Mr Brightside - L.S

Chapter One

Louis still remembers when he met Harry and Vincent on the open day at Knightley University. Open day was when potential future students came to look around the campus so they could decide if they wanted to attend the following year and Knightley was one of the most expensive and prestigious schools in the country so Louis - being the oldest in his family - knew that his younger sisters would follow in his footsteps and go to the same school as him as they always had. He could feel the pressure of choosing for them in his stomach.

Ever since he was fourteen, he had wanted to just be far enough away that he could live by himself, while still living close enough to his family that he could visit on the weekends. He had always been an independent lad. The only problem with being independent is that he had taken a whole month to decide what he might want to study; his best friend Zayn had offered to help, but Louis was - of course - determined to do this alone. So, after a month of thinking about and researching the career outcomes of studying all different subjects, he chose to take Sociology while doing minor courses in Art and English.

Like he thought when he was looking at the map of the school, he regretted choosing to study in the building furthest from the car park as he felt sweat slowly appear on his brow. Thankfully he had worn a tanktop despite the cold morning weather because now the sun was beating down on him and he could have sworn that the world was out to kill him via bipolar weather. Then again he was in Britain, the land of bipolar weather.

With a sharp ache in his legs and lungs that weren't doing their easy job, he finally slumped against the wall of the building. The sky was clear today - for once - and Louis noticed the small picnic area just outside the Sociology building, and a sigh of relief escaped him because he didn't want to walk across campus to get to the lunch hall, that is, if he got accepted. There was a group of people sitting on one of the benches, laughing at a joke one of them had told while they picked at their lunch.

Louis quickly looked around to see if there was a "no smoking" policy and when he saw no signs saying he wasn't allowed to, he pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and held his lighter to the end. As the nicotine entered his body, he sighed and rested his head against the wall before blowing it back out. A smile graced his face when he imagined his mother swatting his shoulder because it was bad for him and whatnot, and he let out a quiet laugh because one of the people on the picnic bench had fallen off by accident.

The nicotine calmed his nerves like it always did, and just as he was reaching the end of the cigarette, two boys approached him. One seemed to be part angel, apparently, because of his long dark curls that were tucked beneath a green hat hanging by his shoulders as he adjusted it slightly. His eyes were a faded light green, looking up at the boy next to him as they talked to one another in a conversation that Louis knew was probably very engaging, by the way the taller boy had his eyes narrowed at the other boy as though in concentration.

"Alright, mate? Do you know where the English class is?" the other boy asked. Louis tore his gaze away from the angel and forced himself to look at the boy that had just spoken. Blond hair sat atop his head, painted golden by the sun, and a few strands hung over his brown eyes that he was shielding from the sun with his hand. Louis looked down and realised that his other hand was occupied with the angel's because their hands were intertwined as they hung between them.

"Uh, yeah. It's actually in this building," Louis explains as he points behind him. "I'm taking English as well next year, so we might as well navigate this place together." As he spoke he threw his burnt-out cigarette into the bin next to him, before he pushed off the wall and started heading towards the door. The two other boys looked at each other and nodded and then caught up with him, still holding hands even as the brown-haired boy wiped the hair from his face. "So, what are your guys' names?"