Prove It (Larry Valentine's Day)

III

It wasn't that Louis was dreading English class the next day, he just really, really, really didn't want to go.

You see, their teacher, Ms. Flack, was young, pretty and newly engaged.

She was also obsessed Valentine's Day. Kids hated her class this time of year. She wore only heart-printed clothing 2 full weeks prior to the actual holiday. She practically forced candy hearts down your throat if you answered a question correctly, and you couldn't even enter her classroom without getting drenched by the confetti machine that sprayed you as you walked in the door.

It was awful.

"Hello everyone," Ms. Flack greeted her 3rd period class with all smiles as she shut the door. Louis glared back at her. The big red heart on her sweater looked like it was screaming at him.

"We all know what special day is coming up on Friday, so this week, I decided we're going to take a break from Huck Finn and do some fun activities related to Valentine's Day."

Louis bit his lip. He could deal with reading a bit of Nathaniel Hawthorne for a few days. Romantic literature wasn't that painful.

"So, we're going to start off with one of my favorite things about being an English teacher," Mrs. Flack beamed. "Poetry."

Poetry.

Louis hated poetry.

"Alright, I'm going to assign some partners." Mrs. Flack started to pull names from a cup, and in that moment, Louis didn't think he could possibly hate her more until-

"Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson. You're in a group."

No fucking way.

Harry wriggling his eyebrows at Louis from his seat.

Louis scowled. "Just get over here, Styles."

"God, Lou, be patient, I'm coming," Harry replied loudly. The entire class snickered.

Harry pulled a chair up beside Louis's and began to write their names at the top of the page.

"Number one," Louis snatched the pencil from Harry's long fingers. "Don't call me Lou." He added the is to his name.

"Number two," he continued. "We're writing haikus, because they're easy as shit."

Harry stared at him blankly.

"A haiku has 5 syllables, then 7, then 5 again?" Louis prompted. "How'd you even get in Honor's English?"

"Number one," Harry mocked Louis, and snatched the pencil right back. "I got in here because I've got mad rhyming skills... hun."

"Oh god," Louis buried his face in his hands.

"And two," Harry whispered, patting his head. "Ms. Flack's got a major thing for these curls."

Louis snorted, "You're ridiculous."

"It's the truth! Here, watch this." Harry leaned back in his chair and cleared his throat loudly. Louis watch as their teacher turned to Harry and practically melted into a pile of admiration as Harry ran his fingers through his dark curls.

"Need anything, boys?" Ms. Flack walked over. She smelled like roses and sickly-sweet perfume.

"Not anything that's currently available," Harry licked his lips and Louis could've sworn that his green eyes turned a shade brighter.

Ms. Flack's eyes bulged as she stared longingly at her student. "I, uh.... um-"

"Ms. Flack?"

"C-coming, I'm coming," she replied, distracted as she went to help a student on the other side of the room.

"Told ya," Harry grinned like the Cheshire Cat.

"What happened to not flirting?" Louis reminded him.

"Oh, that wasn't flirting," Harry shook his head. "That was an experiment."

He quickly jotted down the first line of their poem, distracting Louis.

The petals fall down.

Louis read it. "So you do know haikus. Fair enough." He added the next line.

He loves me, he loves me not.

Harry nodded approvingly, and finished it off with:

Why don't you want me?

Louis stared down at the last line, taken aback. "I... uh, was thinking of something a bit.. brighter?"

"No can do," Harry shook his head. "This is a group project. And besides, not every love story can have a happy ending."