records {z.s.}

1.

"Mr. Malik!" The teacher called from the front of the room, "Mr. Malik, take those earbuds out and look up!"

Startled, Zayn jumped out of focus on the comical drawing in front of him and ripped his earbuds out as his face shot up at the teacher.

"Sorry, sir...."

"Mr. Malik, if you would like to pass the twelfth grade, I would suggest you get your head outta your ass and pay attention to my lessons!"

Zayn's mouth dropped open at the harsh words and nodded slowly.

The teacher turned back at the board as Zayn focused on the staring faces around him. He now felt the usual flush to his cheeks as he heard snickers and giggles. He glanced at the young lads beside him that we're now past his embarrassment and staring at the board. One of the boys, who was a brunette had an extremely thick English accent and hair that swooped down in front of his face. The other lad to his left was blonde with an impressive Irish accent and beautiful ocean blue eyes that you could get lost in for hours.

Zayn was pulled out of his thoughts by the piercing shriek of the bell, signaling the end of sixth period. He stuffed his school books and notebooks into his backpack and clutched his sketchbook into his hands. After he was sure he had everything, he walked confidently to his next class. As he dumped his backpack down by his chair, a tall, lean, muscular figure bumped into his side, causing him to silently shriek.

"Sorry.." the boy mumbled lowly and moved to sit in the back of the classroom before swiping his chocolate brown curls out of his face. Zayn looked back and realized him as Harry Styles. A smile crept onto Zayn's face as he plopped into the hard plastic chair and snatched his notebook from his book bag.

He pushed his black framed glasses back up on the bridge of his nose as the starting bell rang and the short, chubby, bald teacher strode into the room.

Zayn immediately opened his sketchbook to a blank page and started to lightly draw an oval shape on the page followed by swoops of curls on the top of the head. He was drawing Harry Styles. Was it totally wrong? Yes. Was it creepy and weird? Yes. But Zayn was completely fascinated by the piercing emerald eyes, chocolate brown curls, and his signature grin.

"Hey, mute!" Zayn knew who they were talking to. He turned behind him and focused his attention on Anderson. "Why don't you ever talk?" Anderson broke out into a teasing smirk. Harry looked at his friend and Liam gulped.

Harry knew it was wrong for him to just let Anderson say that, but what else was he to do? He couldn't be turned into the class loser because he stuck up for someone. He scoffed to himself. He was so selfish, how could he say something like that?

Harry caught the stare of Zayn's coffee brown eyes and began to feel overwhelmed with guilt so Harry turned off in a different direction and stared at the wall as the teacher did nothing to help either. Harry distracted everyone's attention away from Zayn by showing everyone a random girl he'd found on one of his phone apps.

They were like cats, preparing themselves to pounce on a mouse. As Harry held his phone to their mused faces, he chuckled. Their eyes followed the screen and it seemed as though they would start drooling anytime soon. He gave Zayn a quick wink as in "you're welcome" and handed his phone off to the idiot known as Anderson. Though Anderson (or Andy) was extremely rude and aloof, he was still Harry's best friend. They'd been friends for as long as he could remember and they had so many memories to share with others.

The crowd of populars (as everyone called them) was broken by the loud shrill of the bell signaling the end of the school day. Zayn took his time gathering his things and packing up. He didn't have to worry about catching the bus because today, his mom was picking him up and then taking him to his favorite haven: the record store.

Zayn waited on the curb impatiently for his mother to turn down the street in her old rusty Ford. He went through about two minutes of humming along to The Script before his mom pulled up beside him. Zayn threw open the crappy door and landed down in the old leather seat after pulling the door closed.

"How was school, sweetheart?" His mom glanced at him while driving out of the rather small parking lot.

"Okay." He spoke softly while turning his attention out the window. His mother nodded lightly and tightly gripped the steering wheels as her thought and wonders traveled. The car slightly swerved and his mother shrieked. She quickly pushed her hand into Zayn's chest and gained control of the car, giving herself a miniature heart attack.

"Sorry, Zayn...I been so out of it lately." He nodded, drumming his hands on his thighs, acting as though nothing had just happened.

He stuffed his earbuds back into his ears. On his iPod, he chose one of his all-time favorite songs: Like a Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan.

As his mother parallel parked into a narrow spacing, Zayn got quite excited. He had not been to the record store for two weeks now and he missed it. When he pulled open the doors, that familiar scent of old dust and weirdly, cinnamon, filled through his nostrils and a smile quickly plastered onto his face. When he entered this store, he felt like a 3-year old in a candy shop.

He rushed towards the classic rock section of the store and immediately starting searching through the thick piles of amazingly famous records. It must've taken him more than five minutes to just look through that one pile. As Zayn backed up with a Boston record in hand, he fell into a figure, knocking both of them down.

Zayn look down at the beautiful emerald eyes below him and felt his pale cheeks turn to ruby red cheeks as he realized he had fell on Harry Styles.

"I-I'm sorry." Zayn said almost in a whisper and stood up before holding his hand out to help Harry up. To his surprise, a smirk collected onto Harry's face as he grabbed Zayn's hand and pulled himself up.

"That's quite fine, love. I should've excused myself past you." Zayn's slight frown quickly turned to a wide grin and giggled lightly.

"Well, I better get going. My mum is waiting for me in the car." He waved goodbye to Zayn and walked off in the other direction, his boots giving a loud click to the awkwardly silent room.

Later that night, Zayn was playing his new records while completing his homework and as his mind traveled off into those piercing green eyes, Zayn grinned to himself and chuckled.