Note To Self (Harry Styles AU)

Chapter Twenty Four.

Harry's smart mouth wound up getting him in trouble and he spent the remainder of the night in his room. He wasn't bothered by it, he planed on locking himself away anyway so his parent's form of discipline didn't really work very well.

The next morning before school began, he sat out front of the building with Liam on the stone wall of the raised flower bed, not really saying much but enjoying each other's companionship. It was a chilly morning, the ground scattered with puddles from the rain that had fallen overnight with occasional dry patches on the pavement as the water began to evaporate. Harry had the rolled up poster for their project set on the ground tucked between his knees, the sounds of voices calling student's names to the office heard over the loudspeakers, school busses rumbling by, and the chant of meshed conversations rang in Harry's ears.

He rubbed at his sleepy eyes and yawned, finding himself to be missing the warmth of his bed as he sat in the damp morning air. Especially with the unnecessary screaming and giggles coming from a group of younger girls as they huddled together in a circle to talk nearby. They were maybe fourteen or fifteen, but Harry found himself really wishing they would go screech somewhere else. He didn't let his annoyance show through when he got caught looking in their direction by one of the girls and received a flirtatious smile and wave from her. He pressed his lips together in a tight smile, just to be nice.

Just the simple action had her giggling and turning back to tell her friends excitedly, and he really couldn't have cared less.

"Why are you flirting with freshmen?" Liam asked, raising Harry's attention to him.

"I'm not, they're being annoying," he grumbled and shoved a hand through his hair to push it back off his forehead. "Just look at them and they'll squeal."

"They think you're a hottie," Liam pointed out, waving over at one kindly to prove Harry's theory that any male attention they receive made them let out ear piercing squeals.

"See," Harry spoke bitterly, just as the sleeve of his jacket was latched onto and tugged.

He looked up to see Aubry pulling on him, interrupting their time together. "Sorry, Liam," she apologized, before turning to make a request to Harry. "Come with me."

Harry shot a confused look over to his friend as he slid off his place on the wall to be dragged off behind Aubry. She wordlessly lead him away, not responding to him when he asked where they were going or even looking behind at him to acknowledge the words he was saying. It wasn't until they rounded the corner to the side of the building and they were alone that she let go of his sleeve and turned around to face him.

Harry adjusted his crumpled sleeve. "What?"

"About the presentation..." she trailed off, reaching over to tug at his sleeve again, but this time it was to help fix it.

She didn't finish what she had to say, leaving him to wonder. "What about it?" he urged.

She stayed silent, staring up at his face for a few moments before she said, "You look nice today."

That didn't answer his question. "Thank you," he spoke, eyes running over her features to try to find some sort of tell for what she was thinking. All he found was a joyful smile and bloodshot eyes. "Are you high?"

She lifted one shoulder up toward her ear and raised a hand to show a tiny space between the tip of her thumb and pointer finger, "Maybe a little bit."

He sighed. "Aubry, we have school."

"I know, that's why I'm high," she laughed, but when he didn't laugh along she forced herself to hold a serious expression that matched the one his own face wore. "Right, serious business. So serious."