The Boarder || Harry Styles

Chapter 4

Autumn’s POV

I took a seat at one of the wooden desks, dropping my backpack near my feet. Today was Thursday, which meant I had both Mythology and English. I'd set my alarm early this morning, knowing that finding the mythology class would be a task itself.

As other students filled in, I gazed around. The room itself wasn't that large, but was of a respectable size.  At the front of the room a white board was plastered to the wall, some saying in Latin and another in Greek scribed on it. Multiple pictures of the Greek gods and goddesses were hung, decorating the alabaster walls. Some even had Greek writing scrolled across them. The desks were arranged in four columns and three crows which made sense. Mythology wasn't the most popular class. Therefore, having many desks wasn't a necessity.

Looking at the realistic Medusa head mounted above the doorway, I saw the top of Harry's hair as he strolled into the classroom. So I had this class with him too?

Most of the students sat on the desks, laughing whilst drinking their coffee to wake themselves up while others were practically sleeping.

A couple minutes after, the teacher settled into the room, catching everyone's attention to get seated. He was a young man, his hair a dark mocha color styled into a quiff. He wore a white button up collared shirt and fitting black pants, a leather satchel crossing over his chest, and held several books in his hand. He removed his satchel and placed down his books, sitting down at his desk. He surely didn’t look old enough to be a college professor.  He grabbed his thick framed rayban glasses and slipped them on. He was quite a sexy teacher if I had to be brutally honest. I understood why the girl to guy ratio was so different.

Harry took the seat one desk diagonally to me. Focusing back on the teacher instead of the curly haired boy,- I listened as he called attendance.

“It seems as if we have a new student. Autumn Rue?" I raised my hand hesitantly in air as eyes turned towards me - excluding Harry’s - and the teacher scanned the students.

"Ah, there you are," he said with smile and a thick accent. "I'm Mr. Malik and welcome to the Study of Ancient Greek - and Roman - Myths or as most call it, Mythology.  You haven't missed much, we've just finished the Aeneid. We're just getting into the gods and goddesses, but would someone like to give a synopsis of the Aeneid before we continue?”  Mr. Malik peered around as Harry raised his hand.

“The Aeneid is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil. It basically describes the protagonist, Aeneas’ journey and obstacles after the desolation of Troy. Aeneas is the son of Aphrodite, goddess of love, and Anchises, making him a demigod - part human, part god. He and his men encounter many things, major ones including Dido the queen of Carthage and King Latinus of Latium, just to get to Italy because it was destined for him to be the founder of Rome,” Harry rattled off the summary effortlessly, as if he had rehearsed it multiple times. He seemed so interested in the topic.

“Well said, Harry,” Mr. Malik praised as he started to casually pace the floor.  “Now, as some of you may know, the gods go by multiple names.  From now on we'll be focusing mostly on the gods' Greek myths, but you shouldn't disregard their Roman counterparts. You might have heard Zeus be referred to as Jupiter or Hera as Juno before..." he continued on, but his voice drifted off in my mind.

I bounced my leg absent mindedly, glancing at Harry. His back faced me as he sat there, his chin leaning on the palm of his hand. He wore yet another different coat, this one black with a woolen collar.

“Autumn? Could you please tell me Apollo's Roman counterpart?" I flinched out of my daydream as Mr. Malik stared at me.

"Apollo's Roman counterpart?" I repeated his question.  He simply nodded.