He's My Nerd (Harry Styles as Marcel fanfic)

Chapter 27

Rosalind's POV

I went back to school another week later, and Marcel was more than half way through the healing process. It had been 3 weeks since the party and - as horrible as it was - I was so glad it happened. Despite everything, it helped Marcel and I become closer.

I really cared about him.

All eyes seemed to be on us that Monday morning.

Marcel and I had talked a lot about whether or not we would let anybody know we were dating, after all, his inexperience made him uncomfortable and I didn't want to pressure him into going public. People would undoubtedly torment him over it.

So we had given it a week while I was still sick, giving us time to settle into the idea and then arrive at school together in his car when I got back, and take it from there.

Of course, we weren't just going to announce it to everyone with a megaphone. I would tell Ally and Maya, and we would simply hold hands in the halls and spend lots of alone time togehter - as couples do - without drawing attention to ourselves.

I was slightly uncomfortable with the situation, as Marcel didn't have a clue about cute gestures and was trying to plan ahead when he would hold my hand, when we would talk alone, how long intervals between gestures would be.

He was unable to relax, bless him.

So, we walked into school early Monday morning, hand in hand, and despite our hopes of not drawing attention, everybody seemed to notice that we were together.

We kept walking towards the school building, me squeezing his hand encouragingly as every pair of eyes in the school silently watched us move, and eventually made it inside.

I heard Marcel audibly sigh with relief as we stepped inside the almost empty foyer - he hated being the center of attention.

However, our privacy didn't last long.

As we rounded to corner into the locker corridor we were faced with a bit of an issue.

There seemed to be a jock cult gathering going on in there as about twelve of them crowded around one of the lockers right in the middle of the hall.

Shit.

I noticed one of them was one of the pair who beat up Marcel, which was what initially brought us together. As much as I hated him, I internally thanked him for bringing Marcel into my life.

Marcel stiffened beside me as he realised exactly who was in front of us.

I debated whether or not we should slowly back away, but I needed to get some textbooks out of my locker which was directly opposite them.

I decided, for Marcel's sake, to pull him away for now - I would just have to share someone elses textbooks, which I didn't mind.

I tugged on his hand, starting to inch us backwards, but we were too late. 

One of the boys in the crowd elbowed another and pointed to us, flashing a taunting smirk our way.

Shit.

The second one laughed at us and gave a kissy face, which - unfortunately for us - drew the attention of all the others.

One by one they turned, moving around us to make sure everyone got a good view.

They were now in a semicircle around us and - I was sure I could speak for both of us - we felt trapped.

"Oh look, the nerd's finally got himself a girl." One of them taunted.