Stutter || Larry Stylinson

Chapter Five (rewrite)

"Try again, Louis, again, try again," Harry said, pointing at the beginning of the sentence. Louis sighed, growing more and more frustrated. He had spent a whole thirty minutes on just one portion of the poem, and he felt more and more stupid as the time went on. No matter what, Louis would stumble over at least five words. And instead of letting Louis just continue on, Harry pressured him to start from the beginning. While Louis knew it was going to help the most, it just made him feel like he was back in year three, when they were trying to get him to read better.

Teachers always thought he was one of those students who would rather play video games than read. But, in truth, Louis had never really liked video games. He had a few favourites that he would play once in awhile, mostly FIFA and Call of Duty. Other than that, there wasn't more that Louis did dealing with his console. He would much rather curl up with a good book than a game controller and some digital football.

In fact, Louis started reading chapter books when he was only five. But, because of his problems reading out loud, people thought he either was too lazy to read or had some sort of learning disability. His parents had been asked multiple times for him to be placed in special education classes.

But they refused. Louis assumed it wasn't because they knew he was too advanced for special education classes, but because they didn't want to deal with the embarrassment of having a special needs child. Which hurt more than them actually agreeing to put him into one of those classes. He liked the idea of them caring so much that they would go through the effort of reenrolling him just to make sure that Louis got the proper education.

Obviously, though, they cared more about their image. Because, of course, the Tomlinsons, who had children of different fathers and a two-story house on the rather nasty side of town needed to uphold their image. Louis already knew that adults and peers alike talked bad of the Tomlinsons. And it wasn't just talk like, "Did you hear they have a mentally retarded son who can't even speak right?"

"Louis? Pay, pay, pay attention, okay? Okay? Pay attention, more attention," Harry said, raising his eyebrows at Louis. Sometimes, Louis wondered if Harry's mum ever considered putting him into special education classes. As much as Louis didn't like thinking as much, Harry was quite special, in a way. Louis got pretty immaculate grades for someone who supposedly had a learning disability. While they weren't the A's that his sisters got, he did get some B's and mostly C's. Harry rarely even went to class, because he often complained about not getting anything right. Especially in Maths and Reading. Harry was in a year below English class called Reading Techniques II. It was for the students who failed the first level of Reading Techniques, which was already a slowed down version of English. Louis wasn't sure if it was because of Harry's impediment or not, but it seemed to go deeper than that. Brain deep, if he was being blunt.

"S-sorry, Harry-ry," Louis murmured, restarting the poem all over again.

When the bell rung, signaling that free hour was over, Louis sighed. Not because he was upset he couldn't finish the poem, but because he was relieved and just wanted to nap. The thought of reading anymore made Louis' brain hurt. Harry was a great friend, and it was really nice that the boy had offered to help Louis out. But it was like even with Harry, Louis could do nothing but wrong. It was almost like the pot calling the kettle black, since Louis was sure Harry wasn't the best reader, either.

"You did well today, Louis. Very well, Louis, today, so well," Harry said, smiling at Louis reassuringly.

Louis smiled back, nodding a little. He pulled Harry into a quick side-hug, then shouldered his bag after placing his poetry book back in. "Th-thanks, Harry," he replied, smiling wider before passing by the boy to exit the library.