Drag Me Down || L.S au

Beaten by the Bully

Harry's POV

Really? I get paired up with the biggest slacker in school? Ugh... I hate Mrs. McKinnon so much...

At least there's one thing 'Mr. Tomlinson' and I could agree on.

I walked over to where my partner sat and introduced myself. "Hi, I'm Harry." I put my hand out.

"Hey, I'm Louis," He shook my hand.

I sat down next to him. "Look, I don't want to be your partner as much as you don't want to be mine. Once the project's over, we're going our seperate ways, okay?"

"Thank God," Louis said, sighing. Good, he agrees with me.

"Okay, so I've already thought of a project we can do," I pulled opened a spiral notebook with notes I took while Mrs. McKinnon was talking. I heard Louis mutter something like 'dork', but I didn't pay attention. I was used to it. "I think we should do something fairly simple. We could take several mineral samples and test with an acidic solution, like vinegar, to see if they're made out of calcium carbonate."

"Sure, why not?" Louis said. I doubt he was listening to a single word I said.

"Alright. Do you want to meet up after school to discuss things?" I asked. He just shrugged. "My house or yours?"

"I don't really care. We can go to my place, if you want," Louis wrote down his address on a piece of paper. "Come over around half-four, okay?"

Ring... Ring...

"Yeah," I stood up and walked back to my desk.

I gathered up my stuff and walked out of the classroom, keeping my head down to try and not catch anyone's attention.

"Hey, loser," Oh no, not him...

I looked up at Liam Payne, the schools coolest kid and biggest bully. "Umm... I don't--"

Liam picked me up by the collar of my shirt and hit me in the face. Not stopping there, he slammed me into some nearby lockers. Pain shot up and down my back as I slid to the ground. He kicked my side and I folded into the fatal position, covering my head with my arms.

Liam kicked me one last time in my left knee and he walked away, laughing. My back was aching and my rib cage was searing in pain.

I sat up and leaned against the lockers. My pulse was racing and I tried taking deep breaths to calm myself down, but that just made my side hurt even more.

The bell for dismissal rang and I slowly stood up. I couldn't go home like this, my mum would completely freak out, so I pulled my phone out of my bag and texted the only friend I have.

To: Nialler XD

Hey dude. The jerk beat me up again. Mind if I come over to clean up??

'Nialler' was best friend Niall Horan's nickname. He went to an all boys school, so I was always alone here at the public school.

Only a few seconds later Niall replied.

From: Nialler XD

No prob man. You've gotta tell ur mum soon, tho.

I didn't reply. I want to tell her, but I don't want to stress her out anymore than she already is. I mean, being a single mum of two teenagers must be rough.

I limped the twenty minute walk to Niall's house. Immediately after knocking, his fake blonde hair greeted me at the front door.

"Come in," His Irish accent rang out.

Niall helped me upstairs to his room where he sat me down on his bed. He jogged out of the room to grab a wet washcloth.

Basically, we were running our normal routine, because this happened on a regular basis. Frankly, I was getting tired of it, but there was nothing I could do to stop Liam.

Niall walked back in with that washcloth I mentioned earlier, and handed it to me. I wiped my face with it, ruining it with my blood. I gave it back to Niall, and he walked back out of the room to wash it.

I lifted my shirt up to reveal a bruise in the making. It was a bit swollen, but I doubted it was anything serious. Niall came into the room and I pulled my shirt back down.

"You should really stand up to him," Niall sat down next to me.

"Nah, Liam would probably beat me up even worse than before," I shrugged, then ultimately winced in pain.

Niall sighed. That was the answer I always gave him. No. I could never stand up to guys like him, I was too pathetic. Too weak.

"Fine," Niall said, giving in like he always. "It's ten past four, wanna stay for dinner or something?"

"Crap, I need to go," I stood up, feeling a quick shot of pain. "I have to meet up with this guy, Louis, for a science project."

Niall and I said our goodbyes and I walked out of his house. I pulled out the piece of paper Louis wrote and studied the address. It wasn't too far, and I knew the street, so it didn't take long to get to his house.