Code Black (N.S)

7.

Niall's POV

I silently grabbed the books that I needed from my locker and slammed it shut, before heading towards my first class of the day.

I thought that I would be lucky enough to make it into class without bumping into Harry but sadly, I didn't. I heard his agonisingly deep voice call me out as I was about to walk. It was way too early in the morning to deal with whatever it was that Harry wanted. Not that any time was good to see Harry. 

Refusing to give him the satisfaction of a response, I looked down at my feet, not even making a noise as he pinned me to the locker.

"What have I said about ignoring me when I'm talking to you?" he snapped, pulling me off the locker slightly and slamming me back into it.

I flinched a little. His harsh green gaze was fixed directly on me but I still didn't reply. I knew all too well that responding to them would make them hurt you more. 

"Are you going to answer me?" he continued.

"Let go of me," I replied, the tight grip he had on me had forced the words right out of my mouth. 

Thankfully, my voice didn't show how scared I actually was, even though he could probably tell by the look in my eyes.

I looked at the ground, finding the floor a much safer place to look than his angry eyes.

He stepped back, his hand rising to slap me in the face. Oddly enough, this time we were alone. None of Harry's friends were there to laugh at me.

His movements stilled after that, I slumped back against the locker in an attempt to cover up the pain I was in. 

My books were clutched tightly to my chest, but I was glad that this time they weren't all over the floor.

Harry's laugh echoed through the locker room as he walked off, the surrounding students looking at the floor and stepping out of his way.

As soon as I realised he had left, I stood up from the floor, closing my eyes for a brief second as my cheek throbbed, and headed towards my class. 

~

As soon as the bell rang, I stood up and headed off to my locker, putting my books in there as fast as I could in an attempt to get out before Harry could come and torment me more.

Once I had finished, I walked towards the direction the cafeteria.

"Hey, Niall," I turned to see Michael and Calum walking towards me, smiling softly, though it dropped when they caught sight of the forming mark on my face.

"Hey, guys," I replied softly, trying to act like they hadn't seen anything.

Unfortunately, I knew that they did and decided to comment about it, probably bringing unneeded attention to us.

"It was him again, wasn't it?" Calum asked. I could tell he knew the answer because it wasn't really a surprise but for some reason he asked anyways.

I nodded at him slowly, not being bothered to conceal the obvious truth.

"What I want to know is, why does he always target you?" Michael muttered angrily.

I shrugged, not having any idea myself. The only thing I could think of was that I was gay but he didn't know that for sure. 

"Doesn't matter, I obviously can't change how he feels, there's no point worrying about it."

Calum sadly smiled at me.

"Anyways, we have to tell you something," he said, him and Michael looked at each other uncomfortably as he spoke.

"What?" I asked.