Detention ➳ Larry

Chapter thirty-two

(Harry's POV)

"How about this?" my mum asks me, thrusting a red t-shirt at me. She wants this to be a nice mother-son bonding day and she insisted on going to the mall. I agreed just to make her happy. I want to patch things up with my mum, because for the past few years, I haven't had a relationship with her. I mean, of course we'll say hello to each other and eat dinner together (sometimes) but I don't feel very close to her anymore.

I look at the shirt and frown. "I have enough shirts, don't you think?" I mutter. I'm sick and tired of my family spoiling me and trying to buy my love.

"Oh, okay." she chirps. "Well what do you need?" she asks me, putting the shirt back on the rack.

I shrug. "I don't need anything. I have enough things." I admit.

"Well. . . do you want to head over to the food court and get something to eat?" she asks me. My stomach grumbles. I am actually pretty hungry considering I didn't eat much for lunch today at school.

I nod slowly. "Uh. . . sure." I mumble. She smiles and we walk together over to the other side of the mall. Fast food restaurants line the walls and the air smells like grease and fatty foods. Soft music plays in the background, barely audible over the sound of all these people talking.

"How about Chinese?" she asks me, gesturing towards a Chinese restaurant with a panda logo.

"Sure." I smile. We step over to the restaurant and I order spicy chicken with peppers while Mum just orders Mongolian beef. Our order is up in about ten minutes and she pays them, thanks them, and takes our food.

The steamy food is wrapped up in a paper container with the panda logo printed on the front. My mouth waters at the strong aroma of chicken arising from the box. We sit down at one of the multiple tables in the food court plaza. It's kind of busy considering most teenagers probably came here after school, which only ended an hour or so ago.

"How's your food?" Mum asks me as I take my first bite.

"Good." I mumble with a mouth full of chicken, getting some of the sauce on my chin.

She laughs and wipes the sauce off of my chin with her thumb. I flinch and pull away from her. I take a napkin and wipe it off myself.

A distinctive giggle comes from behind me. Oh no. . . was that who I think it was?

I turn around in my chair and see Eleanor with her group of friends. Most of her friends are popular girly flirts, and I can't remember exactly but I'm pretty sure all of them asked me out at one point in their lives. I just pray that they don't see me.

They're all sitting at a table away from us, sipping on their milkshakes and laughing obnoxiously. I recognize Eleanor as the curly haired brunette in the bum-hugging jeans and tight blue tank top. One of her friends is Kylie. She's pretty short and has brunette long hair. She's really nice but not as out going as the rest of the girls at the table.

The other girl I recognize from my English class. I think her name is Sophia but I'm not sure. The girl sitting next to her is Haley, I think. She has dark brown hair below her shoulders and she is in my History class. We used to be friends but not so much anymore. She's really awkward and funny.

The last girl makes my stomach churn. Her name is Emily, an old friend of mine. We were friends in primary school and I had my frist kiss with her on the playground. I haven't talked to her in ages. She looks pretty much the same as I remember. Her eyes are dark and her skin is flawless. Her hair is dark and mid length. My breath hitches.

"Harry? What are you looking at? Do you know those girls?" mum asks me.

I shake my head. "N-no." I mutter. I start eating my chicken again and stare down at the table. I hope those girls don't notice me. . .