Faded (A Harry Styles Fanfiction)

Chapter One

Heart pounding. Ears throbbing. Calves aching. Sweat pouring down my face. I let the music take control of me as I kept racing towards my destination. The large tree with red and orange leaves. Just a few more yards. The closer I got, the faster I felt like I was running. Eminem's voice flowed through my body. With each passing person, I felt even more determined. And with one, quick movement, I threw myself onto the trunk of the tree in a fit of heavy breathing. I slowly sunk down to the grass and wiped my forehead with my sleeve. Such a beautiful day for a run. The clouds were a clean white, puffy and large, but leaving enough room to see the bright blue sky. I looked back up to the tree I was hiding beneath. The red and orange shone through each leaf. I admired my autumn view as my breathing slowed.

I ripped my phone off of my arm, peeling the Velcro that was once hold it on. I nonchalantly stood up and dailed my old friend Gracie's number. After the sixth ring I ended the call and texted her.

Happy Birthday babe, tried to call but you must be busy with your plans. Call me whenever you're free. Fin.

Even though Gracie goes to a different college, as do most of my high school friends, I still try to stay in contact with them. Why throw away the people that made four worst years of my life somewhat bearable? I followed the path to my dormitory and showed the woman at the desk my student ID before getting into the elevator.

I pushed my door open as it's heavy weight slammed against the wall. I pressed my lips together as I shut the door and went to check if Kelly was sleeping. Her black hair was covering most of her face and she didn't look like she was going to be waking up anytime soon. I grabbed some clothes out of my dresser and went into the bathroom to shower.

-

I towel dried my hair then quickly applied some mascara and foundation. Readjusting my sweater, I didn't try to hide the fact that I was definitely checking myself out. Since high school, I've gained weight, in a good way, and I was finally beginning to like my body. The black sweater didn't compliment my chest like I wish it would, but my tight jeans fit perfectly around my waist, showing off my curves. I tied my boots then grabbed my bag and left as quietly as I could. Kelly didn't have any morning classes today so I tried to not be jealous enough to slam on the door to wake her up from her beauty sleep. I forced the smile off my face as I started off to my math lecture. Mentally sighing, I put my earbuds in my ear and tried to drown out the surrounding noises with Sammy Adams' beautiful voice.

I walked into the room about 5 minutes before class began and took a seat in the middle but more towards the back. I hate attention, and people that sit towards the front are usually the ones that like attention begin brought onto them. I set my notebook on my lap and tucked a pencil behind my ear. Watching as each person came in, filling each seat, making conversations with people they've made friends with thus far into the semester, I found myself feeling more lonely. I still haven't really made friends with anyone yet except my roommate, but even she has made friends and now has a boyfriend. I took my headphones out of my ear and sat up in my seat and waited for the professor to walk in.

He was already 5 minutes late when I pulled my phone out and tried to find something to do to pass the time. As the door flew open and slammed shut, a boy with messed up curls came running in. He gave the class a smirk as they as stared at him, including me, before they all looked back and went back to their conversations. He moved his eyes up and down the rows trying to figure out where to sit when his eyes reached me. I stared back at him as he smiled and walked up the steps. "Oh god please don't sit next to me," I thought to myself.

I watched as he swiftly walked up the stairs, his long legs skipping a step each time. The closer he got to my row, the faster my heart was beating. Luckily, he went up 3 more rows after mine then sat somewhere back there. It didn't take much longer for the professor to walk in.

-

About halfway through the lecture and 5 pages of notes sloppily scribbled down to try to keep up, I piece of crumpled up paper landed on my notebook. I scrunched my brows together and looked behind me and saw the curly haired boy smiling at me. I smiled back before picking up the paper and ripped it into small pieces, never breaking our eyecontact, and smiled bigger before turning back around. I tried to start working on the notes again, but each time I'd start writing, a piece of paper hit me in the back of the head. I looked back at the professor to make sure he wasn't looking and took a piece of paper and crumpled it up into a tight ball then threw it at him. Sadly, I didn't throw it nearly as hard as I wanted to and it landed on his lap. I bit my lip to keep from laughing and turned around again.

Just as I thought the little exchange had stopped, a larger piece of paper landed on my desk and arrows surrounded it and were barely noticeable through the crumpled appearance. I opened it up and read the note.

"The back of your head is cute."

I instantly felt my cheeks flush and wrote beneath it,

"So is the professor's."

Then balled it up again and tossed it back to him, which he thankfully caught. I then realized I had no idea what my professor's name was. He had always told us to call him Mr. E, but I wasn't sure what that stood for.

I spent the remainder of the lecture writing more notes, ignoring more paper balls, and trying to remember his name.

-

I threw my bag on the floor by my bed and jumped onto my bed face first into the pillow. I let out a small muffled scream to let out all my anger and frustration from my last class's lesson. I kicked off my shoes and pulled my jeans off and hid under the covers in my bed. I unlocked my phone and read the unread message from Gracie.

Hey! Sorry I couldn't call you back but thank you for the birthday wish! Miss you tons xoxo Grace

I smiled at her cute message and tried to think of something else to do to pass the time. I checked the time and saw it was 10 PM but it still looked like it was at least midnight. I opened my bedside table and searched the drawers for my stash. I found it and got my bowl out too. Both were seriously wrapped in dirty socks to mask the smell and reeked of Kelly's perfume. I had about a half an hour before she got back unless she decided to hang out with one of her friends. I did have one high school friend that went here but she was in a completely different major and we weren't ever close. I got up and put my sweatpants on and grabbed a few towels and shoved them under the door to keep the smell in the room. Cracking the window and lighting some incense, I unrolled my stash and tightly packed my bowl. I took my lighter and quickly lit the bottom of the bowl, sucking in as hard as I could. Each time I exhaled, I blew it out the window. With each hit, I felt calmer. All the stress that had consumed me less than fifteen minutes ago, evaporated. I finished with some time to kill still so I opened my laptop and turned on one of my favorite movies, LOL, after cleaning up my mess and grabbing a bag of chips to munch on.