Stutter || Larry Stylinson

Chapter Four (rewrite)

It was another week before Louis finally had the guts to go back up to the room above the library. Louis liked just sitting with Niall for the rest of the week, since he was there. For now, the OuTkAsTs room was just for when Louis didn't know where else to go. And everyone seemed pretty okay with that.

Louis chuckled as Savannah went on and on about California, where she was originally from. She was talking about this weird guy who had hit on her at a gas station in her hometown. He was older and would not leave her alone, even though it said 'gay and proud' on her shirt.

"I mean, I probably could've yelled across the room that I liked vagina, and he still wouldn't get the hint. Probably would tell me that he could convert me or some shit," Savannah said, rolling her eyes. She cleared her throat a little, looking over at Louis. "So, um. Louis. Did anyone ask you yet? About your goal?"

Louis went from laughing to furrowing his eyebrows, confused. "G-goal? Wh-what do you m-mean g-goal?" he asked softly, shaking his head a little.

Savannah looked around the room for a moment before meeting Louis's eyes. "Well, everyone in here has some kind of goal. Like, when they leave high school and this club," she answered.

Liam sat up. "You can have more than one goal, of course. One of mine is that I want to be able to use public transportation. My anxiety and OCD make it hard for me to even look at buses and trains," he said.

"I want to be able to one day control my anger on my own. Without any medication," Zayn spoke up from where he was drawing in the corner. He looked up at Liam, who was sitting nearby, and showed him the sketchbook. Liam nodded a little and smiled at Zayn softly.

"And Harry's is to be able to go about a sentence without repeating a sound," Georgia said. "I don't have a goal yet. Well, at least not a club related one. I just have personal and future goals."

Louis nodded slowly, taking in the new information. He bit his lip, thinking over what his goal could be. He thought of Mr. Langston, and how many times he had been embarrassed. How many times that he had been called out and laughed at and treated like pure shit.

"I w-want to sto-op stutter-ering," Louis said, staring down at his hands so he couldn't look at everyone's reactions. They were probably trying not to laugh at Louis. Who was he trying to kid? He was the only kid in the whole school who had a stutter, one he had had ever since he was young. How could Louis just get rid of it before the year ended?

When Louis heard nothing but silence, he finally looked around the room, gauging everyone's reactions. Instead of seeing humour or something cruel on their faces, he saw nothing but love and support. He smiled a little.

"That's great, Louis. We'll help you in anyways we can," Savannah promised, smiling wide at the boy. She looked over at Harry, who was watching the whole interaction silently. She quirked an eyebrow at him. "Do you think that you can help Louis, lovely? I'm sure he'll appreciate if you took your free hour to help him."

Harry looked over at Louis, then back at Savannah. He nodded a little, muttering, "Yeah, I can do that. That I can do, do, yeah."