed off, making Liam turn to him with wide eyes.

Niall turned to Zayn as well, the concerned look on his face turning into a small smile. Ed looked a little happier too while I just had the biggest lump in my throat. I mean, if Zayn - Louis' best friend - agreed with what Niall just said, then it had to be some truth to it. I wasn't sure I wanted to hear it, though.

"Zayn, babe, what are you saying?" Liam asked, taking his hand in his own.

The raven-haired boy ran a hand through his hair as he let out a sigh. "I'm guessing it has to do with the way Louis has treated and spoken about Harry, right?"

Niall nodded sadly, turning to look at me. "I swear, Harry, I never wanted to hurt you, but when Ed noticed that Louis was the one you had fallen for, I couldn't help but do something about it. You don't know what he's said about you. He's called you the worst names you could possibly come up with. I mean, he would even go around in the locker room after practice and talk about how much of a 'stupid nerd' you were. Don't even mention how poorly he treated you. You don't deserve him, Harry. You're worth so much more than him," he almost pleaded.

Ed nodded in agreement, meaning that he had the same mindset as Niall. I wanted to say that I was happy they cared about me so much, but I couldn't. The anger I felt overpowered everything. I knew that Louis hadn't been exactly nice to me in the past, but I hadn't been to him either. Besides, I knew the reason why, and they didn't. They didn't know the truth. They didn't know that he had been mean to me just because I had ignored him when he needed me the most. They didn't know that he was mean to me because he was jealous of my girlfriend and friendship with Liam. They didn't know that he did it all just because he was in love with me.

My jaw was clenched and so were my fists. I glanced at Zayn one more time to see if he knew the truth, but when he seemed just as concerned as Niall and Ed, I decided I couldn't stay here. They had ruined my chance at being with Louis just because they didn't know the truth. I honestly couldn't even stand the thought of being around them right now.

With that in mind, I stood up abruptly, my chair hitting the floor in the process. The loud sound made everyone in the cafeteria look my way, but I couldn't care less. Without another glance at my so-called 'friends', I stormed out of the room and headed towards the only place I knew I could be by myself right now; the toilets.

On my way there, I could feel people throwing me confused and disgusted looks, but I was getting used to it by now, so I decided not to care about it. Instead, I focused on getting to my destination as quickly as possible so I could finally lock myself up in the toilets and be by myself. Once I was sitting on the toilet seat, I pulled my knees up to my chin and started crying. Everything that I had kept inside me during the last two days just came crashing down on me and I couldn't stop it anymore.

I didn't care that I was in a public bathroom and that there could be other people in here as well. Most of the people were in the cafeteria anyway so the possibility wasn't even that high. Hugging my knees even closer to my chest, I buried my face in the fabric of my black jeans, letting my tears fall on them. I was so caught up in my thoughts that I almost missed the sound of someone knocking on my stall.

"Go away, Liam. I'm not in the mood to talk," I sniffled, looking up at the green door.

"Harry, it's Louis."

The second I heard his voice, I stood up abruptly, unlocking the stall so quickly that I almost hit the door right in Louis' face. If he hadn't taken a step back, I would have.

Instantly, I flung myself forward and wrapped my arms around him. He had to grab my hips so we didn't fall to the ground by the harsh impact of our bodies crashing together. Once he had a hold on me, he backed me up so we were inside the stall again and locked the door behind us. I had my face buried in the crook of his neck, sobbing even harder now that he was here.

"Hey, what happened, love?" He asked worriedly, caressing my back.

My heart skipped a beat when he called me 'love', and I wondered if he had suddenly changed his mind about everything.

I pulled back a little so I could get a look at him. His eyebrows were pulled together in concern and his eyes looked a bit confused. I let out a sigh, shaking my head. "It was t-them, Louis. Ed and Niall were the ones who posted the tweets. They s-said they did because I didn't deserve you, that it was because they cared about me."

His hand on my back suddenly froze, and I could feel how it clenched in a fist. His face turned red with anger but I knew it wasn't directed at me. "I knew those two fuckers were up to some shit," he seethed, breathing heavily through his nose.

I tried to calm him by reaching up and caressing his cheek, but his jaw wouldn't unclench no matter how hard I tried.

His eyes eventually found mine. "What did they say then? That I'm not as nice as you and therefore don't deserve you? Too bad I already know that."

Letting out half a sniffle and half a laugh, I rolled my eyes. "That's just nonsense. I mean, you can be pretty genuine sometimes," I joked, making him glare at me.

"Seriously, Harry? This is not the best time to joke around. We just found out that two of our best friends have outed us to the entire school and therefore can't stay together. Not just that, but they did it for some lame reason too. It wouldn't surprise me if it turns out it was just because of jealousy. Niall probably still likes you and wanted to do all he could to tear us apart," he muttered, averting his gaze from mine again.

