Delinquent - L.S.

One

It was supposed to be the best night of Harry's life. He was supposed to get his long awaited fairytale moment, he was supposed to finally be the prince instead of the frog. But nothing was ever easy for Harry, as it had been proven time and time again, and he was naive to think things could be different.

It was the night of the London Preparatory Academy's annual Year Twelve Ball. It was one of the most cherished events of the senior class, the shining jewel of the final year for prep students, and Harry had the honor of being invited as a year ten. His boyfriend was an upperclassman, a handsome lad named Nick, who brought the younger boy along as his date. Nick was the perfect catch; sickeningly sweet and too smart for his own good and the type to always go out of his way to make Harry feel as though he meant something. They were happy, so Harry thought.

The couple hovered off to the side of the ballroom, bright lights twinkling above them and loud music playing as their fellow students twirled all around to the beat. Harry was feeling quite uncomfortable, Nick had been acting strange since they arrived and Harry had no idea as to why.

"Don't you feel like dancing at all, Nick?" the curly haired boy asked as he forced a weak smile, moving to take the older boy's hand in his own.

Nick tugged his hand away, turning to run his long fingers through his spiky brown locks. "No, Harry, I don't want to dance," he replied frustratedly. His hazel eyes were looking everywhere except for at his date.

Harry furrowed his dark eyes. He was trying his absolute hardest to hide his disappointment. He awkwardly crossed his arms over his chest as he surveyed the room, making sure that no one was watching them before he finally settled his stare on Nick. "What's wrong, Nick? Did I do something?" Harry asked in a hushed voice. He was worried; Nick was his whole world and he never wanted to mess that up.

"You didn't do anything, Harry. But, I'm about to."

Harry immediately felt sick to his stomach. He didn't know what was coming and he didn't want to. He just wanted to disappear forever. He regretted ever going to this dance, he regretted getting his hopes up. Harry didn't want this to happen.

"Things haven't been the same with us for a while now. I mean, I'm about to leave for uni in less than a semester and you'll still have two whole years left. It doesn't make sense, especially when a long distance relationship just isn't something I want to put you through. Everyone knows they never work out. I think we should just make a clean break now and snd things on a good note while we still can," Nick rambled. Usually he sounded confident and like he had everything under control, right now he just sounded uncomfortable.

Harry's entire demeanor changed and he could practically feel his heart shatter inside his chest. "Um, is this some kind of joke? Because I'm not finding this funny, Nick. I'm not laughing," he said in a shaky voice, trying to play it cool even though he was holding back tears.

Nick merely shook his head.

"Really? You picked in the middle of the ball, in front of everybody, to break up with me? I thought," Harry trailed off for a moment, voice hushed, tugging softly at his hair. "It's been over a year, Nick, and we agreed from the beginning that we'd make it work when you left. What changed? Was it me?" A few heavy tears fell from Harry's green eyes and his bottom lip had begun to quiver. He knew that this was exactly why Nick was leaving him- he was nothing more than a stupid kid.

"Harry, I just think that-"

"-I should go," Harry cut Nick off, abruptly turning and making a break towards the closest exit. He heard Nick calling his name but he didn't stop. He couldn't, his feet wouldn't let him. Harry burst out the front doors and started running as soon as his dress shoes slapped the pavement, as if he could just run away from his problems.