Code Black (N.S)

24.

Harry's POV

Niall was insistent that I went to school rather than stay with him. I could easily just say no but I could understand his reasoning behind it. Since I had started talking to Niall, school didn't seem as pointless as it previously did.

I knew Niall's desperation for me to actually go to school wasn't just because of my education but it was because he didn't want me thinking he was weak and couldn't handle himself. As though he wanted to prove he would be okay without me there. 

I understood why he felt like that, though it kind of saddened me because I felt as if he needed to understand that needing someone didn't make a person weak. It made them human. 

I'd rather him be safe with me than him being alone where he could get hurt. I wasn't okay with knowing that Niall was alone, even if his mother was on her way home. I just didn't know what I would do if something happened to Niall. 

Although it almost pained me to leave him, at the end of the day I knew he was right. 

~

I walked into the tall gates of the school, many girls immediately seeing me and offering flirtatious smiles as I walked past them. It seemed as though things had gone back to normal here, the previous events were long forgotten.

I should be pleased at this. I should love the attention that I was getting from all the girls. The old me would have loved this attention but the person that I was now didn't even remotely want this. 

Seeing the way that everyone seemed to look at me only made me think of Niall, how these people would have been looking at Niall with disgust if he were here. Particularly since the reason for that was my fault. 

No matter what, I was really beginning to care about the blond and the longer I thought about him, the more intense these feelings were getting. To be honest, it was starting to scare me. 

I knew that it was wrong for me to like Niall. I wasn't gay, I just happened to think he's cute.

Even if I did like him, he wouldn't like me back in the same way. He would always just think of me as a friend. I would have been really surprised if he did happen to like me. Sure, I cared about him but I had hurt him in the past,and I didn't think that was something he'd be able to forget. He would never be able to trust me enough for anything to happen. 

"Harry, you're back," I turned to see Perrie, her blue eyes, blonde hair and tall figure giving her away immediately.

"Uh, yeah," I said, I had no idea what to say, not to mention that my thoughts were all over the place.

"Are you feeling okay?" she questioned with a frown, most likely being able to read my confusion. She was good at that. 

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just tired. I uh-- have to go. I'll see you later?" I questioned and rushed off, not wanting to be late for class, even though I had never cared about that in the past. 

I knew that Perrie would have been confused at my behaviour but I didn't feel the need to care at that moment. I assumed that Zayn would soon enough tell her the reason for my behaviour. 

~

Class had gone by so slowly. I felt as though time was going backwards. When the bell had finally rung, I stood up from my seat and walked into the cafeteria. I had no idea if I wanted to sit with my friends or on my own. I wasn't particularly in the mood to deal with Tyler's homophobic slurs and everyone else's laughter.

Before I could decide I heard someone call my name. I turned around, disappointed to see that it was Tyler. He was smiling but I could see another emotion behind his eyes, as though he wanted to jump on me and strangle me to death.

"What do you want, Tyler?" I asked, pushing back the urge to roll my eyes. 

He hadn't done anything terribly bad since Niall had gone home but I still found myself start to get really annoyed by his presence.

"Nothing really. How have you been, Harry? How's Niall going?" he asked.

So that was why he wanted to talk to me.

His tone was sweet, as though he was talking to his best friend but the way his eyes flashed angrily when he said Niall's name suggested something very different.

"Why do you care how he's doing? Last time I checked you didn't give a shit about him," I let out, getting a little aggressive at the way Tyler was speaking of Niall. 

"Well, if I'm not wrong...neither did you," he said smugly.

If I could kill him right now, I definitely would.

"Leave him alone, Tyler. He did nothing to you and you're a dick for hurting him," I nearly growled.

"Oh, Harry, don't you remember that you hurt him as well? If I'm a dick then so are you. In fact, I'd say you were worse than I am," he replied, laughing cruelly. "Face it, Harry. Freaks like him don't belong here. They are disgusting and he should have been killed when he had the chance," he continued to taunt, his smirk getting bigger.

I couldn't take it anymore. I attacked him. I threw my fist at his face, then another, too blinded by rage to think of doing anything else. He managed to land a blow on my face but I didn't care, my rage blocked out the pain he was causing. I grabbed him by his shirt and pushed him to the ground. I lay more and more hits on him, receiving some in return but I couldn't care less. I was way too angry.

"Leave him the fuck alone," I snapped.

I was suddenly pulled off of him. I was about to pull away and continue to beat Tyler but looked up to see I was being pulled away by a teacher.

"Harry, Tyler. Principles office now," the teacher snapped, glaring at the two of us.

I pushed passed him, freeing myself from his grip as I forced my way past the crowd, not caring if Tyler followed or not.

~

"What happened?" the principle questioned as we both had sat down at his office. We had both been in here many times, so this wasn't particularly new to us. Though this time, it wasn't exactly my fault that I was sent here. 

"I have no idea. I just came to talk to Harry and he attacked me," Tyler said, putting on that victim persona that he had perfected over the years.

I looked at him wide eyed. A lot of things about Tyler annoyed me but one of them was his ability to lie.

"He's lying," I let out bitterly, my face morphing into a glare as soon as the words had left his mouth.

The principle sighed in annoyance, clearly frustrated that he had to deal with this. Unfortunately for me, the principle wasn't exactly my biggest fan because of my old habits. It wouldn't be hard for him to believe that this was all my fault. It wouldn't be the first time. 

"Who started the fight?" he asked, his tone conveying his very apparent boredom. To be fair, this was considerably repetitive occurrence for him. 

"I did but I had a reason," I spoke up before Tyler could spout any more of his lies.

I heard Tyler scoff beside me, glaring at me like I had personally insulted him. I noticed that his lip and nose bleeding and there was a bruise beginning to form on his jaw.

"And they are?" the principle said, ignoring Tyler and focusing his attention on me.

I let out a sigh before I began my side of the story, which was the truth.

"Well, Harry, I know you were defending Niall but you still started the fight. You will both receive detention. I suggest you both leave now," he concluded.

I was tempted to protest and tell him that I didn't deserve punishment for defending Niall but I knew that it was fair. I had started the fight and I had to suffer the consequences. No matter how much he was asking for it.

I left the office without another word, not wanting to make anything worse for myself. The halls were mostly empty, a few students still at their lockers but it was quiet enough for me to hear Tyler's voice from behind me. 

"Have fun with him while you can. You'll both get what you deserve."