Like Water {Niall Centric}

Chapter 3: Terrible Tuesday

Niall was a boy again, which meant black slacks, white dress shirt, black blazer, and a blue tie (which ended up in the closet like the pink one). When he walked into school, he didn't think the student body could get more confused. He heard the hushed whispers of 'Have two commoners been accepted?'

Nicola instantly spotted him, rushing to give him a big hug. "Did you bring the order with you?" Niall held up the bag, Nicola snatching it from him.

Yesterday at lunch, she had requested that he bring chicken and dumplings everyday, a crisp hundred bill waiting for him each time. Even though he insisted it was too much, she just shrugged and gave him the hundred dollar bill. Damn rich people. . .

"Do you know wh-"

"Another commoner, eh?" Niall turned his head in the direction of the voice. It was green eyes, Louis, brown eyes, and Zayn.

Great. . .

Niall turned back around, ignoring the fact they were walking towards him. "Anyway, do you know where the m-"

Niall was shoved against a wall by Zayn, Zayn's hand holding him by the neck. "Another disrespectful one, too."

Niall rolled his eyes, instantly regretting it when Zayn tightened his grip. "Are you always this angry? Not get laid enough, so you take out your frustration on others?"

"Zayn, get away from him!" Nicola dropped the bag (carefully set it down) and pulled at his arm.

"Go away, fat ass. You're only being nice to the delivery boy to get that disgusting commoner food for free," Zayn snarled.

Niall had about enough of this shit. He lifted his knee sharply, effectively hitting Zayn in the groin. "Let's go, Nicola."

"Hold on there, runt," Green eyes' fingernails were digging into Niall's shoulder harshly, jolts of pain erupting. "You look familiar. . ." He was staring at Niall closely, the latter failing to get away. Niall gulped when Louis and brown eyes started staring at him, too. "Do you have a twin sister?"

"No, now let me go," Niall shook off Harry's hand, taking a step back. He reached his third backwards step when he ran into something. Someone. He turned around, Travis smirking at him. "Shit."

There was a crowd now. Everyone knew that Niall might get his ass kicked. What they didn't know was Niall knew how to fight. It was mandatory where he lived; it was either fight back or get robbed, maybe something worse.

Nicola was off to the side, giving him a worried look, but Niall only smiled at her, winking. "It's delivery boy!" Travis exclaimed. At least he didn't say the 'c' word.

"What's your name?" Green eyes demanded. Well, here it goes. . .

"Niall."

With that, he sprinted like he was being chased by bloodthirsty cheetahs, opting to quite literally run away from his problems instead of confront them. Niall was supposed to go to the music room for first period, but he never got the directions, so he ended up outside, running along a trail in the backwoods. When he stopped, he was in a small clearing, a bench beside him. He sat down, taking deep breaths, hoping they didn't follow him.

Niall looked up, leaning back on the bench and just admired the spectacular view. It was like nothing he'd ever seen, no true comparison to make.

The trail wasn't overun with plant life, the dirt clearly visible as it curved around trees and bushes. The trees had colorful foliage because it was still late fall, and the sun was still rising from it's sleep, the sky a murky but peaceful gray. It was like staring right at the cover of a nature magazine, the way colors popped out and blended in effortlessly.