- 𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐍 !

13. 𝘓𝘜𝘕𝘊𝘏.

" chapter thirteen "
.LUNCH.

☆•. 13. | HENRY walked into the school the very next day with a smile. As his feet dragged him through the classroom door, his eyes instantly met Nick's, who was already smiling at him. The second Henry Sat down, headphones around his neck, he turned to Nick. "Hi." He greeted.

"Hi." Nick smiled.

"Hello." Henry smiled once again as he took the headphones off his neck and put them on the table in front of him. The two boys couldn't help the smiles that appeared on their faces as they looked forward. Their minds couldn't stop going back to the day before.

—

AS Henry walked toward the art classroom for lunch, Mr. Ajayi stopped him. "There's a boy in there, waiting for you." Henry couldn't help the smile that over took his face. "Ah. I See. Is this the straight boy crush?"

"He's on the rugby team." Henry said. "I... joined the rugby team."

Mr Ajayi hummed. "Of course you did. Don't get crumbs on the floor or I'll get told off by the cleaners. Again. Go on."

Henry chuckled as he walked into the classroom, instantly spotting Nick who sat with his arms crossed. "Hi." The Boy in the chair chuckled.

"Hi." Henry smiled back as he walked toward the table.

"I missed you." Nick looked at him with a smile as he sat down.

"I saw you like, what, four hours ago?" He looked toward him.

"You sure your friends don't mine you eating lunch with me?" The boy looked at Henry who just shrugged at the question, a smile on his face as he shoved a crisp in his mouth.

"Pfft. It's fine. If he's bothered then they can get to fuck." He said as he looked toward the boy. "Clearly, I'm obviously just here for rugby tips, anyway."

"Oh, really? So that's what this is actually about then?" Nick leaned back in fake disbelief.

Henry clicked his tongue tilting his head to the side. "Deal with it."

The two boys chuckled together as Henry felt Nick holding his hand under the table. "Feels nice to be able to ditch my friends for once. All they wanna do at lunch is just sit on the field and chuck stuff at people."

"Chucking stuff? Yikes." Henry laughed.

"Mainly Harry. He's an idiot." Nick looked at Henry. "My friends are nothing like you. Are we even allowed in here?"

"Yup. I used to come here a lot with Charlie last year. Like... when the whole bullying thing and... Aaron thing happened." Henry shrugged as he leaned against his other hand. "Mr. Ajayi is the only good teacher here, the only one who cares anyway."

"Well, he was giving me evils before you got here." Nick told him with a smile.

"Ah, he must've thought you were Aaron. I told him about... everything. The... glass, the scars, keeping us a secret— not that you're anything like him! That's nothing like what's happening with us!" Henry put both hands under the table, holding onto Nick's hand with a panic. "You're nothing like him. Absolutely nothing like him. This is completely different."

Nick slowly smiled at the boy. "Yeah."

..

HENRY had spent almost every lunch with Nick since then. Almost every time. There were those few times where the two wanted to hang out with their friends but that was very rare. Louis was starting to miss him. Louis sat there, staring at his food while the group all talked. "Henry's been hanging out with Nick a lot." He spoke up. "For once I actually miss him."

"Well, they're in the honeymoon phase." Isaac said looking up from his book— 'A good girls guide to murder'.

"It's not even like they're dating." Tao rolled his eyes, agreeing with Louis.

"Unless they are." Charlie shrugged along with Isaac. A loud group of laughs echoed from beside them as Nick's friend group started walking along. Harry, Aaron and the others.

"I mean... look at them." All of them looked toward the group. "It's a bad idea to even walk near them, let alone actually befriend one of them. Henry's putting himself in danger just because he has a little unrequited crush." Tao explained when suddenly a loud shout and a ball came at them.

"Oi, catch!" Harry shouted as a ball came tunnelling toward his head, hitting him in the eye. The group of boys just laughed while the others looked at Tao with worry. Nick, who was with the group, walked toward Tao.

"Are you okay?" Nick asked him.

"Yes." Tao nodded as he picked up the rugby ball.

"Can I have the ball back?" He asked as the rest of the group kept walking.

Tao held out the ball which Nick went to grab before it was pulled away. The rest of the boys all chuckled while Tao glared at Nick slightly. Louis stood up from his seat, standing beside the boy. "No." The black-haired boy shook his head. "It's mine now."

Harry and the boys all 'Ooh'ed at Tao's reaction while Isaac and Charlie shared a look. Nick didn't respond, he just started walking away. That's when Louis had the bright idea to pick up the ball and chuck it at the back of Nick's head. The rugby player barely reacted as he picked up the ball and walked away, ignoring his friends "oohs" and the glare which came from the other two.

"Wait, if he's there then where's Henry?" Charlie asked, looking around for his twin brother.

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