I let out a sigh, shaking my head. "You're right. This is not the best time to joke, but you should know that you are nice and caring when you want to be, and you do deserve me. As for Niall, I don't know, to be honest. I just think he thought he was doing me a favor, but he didn't know the truth. He just saw the bad you who had called me names and was mean to me. He didn't know the reason behind it, and the same goes for Ed."

He thought about it for a while, his eyebrows knitted together in concentration. "You might be right about that, but I can't help but feel slightly betrayed. I thought they were my friends, but if what they said is true, it means that they don't genuinely like me and that they have never really been my true friends."

Well, I couldn't argue with that. I mean, if Ed and Niall's intention was to do me a favor, they hadn't cared about Louis at all. Maybe they just thought he was playing with my feelings or something, but either way, that was no excuse. If they were his friend, they wouldn't have done that to him without knowing better. "You must be very disappointed," I said, biting my lip.

He shrugged as he started to move his hand along my back again. "Well, it just goes to show that you can't trust anyone, even if you think they are your friends."

I nodded curtly, letting out a sigh. The tears had stopped rolling down my cheeks now, but I still felt just as bad as before. However, it did help that Louis came here to comfort me. "What are we going to do now?" I asked, looking up at him.

His jaw was still clenched and his eyes hadn't turned back to their usual ocean blue color yet. "I don't know. Is there anything we can do? Everything is already too late. Shit has already happened. I mean, haven't you noticed the way people have treated us today?" He asked, raising his eyebrows questioningly.

Averting my gaze, I let out another sigh. "I know. I just... I just wish there was a way for us to still be together. You mean the world to me. I mean, just you showing up here made me feel so much better, and knowing I will have to live without your presence in the future literally kills me..." I trailed off.

He cradled my head, cupping my cheeks in his small hands. "I'll always be here, though. You'll always be my stepbrother, so we will never be too far from each other," he reminded me, looking me deep in the eyes.

I swallowed hard. "Maybe not technically, but it'll feel like you're miles away when I know I can't have you as close to me as I want to."

This time it was his turn to let out a sigh. He let the pad of his thumb run along my bottom lip as he looked at me thoughtfully. "It's not going to be easy, I know, but at least we will always be in each other's lives one way or another. That's better than nothing, right?"

I shifted my feet, looking down at my shoes the best I could when he held my head in his hands. "Right..." I muttered.

Right then, the bell rang, almost making me jump in surprise. Louis noticed how tense I suddenly got and let out a laugh. "Still easily scared, eh?" He winked, trying to lighten the mood.

I glared at him. "And you were the one who told me it was a bad time to joke around. Yeah, right," I said, rolling my eyes.

The smile dropped from his face. "Yeah, sorry."

Without thinking too much about it, I leaned in and kissed him quickly. I then slipped out of his hold and unlocked the stall. "It's okay. See you later."

Even if I didn't see his face, I could tell that he was shocked by my actions. He stayed in his place when I shut the door behind him and exited the bathroom to head to class. On my way there, I made sure to wipe the last tears off my cheeks and keep my head down so no one could see that I had been crying.

I tried not to think about Niall and Ed's confession during the next hour, but it was almost impossible not to. I just couldn't believe that they had been the ones sneaking on us and outing us like that. It was actually a little scary. It wasn't just that, though, but just like Louis, I also felt a bit betrayed. I thought they were my friends too, yet they kept this to themselves and didn't even think of talking to me about it personally before they decided to tell the entire school. It was just so unbelievable that I wanted to pull my hair out of my head. How could they have done such a stupid thing?

When the last bell of the day rang and I was ready to head to the bus stop outside school, I was interrupted by a female voice that I recognized very well. I was in the hallway, facing my locker when this happened, and to say that my body tensed at the voice would be an understatement. It literally froze to ice.

"Harry?"

I turned around to face the brown-haired girl I had dated about two years ago, swallowing hard at the sight of her. She was wearing a green bomber jacket and a pair of blue, ripped jeans. What surprised me was that her lips were twitched in a smile, considering the entire school had looked at me disgustingly the whole day.

"Miranda," I noted, my eyes wide open in shock because why was she out of all people here talking to me?

She put a hand on her hip and tilted her head to the side. "So, I heard you and Louis are dating. Is it true that you're stepbrothers as well?" She asked curiously.

I looked down at the floor in shame, thinking that she would run away in disgust when I replied to her. "Um, yeah, but we've kind of broken up now."

To my surprise, she stayed in her place, her eyebrows pulling together in confusion. "What? Why would you do that?"

