Damaged Innocence - Harry Styles FanFiction

Lost Cause

I woke up extra early the next morning to get ready, since Harry hadn’t given me an exact time to when he was picking me up.

I jumped in the shower, doing my daily routine. As I let the water run over me, my thoughts wandered to Harry. And Alec.

I desperately wanted to know what had happened between them. But they were both so touchy about it that I didn’t think either of them would tell me until we got a bit closer.

I hoped nothing would happen at school today. The last thing I needed was my for my parents to find out I went to a different school by me being the cause of a fight.

This school, these boys, god they were different. Unlike anything else I had been around.

I stepped out of the shower, and threw on leggings and a big sweater. I pulled on my knee length boots, before putting my hair in a side braid and running down the steps.

I saw a car pull up and recognized the curly hair from the window. I found myself smiling. Perfect timing.

I opened up the door before hearing the click-clack of heels hitting the hardwood floor. I spun around to see my mom. I closed the front door and stood in front of it, praying she didn’t see Harry.

“Mom,” I said, looking at her all dressed in designer. “What are you doing up?”

She adjusted her diamond earrings and flattened down her sweater.

“I have a meeting today, and I wanted to make sure I was on time.” She smiled. “Are you leaving for school?

“Yeah actually, I-” I started, but was cut off by a knock at my front door. Shit. That was probably Harry.

I turned around and opened it, slightly. Harry stood there, his curls still damp from probably taking a shower this morning. The swelling in his face had gone down immensely and his face was completely clear except from the cut from yesterday. He smelled of cologne and slightly of smoke. He had on snug jeans and a sweater that hid his tattoos and scars, and almost made him look innocent.

Almost.

“Ready Angel?” He grinned. I nodded and opened my mouth, but not before my mom cut in.

“And who is this?” She asked, widening the door so Harry could step in. Harry’s eyes landed on her and I could tell he was surprised by her presence. He carefully stepped in, his eyes scanning the inside of my house. The tall mirrors, professional pictures, expensive furniture, and carefully designed rooms.

“Harry Styles, nice to meet you.” Harry said, giving her a small smile that didn’t reach his dimples, and holding out his hand. My mom gave a small smile and ignored his hand.

I felt my cheeks redden at the awkwardness.

“Delilah Thorne.” My mom said, plastering an obviously fake smile on her face.

“Harry’s taking me to school today, because I’m having my car detailed.” I lied quickly. My mom nodded, ignoring me. Her eyes continued scanning over him, as she judged him openly.

Harry rubbed the back of his neck and looked at me, obviously uncomfortable.

“You go to North Pacific with Scarlet?” My mother asked him. A confused look came on Harry’s face before realization hit him and he glanced over at me, smirking.

“Oh yeah. I’ve known Scarlet for years. We met at North Pacific, middle school.” He grinned, obviously loving that he had found out my lie. Honestly, I didn’t care, as long as he kept up his act like he was right now.

“How come I’ve never met your parents then?” My mom asked suspiciously. “Styles, was it?”

“Oh my parents travel a lot. They’re really up top in their jobs, they practically live on an airplane.” Harry laughed, running a hand through his curls.

“Oh well I-”

“Well mom, we need to get going, or we’ll be late for school!” I cut in, grabbing Harry’s hand and pulling him out the door.

“Okay, don’t be late for dinner! We have to go to a business dinner with your fathers company!” She yelled out the door as I practically ran to Harry’s car.

I jumped into the passenger’s seat, throwing my bag into the back seat as Harry opened his door and got in, his smell hitting me again. He put the key into the ignition and started it.

“So…Where to?” Harry asked with a serious expression on his face as he backed out of my large driveway. “North Pacific, or South?”

I rolled my eyes and lifted my middle finger, earning a dimpled smile from Harry.

“C’mon Angel, what was that?”

“You wouldn’t understand.” I mumbled, pulling a loose piece of blonde hair behind my ear.

“Try me.” He replied.

“My parents think I’m going to North Pacific. But, I’m not.”

“Yeah I got that much on my own.” Harry replied, glancing over at me. I sighed, I had known Harry a week. I didn’t want to just go and tell him my life story.

“I don’t want to end up like the people at North Pacific.” I said quietly.

“And you want to end up like the people at my school?” Harry half laughed.

