written by jawllines on tumblr.
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Y/N slides her knitted bag around her shoulders easily, shuffling her books into the crook of a olive green cardigan sleeve covered arm, and shutting the locker quietly. She was never one to be late for school, but due to her checkup at the Doctor's, she'd been a few hours. Clutching the orange slip of paper that excused her, proving she wasn't truant and could go on with the rest of her day unnoticed, and unwanted..as per usual.
Hoping to slip in without much attention drawn was easier than expected, the class separated in pairs, and the remembrance of their group projects hit her in the face like a tomato during Shakespeare days. (Which, fun fact, meant that the people were trying to kill the actors if they were horrid, as of that time they were set on tomatoes being poisonous. Y/N had found that out one night, skimming through old articles to annotate.) Of course, she'd planned on just doing the entire project herself, but once handing the slip to her teacher, she finds Mrs. McAfee had other plans in mind.
"Ah, yes, Y/N!" she remarks happily, flipping through her attendance book and checking off near her name with red pen, "You can partner up with Harry."
Before Y/N had a chance to flush, an audible gasp came from where Harry Styles, something short of a bad boy from a high school movie, only less mysterious and a shit ton of friends, sat with his phone displayed on the desk despite the rules. "Mrs. McAfee!" he began, voice a low rumble that made hearts flutter, "I'm already paired with Lily, she just went off to the washroom."
"Yes, I know." Mrs. McAfee says in a sharpening tone, heavily mascaraed eyelashes becoming closer to one another as she squinted to him peevishly, "And we're nearly thirty minutes into class, but you've yet to even write your names on the paper. I'm sure Lily can make do with Mark, once he returns from the office." At the mention of Mark's name, Y/N's ears perk up a bit.
Mark was, like her, extremely shy. With baby blue-like eyes, and pale lips, a record clean from everything besides getting nailed in the head with a fruitcake, and punching the kid who'd thrown it, he was her number one crush. He might even have liked her too, not that either would have the courage to find out, or even get to know one another. From what she's heard of Lily, Y/N fears that the innocence that surrounds him will be corrupted. The nice boy she liked, just snatched from beneath her at the hands of one of the schools more —promiscuous —students.
But now she tries not to worry over it, realizing she had her own problem at hand and that problem was indeed, Harry Styles.
Awkwardly, sheepishly, and all around uncomfortably, Y/N squeezes passed desks held close together, sliding the bag from her arms and setting it on the floor, getting her foot caught in the process but pretending as if she hadn't, before sitting down opposite of Harry. Eyes cast downward, fingers fiddling together and a heat running up her body from embarrassment, she waits for him to speak.
He never does.
No, instead, he sits himself in a puddle of utter petulance and self pity, making small groaning complaints as Y/N took it upon herself to get the project rolling. This was ignored by Y/N though, soon realizing he'd much rather be paired with someone easy to talk to and not near deathly afraid of her own shadow.
But then again, Y/N would much rather be doing this alone.
Neither had a choice.
~~~
It was normal for Y/N to take retreat at the library during school lunch, picking up something on her walk home or sneaking in a bag of chips to nibble on, either or let her be peacefully content with herself and not an abundance of noisy teenagers. She was a teenager herself, but the joy they all felt enough to scream at each other in laughter, and holler across the lunch room to show they reserved the seat, had always given her, if not minor, severe headaches.
