Note To Self (Harry Styles AU)

Chapter Seventy Seven.

Aubry's head never once stopped pounding throughout the entire school day. Everything hurt. The light, the noise, and no matter the amount of pain relievers she swallowed down, her brain still ached. Her stomach felt queasy and lunch didn't taste right, school pizza seemed extra rubbery and the gurgling in her belly after forcing a few bites down was enough to have her shoving her tray as far away from her as she could get it.

Her name over the intercom was excruciatingly loud when she was called down to the gymnasium out of Calculus, thank God. Numbers always hurt her head, but never more than they had that Thursday afternoon.

Wandering the empty halls was a much needed break from the boisterous voices and excess noise that seemed to feel a lot like ear blood, but even the sound of the gym doors being pushed open was still too noisy. Mr. Davis was sat alone in his office when she peered through the doorway, his eyes never leaving messy stacks of papers littered across the surface of his desk when he invited her in. "Sit down."

Aubry moved the short distance to settle in the chair beside the door, and he was silent. Several minutes passed, even the too-loud sound of the bell shook throughout the interior of her skull before he ever spoke again.

"You know, I warned you before about playing too rough," he said. It had been years since it had ever been brought up, but it was true. Freshman year, she'd been reprimanded several times for unnecessary roughhousing, and it hadn't been a problem since. He scribbled some words onto his paper and finally set his pen down to direct his full attention onto the girl. "Do you remember?"

"I do."

"Do you remember what I said?"

She stared rather than answering. The conversation was slightly blurry in her mind, but then again, everything in her brain had been feeling a little rattled that day. Still, she remembered exactly what he'd said to her all those years ago.

"You're off the team."

She chuckled. "Good joke."

"I'm not joking," he deadpanned, and his face told her he was completely serious. "You start fights, you get kicked off."

Aubry's eyes narrowed, lips parted in offense. "I did not start it, she did!"

"Aubry, I already talked to everyone. You were already fighting in the locker room, you started it," he insisted. "You're off the team."

She grew angry. "I did not start that!"

"You antagonize, Aubry," Mr. Davis spoke truthfully. "You've been bullying her this whole time, I can't have that on my team."

"It's my team!" she shouted, her voice loud in the tiny six by six square that made up the office. "I'm the one with stitches in my head, and she gets away with it?"

"She's off too, I already had the talk with her."

"Then why am I getting kicked off? She's already gone, why should I have to be too?"

"Aubry." He sounded stern and exasperated at the same time. "You antagonize. You bully."

"No I don't!"

"You're off the team," he repeated. "Get out of my office."

"No!" her voice echoed off the gymnasium walls. "I'm the best player!"

"You also gloat and rub your victories in other people's faces," he countered. "To be a team player, you also have to be nice."

Her eyes narrowed to a death glare, "That's not even true -"

"Aubry, you're done," he spoke loudly over her yelling, and it was the first time she'd ever seen the man raise his voice. "You're off the team, get to class."