“No!” I said maybe just a bit to quickly. I looked over at Harry to see he was looking straight forward again. “I don’t want to be some rich snob. But I don’t want to be the trashy person that always gets into trouble and doesn’t have a lot of values, and smokes, and drinks. I don’t want to be like-”

I trailed off as I realized I was practically describing Harry’s friends and possibly even him.

“Me.” Harry finished for me. I looked towards him silently. “You don’t want to be like me. Or my type of people.”

He was purposely looking straight ahead, his hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles were white. I had the urge to grab his hand and make him relax.

But I didn’t.

“I didn’t mean it like that, Harry.” I said quietly.

“Save it, Scarlet.” Harry said, laughing but he had no humor in the laugh. “You think I don’t know what type of person I am?”

I fell silent, I didn’t know what to say. I hardly knew Harry, but at the same time I felt as if I knew a lot about him. I knew a bad person when I saw one. And Harry wasn’t one. At least, not all bad.

Dangerous, yes. Bad, no. They may sound similar. But they were actually two completely different things.

And I wasn’t saying Harry was all nice and innocent, because he wasn’t. He had probably done things I couldn’t imagine, but that didn’t make him a genuinely bad person.

Anne’s words from last night rang in my ear. “Harry’s no angel, Scarlet. He’s done bad things, he still does. But he’s an innocent child at heart.”

“You’re not bad, Harry.” I said. But it didn’t sound convincing, at all.

Harry turned towards the entrance to our school and shook his head, his chocolate curls bouncing.

“You don’t know the first thing about me, to even say that.” He said, with no emotion in his voice. “I told you before. I’m not good.”

“I don’t believe that.” I said quickly.

“There’s nothing to believe Scarlet, that’s the way it is.” Harry snapped, his voice rising a bit, catching me off guard.

“But-”

“No, not buts.” Harry cut in. “Don’t try to act like there’s something in me worth bringing out or saving. You sound like my mom.”

“I’m not saying th-”

“Just fucking stop, alright?” Harry’s voice boomed through the car. “What is it with you acting like you’re some special girl that can bring out some new, good person inside of me? Sorry to break it to you, but that person doesn’t fucking exist.”

I found my mouth snapping shut, and my face blushing slightly at Harry’s outburst. I could see the vein in his neck pulse and his jaw clenched. He had a short temper, and I had just tested it.

But I was just trying to help.

Harry parked his beat up car in the back parking lot and turned off the ignition. We sat in silence for a solid thirty seconds. I wasn’t necessarily scared. I was just…on edge.

But Harry’s words had stung me. I guess by the way my conversation with Anne had went last night, and how Harry had taken an interest in me, that I had thought maybe I was special. And that I could some how change his ways.

How stupid could I get?

“Look, Angel I’m sor-”

“No.” I cut him off, picking up my bag. The way he suddenly called me angel made my temper rise. “You’re right. I shouldn’t try to save you. You’re the only person that can do that.” I said monotonously, opening the car door and slamming it.

“Scarlet, wait-” Harry jumped out of the front seat and followed behind me, hot on my heels. He grabbed my arm and twisted me around.

I was met by his chest, I had to lean back and look up at him to see his green eyes that had lightened considerably in the past 2 minutes. I could smell the remaining smoke on his sweater, but there was also remnants of soap. Being this close to him alone was making me feel hazy.

“What Harry?” I snapped. “Don’t you have some girl to fuck, o-or cigarettes to smoke, or some store to rob?”

