among the stars ~ L.S

2.

TW - S3LF HARM / BLEEDING MENTIONED IN THIS CHAPTER.

October 2nd, 2002 ~ Harry's POV

I had always been fascinated by stars.

I don't know why. I don't know what it is about them. It's just the thought of millions of twinkling lights up in the sky, looking down on you every single night. It's so comforting, feeling like someone actually cares even if they're millions of miles away up there. Does anybody actually know what stars are? Yeah, people say they're planets, others say they're just burning balls of fire, but I believe they all have a reason to be up there. Whatever that reason may be, I know the stars will always be watching over me when real-life people aren't, even if they really are just little balls of fire up in the beautiful night sky.

I soon came out of my trance-like state when I felt Niall poking me. He was one of my best mates all throughout high school and still is, even though he can be very annoying at times.

"Oi, mate, you there?" He laughed, waving his hand in front of my face.

I took one of my earbuds out so I could still slightly hear the relaxing music in the background, which was really old music but I loved it so much because it was what my grandparents introduced me to and it just made me feel safe.

"Yeah, I'm here" I replied, slightly giggling with him to brighten the mood although I didn't actually find it that funny.

"The bus is gonna stop soon, get your things ready" he warned me, still smiling like an idiot for absolutely no reason. He always seemed so joyful and full of energy, whereas I was much more calm and laidback. Niall calls me 'boring' but I think he's just much too energetic.

I nodded my head and grabbed my bag off the floor of the bus, slowly putting it on my back and standing up from my seat as we stopped outside the high school. It had been a month since we last came here and I was actually quite excited to go back, which was unusual because I would usually whine about going to lessons. Especially maths, that was the worst, but for some reason I was slowly starting to like school.

I walked out of the bus, my head tilted downwards the whole time whilst I looked at my phone. I was about to exit through the door when I felt myself bump into someone.

Oops.

"Watch where you're going loser!" The boy yelled, making eye contact with me and pulling a rude face like I had just done the worst thing in the world. The rest of his group also turned around and looked at me, it was quite intimidating so I stayed silent.

I didn't even know who the boy was, all I know is that he was part of the 'popular kids' and had done pretty horrible things. I also know that he has light blue eyes that remind me of the ocean, and brown messy hair that's always covered up by a beanie. I don't even know the boys name but I see him everywhere and he always calls me names, although it doesn't exactly effect me. Sometimes I just smile at him and it annoys him, which makes me laugh for some reason.

"Everything okay?" Niall asked whilst we continued walking up to the front of the school. Even though he was annoying as fuck, he loved to comfort me whenever something happened which made me happy. Who cares what anyone else thinks? I have my best buddy right here, and I have the stars watching over me at night, and right now that's all I really need.

I just simply gave Niall a genuine smile and nodded assuring him I was okay, then we carried on walking up the school.

~ 12pm ~

'The first few lessons went by SO slowly" I complained to Niall as we sat down for lunch.

"They really did!" He agreed, his Irish accent coming through thicker than usual. It always seemed to do that when he was complaining about something, which is actually most of the time now that I think about it.

"I'm just gonna go to the bathroom, I'll be back in a sec" I said to him, lifting myself out of the cafeteria seat.

"Don't leave me on my own!!!" he whined, grabbing my arm in an attempt to pull me backwards but I resisted the force and continued walking to the school bathroom, laughing slightly on my way there.

I opened the door to the bathroom and it seemed like nobody else was in there, which was good because usually I hated having to pee with other people in there, although I did hear a slight noise from one of the stalls but I just told myself it was nothing.

The noise got slightly louder, eventually I got curious and slowly pushed the door open, sort of scared for what was inside incase it was some creepy monster who was going to eat me or a man with a gun ready to shoot me.

I swung the door open, revealing someone behind it and it definitely wasn't who I expected.

I saw a boy standing there, small bits of blood running down his arm, his cheeks rosy red and his eyes filled with pain and tears. I stood there in shock, did he accidentally hurt himself or something?

"What do you think you're doing, weirdo? Leave me alone" He said, trying to sound threatening but his voice was shaky.

Oh, it was him. The same boy I bumped into earlier.

"I'm sorry- I didn't know there was anyone in there, are you okay?" I replied whilst stuttering slightly, watching as he rolled his sleeves down.

"I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE!" He yelled at the top of his voice, I flinched and jumped back as the boy grabbed his bag and ran out of the bathroom, leaving me on my own.

I just took a deep breath, shocked from what just happened. The memory of seeing his arms and the tears filling his eyes was haunting me, how did that happen? I'm sure it was just an accident, right?

I almost started tearing up myself but just insisted that everything was okay, but instead of using the bathroom properly I just wiped my eyes over so it didn't look like I was crying and headed back over to Niall in the school cafeteria. For some reason, I couldn't see the blue-eyed boy anywhere. I knew he was bad for me but I desperately wanted to know if he was okay. Maybe he did have a reason for being so horrible.

"You alright mate? You were in there for a while" Niall asked as I slowly sat back down at the table.

"Yeah I'm alright" I assured him, which was only half true but I didn't want to worry him.

~ 3PM ~

The rest of the school day was pretty much boring like usual, but I couldn't stop thinking about him. Why should I even care anyway? The boy clearly doesn't give a shit about me, I don't know why I've been worrying so much.

The horrifying image of when I walked into that stall still wandered through my mind no matter how hard I tried to get it out, and I couldn't help but feel guilty. I don't exactly know why, but something wasn't right.

And I need to find out what that 'something' is.