New Life, New Love

I walked into my last class: Storytime.
Yeah, it was a weird name for a high school class, I think it's one of those classes they throw in the curriculum to help students "find themselves" or whatever.
Anyway, I liked this class because none of Harry's friends were in here like in my other classes.
Yesterday, when I came here, the teacher made us all sit down at our desks with the lights off and let us fingerpaint while we thought about our day.

I came in again, and sat in the empty back row on the opposite wall of the door. Yesterday, this row was completely empty and it looked like it was going to be empty again. Thank goodness, I didn't feel like striking up a conversation with someone right now. I was extremely tired from not getting sleep last night.

I sat quietly waiting for our teacher, Ms. Stone, to get her lesson or whatever it was ready.
I was a little nervous having to walk home and for going to Niall's house later. The last thing I wanted to do was run into Harry, especially after he heard me screaming last night. My cheeks turned red just from thinking about the whole situation last night.

The bell rung and Ms. Stone started talking about self-actualization.

"Self-actualization is all about achieving one's full potential or ability."
The door swung open, I didn't bother looking at who came through, I could feel myself falling asleep.
"Ah, Mr. Styles. So nice of you to join us today...."



Fuck it.








My eyes opened wide as my neck snapped to see Harry standing in the doorway, he made eye contact with me, giving me a concerned look.
Ugh, he was probably thinking about last night.
I rolled my eyes, which he saw. He returned the gesture as I heard him mutter something under his breath but I couldn't tell what. He sat down by the door in the back row, leaving four seats between us.

"As I was saying, self-actualization is about achieving one's full potential and ability. One of the key points in achieving self-actualization is sharing yourself with a person. It's important to have people by your side in good and bad times, reminding you of who you are as a person. That's why I came up with a project. These days, people have a hard time opening up about themselves. You will all be partnered up with someone, and that someone will help you reach your full potential, and you will help them. You will work together almost everyday in class, maybe outside of class, depending on the projects I will give you. Since this will be a rather personal project, I will allow you all to pick who you will be paired up with. You will have this pairing for the rest of the year so choose wisely."

I mentally groaned. I didn't want to open up to someone. I'm fine on my own. I've been fine on my own.
And I don't know anyone in here, well, except for Harry, but there was no way in heck I was going to partner up with him, especially for this.

Everyone was quick to choose their parents, I was straining my neck around to see who was left, Harry was doing the same. We both were careful to look away from each other.

"Ah, Mr. Styles and Miss. Wood, it seems you are the only two left. You know what that means. Mr. Styles move over and sit by your new partner." She gave a smile that made me want to slap her. Hard.

I could hear Harry groan and mutter "fuck" under his breath. Ms. Stone gave him a raised eyebrow and patiently waited for him to obey her.
He got up slowly and walked over to the desk next time and slammed his backpack down, before sinking into the chair and crossing his arms.
He clearly didn't want to be near me. I clearly didn't want to be near him. I sighed as I shook my head in-between my hands.


The rest of the class wasn't torturous as I didn't have to do anything with Harry yet. It was just boring as Ms. Stone kept going on about self-actualization.
The bell rung and I was eagerly the first one out of there. I caught up with Melody in the hall.

"Hey! How's it going?" Her green eyes lit up when they saw me.
I let out a groan.
"That bad, huh? Well, it's only gonna get worse from here." She said as she held the paper Niall gave her earlier.
I let out another groan as we approach the doors of the school building to leave. When we walked out, I let out a sigh as I watched the rain fall all around us. Back in Oregon it rained all the time, I honestly didn't mind getting wet usually, but today I was already in a bad mood, and getting cold and wet probably wouldn't help my attitude.
"You don't have a car do you?" I asked Melody.
She shook her head no.
"Well, we better hurry. Do you know where his house is?" I pointed at the paper.
"I know the neighborhood." Melody informed me.
We started walking outside. We were about to leave the school parking lot, when I closed my eyes as I felt the rain fall on my face.
It felt refreshing. I began to smile and started running, my actions allowing the rain to hit my face harder.
"Belle?" Melody called.
I started twirling around with my arms in the air, and threw my head back as I laughed.
"It feels good, Melody!"

I heard a car pull up next to us, I could feel people watching me, but I didn't care.

I probably looked like a freak idiot on drugs, but all I cared about was how the rain seemed to wash away my worries as it ran through my hair and rolled down my face.

I found myself twirling and laughing in a grassy area.
"What are you doing Belle?" Melody asked as she jogged over to me.
"Dancing in the raiiinnn!!!" I said giving a final twirl.