I watched as Harry’s face dropped and I immediately regretted my words. I knew it was a low blow, saying all those things. I knew I should just apologize right there. But I didn’t. I turned and walked into the school alone.

~~~
*Harry’s Point of View*

I sat in my car, drumming my fingers against the steering wheel as I sat in front of Mark’s house. I lit up another cigarette and took a drag, trying to stop my thoughts of Scarlet.

I don’t know what I expected. Scarlet was right. This was what I was. I worked for a drug dealer. I was roped in for life. I had beat people within inches of their lives. I had seen more blood in my short 18 years of living, than most people did in their whole lives.

I didn’t get great grades. I didn’t have a squeaky clean record. I drank, I smoked, I partied. My life was already down the drain and I knew it just as well as Scarlet did.

I was already to fucked up to be fixed.

And for some reason, her trying to convince me that I was good person, touched something sensitive on me. Maybe it was because I felt like it was all useless expectations. I knew she would give up on me soon.

I didn’t want her getting past my layers, finding everything I kept hidden. No one knew that.

I was a lost cause.

I flicked my cigarette out of the car window and jumped out. I decided school wasn’t worth the trouble today. I had watched Scarlet walk inside the school, met by Alec at the door, and then I got in my car and left. She hadn’t even turned back to see me.

The bet was probably fucked now. I was going to be stuck doing deliveries, the thing I avoided most. But I still had over a month until Zayn had to know I lost. Scarlet was still just a bet to me, but at the same time…something had changed, just slightly, since the day I met her.

Maybe it was how she wasn’t what I expected her to be. How she walked inside my house and met my family without even batting an eye. How the devil inside of her came out when me and Alec were beating the shit out of each other, and she screamed and ran in between us, fearlessly.

I cleared my head before bringing out my keys and walking into Mark’s house. The smell of cigars, pot, and smoke hit my nostrils immediately. The sound of loud voices and laughs followed immediately after.

Mark lived in the better part of South Pacific, his house was decent sized and looked like a regular house from the inside, not some drug dealer’s.

I walked down stairs, straight into his office where he sat, laughing with Jay. Jay was basically Mark’s second man. Whenever Mark was out of town on business, we reported to Jay. Even though Jay wasn’t as high in power as Mark, he was just as feared.

Mark’s laughter quieted down as his black eyes fell on me. Jay, who’s back was to me, turned and gave me a menacing smile, which I returned. Jay and Mark were people who’s bad sides you most definitely didn’t want to get on, but luckily for me I wasn’t.

My father had once worked for Mark, or the blood, as our ’gang’ was called. He was basically in Jay’s position as second hand. So after my father died, Mark took me under his wing. He favored me a bit over the other boys, paying me a bit more here and there. Nothing to obvious, but still.

“Harry, come on in.” Mark said, giving me a smile and waving me in. I walked in and sat down in the seat next to Jay who slapped my back warmly.

“How you been?” Jay asked. I shrugged.

“Same as always.” I said blandly. Even though this past week hadn’t exactly been what my life had been like the past few years.

“School start up again?” Mark asked me. I nodded. “And you’re not going?”

“I’d rather catch up on work today.” I said vaguely, grabbing a cigar from the tray on Mark’s large desk. “I heard from Niall that you had some assignments for me?”

“Ah yes.” Mark said as he rifled through a stack of papers on his desk. He pulled a piece of paper out of the stack and slammed it in front of me. It had a picture of a middle aged man, his address, age, and other information.

“He hasn’t paid up.” Jay commented. “He’s about three months over due.”

“Three months?” I questioned. Jay and Mark almost never let a man get as far as three months without paying up.

“He was missing, recently, but we just got word of his current location.” Mark explained, pointing at his information on the piece of paper.

“So you want me to do the usual?” I asked.

“Rough him up, but he may need a little more convincing.” Mark said, smirking. I raised my eyebrows. I was used to threatening and ‘roughing up’ people to get the drug money they owed, but I never had to do a little more convincing.

“Take this with you.” Mark said, opening a drawer in his desk and pulling out a steel, black gun. My heart raced steadily and I felt my hands get clammy. I had never held a gun before. I had seen Mark use one, to take the life of someone. But me myself, no.

“You don’t have to use it Harry, don’t worry. Just use it as a sort of…I don’t know, silent threat.” Jay laughed at my gun innocence. I nodded unsteadily and took gun off the desk. This wasn’t a good idea. But then again, nothing I really did was a good idea.

“Get the job done by tomorrow, Harry.” Mark said, lighting a cigar and typing on his phone. “But knowing you, you won’t disappoint me.”

I nodded silently and got up, nodding a goodbye to Mark and Jay before I walked out back into my car.

~~~

*Scarlet’s Point of View*

I sat in the cafeteria, at a table with Alec and his friends. His arm was lazily slung around the back of my chair as he laughed with all of the guys and girls that surrounded the circular table.

I could practically feel the cold glares that were coming from Harry’s usual table, of Louis, Zayn, Liam, and Niall. Plus a few girls and other guys. But Leah wasn’t here today, so I had no choice but to sit with Alec. Not that I minded that much, he was my friend.

I watched Alec as he started telling a guy at our table a story about last summer. I looked at his long dirty blonde hair that curled at the tips. The way his dark eyes sparkled underneath his long lashes. His skin was tan from the summer sun, but you could still see the faint scars and scratches along his arms and face, just like Harry.

