Super Rich Kids

Liam watched through the car window as the driver brought them through the tall iron gates. In the distance he could see the school, a series of sprawling hundred year old buildings surrounded by immaculate grounds. He turned up the volume on his headphones and closed his eyes, leaning back against the seat and  ignoring the scenery they passed. It wasn't anything he hadn't seen before, once you've seen one boarding school you've seen them all. His parents hadn't come to drop him off, Liam was surprised they had even been in the same room long enough to decide to send him here. Now his father was back in their house in London, his mother at their house in the country, and Liam was arriving at his new school alone. His parents hadn't been able to stand each other since Liam was 14, around the same time he quit the football team and started getting drunk with Andy every weekend. Not that they had exactly been a happy family before then. Liam thought he was about 8 when he noticed the constant stream of his father's mistresses, wondering why his father went on so many trips and came back smelling like funny perfume with lipstick on his shirts. If his mother cared, she didn't show it, and not just about his father's infidelity. She was a tough woman, all smiles and glamour in front of the cameras, but stone and sharp words behind closed doors.

Since the split, they minded their own business in their separate houses, and didn't pay much attention to what Liam did tucked away at boarding school, out of their sight and their responsibility. But when Andy was caught passed out drunk on his father's boat with a pound of cocaine, Liam's parents decided to have one last conversation and came to the conclusion that Liam needed better influences in his life, that it would reflect poorly on their family if Liam was associating with people like that. Of course it wasn't about Liam's actually well being, if they were concerned about that they had missed the boat a long time ago, Liam thought bitterly. No, they were concerned about their family's image, about the public eye. So they pulled him out of his old boarding school and sent him to a new one a few hundred miles away. Liam wouldn't really miss much about his old school. He mostly hung out with his friends because they were there, because Danielle was good for the occasional fuck and Andy was generous with his weed, and if he was going to get drunk it might as well be with the same people every night. Leaving had been easy, Liam had stopped caring about things like that three years ago. 

The car pulled up in front of an austere looking building and Liam exited, greeted by a man in an expensive suit bearing the crest of the school. "Welcome to Westerley, Mr. Payne," the man said, and Liam shook his hand cordially, not extending a greeting of his own. "I'm Mr. Crawfield, headmaster," he introduced. "Right this way to my office, please," he continued, gesturing to the driver to take Liam's luggage inside, and ushering Liam into a stuffy foyer. Liam wasn't impressed, the marbled floors and wood paneled walls were nothing new to him. He followed Mr. Crawfield into his office, taking a seat across from a heavy oak desk. "So, Mr. Payne, we're happy to have you here! I trust that you will be able to catch up quite easily on the curriculum you've missed so far," he said, glancing down at Liam's folder. Liam knew his parents had shelled out a small fortune to be able to transfer him mid-semester. "I see that you were quite a valuable member of the football team at your last school," Mr. Crawfield noted, looking up at Liam. Liam didn't respond. "You know we've got quite an impressive team here, would you consider playing again?" Mr. Crawfield asked hopefully. "I'll have to consider it," Liam said. He knew he wouldn't. After a brief chat Crawfield showed Liam to his room. It was in another building, across a green square of grassy courtyard. They walked up dark wood stairs, passing portraits of people Liam didn't recognize or especially care about. They arrived at a heavy door and Crawfield knocked loudly on it. It was opened a few seconds later by a boy about Liam's height with curly dark hair. "Mr. Styles!" Crawfield greeted with a nod, "This will be your new roommate, Liam Payne." Liam could see passed Harry that his luggage had already arrived, piled at the end of a large canopy bed. Harry stepped aside for them to enter, and Crawfield gave Liam a brief tour of the room and en suite bathroom before leaving, handing Liam a thick folder as he exited.