Outcasts

Harry Styles was every parent’s wet dream. He made straight A’s, did his chores, got along with his sister, and always ate his vegetables. Since anyone could remember, Harry had been well behaved and mannerly. He respected his parents and teachers and was okay with the other kids at school thinking he was nerdy because of it. By the time he was a seventeen year old junior in high school, he had never smoke, drank, or even kissed a girl, but he was content with living his boring, over-achieving life.

   -x-

 Harry woke up to the shrill beeping of the alarm on his phone. He hopped out of bed, without a fuss, and headed downstairs to eat his breakfast of eggs and turkey bacon, making sure to make extra for his parents. As he ate his breakfast, Harry looked over his notes from Advanced Physics, just in case they had a pop quiz that day.

 After breakfast, he hopped cheerfully up the stairs and got ready for a day full of learning. He changed into his freshly dry cleaned and ironed school uniform, tucking his white button up into his pants and secured it with a tight belt. Once he had brushed and flossed his perfectly aligned teeth, Harry bounded quickly down the stairs, picking up his backpack and car keys along the way. He checked the clock as he walked out the door of his house to see he was right on schedule, as usual.

 Harry skipped outside towards his Smart Car, which he had paid for himself after earning the money, and got inside. He turned on the engine, strapped his seatbelt on tight, and checked his mirrors just in case, before backing out of the driveway carefully and setting off towards school.

 While in the car, Harry turned on the radio. The first song that came on was a popular rap song that he vaguely recognized. Harry rolled his eyes in disgust and shut the radio off. He was positive that music like that killed brain cells. He continued driving while attempting to not let horrendous modern pop culture put a damper on his mood. After all, he was driving to school, and that was his favorite place to be.

 Harry was still right on schedule as he pulled in the parking lot and into his respective parking space. After Harry got out of his car, he noticed something odd. A few spaces ahead of him, a small group of people had gathered around Zayn Malik’s car.

  Zayn Malik was one of Harry’s least favorite people. He was, in lack of better words, a thug. He wore pants too tight, and far too low. He listened to music too loud, had more tattoos than even the toughest bikers, but worst of all, he smoked on a regular basis. All in all, Harry avoided him at all costs. It was pretty easy considering he was senior, so they didn’t have any classes together. But there was the issue of Harry having to pass by him in the parking lot every day, but normally Zayn was by himself, not with more people. But Harry sure wasn’t intimidated; of course not.

 Harry dragged his feet forward and kept his head down, not sure if he wanted to race past the hoodlums and get it over with, or scuttle by slowly and see if he could find out if they were doing anything illegal so he could report them. As he got closer he started to recognize some familiar faces.

 Cher Lloyd, a girl who was strikingly beautiful, sat on the hood of Zayn’s car. Several of the boys that had gathered watched intently as she curled her cherry-red lipstick coated lips around a cigarette. Niall Horan, one of the boys watching Cher, sipped on a beer instead of smoking like the rest. Niall was known for being a huge fan of alcohol and also a bit of a softy compared to his wild friends. Lastly, Harry noticed Caroline Flack, a mature beautiful girl that was a force to be reckoned with. She was the toughest girl Harry knew, and if he was completely honest, he kind of admired her for it. There were more of them, but Harry had never bothered to learn their names. Together they made up a group that Harry had named The Outcasts, because no one wanted anything to do with them. It was out of the ordinary, though, to see them all gathered around Zayn’s car.

 Deciding to keep a steady pace as to not attract attention, Harry walked on through the busy parking lot. He kept his eyes on his shoes and his shoulder slumped low. The group of trouble paid him no mind as his went on about his way.

 Harry had finally passed The Outcasts without any trouble, and let himself relax, taking his eyes off the ground and holding his head high. Although it was more than a little silly, Harry had had a small fear that the group would try to hurt him, even though he had done nothing to offend them.

 “Oi, Curly! I didn’t know you still went to this school!” A voice called from behind Harry.

 Harry turned around, assuming he was Curly. The Outcasts were all sneering rudely at him. It took Harry a few seconds, but he realized who had shouted at him. He let out a small gasp of surprise and fear.

 Louis Tomlinson, leader of The Outcasts, was standing no more than fifteen feet away from him, arms crossed and feet spread apart. Harry must have not noticed him standing around Zayn’s car. Louis was the definition of trouble. He had more tattoos than even Zayn, his ear lobes were stretched widely by the plugs he wore in them, and his bottom lip was pierced twice into snakebites. His wardrobe consisted solely of tight black t-shirts and skinny jeans that hung loosely around his curved hips.

 There were so many rumors about Louis that Harry had long since lost track of them. He had been in too many fights to count, done every drug imaginable, and even been arrested a few times. The only thing that Harry knew for a fact was that last year Louis had dropped out of school half-way to finishing his senior year.

 And now Louis stood in front of him with a smirk on his face that could only mean bad things. A cigarette stuck out between his dangerously up-turned lips. His friends stood a bit farther back behind him to watch the action unfold. Harry gulped slowly, and wondered what sort of horrible thing he had done to deserve this.

 “Yeah I still go here.” Harry said with confidence that surprised himself, “But you don’t”

 Louis looked a little surprised by Harry’s response, but quickly masked it with his familiar smirk. He stepped closer, hips swaying obscenely, until he was nearly nose to nose with Harry. He could smell the strong stench of cigarette smoke in Louis’ breath, hair, and clothes. Louis moved the fag from his lips to in between his index and middle finger. Although Louis was shorter than Harry, Harry felt little and weak. He wanted nothing more than to run and never look back, but he held his ground.

 “Who knew little golden boy could bite back?” Louis asked mockingly. His head tilted to the side, and his eyes raked over Harry’s body traveling from the tip of Harry’s Converse to the top of his bushy head.

 Louis leaned in closer until his lips were centimeters away from Harry’s ear, “I like it.” Louis whispered dirtily.

 Harry remained frozen. His eyes widened to double their size. He was scared to breath, for fear that Louis may suddenly snap out of his strange behavior and attack him.

 Louis pulled back until he was back where he was before. “Better get to class. Mummy and Daddy would throw a fit if you were late.” Louis blew a puff of smoke at Harry’s face, making his eyes water.

 Louis turned quickly on his heels and started to walk away, hips swaying back and forth just as filthily as before. He stopped half-way on his short journey back to his friends and turned just enough to see Harry still stuck where he left him.

 “See ya around, golden boy.” Louis said suggestively, even throwing in a little wink, and continued on towards his amused companions.

 Harry snapped out of his daze, and ran towards the school as fast as he could, ignoring the offensive laughs and foul cat calls coming from The Outcasts. When Harry finally pushed through the old doors of the school, he let out a sigh of relief. What in the fuck had just happened?