I wasn't planning on stopping. When I say I gave a final twirl I mean that in mid-twirl my foot slipped on a patch of mud and sent me spiraling down to the ground.

Whoever had been watching was still there as Melody ran towards me.
"Oh my god Belle, are you okay?"
I threw my head back and laughed at the whole situation. My clothes were all my muddy and my face and hair had traces of mud as well.

"Need some help ladies?" I heard a low voice ask.

My smile instantly faded as I looked to see who had been watching me the whole time.
Harry was sitting in a black range rover with the windows down. Niall was in the passenger seat, and Zayn was in the back. Sitting next to him was some girl with black hair. Her green eyes looked bold as they were outlined with a thick line of eyeliner. She had a smirk on her face, clearly judging me.

"No. We're good." I got up off the ground and started walking away, Melody following behind.
"Actually Harry, these girls are coming over to my house to work on a chemistry project. Looks like they need a lift." I could hear Niall smirking behind his words.
"Get in the car girls, I'll drive you." Harry demanded.
"Um, no thank you. We are just fine walking." I heard Harry snort and mutter "Obviously."

He probably didn't expect me to hear him, but as soon as I did I tensed up and shot him one of the deadliest glares I could ever muster.
"Wow, if looks could kill..." The girl in the back said with a laugh.
"Um, actually Belle, I wouldn't mind getting a lift. I don't want to be in the rain much longer, I'm soaked enough as it is." Melody said meekly.
"Fine. You get in the car, and I'll walk."
"I'm not leaving you! And, you don't even know where we are going!"
"Quit being so difficult Belle and get in the car." Harry's voice was stern.
I huffed and rolled my eyes as I gave in and walked towards the car.
Melody and I sat in the very back, avoiding all conversation in the car.

We finally arrived at Niall's house, which was just down the road from mine.
As we walked into the house, Niall handed me a t-shirt and a pair of boxers.
"Um, what is this for?" I looked at him as if he were crazy.
"You really don't think I'm gonna let you sit on my couch in those muddy clothes do you?"
"I'll stand."
"Just change!" Niall was actually pretty scary when he wasn't smiling and laughing. I nodded and went to the bathroom to change.

We all sat on the couch to research for our project. Harry and the one girl, who's name was Nicole, had gone upstairs. They weren't quiet either, I could hear a lot of thumping and bumping.
What were they doing? I wondered.

After about thirty minutes Harry came down the stairs to grab something out of the fridge. Since the living room and kitchen were open to each other, I got to see him in his boxers without a shirt. As he walked in, his hair was a huge mess. It was actually a little sexy. And his body was really toned. His skin looked...soft. I could see Melody staring as well. She looked flustered, I probably did too.
"How'd it go, man?" Zayn asked.
"Great." Harry said before grabbing a beer out of the fridge. "Now for round two." He smirked mischievously. Niall let out a laugh. Melody shook her head.
"Harry, babe? You coming?" I heard Nicole call after him.
"On my way!" Harry jogged up the stairs when I heard something slam into the wall and Nicole screeched.

I must have looked confused because Niall asked if I was okay.
"I thought Harry had a girlfriend? The one with the blonde hair? I saw them yesterday..."
I was cut off by laughter from Niall, Zayn, and Melody.
"Harry doesn't do girlfriends. He does girls. That's it." Zayn finished laughing.

"Oh." was all I could manage to say. I wonder if his mom knew?

Another thirty minutes passed and we had managed to get a good amount of work done.

Harry's POV

"Ahhhh, you are so fucking hot!" I groaned as I thrusted hard into Nicole.

"Mmm Harry right there, right there!" Nicole was nearly screaming. I clamped my sweaty hand over her mouth so everyone downstairs wouldn't hear.

"Shit." was all I managed to say as I released into my condom before pulling out.
"Oh my...*breath*...that was...indescribable. The things you can do with your tongue, your huge dick..." Nicole reached over and placed a kiss to my lips before she set her head down on my chest.
I began to feel uncomfortable. I used my most famous excuse.
"Yeah, um, I need to go. My mom is expecting me home for dinner." I regained my breathing and got up to change back into my clothes.
"When will we do this again? We could go to the party together..." She got up and started trailing her hands down my back.
I turned around to look, but I couldn't look her in the eyes. I could never look a girl in the eyes after we slept together.
"Soon, but not at the party. I'm going with someone else."
"Who?" She put her hands to her hips. Great. She's jealous.
"Uh Bella Wood."
"She rejected you."
"Yeah, well my mom is making me take her, I don't want to but that's the way things are."
"She's so ugly." Nicole let out an evil chuckle.
"Okay..." was all I could say. I didn't really have an opinion on her comment but Nicole was clearly jealous.

