"Harry really said that?" Taylor gasped when I told her about our exchange earlier and what I had overheard, "Urgh, Kendall is such a bitch and somehow she has the cutest boyfriend ever, who is also evidently the sweetest guy ever as well." I could hear her practically swooning over him down the phone. She sighed dreamily and then carried on, "So, do you think he'll speak to them?"

"Well he said he would, and they didn't know I could hear them while they were arguing, so I think he's genuinely not impressed with what's come from all this." I said, "To be honest, I've had time to think about it, and I think more than anything he just thinks I'm kind of pathetic, a nobody and not worth his time to get stressed out over... he just doesn't want to be the kind of guy who picks on people smaller and weaker than him." I heard Taylor sigh on the other end of the line.

"S, sometimes you have to admit that you are wrong about people, and Harry is not as bad as you thought he was. He is sticking up for you because you said something without thinking and doesn't think you should be victimised by the entire year because his heart is in the right place. You need to accept it!" She put a lot of emphasis on the last part. We were both silent for a few seconds before we both collapsed into a fit of giggles. Once I had regained my ability to breathe, I looked at the clock and realised it was almost midnight and should probably get to bed. After hanging up, I got into bed and lay there staring at the ceiling, saying a silent prayer to myself that tomorrow would bring better things than today had

---

I pulled into the carpark in my little white Corsa, cut the engine but didn't get out the car, I wanted to take a moment to prepare myself for the fact that people were probably not going to stop this quickly, and I would just have to toughen up and take the insults. I pulled the sun visor down and popped open the small mirror to apply a thin layer of cherry lipgloss to my plump lips in an attempt to try and instill myself with some confidence. Taking one last look I sighed, snapped it shut and got out of the car.

I put my headphones in as I walked through the car park toward the path, thinking that it might help if I just don't react to anything that anyone said to me. I still felt like people were looking at me, but as far as I could tell, no one was actually attempting to speak to me. I saw Taylor standing by the gate, scrolling through her phone while she was waiting for me, like she always did and was almost there when someone walking beside reached out and tugged my headphones out of my ears. I looked at who it was and saw it was two girls that Kendall was friends with. They stopped me walking by blocking my way to the gate.

"Just thought we should let you know, you might think this is all going to stop because Harry feels sorry for pathetics like yourself, but he can only do so much and this won't stop until Kendall says it does." One girl threatened me calmly with a smile.

"Especially since she saw him talking to you yesterday afternoon, completely undermining her, and now she's livid." The other one piped up and I felt the colour draining from my face.

"See you later, Greasy." They laughed as they parted to let me pass. I felt sick. How the hell had this escalated so far. Taylor was looking at me a mix of concern and confusion as I approached her quickly. I grabbed her hand and dragged her to the toilets not wanting to let anyone see me cry for the second time this week. When we got to the bathroom though I couldn't hold them in any longer and suddenly I was sobbing and telling Taylor what had just happened. She rubbed my back and handed me tissues as I struggled to get the exchange out through my choking breaths.

"I'm sure they're just trying to scare you, S, seriously, what is she going to do? She might be a bitch but she's not going to get herself expelled in her final year of school, is she?" She tried her best to reassure me, and after a minute of thinking it through rationally, I had to agree. There was only so much that she could do, and if I got my head down and just carried on working toward Durham, there would be no problems and I would be able to just get on with things.

We walked to our form class, Taylor sticking close to my side, clearly a strong believer of the idea that there's strength in numbers. When we entered, the noise level dropped for a second, but Taylor pulled me to our seats with her head held high and people slowly got back to whatever conversations they had been having before we came in. I pulled out my copy of Hamlet and decided to try and use this time to actually get some work done, and the time passed by quickly so I was actually surprised when the bell went.

"See, that wasn't so bad was it?" Taylor smiled encouragingly as we packed our stuff away. I shook my head, a bit of my confidence from this morning.

"What do we have first again?" I asked, as we walked out of the classroom.

