Diluent (Harry Styles AU Fanfiction)

Prologue

Diluent: Prologue

            I was busy scribbling away in my sketchbook that day when it happened.

            Looking back it’s a pity really, because it was looking like this one doodle was going to be an accidental masterpiece. That is, until I took an innocent glance up which resulted in my arm dropping my trusty ink pen in shock and smudging the entire piece of art down the left side. Once intricate swirls were reduced to measly smears.

            There was no saving it, so I reluctantly shut the worn looking book and shoved it in my fringed brown messenger bag. My pen followed after it, and I did just as everyone else in the front foyer of Haden High was doing. Watching him.

            Some were more inconspicuous with their stares, peeking only periodically out of the corner of their eyes. Others were blatant, taking no notice to their slacked jaws or wide eyes.

            He walked with a confidence that none of us even knew a senior high school student could possess. Each step he took was certain and sure, and his sharp gaze scouted over the lot of us, no longer filtered by out of date glasses. Freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors a like all gaped and cowered when he passed them.

            I could see the fear and regret pooling in the eyes of his once bullies as they took in the collection of ink work that clung to this skin like a canvas. A canvas that was blank as far as we all knew just two months ago.

            Many girls instantly perked up, minds most likely cooking up stories of bad boy romance. They all thought they could change him, or at least make him a different person when he was with them. Not for his benefit of course, but for their greedy egos that needed fuel to feel special and better than others.

            Unseen to them however, was the slightest of limps on his right foot, the tiny white scars on his knuckles, and the way his left cheek was being pulled in between his teeth anxiously.

            After living and breathing paintings, sketches, and sculptures for eighteen years, I knew small details when I saw them. Small but vital.

            What were those tattoos covering? And why was Harry Styles hiding behind them?