Adopted by Harry Styles

Dinner

Harry helps me work out the word problems we are working on right now. It confuses me how he still remembers this stuff from when he was my age.

"Okay, so now that you know X=7.5, you can plug that into your equation to find Y. Does that make sense?" He asks.

"Yeah, I think so," I say, unsure of myself.

"Why don't you try it and see what you get?" Harry suggests.

I work through the problem and end up getting a strange number. "Dad," I groan. "I got 6.325. I can't do this." I push the math homework away from me in frustration and it falls on the floor.

Harry chuckles before telling me, "love, that's the right answer. You did it." He picks up my paper and the folder it was leaning on.

"Really?" I ask, doubtfully.

"Really," he says.

I smile and write the answer down on the paper. "See, it's not as hard as you think, right?" Harry asks.

"Yeah," I respond. Its definitely not easy, but Harry has helped me understand a lot. More than my teacher ever has.

"Why don't you work on the rest of these problems and I'll go get dinner started," Harry suggests.

I nod my head, agreeing with him and curling up in the corner of the couch with my homework.

"Let me know if you're struggling," he says while standing up.

"I will," I say.

•~~~~~

Harry comes over about half an hour later. "How's it going?" He asks.

"Good," I tell him. "I finished all the problems on this sheet," I say proudly.

He holds his hand out for a high five, which I gladly agree too. "That's awesome, love. How about some tacos to celebrate?"

I eagerly nod my head. " I love tacos!" I say and get up, running toward the kitchen. Harry chuckles and follows behind me.

We both sit at our normal chairs in the kitchen and begin to eat. "So how was school today?" Harry asks.

"It was good," I tell him. "There's a new girl in some of my classes. She's really nice."

"That's good. What's her name?" Harry continues our conversation.

"Scarlett," I say.

"Scarlett Mendes?" Harry questions.

"I'm not sure. I don't know her last name," I tell him. I take a bite of the taco, which tasted so good. I'm sure Scarlett would never eat something like this. She's too thin to have something with this much fat. I should be more like her.

"I think that's Shawn Mendes' daughter. They just moved to this neighborhood," Harry says.

"Oh. She never told me her dad was Shawn Mendes," I frown.

"She probably isn't aware that your dad is Harry Styles now, is she?" Harry says.

"Yeah. I guess you're right," I say.

"You could be a crazy fan girl for all she knows," he laughs. "Anyway, what else is new?"

I guess I should tell him about Ryan asking me to the dance. Hopefully he wouldn't get mad. He definitely was against Kyle and me being together.

"Um... we have homecoming next weekend... and Ryan asked me to go with him," I tell him, mumbling the last part.

"Ryan?" Harry says shocked. "I didn't know you two were a thing?"

"Dad, we're not a thing," I roll my eyes.

"I'm just messing with you, love. You're going to have a great time. Maybe we can go buy your dress this weekend," Harry tells me.

"Can we?" I ask, excited. I'm glad he's not being weird about Ryan asking me.

"I don't see why not," Harry shrugs his shoulders.

•~~~~~

I put the remaining piece of my taco down on my plate at the end of dinner. I ate about three quarters of it, but, for some reason, I'm feeling really bad about my body, and I would feel even worse if I ate the whole taco.

Harry looks over at my plate before looking up at me, unimpressed. "You going to finish your dinner?" He asks.

"I'm full. I promise I'm just not hungry," I tell him.

"Eat a couple more bites for me," he says. He's obviously suspicious about what I said. I can't blame him, though.

I nod my head and pick up my taco, funding the areas with the least amount of meat in them to eat. After I take two small bites, I put the taco back down on my plate.

Harry sighs, not knowing if I'm actually just not hungry or if this was due to my eating disorder. "Tomorrow you're eating all of you're dinner," he says, taking my plate and walking to the trash can to dump the excess food.

"Okay," I say. I feel bad for disappointing Harry, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to bring myself to eat the rest of my dinner.

"I'm going to go take a shower, Dad," I say.

"Okay, love," he says.

I walk upstairs and grab my diary from under my bed. I sit at my desk and begin to write about everything that happened today, from Harry finding out about my grades to feeling upset about my body because of Scarlett's perfect figure.

Recently, I've been writing a lot in my journal. It has become almost a daily thing for me. It's a great way for me to talk about my feeling without actually talking to someone.

I push my diary to the corner of my desk and grab some pajamas before walking to my bathroom.

I strip down my clothes and look at myself in the mirror. I hate this feeling. I hate that I'm relapsing. I can't help but think I've gained so much weight in the past few weeks.

I take a quick shower and then put on some baggy sweatpants and an extra large T-shirt to cover my unattractive body.

I go straight to my bed and cover myself with my blankets. It was only 8:30, but I am still exhausted from today. I'm almost asleep after about thirty minutes when I hear my door creek open.

Harry comes over and places his hand on my shoulder. I think he thinks I'm sleeping. "Goodnight, El. Sleep tight. I love you," he whispers, placing a kiss on my head.