A Boy In The Shadow

Chapter 3

Zayn was shocked when he looked down at a passed out Harry in his arms. The boy looked like he had been in a fight, not a P.E. lesson.

Zayn carried Harry back to where the other three were waiting for him. They looked at Zayn and realized he had someone in his arms. Zayn laid Harry on some chairs and the others went over to look at him.

"What the hell happened to him!?" asked Niall.

"I have no clue," Zayn said, "I was coming out of the toilets and he walked into me. Next thing I know he fainted and I caught him before he hit the floor."

Liam had gone to get the first aid kit out of the car. They always have one- just in cases like this.

Liam started to clean up Harry's nose.

Harry's eyes fluttered open when he felt someone touching his face with damp cotton wool. He looked at Liam with fear evident in his eyes and tried to get up.

"Hey, it's okay. It's us, you're safe," said Liam getting Harry to lie back down again.

Harry looked around at the others.

"You want to tell us what happened, mate?" asked Niall.

"Yeah, like, who did this to you?" said Louis.

"N-no one." stammered Harry.

"Really?" said Louis skeptically.

"Y...yes...the....dodge...ball....hit...me." Harry lied, unconvincingly.

"Oh, dear," Liam said.

He didn't believe Harry and neither did the other boys but Liam gave them a look that basically said 'don't push it'.

"Do you want me to get your stuff mate? So you can change back into your uniform," said Niall.

Before Harry could even answer Louis cut him off.

"I'll come with you, Niall," said Louis.

The two boys left the room and headed out to find the gym. It didn't take them that long to find it.

They went inside the locker room where they saw Harry's bag with his clothes stuffed inside. The bag was way too small to use as a book bag and a gym bag. It looked like it was about to spill out all of Harry's clothes at any second.

"He really needs a new bag," Louis observed.

"Maybe he likes that one," said Niall.

"Are you being serious?" said Louis, incredulously, "do you really think a 14 year old wants a Thomas the Tank back-pack?"

"Good point," Niall said.

They soon joined the other boys in the room and the boys handed Harry his worn-down bag. The boys turned away to let Harry change in privacy.

He was soon dressed and the boys turned back around just as the bell rang for lunch.

"Yes, lunch time! Let's go find some food!" said Niall.

Harry was dreading this part. How was he going to spend a whole hour with these boys in the lunchroom?

Normally Harry would just sit outside, behind one of the dumpsters.

Hiding away from everyone.

As the boys made their way into the lunch room loads of screaming girls who recognized them came running up to them, asking for pics, autographs and even hugs.

"Girls, go back to what you were doing and leave these boys alone. They want their lunch just like everyone else and if you don't go back to your tables you will be getting detentions!" shouted Mrs. Blaker, the current lunchroom monitor.

The girls disappeared and the boys chose what they wanted to eat.

"You're not getting anything?" Niall asked Harry when Harry didn't take anything.

"I...got my...own." Harry managed to say.

Niall nodded his head and the boys made their way to an empty table while everyone watched them.

Harry was really nervous, as normally when he's in the lunchroom bad things tend to happen to him. When Harry sat down he got his lunch out of his bag which consisted of half a bottle of water and a few biscuits he managed to find in the kitchen that morning.

"Is that all you got?" said Louis, shocked.

Harry looked down at his lap.

"Louis!" hissed Zayn.

"What?! That is not lunch!" said Louis.

Louis didn't mean it in a bad way, he was just concerned for the young boy. So far today he'd seen him with an old, tattered back-pack and seen what he looked 30 minutes into a P.E. lesson.

Louis could swear that the boy was beaten up and had not just accidentally hurt himself. Now a lack of food. There was something going on and Louis was determined to find out what.

Tears began to fall down Harry's face.

"Oi, look everyone the fag is crying!" shouts a boy.

"Did you just realize you're at the wrong table?!" shouts another.

A boy walked passed and dumped spaghetti in Harry's hair while another shoved him to the floor.

"Hey, get off him!" shouted Liam as he tried to stop Louis and Zayn from hitting the two boys while Niall went to help Harry.

But before Niall could help Harry up, Harry pushed Niall away, grabbed his bag and ran out of the canteen, going to his favorite hiding spot.

"We've got to find him!" said Liam.

"No shit Sherlock!" snapped Louis.

Harry hid behind the big bins at the far end of the school.

He's gotten so used to the smell that he didn't even notice it anymore. He curled up into a ball, shivering with cold and in a lot of pain from the beating he got earlier.

His full bladder wasn't helping him either and he couldn't use the toilets at school because of the bullies. With the cold and all the pain he was in, he lost complete control of his bladder, wetting himself in the process.

30 minutes later the boys from One Direction finally managed to find him. Their hearts broke upon seeing him.

They all knew they had to help him and find out what all of this was about, as deep down, they knew there could be more to this than just school bullying.

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Will they find about the abuse at Harry's home ?

Will they help him ?

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