Letting Go (Harry Styles AU)

Chapter 19: Breaking Walls

Natalie Clemons

"Shit." I muttered to myself, watching hopelessly as Harry stormed out of the dining hall. I wanted to run after him, but the memory of last time kept me still. It was like Harry had a switch - one side was always goofing around and trying to annoy me every second of the day while the other side was always pissed and didn't give a damn about anything or anyone. Though I wanted to make sure he didn't do anything stupid, I also didn't want to get the brunt of his dark side. I was there once and this time it seemed much worse. Maybe it was best if I just left him alone until he flipped back to normal.

Biting my lip, I tried to bring my focus back to the kids running through the relay races, but my gaze kept falling back to the front windows. Was he still on the porch or had he tried to go back to his cabin?

Suddenly, there was a huge clap of thunder that shook the building slightly, eliciting a squeal from most of the campers. The counselors tried to calm them down, but the beating of the pouring rain on the rooftop made it almost obsolete. They had to yell everything just so the kids could hear them, which didn't help the calming process. Another bolt of lightning struck behind the arts and crafts building across the road and in looking over, I accidently locked eyes with Connor, who had also been staring at the window.

I could tell by his expression that we were both thinking the same thing - was Harry out in that? He lifted his hand and pointed to the door. I nodded. Whispering something to James, he strode towards the front of the building and left to search for Harry.

"Can you help us?" I felt a tug on my shirt.

I looked down to find Logan and Owen at my side. Logan had quickly become one of my favorites and, contrary to Harry's belief, it wasn't just because we shared the same ginger features. Once he had finally opened up to the group, he turned out to be a really neat kid: curious and creative, with a quiet wit that came out on rare and glorious occasions. Both he and Jenna were really into art and had begun to dabble in painting while everyone else chose to do a craft that I had already laid out. It turns out they could do amazing things when I gave them their own creative freedom.

"Hi guys. What's up?" I asked, bending down slightly.

Owen held up a bright green bandana. "Nattie, could you tie our legs together?"

I smirked a little - all of Harry's boys had followed his lead and starting calling me Nattie. At first I was a little annoyed because I knew he did it purposefully, laughing every time I tried to correct it. He had somehow convinced them that I was lying and, of course, they believed him over me. Go figure.

My attention was brought back to the boys as Owen handed me the bandana. I furrowed my eyebrows. "Why do you want me to..." I began, looking around the room. Everything clicked when I saw multiple campers in pairs also tying two of their legs together before hobbling over to James. I hadn't even realized the first relay was over.

"Oh. Three legged race, I gotcha." I laughed, getting down on both knees to tie the green fabric and form their third leg. "There you go boys."

"Thanks!" Logan beamed, already heading over to the starting line.

"Whoa!" Owen yelped, nearly falling over at the jerk on his leg. "Logan!" He glared and pulled the ginger haired kid back.

The boy's face turned bright red. "Sorry." Carefully, they began to limp over to James who had already put down some masking tape to create the starting line.

I looked back towards the door, but Connor still hadn't come back in. I stared at it for a few more moments, willing it to open so I could figure out what was going on.