If I'm Louder {Larry Stylinson AU}

Prologue//

|| Harry’s POV ||

Don’t make eye contact.

Walk forward.

Stay quiet.

I speed up a few more steps and finally arrive at my last - and favorite - class of the day.

Music.

I can’t play any instruments - unless you count the kazoo - but I’m sure my singing makes up for it. Not to brag or anything.

I push open the door and hurry to my seat so no one would stare at me for long. Attention is the worst. Especially when it’s from people who don’t even communicate with me. That’s the worst kind of attention there is.

The door opens again and this time my best friend, Liam Payne, came waltzing in. He searches the crowd of students before spotting me all the way in the back. Smiling and waving, he struts right though the center of the room and sits down next to me. Liam doesn’t have a problem with attention. I envy him for it.

“How bad?” He asks, opening his music folder. I grab mine from my bag and shrug.

“A few snide comments on my blazer. Ruffling my hair. Not that bad today, actually.” I smirk and fish for a pencil from my case. God, I need to get more organized.

Liam shakes his head, handing me one of his pens. “When are you going to go through your bag?” I purse my lips and shrug again.

“When Louis stops messing with it.” I say simply. Louis and I didn’t exactly…get on very well. We just had diferent points of views.

Liam sighs. “You gotta stop letting him push you around, mate.” Before I could reply, I hear the door slam and see our music teacher, Mr. Murs, enter.

“Alright class, what song were we working on last time?” He questions, eyeing everyone. I close my eyes and pray that he doesn’t call on me. “Harry?” Dammit.

“Uhm, well, I think we were working on, ehm, it was…” I struggle to remember the song we were singing. A few students start whispering and others snicker. This is exactly why I hate attention.

Liam clears his throat. “I believe it was Don’t Rain On My Parade, by Barbara Streisand.” I let out a sigh of relief and silently thank Liam. Mr. Murs nods in return and faces the board. Liam faces me.

“Haz, you gotta get over this attention thing.” He states. I roll my eyes and continue to stare at the board where Mr. Murs is writing something about high notes and holding your breath. “How can you be a singer when you can’t even get on stage?”

“I’m sure I’ll get over it by-” I was interrupted by the door opening for the third time. In came a blonde kid with a bag and a pass.

“And who are you?” Mr. Murs asks skeptically.

“Niall, Niall Horan. I’m the new kid.” The kid - Niall, I guess - replies in a thick Irish accent. An irish kid; you don’t get them everyday. “Where can I sit?” He asks, looking around the room. I start to look around too, curious as to which nuisance this poor kid would be stuck with. It’s only after he starts walking towards my row that I become frantic. He’s sitting in the third seat in my row. My row.

My. Row.

“Hey, I’m Niall!” He greets Liam and I. He’s awfully preppy for a new kid. I give him a few weeks before he’s like the rest of us. “I’m from Ireland, if you couldn’t already tell.” He laughs a bit before sitting in the seat next to me. I send him a sheepish smile and turn to Liam. He grins and waves at Niall. Someone has a crush.

“I’m Liam.” He starts. “This is my best mate, Harry.” He says, pointing to me.

A kid in front of us snorts. “Losers.” He coughs, laughing with his mates. Well, looks like Niall won’t be hanging around us long.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Niall wadding up a piece of paper. Wait, what is he doing? I turn to face him just as he chucks the ball at the kid’s head. I cover my mouth to keep from laughing. Maybe this Niall kid isn’t so bad. Let’s just wait and see what happens when Louis sees him.