Picture Perfect | Harry Styles AU

The First Day

Chapter One

The first day. The day that determines it all. It felt good pulling back into the parking lot in my brand new red Mercedes, to walk down the familiar tiled hallways, lined with lockers and riddled with gossip. God. I'd missed the parties and making out with Dylan in the locker room. And of course, I'd missed my girls too. I hadn't seen them all summer, due to a sudden job opening in New York.

"So...What do you think?" Madison walked up alongside me, blonde curls bouncing.

I stopped at my locker. She gave me a confident smile and twirled in a hideous neon purple dress. As she spun the skirt fanned out, giving me an even better view of how terrible the getup was.

"Just got it on Sunday at American Eagle." She said with an expectant look.

Now don't get me wrong, Madison is a sweet girl and all, but someone had to tell her how bad this thing looked.

I examined it for a second longer and gave her my verdict.

"I think it looks like shit." I grabbed my pre-calc and chemistry books from my locker and turned to face her.

"What is this? Nightmare on Cyndi Lauper Street?" The dress had sleeves that left her shoulders exposed and had a puffy mess of tule protruding from the bodice. If you could call it a dress. It was more like a monstrosity. I'm seeing American Eagle in a whole new light.

Madison blinked hard, studying her feet.

I scanned her up and down. "Seriously Maddie - and this comes from the kindness of my heart - if you want to be my friend you need to not dress like a freak. You can't sit with me at lunch today unless you change out of that thing."

I shut my locker and slung my backpack over my shoulder. When I looked back her eyes were glassy and rimmed with red.

"Did I say something?"

"What the fuck, Alex?" Madison stared at the ground, blinking hard. Tears spilled out of the corners of her eyes.

"You asked for my opinion, and I told you," I said, raising my shoulders defensively.

I laid my manicured hand on her shoulder and gave her a small shake, "God, don't take it so fucking personally. Hello! I'm helping you here! Your impression on the first day determines the rest of your school year! Do you wanna look like a loser?!"

I groaned in irritation. Why did people always have to be so difficult? She just didn't understand how socially degrading wearing something like that can be. It's like asking to be preyed upon. If I was seen with... that, well I'd be looked down upon. And I'd like to maintain my spot in the high school food chain: right at the top.

"Your mascara is running!" I called after Maddie as she shoved through a group of sophomores and disappeared down the hall.

**********

Since I still had some time before next period, I went to the bathroom and checked my hair in the mirror. I had curled it myself today. My stylist said I basically looked amazing in any hairstyle-which I couldn't agree with more-but there's something I simply loved about how the light chestnut ringlets framed my face. Everything was perfect as usual, so I just gave them a shampoo-commercial bounce to admire them. I sighed at how nice they looked. I touched up my makeup, applying another coat of pink lipgloss.

As I blotted my lips, a girl with a big mane of dark hair appeared in the mirror. I met her hazel eyes in the reflective glass.

"Maria!" I exclaimed, "Hey girl!"

"Sup bee-otch?" She ran a hand through her wavy hair.

I swiped on another coat of mascara. "Not much, typical summer. I feel like I haven't seen you in forever though! Like what the fuck, it's only been a couple months. Looks like you got a killer tan. How was Cali?"