Kat felt her heart pounding in her chest as she waited by Nessa's locker. Ari was sick from a fever that day and Tatiana was currently in Italy, so she couldn't talk to them. It's not like she didn't feel like she could talk to Nessa, but Nessa had barely said a word to her after the day of the part. When she saw Nessa's familiar dark hair piled on top of her head in a bun she tensed up. Nessa stopped in front of her, a quizzical look on her face.

"I'm sorry." Kat said sincerely. "I'm super duper sorry. I shouldn't have said what I said but you know I'm a bitch sometimes. But anyway at the party I got drunk and passed out and then Harry took me to the guest room and then I woke up and then he chased me outside in the rain and then we made out and after the rain got down to a sprinkle I called an Uber and my lips are still tingling Nessa help!" She realized she was breathing hard and that Nessa's eyes were wide and her mouth was dropped down to the floor.

After a minute Nessa shook her head. "Um, okay. Slow down and maybe start over?" She listed intently as she got her French book out of her locker.

Kat explained the situation to Nessa once more. "I'm scared to face him, Nessa. What will I say? What will he say? Do we even talk about it?"

"I think he owes you an explanation." Nessa said. "He can't just kiss you like that, tell you off, then go have a tantrum. That's not fair to you."

"But..." Kat hesitated. "What if I scared him?"

Nessa raised an eyebrow. "Harry Styles...scared? Are you serious? He'd stare down the Devil in Hell before being scared of anything."

Kat laughed. "Are you sure?"

"Well...this means he likes you." Nessa said. "I've heard that usually Harry kisses and has sex without remorse, so the fact that he felt emotion after kissing you means that he felt something."
Kat face-palmed. "Oh, God. The world's biggest man-slut likes me."

"And you like him back." Nessa teased.

"Don't remind me." Kat muttered. "Now I have to get to art and face my fate. See you at lunch, Nessa."

She gave her a quick hug, happy that they had reconciled before walking down the hall and entering the art room nervously. She considered going to Mrs. Wright's desk and getting on her knees to beg her not to make her sit next to Harry. She shot him a look, and gasped softly seeing how awful he looked. He wore a black beanie, there were bags under his eyes, dirt on his face, and he had a bruise on his chin. His emerald eyes were already on her, and when their eyes connected, he smirked, as if he didn't look like a homeless bum.

She rushed over to the desk. "Are you okay? What happened?"

"I jumped off of the Grand Canyon." He said. "Not as high as people think."

She frowned. "What really happened? Who beat you up?"

"Jesus."

Kat sat down in the chair next to him with an exasperated sigh. "And you didn't go the nurse why...because you're scared to snitch on Christ?"

She had meant it as a joke, but he frowned. "Why do you care so much?"

"Because..." She knew the reason, but was scared to say it. "Like I said, I care about people whether I know them or not."

He grinned coldly. "Oh my God. Don't...please don't tell me it's because I gave you a kiss. So the saying about dogs is true. Show them a little bit of love and they never leave you alone."
She looked away. "I'm not a dog. Excuse me for being concerned. I mean...it was you who kissed me. What's wrong, Styles? Never had a crush before?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

She glared at him. "I know you like me. I know you have a crush on me. I know you kissed me because you wanted to. I saw you looking at me when I came in. If you didn't like me you wouldn't have even noticed. You...you knew me before I even sat next to you. And you draw me at home. You get frustrated because you can't get my lips right, which means that you keep drawing them over and over again, meaning that you have my face memorized---"

Harry stood, flipping the desk over. A few students cried out in surprise and the whole room went quiet, staring at Harry.

"Mrs. Styles!" Mrs. Wright called out. "That is not proper! Come get your office referral!"

"Oh piss off you old twat." Harry said in a tightly controlled voice. He then grabbed his bag. "Forget about the kiss, Kat. It meant nothing to me, and neither do you. You. Mean. Nothing."

He then stormed out of the room, but instead of feeling hurt, Kat felt...satisfied.

Notes