"Wednesday first is Music isn't it?" My heart sank. Normally I would have been over the moon to go to a music lesson, but this was one of my three periods I shared with Harry and his friends and I really just didn't want to think about anything that had gone on for a while. It was as though Taylor could read my mind.

"I wouldn't worry S, Harry was lovely yesterday, and I doubt his mates will actively ignore him. We'll sit on the other side of the room and it will be like they aren't even there." She linked her arm through mine and pulled me along encouragingly. I couldn't help but chuckle lightly at how rational Taylor had been this morning, considering how panicked she had gotten yesterday. I told her and she laughed, "Well, only one of us can be irrational at a time and I feel like you called dibs on that role today."

---

"Okay settle down guys. Niall if I see you put Louis in a headlock again, you're going up to the studio to work alone, which will be counterproductive today as we're starting our performances, specifically our duets or groups! " said Mr. Ford, our quirky, overly-perky music instructor once everyone had settled into the class. Taylor and I looked at one another with an excited grin, this was something we had been looking forward to all year, we couldn't wait to do the duet we had been planning forever. Everyone began chattering loudly, discussing who wanted to sing with who.

"Guys! Please!" Mr. Ford tried raising his voice to calm everyone down, "I don't know why you're all talking as though you get to pick your own partners or groups?" and suddenly the room stopped as everyone looked at him confused, "Yeah, that got your attention, didnt it! No guys, you don't get to pick your own partners because if you pick your friends, you won't get the best combination that you can get. Over our lessons this week, I am going to listen to each of you sing or play your instruments and take a recording, I will then discuss and play the recordings with Miss. Powell and Miss. Hannah and decide who is going with who, to get the strongest combinations to put you in the strongest position you can possibly be in." there was a groan from the class but no one argued since it made sense, "So, you can have this period to practice, and then we'll be starting tomorrow in alphabetical order with Adele Adkins."

---

"Who do you think you'll get put with? Taylor asked after third period when we met up to get lunch from the cafeteria to take to the study room to eat.

"I'm not sure, I think Adele has an amazing voice, and so does Justin, but I'm not sure their voices would fit with mine? How about you?" I said, picking up a sandwich and a small pot of soup.

"I have a feeling I'll end up with Ed, we've worked together before on my performance piece for GCSE and Mr. Ford was practically fangirling at the time." She answered as she picked up two bottles of water, and handed one to me.

We paid and exited the hall and were just talking about assignments and work due in when we came face to face with Kendall, Liam and Niall. They were taking up the entire path as they were messing around. When Kendall saw me coming, she nudged the others and nodded her head toward me. I hesitated but decided to keep going because I was with Taylor, and besides I thought Harry would have told Liam to back off and Kendall wouldn't be horrible if one of his friends were there, surely. As we tried to pass, Liam stepped in our way so we would have to stop and ask him to move.

"Excuse me." Taylor said politely but quietly, it was evident that she wasn't feeling confident about how this situation was going to go.

"You're excused." Liam replied without moving and the others sniggered.

"Go the other way." Kendall said with a laugh as I met her eyes. I didn't know what it was at that moment but I felt something snap inside my head and I was annoyed. Annoyed because this girl was now determined to ruin the rest of my year over one comment I made in a conversation with my best friend. Annoyed at myself for giving the impression that because I was quiet and got on with my work that I would let myself be pushed around.

"No. I'm going to the study room which is this way, so please excuse us and move." I said, calmly, not at all reflecting how angry I was getting on the inside. For a second, Kendall looked shocked but composed herself and gave me a smile but her eyes were like slits. I was expecting her to say something nasty but instead, she just pushed past us toward the cafeteria and the two guys followed. Was that all it took to get her to stop? Taylor and I started walking to the study room and looked at one another in surprise.

"Yay! Go Selena! Where did that come from?" She said excitedly. I grinned back at her and shrugged.

"I don't know I just didn't want her to think that we were going to just do as she says from now on."

We carried on talking about it as we ate our lunch, both admitting how it felt like a great weight had been lifted from our shoulders. Once we were finished we started on our work and finally it felt like things had gone back to normal.

Notes

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