Paris Changed Us - Larry Stylinson

Chapter 3

Louis still hadn't accepted Harry's Facebook friend request by morning, so he assumed it was because he was never going to. It wasn't surprising whatsoever, especially seeing as whenever Harry tried to smile apologetically at Louis after one of his mates made a degrading comment towards him, Louis would pout his mouth to the side in disinterest and look the other way. He envisioned Harry as being one of the tormentors, not the kind one on the side who wanted the bullying to cease.

Harry tried not to make eye contact with Louis, as he strolled into their English class with Kendall ten minutes late (because she had finally won him over on their Starbucks battle.) He did notice how generally tired Louis looked though, dark circles under his eyes and a hazy focus on the whiteboard. Today, instead of following his girlfriend (who was sipping obnoxiously loud from her drink) to the back row, he leant in to quickly mutter something to her.

"I'm gonna sit further forward today, on my own, concentrate a bit more."

"Since when do you care about concentrating?" She whispered, eyebrows urged to raise. Harry rolled his eyes in response, waving his hand to dismiss her to the back row. He sat on the empty desk right behind where Louis sat with Niall, hoping this wouldn't start looking a bit creepy from Louis' side of the spectrum.

They had been set an independent task to answer some questions in the textbook, so the room was filled with discussions of people working together with those around them. Harry pulled out his earphones, unravelling them from around his phone and plugging them in. But he didn't put any music on, just wanted it to seem like he did.

He wanted to hear Louis and Niall talking again, without obviously eavesdropping. And he looked totally innocent, sat there with his textbook open, looking as though he were reading but really keeping an ear out.

"I'm really sorry about Paris, man," Niall sighed, sparking up the conversation with Louis right in front of Harry's eyes. "It's really shit of me to offer to pay and then-"

"Mate, it's fine! It isn't your fault you don't have enough to lend me too, it was never your job to in the first place. I'll just have to wait for another trip, one I can afford when I find a better job." Louis reassured, his voice somehow remaining bright. Harry bet he didn't feel so bright on the inside, but he masked it. It was heartbreaking, really.

"It's not fair, how there are rich as fuck people who can afford this easily, like Kendall, Zayn, Harr- " Niall cut himself off when he recalled Harry had sat right behind them, discreetly twisting in his seat to look at Harry (who was still looking at the textbook, pretending to be working) before turning back to Louis again, "Like Kendall, Harry, all their group. He can't hear me, don't worry, he's got earphones in."

Harry wanted to smirk and laugh at that, but he continued to listen.

"Oh, that one's called Harry, the one behind us?"

"Yeah, curly hair. Thinks he's the hottest guy on earth."

Harry wanted to scoff. But maybe what Niall had said was a little bit true.

"Well, I know nothing about them, but I can tell by their style and attitudes that they're all rich." Louis quietly admitted. Harry's ears pricked up in interest. "You know what I mean? I'm not calling them snobby, buuut..." He trailed off.

"You're not calling them snobby, but they are." Niall humoured him, before they both chuckled.

"Well, I don't know them personally, can't fully judge. But I don't like it when they all pick on
me."

The way Louis had phrased that final sentence, made Harry forget about how he had just been called snobby. The way Louis said "they all pick on me", as though their group were all one person who were responsible for one another's bad actions.