Some things change. | l.s.

Prologue

"Ready or not, here I come." Louis spun around terrified, almost tripping over his own feet in panic as he came face to face with one of his biggest nightmares- better known as one of his bullies, Zayn. He turned back around and started running but almost immediately he heard heavy footsteps behind him that were quickly catching up to him.

Louis got harrassed by a group of boys in his year for so long he couldn't remember anymore how it was before they ruined his life and caused him physical and mental pain whenever they had the chance to.

At first it started with picking on him because he had never been one to always wear cool clothes or had a fancy haircut unlike the other boys in his school so he never fit in, not to mention that he was the typical nerd. It wasn't like he had a choice, his mother was struggling with money, she was a nurse working all day not even having time to take care of his two younger sisters after their father left them as soon as his youngest sister was born. She tried to juggle between paying bills and giving her children what they needed, but she could barely put a warm meal on the table for them everyday. So Louis was forced to wear the same five shirts, three jumpers and two jeans he owned which were patchy, washed out and way too short for him although he had always been quite small compared to the other students in his year.

When a new student started attending his school in year ten the actual bullying started and everything went downhill from then. He was the first contact the new kid- Harry- had and they got along really great- for the first few weeks. Then Harry met Zayn and left Louis standing in the rain without any warning. From one day to the other he ignored him and Louis didn't exist for him anymore and up to this day Louis had no idea what happened.

It barely took a month until Harry practically ruled the school with his new friends- the coolest clique wandering through the hallways- and their number one target was Louis. Whenever the cool kids were harrassing Louis Harry wasn't far and watched how he either stared at the ground while being insulted, not daring to say a word against them, or on really bad days when they were extra mean he couldn't help but cry being the laughing stock of the school in no time.

That was until Harry wasn't watching anymore and joined in. About half a year later it started to get physical when Louis reveiced the first slap by Stephen because he was ignoring him and from then it got a weekly routine being beaten up because of the most random things.

Here he was now running from the devil in person as if his life depended on it just because he forgot about the time after lunch when he sat by himself in the janitor's closet as usual when his best and only friend Niall wasn't there. He had about half a dozen other places to eat in peace until his bullies found out about them and made sure he'd never go there again. The only spot they didn't know about yet was the small storage room.

Niall always tried to protect Louis from his harassers, but it barely helped him because Niall wasn't exactly popular either, he just had the luxury not constantly being picked on because he was defending himself and Louis was the easier target. Louis was already glad Niall stood up for him at all although he constantly told him he didn't have to- being embarrassed that he couldn't speak up for himself once with his seventeen years of age-, but Niall never left him hanging. He once said 'through thick and thin' even if that meant he would someday be beaten up as well- the only regret he had was every time he couldn't be there to save Louis.

"Where do you think you're going, fag?" Stephen suddenly appeared in front of him and Louis collided with his chest, falling on his arse.

"T-to c-class." He said terrified. "P-please, St-"

"Shut the fuck up!" Stephen hissed, but his eyes wandered to a spot behind him and a dark smirk grew on his face.

"Why so quick in your steps today? I just wanted to have a little talk with you." Louis got ripped off the floor and slammed into a locker by Zayn who was trapping him with both arms next to his head. "I heard some things about you."