Better Than Words

Chapter 3

My hand fumbled with the lock on my locker until it finally popped open. I grabbed all my notebooks and stuffed them in my bag with a sigh. Today was one of the most boring days. I didn't meet anybody new except the five people this morning.

I slammed my locker shut and proceeded my way towards the front doors.

"Hey!" A deep british voice called from behind me.

I turned around to see a boy with messy blonde hair and baby blue eyes jogging to catch up with me. His forearm was covered in mulitple tattoos and his skin was a beautiful shade of tan. A skateboard dangled at his side in his hand and he shot me a perfect smile.

"Um hi?" I asked questionly.

"Julianna right? American girl?" I nodded my head.

"The one and only." He smirked at me and continued walking but stuck out his hand for me to shake.

"I'm Derek Smith. I think we have math together."

"Oh I'm sorry, I dont think I noticed. Today just kinda happened so fast..." I said apologetically.

"Well, you were impossible to miss..." He said smoothely. I smiled shyly at the ground and felt my cheeks burn. "You have the whole school talking ya know?"

"Do I?" I questioned with a puzzled look.

"Oh definitely." He said with confidence. "It's not everyday a beautiful foreign girl comes walking into Holmes Chapel. There's only a handful of decent looking females here." He chuckled.

Something about Derek made me feel uneasy. It was very clear he was hitting on me and I could tell he was confident around girls. Dont get me wrong, he was easily one of the best looking guys at this school, but I was suddenly scared to say something that would give a hint that I'm not interested.

We walked through the front doors and started heading down the school steps when somebody called his name.

"Derek!" The voice seemed bitter but all too familiar. I flipped my long hair over my shoulder and sure enough saw the green eyed boy leaning against the wall. Derek turned around and stopped walking with me.

"Sup Styles. I was just walking with my new friend here, Jules." I gave him an uneasy glare at the nickname he used.

"Jules, huh?" Harry asked in amusement. I knew he had seen my confused look. "What a lovely, lovely name."

What the hell?

"I'm Harry Styles." He extended his hand but I didnt accept it. I pulled my eyebrows in confusion and shook my head. Paige was right. He was definitely not who I thought he was.

I turned on my heel and started walking down the steps by myself. It wasn't long til I heard Harry call something out to Derek and then rush by my side. It wasnt until I was outside the school gates until he spoke up.

"Whoa slow down speed racer, you're making it hard to keep up." I could nearly hear the smirk on his face but I rolled my eyes and ignored him. "Julianna?"

I stopped and spun around so fast that me and Harry nearly collided.

"What the hell was that?" I asked harshly. He looked taken aback but quickly recovered.

"Look you don't know me, alright? So dont pretend like you do." He said just as rudely. A sarcastic laugh escaped my lips and I shook my head.

"Oh don't worry. I'll have no problem doing that. Just forget any of this ever happened and you'll never see me again." I turned and continued walking. He grabbed my arm and spun me around.

"Look you can't tell anybody about the bakery shit. Okay?" His tone was deep and serious.

"And why's that?"

"Because that's not me. Do you know how much shit I'll get for that? They'll kick me to the curb. I have a rep Jules -" That's where I cut him off.

"Don't you dare call me that. Why do you people even care about your images anyway. If you freaking like baking then tell the worl-" I was then cut off by his warm hand covering my mouth.

"Will you shut the hell up?!" He hissed and looked around to make nobody heard. I slapped his arm away and shot him an icy glare.

"She was right." I thought out loud. "You are trouble."

"What? Who?" I shook my head.

"Doesnt matter. But don't worry, I wont be attended your gig on Saturday or any day. You're not worth it." I turned and walked away and this time he didnt follow.

*****

~Harry's POV~

She disappeared around the corner before I even realized what had happened. I didn't care though. She was just some dumb girl who happened to walk on the other side of town, stumble into the bakery I work at, and conviently goes to my school now. Just fucking great.

I turned and nearly jumped out of my pants when I saw Derek staring at me from a few feet away.

"What are you doing mate? I told I'd see you at practice." I muttered harshly and walked passed him, with him following directly behind me.

"How do you know her Styles?" He asked.

"Who ever said I did?" I rolled my eyes in annoyance.

"Okay well since you dont, dibs." I stopped walking and slowly turned to face him. My jaw tightened and I immediately saw fear flash behind his blue eyes for a split second.

"No dibs on this one." I spoke through clenched teeth.

"Oh yeah? And why not?" He retaliated. I bit my lip and glared at him. I had to come up with an excuse that's good enough.

"Look, she's new. Let's at least give her a while before we do something to run her off." I did my best not to stutter and knew I had succeeded when a smirk spread over his face.

"Okay you're right. But I call first." He started to walk past me and I grabbed his arm.

"Whoa there mate..." He stopped and I gave him a serious stare. "We're not passing her around the band."

He shrugged his shoulders and pulled away from my grip.

"We've done it before. I dont see why this ones any different..." He was giving me a weird look. I pressed my lips into a hard line and looked at the sidewalk underneath me. "See ya at practice..." Derek muttered and walked off. His voice was off and I stared after him as he walked down the street.

Something was up. And I'm not sure I liked it.