A New Start

Chapter 2

I walked past the crowds of people standing in front of the main doors. I heard whispers, and felt stares on me. "I hear thats the new girl; oh she's staying with Harry Styles; how does she get to stay with the most popular guy in school?" I felt like I was suffocating as I walked into the main office. I was greeted by a lovely women who sat with me and guided me through my lists of classes and what to expect. I forced a smile, and explained to her how I was sooo excited to have a new start at this school, when in reality, I felt even worse than I thought I would.

The women led me down a long hall to my first class which was english. She looked at me worryingly, and put her hand on my shoulder. "Darling, it won't be that bad. You'll fit in just nicely." I nodded as I pulled the door handle into the classroom. The door made a loud creek and the whole class shot their heads up towards my direction. I immediately spotted Harry, and the second I made eye contact with him, he looked in the other direction. The teacher coughed slightly to get my attention, "Uhm excuse me, you are Ellie correct?". I nodded and he pulled me over to him. "Guys, this is Ellie. She just moved here from New York, so make her feel welcome. Ellie you can go sit over there next to Harry."  A few girls snickered to my left, and me being here for only about twenty minutes can already guess that Harry is extremely popular.

I slowly walked over to my seat. The whole time I sat there, I felt extremely intimidated by Harry's presence. Occasionally, I swear I felt his gaze on me but I wasn't exactly sure. I was too frightened to actually look his way, thinking that he might make some stupid remark about how it's rude to stare or some shit. Eventually, class was finally over, and I took my time to gather my things so I didn't have to make conversation with anyone. When I thought everyone left, I began quickly running out of the room to my next class when I bumped right into a tall figure; Harry. He smiled down at me, which already didn't seem like him. He began walking at my side to my next class and it felt slightly awkward as our hands kept lightly brushing against each other and there was silence between the both of us.

"So uh, how do you like it so far?" , Harry said breaking the silence.

"Oh uhm, I'm not sure yet, since I've only had one class and all so."

He nodded and then slightly smiled at me. I don't know if he felt bad for me or something because yesterday, he seemed as if he didn't want anything to do with me, and ignored me this morning. I looked up at the room numbers to find my next class. While I was looking frantically, Harry grabbed the schedule out of my hand. I watched as his eyebrows furrowed and he ran his finger down the list of classes. He pointed down the hall to a door. "Thats your class right there. I'm in this room right here so I'll see you later. Good luck." I smiled at him and walked into my next class.

When class finally ended, I made my way to lunch. I walked into the large cafeteria looking at all the tables full of people. The whole school consisted of cliques; figures. Once I got my food, I debated where I should sit. Nothing looked very welcoming, and once again that feeling of lonliness kicked in and I felt like I couldn't belong anywhere. I spotted an empty table towards the back, and made my way there. I passed by a table where Harry sat and kept my head down. I couldn't help but overhear what Harry was saying. "I'm fucking stuck with her. Like I have no privacy at all, and I don't want anything to do with her." As he said it, I looked up right at him and saw him look at me with pleading eyes. I shook my head as I walked over to the empty table I spotted moments ago. I scrunched down in my seat, slowly eating as moisture filled my eyes. Why was I so upset? I shouldn't even care about Harry's confusing actions. It was obvious that he was ashamed of me, and didn't want to be seen with me near his friends since he was 'popular'.

Towards the end of the day, I just felt hopeless. I made no friends, and the day dragged terribly. I gathered my belongings and books I needed for homework and walked out of the main doors to the black range rover that stood on the other side of the parking lot. I opened the car door and slammed it violently. I didn't even look at Harry, the whole drive I just looked straight ahead. When we stopped at a red light, Harry turned my way and slightly coughed to get my attention. "So how was your first day? Did you like it?", he said enthusiastically. I turned my head and stared at him sternly for a moment. "It was fantastic", I said with as much sarcasm as I could. I could tell he was a little upset with my response, but I didn't seem to care at this point. We finally pulled into the driveway, and I waited for Harry to unlock the doors. I began getting inpatient. "Can you fucking open the door already?". He turned his body towards me, resting his whole weight on the arm rest. "Wanna tell me what's wrong first?" I quickly looked over at him and began ranting on about everything that seemed wrong at the moment. "Why are you ashamed of me? Why? You seemed so nice to me today, and then when you're with you're friends, you completely change and act like I'm such an awful person and you want nothing to do with me. I know that you want to keep your rep, and you don't want to be seen with such a shitty person like me, so the least you can do is just leave me alone ok?"

Right then and there, the doors unlocked and I frantically ran into the house. I noticed Anne in the kitchen from the corner of my eye, but I didn't want to talk to anyone at that moment. I slammed my bedroom door and I locked it too, thinking that Harry could come in any moment. I began doing my homework, but the result was sloppy since I was frustrated about the whole day. I realized that I had been focusing on my school work for a few hours when I heard a knock on my door. "Ellie, dinner's ready!", Anne said. I walked over to the door and unlocked it before peering around the door slightly. "Anne, I'm really not that hungry. Plus I'm doing school work and I'm almost done so can I just stay in my room?". She nodded at me, and then walked back downstairs. In a matter of minutes she walked back in with a plate of food and placed it on my bedside table. "I could tell you had a ruff day, so I'll leave you alone for the night. Goodnight sweetie." I smiled at her and thanked her for the food. I was actually extremely hungry, but I didn't want to deal with anyone downstairs. I looked at the time; it was a little after 10 when I decided to get ready for bed.

I got all comfortable and then slid under the covers of my bed. I stared at the ceiling for some time. I began thinking about how much I really did miss New York and my mom. It was hopeless moving here to England, because I was already judged by half the school the second I walked in. I suddenly realized that I was crying. About everything. I just wanted to go home. I was startled from my thoughts as the door suddenly creaked open. A dark shadow casted over me, and I could faintly make out his curls as the dim light outlined his figure. I felt my bed slightly move down to the side, as Harry sat down on the edge of my bed. I felt his warm hand caress my cheek as his thumb wiped away a stray tear. I felt him pull the covers off of me slightly and slide into bed right next to me. I felt his bare skin against me, and all I could hear was his heavy breathing.

"Ellie, I'm so sorry. I'm such a dick. I really hope that we could be friends and spend some time together since we are living together and I could tell you're hurt. I didn't want anything to do with you at first and I was so harsh. I feel terrible. I'm sorry."

I felt my heart flutter as his husky voice spoke softly in my ear. He pulled me in closer to him so that my head was resting on his chest and I could hear his heartbeat, which was also beating incredibly fast.

"Can you explain to me why today got to you so terribly, besides me being awful?", Harry said.

"I moved here from New York because I had such a hard time in school. I had no friends. I got bullied. I was ashamed of being myself. I hated how I felt about myself and there were times when I took extreme measures to hurt myself. My mom found out how hard everything was for me and thought moving here to England was a good idea so, now I'm here. You have no idea how nervous I was walking into school today. And at the end of the day, I felt like complete shit because I couldn't even make one friend." I realized I was crying again, and I felt Harry's grip wrap around my waist. "Ellie, it was only your first day. Don't be so hard on yourself. You have me now, I promise."

I nuzzled into his neck and placed a light kiss on his cheek. "Thank you Harry", I said before slowly drifting off to sleep in his warm embrace.