I started walking down the stairs and went into the kitchen. Melody glanced over and gave the evil eye to me, as Niall told Belle some joke, causing her to erupt in laughter. Maybe it was the way the light hit her, but her brown eyes seemed to sparkle.
She looked genuinely happy.

I thought back to watching her twirl around in the rain. It was a little childish but at the same time she seemed so mature. Mature in that she didn't care what people thought of her. The way her hands were thrown in the air, the way she laughed as the rain washed through her hair revealing her carefree spirit.

You don't come across that often.

I was shaken out of my thoughts when Belle stood up.
"I need to get going. We got a lot of work done so hopefully we won't have to do this in a while."

I noticed it was still raining and starting to get dark. "I can take you home, Bella."
She raised an eyebrow at me. "You can call me Belle. It's not that far, I can walk."
I shrugged, grabbing my coat. "Come on, it's dark and wet."
She rolled her eyes before saying her goodbyes.
I walked to the passenger side and opened her door, I looked down at her backside. Her jeans were a little tight, giving me the faint outline of her arse.

Not bad. If only they were a little tighte-


"Thanks." I could tell it took her a lot to say that to me for opening her door.

I came into my side of the car and put the key in the ignition.

"So what was up with the screaming last night? My mom said you had a nightmare, sounded like a bad nightmare to me. I thought someone was attacking you."
Silence.
"Please! Don't hurt me! Don't touch me!" I mocked, trying to lighten them mood.

She crossed her arms and looked out the window.

"It's rude to ignore people, Bella."

"It's rude to mock people, Curly."

"But seriously, that sounded like a bad nightmare to..."

"It's none of your business, okay?" She snapped.

"Damn. I was just asking. Is that such a crime, Bella? No need to be a snob."

Her brown eyes narrowed down at me as I pulled up to her house.
She got out and slammed the door shut without saying thank you. Okay....
I rolled down the window, "You're welcome!!!"
She stormed into her house.


Damn, that girl has attitude.

I decided I didn't want go home. My mom had left this morning on a trip to Germany and my sister went back to university. I hated being alone in that house. So, I turned around and drove to Liam's house.

"Hey, mate!" Liam said as he gestured me to come into the house.
Louis appeared out of the bathroom, a girl followed behind him.
"Harry!" He came over to me and gave me a hug.
I looked at the girl and recognized it was one of Nicole's friends. Great.
Then Nicole appeared. She didn't look happy.
"I thought you were going home for dinner?"
"Uh, we had a change of plans last minute." I lied.
"Good." She came over and planted a kiss on me. I rolled my eyes when she looked away.
We all ended up sitting in Louis' room talking about the party on friday.
"Yeah, and Harry is taking that new girl, Belle."
"You are?!" Louis looked surprised.
"Yeah. My mom is making me."
"She's so ugly!" Nicole said...again. Her friend let out a shrill laugh. Wow, that was annoying.
"Honestly. I think she's quite fit." Louis said. Her friend stopped smiling.
"She doesn't wear makeup, her hair is never styled, and her clothes look like they belong on a five year old." Nicole laughed. It seemed unnatural, her laugh.
"Don't you think she's fit, Harry?" Liam came in.
"Uh, I don't know. I guess she's pretty even though she doesn't wear makeup. I've seen better, but Nicole's right. She dresses like one of those omelette people.."
There was a roar of laughter.
"You mean amish, mate..." Louis said between laughs.
"Whatever. You get what I'm saying. Her clothes don't show much. Maybe if she gave me more to look at I would be quite interested."
"She probably doesn't have much to show." Nicole said with a huff.
"Nah...I'm sure she has something to show. But, even if she did show more, it would take a lot for me to be interested with that attitude of hers."
"You weren't thinking all of this before she rejected you." Liam teased.
"Shut up." I gritted through my teeth.
"Aw, is Harry's ego hurt?" Louis egged on.
"Shut up, dammit!"

Truth is. I was a little hurt, but I was trying to not admit it...even to myself. I've never really been rejected before, especially not in public.
I lost respect from people when Bella turned me down during lunch and that was not okay. I had a reputation to protect. And she was ruining it for me.


Damn her attitude.

Notes

Long chapter again.

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