electric youth - ziam au

t h r e e

"Sometimes, when people don't have any friends, they become antisocial, their parents start thinking their kids are losers, their teachers start acting concerned, and they start to wish they were anywhere else than where they'd be sitting at that moment." A boy pulled up his chair to Liam's desk in the library, pulling his head out of his book. "Since what I just described is slowly happening to me, and should probably make my way out of that, what is your name?" He smiled, looking toward Liam.

"I'm Liam..." He forced a smile, not sure what to think.

"Well, hi Liam... I'm Louis Tomlinson. I like your flowers by the way. Are you new here?"

Louis was a small boy, supporting himself with little legs stuffed in his skinny jeans. He had a pair of converse placed on his feet and a red sweatshirt covering whatever shirt he was wearing that day. His hair was long, looking like he hadn't gotten a haircut in years, but still looking like he took time to style it up.

"Yeah, yeah, I moved into London two weeks ago with my parents."

Liam folded up his binder, putting all his work into his folders and closing his book, giving his attention fully to the talkative boy sitting across from him.

"That's nice, Liam. I've lived here with my sisters for a few years now. My dad lives in America and my mum remarried and moved to Norway. It's just us five left, but we make it work." He smiled, then being told off by the professor in the library and having to move back to his own table. "See you at lunch mate?"

"Yeah, I'll see you at lunch, Louis."

Liam got back to his book then, sighing when he had forgotten what part he was at. It was only the third day of school and Liam was already loaded with homework. He began to pack up a minute before the bell rang, grabbing his lunch and making his way down to the cafeteria for lunch. Louis was sitting in the back, snaking on a bag of chips and reading through the school newspaper.

"Oh, hey Liam. Come take a seat." He smiled, folding up the paper and patting the spot next to him.

Liam out his bag down and swung his legs over the bench, settling next to Louis before taking out his sandwich.

"Hey, Louis, what you said about your parents... Is that true? That they both left you?" Liam asked, truly feeling concerned.

"Well, yeah. I know I'm only a junior, but I am eighteen, and I suppose right when my mum had the chance, she dropped off the kids who were stopping her from living her life the way she wanted. Partying and drinking until there was nothing left of her but slurs and lies." He breathed, his voice shaking, but his face completely straight. "My dad, well he left before her, divorcing the woman and moving away to New York... Where he had always dreamed of living. My mum cut him off from the family even before that, so I'm not even sure if he knows she left us alone." He breathed in deeply, plopping another chip in. "I do enjoy the girls though, I've got four of them with me, the oldest are sixteen and fourteen, while the youngest are seven year old twins. I do work three jobs and the two oldest work one each, but we make it work, and we are quite happy." He decided.

Liam just nods in return, and before he knows it, lunch is far over and Liam is heading over to History. The professor assigned a paper, asking the students to write what is the "meaning of life". The fact was horrid, something anyone and everyone would ask. The class seemed very happy about the assignment, but Liam couldn't imagine a simple answer for the question. He had decided that he needed a break from the period, seeing that it wasn't going to be over for yet another hour, and asked if he could be excused to the toilets.

When he got there, he noticed smoke coming out of the room and instantly began to panic. Trying to think back to the time he was in scouts with his granddad, he placed his hand to the door to maybe feel heat, but when he didn't, he proceeded to throw open the door to see a dark haired boy sucking on what Liam believed to be some sort of drugs.

"Well hello, friend." He smirked, sucking in some more smoke. "Care for a drag?"

"What are you doing? Do you realize how much smoke this is? Or that we are in school right now?" Liam asked, slowly walking toward him.

"Yeah I do actually, and do you realize that it is called high school for a reason?" He laughed lightly, beginning to look at Liam for the first time since he had walked in. "My God man, what is that garden on your head?"

"And what, exactly, is that garden in your mouth?" Liam threw back, placing his hands on his hips.

"Well, smartass... I'm Zayn Malik, and you must be new here. You really seem to have absolutely no fucking idea what I can do to you, mister." He smiles once again before throwing the joint as Liam's feet and setting off the bathroom fire alarm. "Have fun explaining this one, flower boy." He laughed, quickly walking out the door.

And just like that, Zayn was gone, and Liam was sitting in front of the principal in his office. His mum was called up, coming to school like the responsible parent she portrays to other people, and leaving Liam to walk home on his own.

He got back around an hour later, heading straight to his room and starting on his homework. He had already gotten a mark at school for 'smoking illegal substances', and God, did he hate that Zayn kid. The principal had informed him that marks from the principal is really not a good way to begin his high school career in London, as well as his requirement to attend a tour of the school the next day.

He sat down on his bed with a binder in his lap, not owning a simple desk. It took him a complete hour and a half to think of any answer to that damn history question, and began to write slowly.

There is no meaning of life. There either isn't one, or no one could ever possibly know. To know the exact answer to the impossible question, you'd have to experience everything and anything that could ever happen to you. You can work on it, but no one can achieve the satisfaction of knowing the meaning of life. Not even in the slightest. Going through every single possibility would be the result of five thousand lifetimes, and there is not a single way to ever achieve that. Imagine all the pain and suffering in the world. Being part of an abusive home or relationship or losing someone you really cannot live withouti. Think about not having water to drink when you're thirsty, not having food to eat when you're hungry, not being clean, not owning a pair of clothes. Then think about how much better life could get. Being rich and famous, or even being known worldwide for changing the world as it was. If somehow, someway, you were able to be involved in all that together, you may just be able to piece together an answer to the question we'd all enjoy to solve. As said, we can spend our lives working to discover it, but no one will ever, ever make it. There is no clear meaning of life, and as much as I would like a solid answer, I'm not going to die trying to find it.

He put down the paper, giving up, and moving to his endless stack of English homework that Louis had put a halt to in the library, until he got bored and began to doodle and jot down rhyming words along the papers edges.