Just Silly Kids (Larry Stylinson)

6. Project Partners

When Louis entered the changing rooms for football practice the next day, the room went silent. Everyone stared at him.

Louis frowned, a bit intimidated. "What's up?"

Aidan, the team captain, stood up tall and cleared his throat. Louis knew that this was the only reason he was captain, his height and the fact that he was the oldest. There were much better players in the team. Calum for instance, or Ashton.

Louis noticed that exactly those two were frowning at the the scene. Everyone else was just watching with interest. Louis even wondered if there was malicious joy in some of their faces.

"So, we should get straight to the point, right?" Aidan said.

Louis shrugged. "Sure."

Aidan changed looks with some of the other players before talking. "So we decided that we don't want weak fags in our team. You're out."

Louis gaped at them. "Out?" He choked in disbelief. "You're throwing me out of the team?"

Aidan shrugged. "Yeah, we can't have that kind of misfortune in our team. Sorry."

Louis felt himself getting angry and he straightened his stance in rage. "You're throwing me out of the team because of some rumour that is not even true?" He almost yelled. "I have a fucking girlfriend. Keep up with the program you fucking idiot!"

Aidan crossed his arms and eyed him curiously. "You have a girlfriend, huh? Who?"

Louis crossed his arms. "Eleanor Calder."

"Eleanor, huh?" Aidan taunted. "She's sexy. How do I know you're not lying?"

"I kissed her at the football field." Louis said, wondering how it had not spread through the whole school. From what Louis had heard, news about new couples were spreading like a wild fire. "You can ask Nick and Logan and Zayn and basically the whole basketball team except for Luke because for some reason he wasn't there."

"Luke's ill." Calum informed them.

"Yeah, since Sunday." Ashton added. "Nasty headache. Throws up a lot."

Louis had the feeling that they wanted to distract from the actual issue. "Come here." Calum beckoned. "You can change here."

"Hey, wait." Aidan complained. "I haven't decided if he's allowed back in the team yet."

"Do you want to set the FBI on Louis' relationships?" Ashton asked, sounding annoyed.

"No, but-" He cut himself off, watching as Louis took off his shirt and started to change into his football clothing. He seemed to decide that this was not worth the struggle and focused on himself.

"Thank you." Louis whispered to Calum and Ashton, who just smiled back. Louis frowned when he saw pity in their eyes. Yes, Louis had almost been thrown of the team, but he was not and he had a beautiful girlfriend now. There was nothing he should be pitied for.

>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<

The list with the project partners came out the next day. Everyone scattered around the news wall excitedly. Some squealed in excitement, some groaned in disappointment, but Louis and Harry just leaned against the wall, watching. They already knew they were partners but it was still interesting to see who else was put together.

Niall came over to them. At Harry's question who was Niall's 'perfect project partner' he just shrugged. "Some Ellie Goulding, apparently. Seen her around. No Barbara, but pretty enough."

Harry frowned. "Do you only judge how good looking they are?"

"No, I just don't know anything else about them." Niall defended himself.

Liam came walking up to them, beaming. "I have Sophia."

Louis rolled his eyes. "You copied from her. No wonder."

Liam blushed. "I did not." He tried to deny weakly, then tried to change the topic quickly. "What about you two?"

"Oh, we're together." Louis said.

"We're perfect partners." Harry beamed.

"Louis, what about-"

Liam was cut off by Eleanor approaching them, squealing, "Louis." She hugged him, then pulled back with her arms around Louis' neck. "So sad that we're not partners!"

"Haha, yeah." Louis laughed awkwardly, subtly trying to get some space between them. He was still a bit uncomfortable with this kind of display of affection, or affection in general. Especially in front of Harry. He still had to tell his best friend about his girlfriend.

"Now I have Michael Clifford. Never talked to him. But he always has funny hair colours. Oh by the way," She turned to Harry, who was watching her closely, as she was still holding onto Louis' biceps and he had settled his hand awkwardly on her hip. "You will not believe it. You were right. That Logan idiot really is put together with Quinn. Well, makes sense. His stupidity had to be balanced with someone really smart."

"Hmpf." Harry just grunted, still monitoring her every move. Louis also seemed to notice Harry's discomfort and pushed Eleanor away, taking his best friend's wrist and pulling him away.

"Well, me and Harry still have some homework to do." He explained hurriedly and pulled Harry along.

"What was that?" Harry said in disbelief. "How dare her to hug you like this? Only I am allowed to do this. Who does she think she is?"

'My girlfriend.' Louis thought dryly, but he did not say that. He just grunted in what could be interpreted as agreement.

"Lou?"

"Hm?" He was scared that Harry would continue asking about her.

"We've known we are project partners for a few days now, right?"

"Yeah, what's your point?"

"Well, we all know our partners now, but we don't know anything about this project."

Louis stopped his tracks and looked down at his best friend. "You're right. Didn't even think about that."

They laughed. Louis was happy that everything seemed back to normal again.

Even if he did not know how long that would last.