Mean to Me ♡ Larry

2.1

Chapter 21: Brave Harry

Past

"Harold, dear. It's time to go to school," Lesley walks into Harry's room. He sighs in annoyance when seeing Harry's sleeping figure and he strides towards him, leaning down to place his hand on Harry's cheek. "C'mon, princess."

Harry squirms and groans a little, rolling onto his stomach with a huff. Lesley frowns a little and begins rubbing his boys back. He then bites his lip, moving his hand further down, eyes growing darker as he reaches the plum flesh. He squeezes it between his fingers, moaning softly as he presses his face to the crook of Harry's neck, biting down softly.

"Wha-?" Harry startles awake and gasps, moving away from his stepfather. "I-I." He flushes red and swallows thickly, his eyes widened and body trembling. "Please don't."

"Well get ready for school then," Lesley growls. He grabs at Harry's hand, rubbing the soft skin. "Be a good boy for daddy, yeah?" He smirks and leans forward to kiss Harry's cheek.

"I d-don't like when you do that," the boy stutters out. His breathing is heavy and he struggles to keep it even.

"Whatever, Harry. I don't even like you anyway. If I didn't want my own kids, what makes you think I want you? You ungrateful little brat."

"You have kids?" Harry furrows his eyebrows, looking up at the man curiously. "I thought-"

"Tell your mother and we will have a lot of trouble, right?" He pokes his finger at Harry's fragile chest, earning a hiss from the boy. "She can't know." Harry just nods quickly, wanting him to leave the room. "Get ready for school. You have twenty minutes, k?"

"Okay," Harry whispers in reply.

-*-

Harry finally arrives at the school, out of breath from the walk. His home wasn't far away, but getting here quickly was the challenge. He walks to the office and signs the late pass, conversing with the office lady, Sara, for a moment. She was always nice to Harry, even sometimes allowing him to eat lunch in her office.

"How's your mum? Home yet?" She asks gently. Harry just shakes his head with a shrug. She frowns and bites her lip, watching him with worried eyes.

"No, not yet," he frowns as well. "Her work is just really busy, I gu-" Harry is cut off by yelling down the hall. His eyes widen when he turns his head to see a crying Louis yelling at the principal.

"Leave me alone!" He screams at her, cover his arms with his face. She grabs at them and Louis tries to yank himself away. Harry huffs, suddenly feeling very protective over the boy. He walks briskly up to them. "Let me go, please," Louis whimpers, his voice so soft and fragile that Harry almost wants to cry.

"He said to let him go," Harry almost growls at her, causing the principal to give him a shocked look. "I know he can be hard to get along with, but you shouldn't be touching him," Harry cowers a little when she shoots him a glare. She lets Louis go and he immediately stands back, somewhat behind Harry and wipes at his eyes.

"This isn't any of your business, Mr Styles," she tells him and crosses her arms over her chest. "Lewis was badly misbehaving and not doing what I asked. Both of you, go sit in my office, please."

Louis huffs and Harry's heart drops. He follows Louis to the office, his hands visibly shaking and face paler than usual. "You won't get into too much trouble," Louis says to him as he sits on the seat, bringing his legs to his chest. "I've done much worse and got off, you'll be okay. Don't worry too much."

Harry nods and calms down a little as he sits across from Louis, both on the opposite side of the principal's desk. "What did you do?"

Louis buries his head against his knees, rocking slightly. "It was an accident. He didn't think we'd get caught," Louis sobs, mumbling the words to more so to himself. "I didn't want to, though. It's not my fault."

"I'm sure everything will be okay..." Harry whispers. It was strange to see Louis break down like this. He was so used of him being so tough. Harry can't help but feel a tug at his heart. Why did he want to make Louis feel better when the boy only hurts him? It doesn't make sense.

"Y-you can't stay in here when she is talking to me," Louis lifts his head, looking at Harry pleadingly. "You can't know," he whispers, mouth pulling into a deeper frown. "And m-my uncle can't," his breathing becomes harsher.

"You live with your uncle?" Harry questions, hoping to maybe stop Louis thinking about it for a second.

"They left me," he whispers, using one hand to tug at the front of his hair, not meeting Harry's eyes. "You're lucky you have such a perfect life, Harry. The only thing you have to worry about is Stan and I. You have it easy."

"You don't know that," Harry whimpers, pressing down on his thighs to wipe his clammy hands, causing a reminder of the fresh cuts to resurface. He swallows thickly and flutters his eyes shut. "I'm sorry for whatever you are going through, Lewis. But you can't just a-assume things about others when you have no idea what they go through."

"Lewis. I've spoken to your co-ordinator and we are letting you off with a weeks detention and another strike. But, if anyone catches you and Stan doing that again, there will be serious consequences," Delia, the principal, says as soon as she walks in. "Are you sure you have no idea where Stan ran off to?" Louis just shakes his head slowly, eyes trained on the carpet.

"And as for you, Harry. You are free to go back to class, in future, it is best to just let us handle situations like that, though."

Harry makes a stand, giving Louis one last glance. "If one of the teachers are in the wrong, I won't be hesitating to call them out. You can't just go around touching people who ask you to stop."

A/N: Sorry this update took so long. Please leave some comments! Any suggestions for chapters are welcome, I am getting stuck on this book... xo

I hope you enjoyed!