Anxious || Harry Styles

Chapter Seventeen

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

The movie comes to an end but I stay snuggled up against Harry's body. My arm is around his stomach and my head is nuzzled between his shoulder and neck. Harry squeezes his arms around me and lifts me up and places me on his lap. I look at the gorgeous boy and kiss his cheek. 

"We have to turn off the TV." I say but hug him anyways. 

"I know. But I don't want to right now." I pull away and see he is smiling cheekily. I laugh and poke his dimple. 

"I am in love with you and your dimple." I say. He smiles which makes them pop out once more. 

"I am in love with you and you." He says and squeezes me towards him. I laugh and rest my head on his shoulder. 

I look at the clock in my vision and see it is 3:10 in the afternoon. I inhale a deep breath. School is just finishing. 

Shit.

"Oh my god." I mumble and smack my forehead. 

"What is it?" Harry asks and removes my hand from my face so he could look at me. 

"I forgot to hand in the note from Dr. Erica to Mr. Rogers. I don't want to give it to him tomorrow, the day I'm supposed to present." I say. Harry holds my hand and rubs his thumb along the back of it. 

"You could go now." He says. 

"I don't want to leave you alone." I pout. Harry gives me a smile.

"It's alright. It's just going to be for a few minutes anyways." He says. I nod and stand up. "Do you want me to give you a ride?" He asks. Though I could see it on his face that the thought of even going to the school parking lot scares the shit out of him. 

"It's alright, thank you though." I smile at him. He shakes his head. 

"I am going to go to school eventually so I might as well practice now." He says, his voice wavering. He is right but I don't like the thought of him getting extremely anxious right now. Today was supposed to be a break from all that, not to bring it back. 

"You don't have to if you want want to." I say while holding his hand. 

"I don't want to but I have to." He says with a semi confident nod. I nod too.

"Okay." 

I quickly go to Harry's room and get the slip out of my school bag before going back down the stairs. I see Harry holding his keys and give a reassuring smile before we put on our boots and jacket. 

The ride there was silent. I look down and grab hold of Harry's free hand giving it a squeeze. He's so brave and strong for doing this. 

We reach the school and I see some students coming out of the building and going to their cars in the parking lot. Harry parks in his usual spot and I give him a quick kiss to the cheek and squeeze on his hand before climbing out and walking to the building. 

Since school has just ended not long ago, the halls are still occupied by some students. I walk to Mr. Roger's class and I hope he is still there. I look inside of the classroom and let out a sigh of relief when I see him at the desk doing some marking I assume. I knock on the door and take deep breaths before opening the door. 

"Joelle." Mr. Rogers says with a smile. "It's nice to see you, where were you today? Is everything alright?" He gestures to the desk in front of his. I close the door and take a seat. 

"Umm." I blank out. I had an idea what I was going to say but completely ruined it by asking those questions. 

"Umm...I was with Harry." Right after I say those words, I mentally slap myself in the face. That sounds horrible. My hands are shaking and my breathing is rapid. I suddenly don't feel like being here anymore. 

"Is everything alright?" He asks looking genuinely concerned. I shake my head feeling like I want to cry. "Does it have to do with yesterday?" He asks. I look into his eyes and I bet he could see how shaken up I am. I nod. "Abby and Sophie?" I nod. He purses his lips and frown, shaking his head. 

"Those girls." He let's out a frustrated huff. "What did they do this time?" He asks. 

"They started bothering Harry now." I gulp and bite my lip. "And he um he got a really big panic attack." I say quickly feeling bad for saying it. But I trust Mr. Rogers and he deserves to know. 

"I've had enough with them. They are always causing trouble. If it isn't to peers then it is to me and I am sick if it." He shakes his head again. "I will let the principle know about them and what they are doing. Don't worry, the two girls won't know you said anything." He says. I nod appreciating his words. 

"Thank you." I say truthfully. He smiles. "But I uh actually came here to give you this." I take out the slightly crinkled paper from my hands and hand it to him. He opens it and reads it before looking at me. 

"It's alright." He smiles. "It's fine. Just I guess you could give your essay tomorrow then. Will you be ready to give it in by then?" I nod. "Great. What is your quote?" 

"It's by Dr. Seuss, 'Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind'." 

"That's a good quote. What did you talk about in your essay?" I fiddle with my hands under the desk. 

"About anxiety and social anxiety. How even though you want to do just as the quote says, it's really hard to when you have that mental disorder and how everyone's opinions and words affect you greatly. Along those lines." I stutter to come up with words. My face reddens when I realize how choppy and unexplained that answer was. 

"I really like that. I feel like that would be a great presentation and would open everyone's minds. Maybe even Abby and Sophie's." He says. I shake my head.

"It will just make them bother me more because they would see how vulnerable I am finding out about my mental disorder. It just gives them more reason to pick on me." 

"I know in this project you are allowed to use 'I', 'you', 'we' and 'us' but you could always use third person. Others won't know you are actually talking about yourself because you could have gotten that information from a friend or family member." He offers with a shrug. I nod understanding what he is saying. 

"But I still don't want to present." I say firm with my answer. He nods. 

"I totally understand." He smiles. 

"Thank you." I stand up and walk to the door. "See you tomorrow, Mr. Rogers." 

"Bye, Joelle. Take care. Both you and Harry." He says. I give a small smile and exit the classroom, letting out a big breath. That went better than I thought. 

I walk down the hall feeling very relieved. My heart is still beating really fast but I am still relieved. A small smile even forms on my face. I go down the stairs quickly not wanting to make Harry wait any longer. I rush out of the school doors and jog to the parking lot. 

I take a deep breath from shock. 

Right in front of my eyes I see Harry standing outside of his car with Abby, Sophie and three other people cornering him. 

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It's a bit short but I updated the next day which is kind of a shocker haha

Sorry for the cliff hanger. I hope you don't hate me. 

I'm scared for what's happening in the story. 

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And check out my new Harry AU called Netpals:

In which a lonely girl argues with a wise boy over the ending of an online romance book.