Smart. (A Marcel / Harry Styles FanFiction)

Swimming Lessons

Harry and I had been friends for as long as I had lived next door to him, and we seemed to get closer as we got older. However, going through school highlighted our differences as well as similarities. Though both of us spent our fair share of time studying, I never had problems with bullies. In fact, I made friends easily, and ended up with a solid group of friends, including my best friend Jess. Maybe it's that Harry is shy around most people, or that he still wears button down shirts and loafers to school, but others, even some of my friends, couldn't see him as how I did: intelligent, yet funny and sweet. Jess, being as open-minded as she was, was kind to him, and invited him to all of the things we did in our friend group. However, not all of my friends were as accepting, so I knew Harry was much more wary than he was letting on about this bonfire. I watched him nervously clean his glasses with his shirt as we walked towards the beach, where the bonfire was being held.

"Are you okay?"

"What? Yeah I'm fine" he mumbled in a low voice. It had taken me a half hour to convince him he needed to wear sandals and shorts to the beach, and I could see him self-consciously adjusting his clothes.

"You aren't."

"Aren't what?"

"Aren't fine. You know what? Tell me at any time if you want to go home okay?" As I said it I realized he would never say anything. No matter how uncomfortable, he wouldn't prevent me from having a night of fun. I sighed wondering why I never thought of the real reasons Harry didn't like hanging out with my friends. Maybe, I thought to myself, this night would be different.

"Charlotte! Hey!" I heard Jess call from the fire pit where my friends sat, "Oh hi Marcel," she added, seemingly surprised he came.

"Harry" he muttered.

"What?" Jess asked, confused.

"He goes by Harry, remember?" I interjected, wondering how long it would take for him to lose the stigma of the unfortunate name.

"Duh! Silly me," Jess rolled her eyes at herself, but I knew that she would forget again. They always did.

I glanced over at Harry, and he gave me a harsh look.

"You don't have to stick up for me all the time, I can handle myself," he said in a low, but annoyed voice. His cheeks were flushed and I realized I had probably embarrassed him around the others seated at the fire pit.

"Charlotte, how's your break been?" Ben, who was tall with dirty blonde hair and dark eyes, addressed me.

"You know me, I pretty much spent the whole break freaking out about finals. I'll probably fail anyway," I joked.

"You won't fail," said Harry, "not with the amount of time you put in." I had to keep myself from sighing.

"She was joking mate, lighten up!" Peter snickered, and my other friends laughed uncomfortably. I noticed Harry grabbing for his glasses to clean them unnecessarily as the laughter turned into an awkward silence. I needed a distraction, and quick.

"Jess have you tested the water?" knowing Jess wouldn't miss a chance for a dip in the water; I turned towards Harry and grabbed his hand, dragging him along. Peter and Ben could set up the bonfire and hopefully would be distracted by Ann, a friend I met through Jess. With her long blonde hair and blue eyes, beautiful was an understatement.

Jess sprinted ahead of us to the water, and I soon heard her shriek as she reached the waves, signaling it was much colder than it looked. I glanced down and realized I still had a grip on Harry's hand. I blushed and let go, pretending to examine the stunning wash of colors that lit up the sky as the sun set.

"Quite amazing, isn't it?" I heard Harry's low voice murmur. I noticed him looking at the watercolor sky.

"Yeah it's beautiful." I looked over at Harry and watched him, looking for a sign of the awkwardness I had seen earlier, but there was nothing. All I could see were his eyes, looking greener as ever as the sun's fading light reflected in them. I yelped and looked away as a cold, wet hand grabbed my leg.

"Jess! Sheesh, you scared me!" I squeaked, momentarily stunned as I looked at my brown-eyed friend. She grinned at me knowingly, and I instantly realized she had seen me looking at Harry. I shook my head, trying to deny it, but she just grabbed my arm and pulled me to the water.

"Come and save her Harry!" Jess yelled playfully as she attempted to drag me in the cold water. Harry looked confused until he saw her laughing and me half-heartedly struggling in her grip.

"Uh Char, maybe you should take off your jumper before you-" he winced as Jess successfully managed to push me under water.

"Too late," Jess screeched triumphantly, but not before I pulled her down after me.

"Harry, come on in! The water is great!" I lied, because it was freezing. Harry reluctantly took off his glasses, pulled off his own jumper and waded in the shallow water. I shared a quick glance with Jess, and I could tell she noticed too. Harry had lost his awkward skinniness and filled out, a fact I never had noticed before. To distract myself I scooped up some water and splashed him right in the face.

"Hey!" he protested, but I could hear a laughing undertone, "that's not fair! I can't see as well as you."

"Yeah right, you only need those for reading," I shot back.

"Well if that's the case, I guess I can do this!" Harry splashed me back and while I shut my eyes to avoid the water, picked me up and lightly tossed me into the deeper water. I laughed so hard I started coughing as water went up my nose.

"Char are you alright?" Harry swam over to me with a worried expression on his face. He pulled up so I could breathe properly, and I started laughing even more hysterically.

"What are you laughing at?" he said slowly, his low voice, full of concern, made me shiver more than the water had.

"Hey love birds! I smell food so I'm going to head in before Ben and Peter eat it all!" Jess called to us as she scrambled up the sand to the fire pit. Her joking comment brought my proximity to Harry to my attention and I quickly swam away, wondering why my heart was racing. Harry shook out his hair like a dog and pushed it back off his face. Realizing I was staring again, I ducked under the water and swam to shore. What was wrong with me?

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