The Water Boy (Narry)

Chapter 15

It was now the time to walk back down to the change room to prepare for practice. I wish I could get around there proudly but you couldn't blame me for being skittish, now, could you? I even made sure that I didn't come too early to where I was left in there alone. My timely manner was still in check though because I was still a little too dedicated to my non-excitable profession. By the time I pushed the door open I could already hear the commotion of boys. 

My head didn't look up once as I walked into the change room. I didn't look around for Liam, even though I was starting to feel so much closer to him since this afternoon in the library. I always gave the boys their respected space, not that they really wanted me too close to them anyway. I wish they could give me back the same courtesy. 

After I put everything back in my locker from this morning, I grabbed my sweats and long sleeved shirt to go change in one of the stalls. I felt ostracized into changing my clothes in private because of how I've been treated, plus there was a lock so hopefully it would keep the unwanted ones out. 

My curiosity stopped me on the way there as I heard two voices speaking to each other in hisses like two battling snakes, and maybe I wanted to figure out which one had the worst venomous bite. I rested my back against the wall, turning my head so that my eyes focused in narrowly on the corner as I listened to a conversation that wasn't meant to be investigated.

"Really, Harry?" Louis spat. "Did you assign Liam to be my fucking babysitter? That's a little pathetic, isn't it?"

I swallowed as I waited to hear Harry's voice to answer. Would he really do that? He's already sent Liam to check on me when he could have easily done it himself. Liam just naturally felt like watching over me so this couldn't have been Harry's work, but should I even be surprised if I found out that he was making Liam do things that he could just do because he wanted to?

"No, I didn't, and even if I did, it wouldn't be so bad because then I would know that you and Zayn weren't treating Niall like you have been." There was a short pause. "Leave him alone because I'll be the one watching you."

Louis let out a snide snicker. 

"I mean it." Harry's tone was serious.I wish I could see the way he was talking to Louis, how his body would get closer to the boy in a warning that he should step off. "What's so funny about this, Lou?"

"You are, mate. You and the water boy. It's fucking hilarious." He deadpanned without a single chuckle. 

"Louis, I already told you this the other day that I'm giving you one more final chance to prove to me that you're not this person. Same goes for you, Malik."

My face scrunched up in confusion as my heartbeat quickened. He had pretty much just given them a rise to a challenge that they'd surely accept. Why was Harry giving them another chance? He's seen exactly the type of people that they are and if he needed to hear it, I'd tell him that they weren't about to change for anything, for anyone. What they did shouldn't be forgiven so easily, not that I'm the master at passing around my own forgiveness. I still had to give it to Harry but it needed to be earned. It needed a purpose to survive. 

"I already lost Liam. What's one more?"

"One more? One more is me, the one who let you be this bastard."

"So," Louis started off with a strong hint of interest in the matter, "in a way, you're just the same as me, Harry."

Yeah.

"I am nothing like you." Harry defended himself harshly, causing two mixed laughs from Louis and Zayn.

"Oh, but you are. I mean, like you just said, you let me be this way. You've done nothing up until now. What's taken you so long, hmm? Could it be that you wish you could send him a punch? Frightening thought, yeah? You see, I'm just putting the water boy in his place and you're letting me."