Walk Away h.s punk/au

7.

I drummed my pencil against the top of my desk. If this anticipation was what addicts felt like with out their high, I knew I would never do drugs. The wait for the bell to ring was sickening. For six hours I've been stuck in school, having to see Harry all day and hear his little, "Just wait a little bit longer." with his classic smirk.

The clock seemed to freeze, ticking away painfully slow. Sitting in my English class, I felt Harry's hand brush at a strand of my hair. I tilted my head back to see him upside down. Even from this angle, he was the most beautiful man I'd seen. He smirked down at me, bopping my nose.

"Harry, Katherine!" Ms. Smith said, smiling in delight. The whole class stared at us like they had all week. They couldn't get it through their heads that we were what we were. We couldn't be just friends, and we couldn't be dating.  "I get it, you don't want to be here, if one of you could tell me the answer, I'll let the rest of the class period go."

I quickly rattled off the answer, Harry placing a chaste kiss on the back of my hair.  "That's my girl." he whispered tickling my ear. Turning around to face him, I propped my arm up on his desk.

"What movie are we going to watch?" I asked bouncing up and down in my seat the nerves and excitement of my first date swimming inside.

"What ever you want. Do you dig 80's movies?"

Before I could answer, I felt a prod on my shoulder. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Ms. Smith, Tiffany, Max, and Dylan. Their eyes flickered to the door, silently screaming at me to go out it and into the hall with them. Turning back to Harry, I offered an apologetic look, before going with the group of them.

Dylan crossed his arms, leaning against the closed door, Tiffany and Max standing to his left, Ms. Smith to his right. I knew what was coming, and I didn't want to hear it. Tiffany was the first to speak, being very direct.

"Katherine, he's hot. No ones denying that. But have you thought that he might not be the best first boyfriend."

"Guys, I know where this is-" I tried to protest but Dylan cut me off.

"No listen to us. He's broken, you don't need that in a first relationship. You need someone like you. I know you want to help him, but now's not the time." he outstretched  a hand, trying to caress my cheek.

Shoving his hand away, I tried to keep an even tone. " Listen to me for once. I care about him. I don't know what the two of us are, but we're something." The four of them stared at me. "Honestly, why do you even care?"

This seemed to strike a nerve. "Katherine, they said that they worried about you. You haven't been around them for awhile. I've noticed." Ms. Smith said a frown growing on her face.

This comment caused me to feel some inner nerved of patience snap. "I've haven't been with you! I'm always around. You three are just to busy to realize it. Honestly, when was the last time you asked me how I was doing?" there was a silence between them.

"Dylan-you need to watch how involved you get, I don't have as much of a tolerance with you as I do them." I continued pointing to Tiffany and Max. "And don't think I don't keep up with Niall, I was with him the other day." I saw Dylan gulp, and smiled at the success of my threat.

"You two." I accused directing my attention on Tiffany and Max. "Why are you even doing this? Aren't you the ones that preach about excepting different people?" Tiffany opened her mouth but I quickly shut it. "And as far as that goes, why do you even hang around with me anyway? I'm poor, you aren't. You think everything is fine when I go home, but it isn't. It never is."

The four seemed taken aback at my confession. Tiffany slowly approached me, offering a hug. In all our years of friendship never once had I been hugged. I'd always been told how awesome, or sweet, or what a lifesaver I was, but never hugged. She closed her arms around me. I guess deep down she did care, which was more than I could say for Max. She was always cold around me, making me feel unwanted.

"Katherine, I didn't know. I always told you my problems, I never thought you had any." I shrugged, feeling the adrenaline rush from earlier fading. There was a knot hanging at the top of my throat, and I found myself longing to run into the class room to Harry.

"He gets what ever your going through doesn't he?" Ms. Smith asked, eyeing me carefully.

"Yes, he does. I feel comfortable around him. Happy around him."

Max stared at me for a second, her silence being broken. "We care that's all. And you're right, we are a bunch of hypocrites. I'm sorry. We're sorry."

Rubbing my eyes with my hand I mumbled an "it's okay" though it wasn't.  "Can I go back in now?" I asked, preparing to push Dylan out of the way.

They nodded, as I slipped inside the bell rang. Harry scooped up my stuff, meeting me halfway. "What'd the peanut gallery want?" he asked, eyeing them as we walked out.

The part of me that people saw was saying "nothing", but the Harry version, said, "I'll tell you in the car."

The puppy looking boy from the photos I saw the first night here greeted us at the door. "Hi, I'm Liam, and you must be Katherine."

I smiled shaking his hand. "'Pleasure."

He lead us into the living room which contained a nice TV, a very large couch, and multiple chairs. Scattered throughout the room were the rest of the boys, all running up to hug me. As I felt three sets of arms wrap around me, I noticed how different this hug felt compared to the one Tiffany gave.

Harry's grip on me tightened. He lead me to the couch, grumbling about the lack of trust the boys had in him. I couldn't help but giggle. He sat so close to me that our thighs overlapped.

I could just tell from the way he had been acting that he didn't appreciate the intervention that took place. I spared him the part where Dylan tried to do whatever he had in mind, knowing how he'd react.

The only problem with not telling him that, was that Niall could tell. Niall had seen my discomfort before, and it wasn't a surprise that he asked, "Somethin' wrong." before Louis popped in Grease.

"No, just nervous." which wasn't a complete lie.

Harry leaned into me, the smug look of pride replacing his previous look of distaste. "This is her first date." he said.

With that out in the open, the boys had plenty of material, and several hours to use it.