Guarded

||four||

"So, how did it go, huh?" Marie asks me as we walk to first hour.

I have Niall's hoodie in my hand, but I don't make it known that it's his.

"It was really fun," I admit. "But I'm not interested in him that way."

Okay, I have to confess. I may possibly, just slightly, maybe, a little bit be interested in him that way. But no one is ever gonna know.

No one.

Because I don't want to get my hopes up and fall 'in love' and then just get heartbroken, like my mother.

"Niall," I whisper to him. "Niall, I have your hoodie."

"Okay," he replies. "Why are we whispering?"

"Because people will think we're a thing if they hear me saying 'I have your hoodie from Saturday.'"

"You mean, we're not a thing?" He smirks.

"No, I mean, we're just friends," I say. "Right?"

He bites his lip. "Right."

Although he plays it off like it's a joke, I can see behind his cocky smirk. His eyes are a little sad, kind of like he knew something wasn't there, but he had hopes that maybe it would show up.

For the rest of class, Niall doesn't talk to me.

In the next two hours I have him in, he doesn't really talk to me either.

"Niall," I say to him at lunch. "What's wrong? You haven't talked to me since first hour."

"Nothing," he shakes his head.

"I know something's wrong. C'mon, you can tell me," I urge.

"Why do you need to know? It's not like we 'have a thing.' We're just friends, remember?" He snaps.

I look down at my hands and I feel my face flush.

Niall notices and quickly softens his tone. "I'm sorry, I just. I don't know. Something about- y'know what? Never mind. Lets just enjoy our lunches, okay?"

"Okay," I reply, smiling because I think we just had a Fault In Our Stars moment.

Emme and Liam come and sit across from us.

I can see Emme smirk and wiggle her eyebrows at me, obviously entertained with the fact that I'm sitting with Niall.

I roll my eyes at her and continue to pick at my ranch drenched salad.

"So, Niall, how was your and Cassidy's date on Saturday?" Liam pipes up, breaking the awkward silence.

"You know about that?" I quickly say without even thinking.

"How would I not know about that? Niall wouldn't shut up about it for a solid week," Liam laughs.

Niall gives me an odd look that I can't really read. He turns to Liam again. "We had some fun."

"Bunches of fun," I correct him.

Niall furrows his eyebrows at me and I shrug my shoulder.

Harry, Marie, and who I think I remember as Louis approach the table.

Harry and Marie are walking hand in hand, giggling at each other. Louis looks annoyed with their cute relationship.

"Oh my gosh. Get a room," Louis grumbles as he takes a seat next to me.

I giggle at his slight sassiness. "Do you have a girlfriend, Louis?" I ask.

"Yeah, but she goes to a private school over near Albany. I don't get to see her too often," he sighs.