He threw his head back and laughed loudly, and I found myself smiling. He was so beautiful. Maybe not quite as perfect as Harry, but none the less, he was still beautiful.

He looked over at me and did a double take as he caught me staring. He leaned down, so that his lips brushed against my ear and I could feel his hot breath tickly my neck.

“What are you staring at?” He whispered.

“You.” I replied, looking ahead. I could feel his smirk come onto his lips as they still remained right by my ear.

“You like what you see?” He chuckled. I shrugged and gave an unsatisfied expression.

“You’re alright, I guess.”

“Well you’re perfect.” He whispered hotly into my ear. I could feel the heat come onto my cheeks and pushed his chest away from me.

“Stop.” I whined.

“Stop what?” He asked innocently, raising his eyebrows.

“Making my blush.” I said, turning towards him.

“What are you doing tonight?” He asked, with a smile that made my heart beat quicken. It was a Friday so I’d probably go home or go to Sierra’s house, my friend from North Pacific who I hadn’t talked to in almost a week. She was probably going insane, not know what was going on in my life.

“Nothing really…why?”

“There’s a party on the beach tonight, everybody’s going. Come with me.” It sounded more like an request than a question. Alec made it almost impossible to say no to him, as he gave me a devilish smile. I sighed.

“I don’t know, Alec.” I paused. “That’s not really my type of place.” I could only imagine what party’s full of South Pacific people were like.

“Think about it, okay?”

“Okay.” I promised him.
~~~

“Mom, I’m home.” I called from the front lobby.

“Scarlet come in here!” I hear my father call from his office. I sighed. Great, one of his talks that I tried so hard to avoid.

I walked down the long hallway into my father’s office, the last room. I walked in to see him sitting behind his large desk holding a glass of brandy. The walls around the office were full of books and family pictures. Mostly of him and Charlie. Every picture would make us look like we were the happiest family.

There were pictures of us at sports games, cheer competitions, and academic competitions. Others were just of us at holidays, standing in front of our large Christmas tree. Or there were ones of us on our yearly vacations in Hawaii or the Caribbean’s.

“Yeah dad?” I asked as I stood in front of his desk.

“I wanted to talk to you.” He said, setting down his glass. My father was a good lucking man for being in his young or mid fifties. As was my mother.

“About what?”

“How are your grades coming so far?” My dad asked, signaling me to sit down across from him. This was the way it always was with us; formal.

“Dad, it’s only the first week of school.” I said. “I can’t really have good or bad grades.”

“But we’re going to get good grades this year, right?”

“Right.” I said monotonously.

“Have you talked to all of your teachers about your grade requirements?”

“Not yet.” I said quietly.

“Scarlet, come on. You know what you need to get for your scholarship.”

“I know, Dad.” I said exasperated.

“Princeton isn’t just going to take you because you have a pretty face.”

“I’m not stupid dad, I know that.”

“Well I think you try to use your looks to get you what you want, honey, and that’s just not going to work in the real world.”

“Excuse me?” I said, in shock.

“This isn’t brand new news, Scarlet. I’ve seen you use your looks to your advantage, and that’s fine, but it won’t work with college.”

“This conversation is over.” I replied, anger fuming in me. I stood up and walked out of his office. I ran up to my room and sat on my bed, I just wanted to scream out and punch something. My father acted like he knew me, he didn’t know a thing about me.

I sat there for a few minutes, letting my anger subside. I couldn’t just sit in my room on a Friday night, and feel bad for myself. I jumped up, taking off my leggings and sweater.

I went into my closet, searching for something. I grabbed black high waisted shorts and white tank top, tucking it into my shorts. I put on black sandals and a long necklace. I took out my braid from this morning, so my hair was in long waves.

I looked in the mirror. I almost looked like I was ready for a party. I grabbed my keys and wallet, walking down the stairs.

“I’m going out.” I called.

“But we have my dinner tonight!” My dad called from his office.

“You can survive without me.” I replied smoothly, shutting the door and getting into my car.

I picked up my iPhone and dialed Alec’s number.

“Alec, where’s the party tonight?”

All I knew was one thing; I was going to get completely wasted tonight.

FOR THOSE OF YOU, WHO ARE WONDERING HOW SCARLET LOOKS LIKE THERES A GIF ON THE SIDE (: