Always.

“Class of 2014! It’s your senior year, aren’t you excited?” Mr. Mitchell asks as he walks into the classroom, late might I add.
Faint, sarcastic Woos, are spoke around the room, along with some other words that shouldn’t really be appropriate for the classroom.
“Yea, way to sound like it. So, this is sociology, welcome, welcome.” He greets, standing in the front of the class, leaning against his desk. Everyone is sat down next to their friends; I sit in the middle of the class next to Mary at our desk for two. Mary’s a sweet girl, we aren’t like best friends or anything, but she’s a good friend.
“So, most of you have attended this school district for a long time, and I know we are all a pretty tight knit group here in Reeds. But, I know some of you haven’t really gotten to actually know or work with others outside of your general groups. Maybe in elementary school, but that doesn’t count, sorry to burst your bubble.” Sighs are heard throughout the room, it’s obvious nobody is paying attention. “So, we’re going to have assigned seats.”
“What?”
“Come on Mr. Mitchell, we’re seniors!”
“This is bullshit.”
I roll my eyes at their comments, and rest my head on my hand that’s on the desk.
“ I just think this will be good for you, and who knows, maybe at the end of the year, you all will thank me.” He winks at us, and then grabs his binder from a desk drawer.
You know, I highly doubt that.
“Alright, pick up your stuff and line up against the walls.” He says, pointing to the two side walls of the classroom.
Everyone moves reluctantly to the walls, most of the people complaining are the guys. Myself, I move quietly to the side with my bag on my shoulders and my purse on my arm.
Mitchell begins reading off the listen and pointing to the tables and works his way back. When he calls Mary to sit by someone else, I can’t say I’m surprised because he knows we’re friends. I wait a while; he’s on the second to last row, out of 6, in the room.
“Kelly Ericson,” Finally he calls my name, having me sit at a desk on the outside. I begin to walk over as he calls out the name of the person who will be sitting beside me. “and Harry Styles.” He smiles moving over to the next desk.
I kept my head down as I finally arrive to the desk, placing my backpack on the floor and my purse on the back of the chair before sitting down. I scoot my seat to the edge of the table as Harry takes his seat beside me. That may be horrible, but I couldn’t care less right now.
“Hey, Kelly.” He whispers with a small smile.
“Hi, Harry.” I reply, trying to force a smile, but that doesn’t really happen. I look towards the front of the class watching Mr. Mitchell making his way towards the front of his room.
“Now, for the rest of your time in this classroom, nobody else matters except you, your partner, and me of course. So, I suggest you get to know your partners, and if you don’t like who you’re working with, you should probably learn how to get over that quickly.”
Great. In all the years Harry and I have gone to school together, since 3rd grade, we have never been sat by each other in class. How? I don’t know, but of course it would happen now, this year, and in this class. Mitchell was right when he said we were all a close knit group of students, we were, but sometimes there are people that you would just rather not sit with in class. In my case, that was Harry Styles.
The rest of the class we went over the syllabus for the course, no different from how any other class would be. I was right, my 2nd and 3rd period were boring, Advanced English 12 and Bio 102. I don’t know why I signed up for Biology, but at least it wasn’t Chemistry. Harry fortunately wasn’t in those two classes, but there were more to come, like homeroom.
There were only a couple of senior homerooms at our school, but I decided against that, and I did A+ tutoring instead. So, basically, I sit in a room with a bunch of freshman and help them with homework if they need it. Of course I can leave if I have to be somewhere else in the school, that’s why there are two of us.
“Hey Ms. Walker!” A genuine smile covers my face when I walk into her room; she was one of the sweetest English teachers I have ever had. She was the one who helped me with my writing; she taught me how to write what I know to make something the best I can.
“Kelly, dear! How are you? How’s your first day been so far?”
I begin walking to the round table that’s next to her desk to set my stuff down. “It’s been okay, I think I may like my English teacher this year.” I begin, walking over to the tall chair on the other side of her desk so it’s easier to talk. “I don’t know if I’ll like her as much as you of course.”
“That’s sweet Kelly, who do you have this year?”
The classroom started filling up with freshmen; part of me wonders why I chose to tutor. I hope the other person in here with me will help keep me sane.
“I have Mrs. Wagner, she seems like a good, passionate teacher. I like that.” I nod.
“Oh, lovely. She’s going to adore you, and you her most likely.” She says, before standing up, organizing a stack of paper on her desk.
The minute bell rings, and the underclassmen come running into the class being loud and complaining about how there’s not enough time to get here. They have 5 minutes and the school only has one building… I think they’ll survive.
Finally the tardy bell rings, and a few students get here just in time, not that it matter today anyway. The first couple of days, everyone has to get used to where their classes are and everything, so even if someone’s tardy, it doesn’t count.
“Alright class, this is your homeroom. I’m Miss Walker, in case you haven’t had me yet today. We meet in here every day except for Thursdays. As a freshmen homeroom, you have two A plus tutors, you’re first is Kelly Ericson.” She points back to me and I give the class a small wave and a smile. “And our second is obviously,” the door opens and she stops, looking over to see Harry walking in. “late! Harry, it’s nice of you to join us today. Good to see you haven’t changed since freshmen year.” She jokes, earning a chuckle from Harry as he makes his way toward the round table in the back. “They have both been my students, both very good at English. They are here to help you, so take advantage.”
I turn my head and glance at Harry, who’s walking over to me. I look at the class noticing all the girls staring at Harry as he makes his way to my side. I am still sitting in the tall chair, but he still has a good advantage in height.
“Harry would you like to properly introduce yourself?” she asks.
The whole room looks back at us, me sitting, and Harry standing straight up with his hands behind his back. “Uh, I’m Harry Styles, I’m 18, English is my favorite subject and I don’t know what else to say.” He says, looking back at Ms. Walker, I notice the girls again, whispering to each other while staring at Harry.
She looks over to me, “Kelly?”
“Hi,” I begin awkwardly. “I’m Kelly, I’m 17, I love writing a lot and I think that’s all.” I shrug.
“Excellent-” and she begins speaking again to the students. She puts a piece of paper on each of the occupied desks. Those poor kids have to sit in those one person desks, I absolutely hate those.
“Kelly, why don’t you talk to me?” Harry’s whisper comes from beside me; his slight accent is so prominent to me.
I turn to him, and see his green eyes staring down at me. I look at him, then to his stupid headband, and everyday attire of boots, too-tight skinny jeans, and black t-shirt. “I talked to you this morning.” I answer simply.
“Hi, Harry, is all I get?” he smiles.
I roll my eyes at him, he’s the one who ignores me all the time and he knows it.
My next classes aren’t too bad. I have Spanish III before lunch, so I have C lunch. Some of my friends have the same, so it’s nice to know I have people to sit by. I had yearbook after lunch, and then band. I found it quite odd not being the first or second period of the day, but whatever. Lastly, was advanced PE, again I asked myself why the hell did I sign up for it. It’s a mixed class, both boys and girls, and of course Harry was in it. His friends were too though, so he sat by him and some of my friends were in the class too, so this class was going to be fine.
As soon as the bell rang, I got to my car as soon as I could. I wanted to go home and be alone today just for today. I had to leave quickly because if I didn’t, I’d have to wait in all the traffic. It’s absolutely crazy after school, so you have to learn to leave fast, or stay long after.
Dad wasn’t home when I came home. Go figure, he’s probably out smoking weed or getting drunk, or something stupid he usually does. It’s so ridiculous how he acts really, I wish I didn’t speak so ill of him, but sometimes he really deserves it. So I stay in and make some chicken and quinoa for myself and him. He probably won’t eat it, but this way he won’t complain about it.
As I finish, I put away the dishes and head to my room and change into my pajamas. I turn my television on and then throw the jeans, white tank top, and blue cardigan into the laundry basket. I don’t know what else to do now, so I just lie in bed watching a rerun of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. Too bad we don’t already have any homework, not that I’d really do it anyway. Sometime after the 5th episode, I fall asleep.
Knock, knock, knock.
I open my tired eyes and stare at my clock. The blurry numbers slowly become a clear 2:37 am. Groaning, I push my blankets off and get out of bed and walk towards the window. As soon as I open it he pops in.
“Thanks Kel.” I can tell by his voice how tired he is.
“No problem,” I reply shutting the window. “What happened?” I ask as I walk to the closet and open it to grab some blankets and a pillow.
“They were just screaming, and there was crying, and God, I fucking hate it. It’s like it never ends.” He runs a hand through his hair in frustration then rubs his eyes.
I lay the blankets and pillow on the ground before walking over to him. “I don’t get it, why they fight so much. They seem so happy when I see them together, you know.”
“Yea, I know.” He sighs and waits a while before walking to the little bed I made on the floor.
I move too, locking the bedroom door, and then make my way back to my bed. “If you’re not out before I wake up, I won’t hesitate to pour water all over you.” I tell him while trying to get comfortable.
"Yea, you've done it before." He chuckles. “Goodnight Kelly.”
“Goodnight, Harry.”

Notes