Reasons to be a Nerd: a Larry Stylinson AU fic

Chapter 1

My name is Harry Styles, and to me, appearance is everything.

It’s the middle of senior year, and all I’ve done for months is party. Ha, I don’t even care if I’m the stereotype of a high school senior; I’m living it up.

When I roll out of bed at seven in the morning, I cuss loudly at no one in particular. Great, first day of the new semester and I managed to wake up half an hour late…

My feet hit the floor and I take off out the door and across the hall. Once I’m in my bathroom, I slam the door behind me and strip down, going in what I like to call super-holy-crap-fast-mode.

I jump in the shower, deal with the cold water, and brush my teeth while I’m in there. I’ve found multitasking to be super effective. I’m out in like two minutes flat, and I run a towel over my body as fast as I can before shaking my head like a dog. I streak across the hall back to my room (hey, no one else is awake yet) and pull on some boxers and jeans before rubbing the towel over my hair to get it dry. Speeding through that, I pull a brush through it every which way.

Sex hair is always a good thing.

Waving my fingers like a spaz while I look for a shirt, I eventually just settle for a tight, bright red t-shirt. I grab my bracelet and necklace that I always wear and pull them on, and then race down the stairs. Breakfast is overrated, I can wait till lunch.

I glance at the clock to see that it’s 7:20 now. Not bad on the timing, but now I have to beg Niall to come and pick me up…

I grab my phone out of the pocket of the jeans I’m wearing, since I left it there when I wore them yesterday. Quickly, I click Niall’s name in my contacts and hold the phone to my ear, while I jump from one foot to the other, nervous.

I’m already standing on my porch by the time he picks up, his voice still sleepy. “Harry? Whattya want?” he asks, and I blurt, “Oh hey Nialler, I’m late. Can you swing by my house and pick me up?”

Niall groans from the other end but says he’ll be by in five. “Thanks, man, I owe ya one!” I yell in the phone before hanging up and stuffing it back in my pocket.

7:25 on the dot, he’s here, and I run over and drop into the passenger’s side seat when Niall shoves the door open. “Thanks Niall,” I tell him. “Hey, don’t sweat it,” he says simply.

We get to school right at 7:50. “God, why do we have to live so far away?” I groan, and Niall laughs. “Shit nobody says: I wanna live CLOSER to school!”

“Shut up Niall, you know what I mean! I’d get to sleep later.”

Niall flashes me a grin as we saunter through a side door of the building.

I manage to fish my schedule out of a random pocket in my backpack as we walk, and Niall magically conjures his up or something; I don’t know, but when I look back over at him, his schedule is in his hand. “Can’t believe we didn’t compare them yet,” he comments, leaning over to look at mine.

He scowls after a second. “Just one,” he nearly growls, “and that’s math. It’s second period, too!”

I have to laugh at how upset Niall is. “Hey, at least we have any classes together,” I say, “Last semester we didn’t have any. And what would I do without my best pal?” I blow him a kiss and he pretends to karate chop it in the air. “NO HOMO!” he yells, and I punch his arm. “You know you like it.”

“I’m sorry Haz, but I like girls.”

“What a coincidence, so do I! We’re perfect for each other!”

Nialler rolls his eyes but smiles. We’ve got our bromance even though we’re both straight, and he’s my best friend in the world.

Which is saying something. I care about Niall, but about literally nothing else. Trying to get me to give a shit about much of anything is prettttttttty hard to do.

We go different directions after a couple minutes.

First period, a science class, is a blur that I don’t care about – shocker there. There’s not even anyone semi-cute in that class…

After first is over, I’m distracted by a flyer on the row of lockers on the opposite side of the hall from me.

As soon as I turn my head back in front of me, somebody slams straight into my chest.

“Dude, what the hell?” I blurt instinctively. Then I see the guy kneeling in front of me to pick up a book. When he stands back up, he seems to see me for the first time, and looks horrified. His brown hair is ruffled and I can’t tell if it’s on purpose or from running into me. He’s not dressed much differently than I am: he’s wearing black skinny jeans and a fitting blue polo that makes his blue eyes seem that much- Whoa whoa whoa why am I noticing this much about this guy??

“Oh my God, I am so sorry!” he says, and I feel bad for him. He looks so freaked, so I say, “Don’t sweat it. Not a big deal.” He speed walks away down a hall to my left, and I shake my head. It seems weird that I noticed so much about him…ah, whatever. No point in worrying about it.

Then I make my way down a few separate halls until I reach a door marked “440” that I apparently have math in.