NERD- Larry Stylinson

0-0 Chapter Ten 0-0

The week long break ends sooner rather than later and now school is back in session.

Louis sits in the cafeteria, Niall sitting next to him. They reminisce about the break, speaking of the long nights they had without having to worry about waking up early the next morning. Louis told him about running into Harry at the park and he could see Niall's face change form humor to fond. Louis knew that Niall understood that his feelings for Harry were becoming more real by the second.

Niall was just about to launch into a new story about his brother's coming home when a crash of trays made both lads look to the side. What they saw had them raising their eyebrows in surprise and intrigue.

Standing there was three people that, Louis noticed, hardly ate in the cafeteria. Yet here they were, standing before them with hopeful smiles. Louis nods to them first and they all take a seat, clambering about until they get situated. Harry is the worst, almost spilling his food over himself in his haste to sit. Veronica is on his right, smiling wide and flipping her hair. Leeroy is on the left, nervous smile and blush ever so present on his cheeks. Louis might have an idea why. He finally looks to Harry in the middle and he swears he stopped breathing.

Harry has a large grin on his face, dimples present and eyes trained on the tray on the table. His hair isn't combed back like it usually is, but rather wavy as to what Louis can see since most of his hair is tucked under a beanie. His glasses are perched low on his nose, Louis wanting to reach out and push them up. He still wears his smart clothing, patterned sweater and slacks, but Louis believes he looks beautiful.

"Hi." Veronica says for the group, already munching on the stale fries. Leeroy gives a little wave, still in a daze by what Louis can see. Harry finally glances up, catching Louis' eye. His smile grows and Louis feels his whole body light up in a whirlwind. His day has been made by such a simple action; it's hard to believe that Harry can have so much power over him.

"And hello to you too." Niall greets, giving the trio a lazy grin. "How was your vacation?" Niall never missed a beat, always up for meeting new people. Louis could see that the group was grateful that Niall could so easily slip into a conversation with them. Veronica was the first to take initiative, droning on about her culminating lab that she had to finish over break. Leeroy mostly stays in his little day dream, only mentioning a few comments here and there. Harry was able to speak freely, not so shy around Louis anymore, telling them how his mum has been pressing him about college.

"Same with my mum." Louis says, already so invested in Harry's ramblings. He could hear Harry talk all day. "She wants me to apply to as many colleges as possible to make sure I have a higher chance of getting in."

"That's good that you're putting yourself out there, although it's good to not try for more than six because sometimes you could get into more than one and it becomes a challenge to try and decide which school to choose." Harry explains. Louis had never really thought about that, but he considers it great advice and tells Harry so.

"I'll make sure to keep that in mind." Louis is about to ask what school Harry planned on going to when a voice was cutting in, quite rudely might Louis add, into the conversation.

"Looks like little old Harry thinks he can sit with cool kids." Nathan chides. Louis rolls his eyes and turns his head to scowl at the prick.

"I don't know what you're getting at Nathan, but as I said before, Harry is my friend."

"Oh is he now." His voice is laced with sarcasm and Louis really hates causing a scene, however if Nathan plans on saying things he shouldn't, Louis will gladly clock him into tomorrow. "Is little Harry a cool kid now because I think he's still a dork." Louis stands then, slamming his hands on the table and glaring at Nathan for saying what he said.

"I told you not to call him that." Louis says through gritted teeth. He's trying to be the bigger person, keeping his cool, but Nathan isn't making it any easier.

"Actually you said not to call him a nerd, so I figured dork would work too."

"Smart mouth eh?" Louis is angry, far angrier than he was a few days ago. He just doesn't understand why Nathan thinks its okay to torment Harry like this. He wants to jump off the table and tackle the guy to the ground for being a down right prick, knowing that he could possible get in trouble for being in a fight. Louis is ready to throw more insults Nathan's way when he catches a glimpse of something over his shoulder. The second guy from way back when, is standing there with something in his hand, ready to throw. Louis follows the guy's line of vison to find him staring right at Harry. When he looks back, the guy is just about ready to fire. The next few seconds happen in a blur.

Louis does jump up on the table, but not to start a fight with Nathan, no, rather shielding Harry from the incoming food palette that the guy was going to send his way. It felt like slow motion with the way Louis was able to get there just in time to be pelted with the gooey substance. The cafeteria goes silent, not a single person making a noise. Louis can feel all eyes on him and he doesn't feel embarrassed. He feels proud because he was able to save Harry from what could have been a terrible disaster.

"What's going on here?!" A teacher shouts. All the students point to Nathan and his friend, not even slightly seeing their side. They all know that if Louis was involved, whatever the cause, he was on the good side. "You two principal's office now!" The boys slunk in their spots knowing there was no way out of it. They storm away, not caring that the whole school is no longer in their favor. They've just been bumped down on the food chain for even thinking of messing with Louis.

"Louis!" Louis glances back at his little group to see Harry looking at him panicked. "Are you alright?" He asks concerned.

"I'm fine, just a small mess I'm going to have to clean up." He looks down to his shirt to see it's completely ruined. It was his favorite shirt too; still it was worth it because at least Harry wasn't the one covered in the weird concoction.

"Here I'll help." Harry actually takes charge for once, dragging Louis off to the bathroom. Once inside, he rinses some towels with water and rubs lightly at the dirtied spots. He seems concentrated in his actions so Louis keeps quiet letting Harry take his time. "You didn't have to do that." Harry whispers.

"Do what?" Louis feigns innocence.

"Don't be stupid Lou, you know what you did." He peeks up at Louis and then returns to his work. "You didn't have to take the hit."

"Harry I've told you, I will do what has to be done to watch out for you. I don't like that Nathan thinks he has power over you because of the way you dress. You are who you are and there's no changing that. If he can't say how wonderful you are than he shouldn't be saying anything at all." Louis misses the fact that he just admitted to believing Harry's wonderful, too warped up in the thought that Nathan's a prick. It causes a new glint in Harry's eye that Louis does catch, but can't define.

"I know I said this before, but you have an amazing perspective on life." Harry finally finishes up with the cleaning only minimally removing the stains. "It'll still be stained, but you can take it out with some backing soda and vinegar."

"I'll make sure to tell my mum later when I do the wash." Louis is almost out the door when Harry grabs onto his wrist. He stops him, moving in closer and leaning in to his face. Loui stops breathing as he feels Harry lips ghost the corner of his mouth, a slight pressure present.

"Thanks again Lou." And then he's out the door...

What just happened?