teacher ((h.s))

chapter six

Harry.

Harry Styles.

Mr Styles.

Harry.

His name is Harry and he doesn't like people sitting next to him or people in general.

Harry.

I found myself thinking about him a lot more than I should have. I thought about him when I was teaching a Geography class or when I was in the staff room looking at him sit at an empty table. I thought about him when I was at home watching a television show that was boring me, because he intrigued me.

"Shut up, Kibbles." I muttered as I dragged him in the morning towards the old man's house. "You're pulling me out of my daydreams."

He didn't stop barking, though. So I tugged on his leash (a/n: spelling ???) and frowned when he whimpered. I tugged him further to the doorstep and exchanged good morning's with Mr Thompson before departing.

"Nina, love?" he called after me. I turned around and stopped in my tracks.

"Yes?" I wasn't in a rush or anything, but it was pretty cold outside so all I wanted to do was get inside my car and defrost my freezing limbs.

"Could you me a favour?" He absentmindedly ruffled the dog's hair and patted his head. "If you're not busy after school, would you mind picking up Ellie? She has club after school and her mother can't pick her up today, so she was wondering if you could."

"Yeah, sure! No problem." Ellie was Mr Thompson's granddaughter who went to a primary school in town that I used to visit. I did my work experience there.

"Thank you, dear. Have a great day."

"You, too! And if Kibbles starts sneezing, don't worry. I learnt that it's okay for dogs to do that, too!"

He laughed before nodding and heading inside. I jogged to my car and hopped in, soon on my way to the school.

*****

"Holly, you're good at this!" I laughed as the girl on stage smiled widely.

"Really? I kinda messed up the lines a bit, though."

"Hey, that's okay, right? Everybody makes mistakes and if anything they were only minor ones." I pointed out. I took GCSE drama, so I knew what it was like to mess up.

"Right, right. Okay," she stepped off stage and picked up her backpack from the bench as she made her way towards me. "Thank you, again. I really needed this!"

"It's okay, I'm here to help!" I gathered my stuff and walked with her to the school gates. "Now, I need to get home. Are you okay taking the bus or would you like me to give you a ride?"

"Oh no, it's okay, my house is just down the road." She pushed open the doors and waved a goodbye to me, which I happily returned. As soon as my car was in sight, I did a mental happy dance at the thought of going home, but then remembered that I was meant to be picking up Ellie from school.

Dammit Ellie.

I mentally posponded my plans of lying on my bed to later on as I switched my engine on and headed towards the school. It's not the first time I had to pick Ellie up - there was a time where her mum got into an accident and was in the hospital so I had to pick her up and drop her off for two weeks straight. We had gotten used to each other and staying at her house wasn't anything new to me.

I approached the school building and parked a little to the right so that it was easier for me to find my car. I cut off the engine and walked up to the open gates, mentally cursing myself for being ten minutes early.

I sat myself in the foyer and stared at all the kid's paintings. I stared at this one picture that had an intense green eye in the middle of a broken heart, and I frowned at it. The eye had a single drawn blue blob sort of hanging from the corner of the eye and nodded slowly as I realised it to be a tear drop. It was obviously drawn by one of the infants because the detail wasn't this kid's concern but I thought it was good none the less. Sad, but good. The green eye reminded me of Harry's.

Speaking of Harry, I spoke to him again today. He wore a black blazer with a white shirt and black trousers and I asked him if he ever wore anything but suits and he said he did.

"I wear jeans sometimes," he shrugged looking at the floor. "Not a lot, though."

"Really? I wouldn't put you down as one to wear jeans." I said back.

"What did you think I did? Walked around in suits all day?" He laughed a bit and I smiled.

"I... don't actually know." I laughed and tried to cover my embarrassment when I snorted, but that only made me laugh more. I looked up at Harry after my laughing fit with tears in my eyes only to find him laughing, himself. He laughed softly, shaking his head and staring at me with an unreadable expression. This was our first normal, human-like conversation that didn't involve any bipolar moodswings or anyting. It was also the first time I saw him laugh for real. Words cannot describe how beautiful that man is when his eyes go all squinty and his dimples grow deeper than the sea as he smiles with his perfect teeth and his stupid pink lips sort of turn up in a smirk that I want to just-

"Nina!" I shot around to see Ellie smiling at me, skipping in my direction. I shook the thoughts out of my head and smiled kindly at the familiar girl running up towards me.

"Hi, Ellie. How was your day?" I tugged at her jacket so that she could zip it up and she smiled up at me triumphantly when she successfully zipped up her coat.

"It was good, we did Art today!" She showed me her painted fingers and I gasped in pretend shock.

"That's great, Ellie! Now, let's go home and i'll make us some macaroni and cheese, kay?" I picked out a speck of dried paint from her hair and held out my hand for her. Behind Ellie, a girl with frizzy brunette hair  tapped her shoulder and hugged her goodbye. Her green eyes looked up at me and she smiled.

"Ellie, is this your mum?" She whispered very loudly.

"No, you've met my mum, Lily!" Ellie shook her head and I just stood there completely still, watching them interact as if I weren't there. "This is Nina, my friend." The girl looked away suddenly and her green eyes grew wide with happiness as she looked behind me.

"Daddy!" Lily ran passed me and I shrugged, grabbing hold of Ellie's hand and turning around.

Then I froze in my place.

Standing ten feet away from me was Lily clutching onto a man with a suit and rings on his fingers, his larger hands resting on her back. I looked up at the man she called her father and my eyes widened significantly as I was met with familiar electric green ones and irritatingly curly hair.

Harry Styles stared at me with wide eyes, shocked.

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