Looking at her incredulously, I let out a snort. "Are you mental? People have been talking shit about us the entire day. We would be dead in a couple of weeks if we were to continue dating. At least, they would never stop harassing us," I confessed.

She still looked confused as she bit her bottom lip thoughtfully. "I get what you mean, but come on. You guys don't have more than a few months left here in this school. I'm sure you would be able to survive till then. Also, if you really like each other, I'm certain things will work out for you no matter what."

Now it was my turn to knit my eyebrows together in confusion. "Why are you taking this news so well? Why aren't you disgusted like everyone else? I mean, you if anyone should be considering you've been together with me. Aren't you like weirded out or something?" I questioned, slinging my backpack over my shoulder.

She shook her head slowly. "No, of course not. I mean, sure, I was a little surprised when I heard that you were stepbrothers, but come on. I've known ever since we dated that Louis has feelings for you. He wasn't very subtle with the glares he shot me whenever you and I were together. Nor was he with the way he kept looking at you. You'd be blind not to see the heart eyes he had for you, you know?"

I could feel my cheeks heat up by her words. Was this true? How come I had never noticed it, though? Surely, it must've been because of how caught up I was with Miranda at the time. I was just too blind to notice that Louis even wanted to be with me.

Running a hand through my curls, I gave her a small smile. "Is that so?"

She let out a light chuckle, nodding her head. "Yeah, very much so. That's why I wasn't surprised when I heard that you were together. Did you seriously have to become stepbrothers for you to notice this?" She asked, looking at me playfully.

I nodded shamefully, letting out a chuckle myself. "I guess..."

"Well, what I was trying to say is that even if things are bad now, you shouldn't give up on what you have. Who cares if you live in the same house and that your parents are dating? In a couple of months, you'll be out of there anyway and no one will know that your parents live together. I know how much Louis likes you, and I can imagine how much you like him, so why give up on something like that? Also, don't care about what the pricks here say. They're just jealous because they can't have either of you," she smirked, making my heart swell with love for this girl.

Now I really understood why I had dated her back in the days. Not that I felt the same anymore, but she was so caring and sweet. I definitely wasn't ashamed of the fact that I had been together with her. I mean, who expected her out of all people to be accepting of my and Louis' relationship? Well, I sure didn't.

Without a second thought, I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around her petite body. When I felt her arms go around my figure as well, I let my eyes fall shut, enjoying the feeling of not being hated by someone that wasn't very close to me anymore. It felt nice, really nice actually.

Once I pulled away, I gave her an appreciating smile. "You don't know how happy you just made me. My day has been so shitty, but now you've definitely lightened it up. You're like the only one apart from Liam who hasn't been against me and Louis. If only you knew how much it means to me that one more person is accepting of us."

"Well, even if we aren't together anymore, I want you to be happy. I still care about you, and I know that Louis likes you, so why would I not be accepting of you? Love is love after all, and as long as you're happy, I am too, and so should everyone else be."

I sent her another wide smile, shaking my head incredulously. "Well, I can definitely see why I dated you," I laughed and she joined me.

With a flick of her hair, she said; "Of course. Aren't I just amazing?"

"Very much so," I chuckled.

It wasn't until then I remembered that I had a bus to catch, and I was sure it was not going to wait for me. Once I realized this, my eyes widened and I put my hand on Miranda's shoulder. "It was really nice talking to you, Miranda, and I appreciate your acceptance, but my bus is literally leaving at this second, so I've gotta go."

She rolled her eyes, waving a hand in dismissal. "Then what are you still doing here?" She asked, raising an eyebrow playfully.

With a grin on my face, I shrugged my shoulders. "See you later."

"Bye, Harry," she laughed.

I started walking towards the exit but made sure to turn around when I replied with a 'bye' to her.

"Oh, and don't forget to take your Louis back!" She reminded me.

"I won't!" I shouted back, the smile never leaving my face on my way to the bus that was just about to close its doors when I arrived.

Once I was seated, I couldn't help but shake my head in disbelief. How come one person's acceptance and words could make me feel so much better? At lunch, I was ready to give up on me and Louis altogether, but now after I had talked to Miranda, it was like I had suddenly gained hope again. It was an amazing feeling, and I just wanted things to turn around now and go my way instead of against me.

And hopefully, they would. But then again, when was luck ever on my side?

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Alright, so who thought Miranda would make an appearance again, eh? And she's accepting it all too? Haha well well, it happened at least :)

Do you think things will take a turn for the better for Louis and Harry now or are things just going to get worse?

Again, I'm so thankful for all the reads and votes. I love you so much. However, I would be very thankful if the people who are promoting their own stories in the comment section stopped doing that. I find it very disrespectful.

Pauline .xx