Precious |h.s|

four

Susanna

The next few days were rather uneventful. Minus the large amount of work I received from my English teacher and Harry's bubbly personality. I seemed to have made friends with him, Niall, and Karla, and I'm thankful for that. I had no good friends back in San Francisco because they were all fake bitches.

Karla seems to keep to herself, like me, which is probably why I took a liking to her. Harry, on the other hand, never shuts up, but that's just how he is. Niall's personality tends to land in the middle of Karla's and Harry's; he's quiet sometimes and other times he's annoying. But it's okay. I'm just glad I have friends.

It was now Friday, and apparently Harry didn't have plans. Niall had laughed when he said, "I do not have plans this weekend, surprise. We can hang out."

I agreed and decided to drive him back to my house, where we would study for a Marine Biology test we have next week.

So far, no studying has taken place. All Harry wants to talk about is my hair.

"How does it stay so nice?" He asked, twirling it between his fingers. I tried staying calm, when frankly, he was annoying the shit out if me.

"I don't know, Harry. What did you get for number 12?"

"Susanna, I haven't done any." Harry whispered.

I stared at him in confusion. I wondered out loud something I probably shouldn't have said, but it came out anyway.

"What is wrong with you?"

It didn't come out mean, but it didn't come out exactly nice either. Harry's eyes widened and he looked at his shoes.

I breathed in loudly, "I'm sorry, Harry. I shouldn't have said it like that."

"Noooo...Harry has a problem." Harry looked at me, tears in his eyes.

I wasn't down to get emotional tonight, and I honestly had no idea how to make a crying person feel better. And I also didn't know why he had begun to speak in third person when he got upset, but his angelic way of making the words come out of his mouth made me blush, even if it was sort of strange.

"Harry, you don't have to-"

"YES, Harry does. Mummy said to tell friends and family. You are friend?" Harry wiped a few tears away and looked up at me with puppy dog eyes.

I smiled and took his hand. "Of course I'm your friend, Harry, but you do not have to tell me something if you don't feel comfortable with telling me."

Now, I say this to him, and I truly mean it, but I am curious, so very curious, as to why he acts they way he does. All the childish actions, the sluggish words, his baby deer manner of walking...I'm so fucking curious. But I will not push him to tell me.

He took a deep breath before looking at me with those gorgeous, emerald eyes.

"Harry is...I-I'm Autistic."

The words that left his mouth seemed to have been a stab in the stomach to him, as he wailed as if that had happened. Perhaps he was expecting a different reaction from me, like me getting up and leaving him here to deal with himself alone, or me telling him he was freak. But all I did was grab his shaking hand and caressed it with my small thumb.

His glassy eyes traveled up from his lap to my face as he examined my reaction.

Truth is, I didn't really have a reaction to the news. It wasn't something I didn't expect; I knew that his mannerisms and words were probably caused by some type of disorder. Autism is not something uncommon. Many are affected by it.

"Harry," I began, still holding his hand, "That isn't a probelm. You were born with that, and if someone makes fun of you for it, then that's wrong and you need to tell me."

Harry sniffled. "Yes, it is a problem. Harry-I, uh-"

"Stop trying to talk in first person, Harry. It's Okay." I assured him.

"Oh! Harry does that when upset or not on medicine." He grinned as if nothing was wrong. That's what I liked about him; he never failed to have a smile on his face, even if something was upsetting him.

He continued to speak. "Niall and you are only ones Harry has told, actually...and were not mean."

"I'm not going to say anything mean about that." I said.

Harry wiped a lone tear from the corner of his almond shaped eye and gave me a red carpet smile.

"I knew I like you for a reason."

●●●●●

HELLOOOO

Ok, so hopefully yall know that Harry talks the way he does for a reason, that I'm not making mistakes.

Thanks for reading!

-Jessi.