The Academy // Harry Styles AU

Chapter 38

Chapter 38

Nicole’s POV

Waking up the next morning, I was feeling a whole lot better than I did when I woke up yesterday morning after having that talk with Harry at lunch. I will admit that it was probably a bit harsh of me to kick him out of my room, but I had just been immensely bothered by what happened.

I waited until my friends left for breakfast before I actually got up out of bed. I kept telling myself that I should go with them to get breakfast in the morning or something but I just continue to put it off to the next day, only to never do it. I wasn’t sure why I wasn’t hanging out with my friends in the morning; I really didn’t spend anytime with Harry until later in the day so it really didn’t make a difference.

I finally decided that I was being ridiculous and tried my best to get ready as quickly as I could and then grabbed my backpack off the desk and rushed out the door in attempt to meet up with my friends who I’m guessing were at the coffee shop. Getting to the coffee shop quickly was pretty easy considering I pretty much go there every single day, sometimes more than once a day.

As I approached the shop, I saw them standing outside, getting ready to go in. I noticed Liz see me walking toward them because her face perked up and she smiled at me, obviously happy that I was joining then today.

“Nicole!” Becca shouted once Liz had pointed out to her that I was coming their way.

“It’s about time you joined us for breakfast, this week has been the longest I’ve ever seen you sleep in every morning,” Becca said and I managed a laugh at that.

Christina didn’t really say anything to me, but I didn’t really mind, I was just happy that I was finally spending time with my friends again like usual. They kept their boy talk to a minimum; it was mostly just Liz of course talking on and on about Liam and how amazing he is. I wished that I could be able to talk to them about Harry, and technically I knew I could because the only person stopping me from doing so was myself.

The reason I was stopping myself though was the reaction and judgment that may come from my friends. First off they would most likely be pissed that I am now dating someone after I had gone on and on at the beginning of the year about how ridiculous it was that they were letting boys into the school now and the fact that I was dating one of them now would look pretty hypocritical.

Also the fact that it was Harry who I was with and that is the same situation because just as I had went on about how I didn’t like the new gender being admitted here, I also had a rant about how much I didn’t like Harry. Then if you add in that I kept all this from them so long, none of this was going to look good on my part.

I knew they were quick to judge Harry, just as I was, based on his outward appearance and the parts of his personality that he showed so I knew in their eyes that Harry and I were just a terrible match that they wouldn’t quite understand. I wished that I could be more like Harry when it comes to these kinds of things and just not care what people thought of me.

Even though I wasn’t popular, I still had a reputation to uphold with my friends that Harry would bring down. Whereas Harry doesn’t give a damn about what other people think, and those were his exact words to me. He’s never had to be anyone but himself and he never seems to want to be anyone else.

For the time being though, I just enjoy breakfast at the coffee shop with my friends.

Once our time for breakfast is over, I began to walk with Liz to our next class. I was relieved when she saw Liam walking out of his dorm building and told me that she was going to go ahead and walk with him, because I wanted to stay and wait for Harry so I could walk with him.

After kind of avoiding him for most the morning yesterday, I knew that he’d probably think something was wrong again if I continue to walk with Liz the rest of the way to class. I tried to subtly wait outside the boys’ dorms for Harry, although that wasn’t exactly easy to do. Luckily people walking by didn’t seem to care what I was doing and my friends were either in their classes already or on their way to them.

I was happy when I finally saw Harry walking out of the building in his normal jeans and long sleeve shirt, wearing a navy blue shirt today though instead of a black one.

“Hey,” I said to him once he walked up to me.

“Hey back,” he said and the two of us began walking to class.

“So I was thinking…” Harry began.

“Yeah,” I said, telling him to continue.

“That maybe this weekend we could go on a date or something and I can try this time not to screw it up,” he said.

“You didn’t screw it up last time,” I told him.

“Yeah I did, I had no idea what I was doing,” he said.

“Maybe I should just take you on a date,” I joked.

“A couple months ago I probably would’ve taken you up on that, but this time I know what I’m doing and it’s going to be the best night of your life,” he said with a smug smile.

“You seem pretty confident in yourself, I could end up hating the whole night,” I said.

“Oh but you won’t,” he told me,

“And don’t bother asking what the night will consist of because I’m not going to tell you,” Harry said just as we walking up to the building of our first class, and I just rolled my eyes at him as we walked inside.

I was relieved when all of my morning classes were finally over for the day because that meant that I then got to go meet up with Harry at the coffee shop for lunch. Today in the coffee shop, Harry and I talked for a little bit but then we did something that we hadn’t done during lunch in a long time with was study. Harry of course didn’t want to but I convinced him that he needed to after we both got out English tests back today and Harry showed me his grade.

“This is pointless,” Harry said as he mindlessly flipped through the pages of a textbook.

“I’m never going to pass any of these damn tests,”

“Yes you will,” I assured him.

“You’re just saying that,” he told me and I wasn’t exactly sure what to say back because part of that was true. I did believe that he could make a good grade on a test if he actually tried and I was telling him that he could in attempt to boost up his confidence.

“You’re smart Harry, you just don’t try as hard as you should, you don’t allow yourself to use all the knowledge you have,” I told him and he just sighed as he continued to flip through the pages.

“For example if you would actually read the pages instead of turning through them like a magazine maybe you would get something out of them,” I said.

“Why can’t I just make good grades like you? Then my mom wouldn’t think I was such a screw up,” he said.

“Sure doesn’t think that,” I told him even though I didn’t have any reason to say that since I didn’t even know his mom.

“Yeah she does, that’s why I’m here,”

“Well I get good grades because I study, okay?” I told him for probably about the tenth time already.

I’d finally had enough of him flipping through pages and I grabbed his hand to stop it and flipped back to the beginning of the chapter and put his hand back down.

“Read it,” I told him and he groaned but soon began to actually read the page.