Issues // H.S. // A.U.

Chapter Fourteen

DANI

"What were you like in high school?" Harry asks me as we lay on my bed.

It's early the next morning, us having holed up in my room after we became official. The hours we spent kissing and cuddling and talking were sure to be some of my favorite memories. We didn't even have sex last night, instead I fell asleep on his chest as he told me stories of his childhood.

I woke up this morning with the best night's sleep I've ever gotten. We had moved to a spooning position, Harry's arms holding me tight against him, his face nuzzled into my hair. I've come to learn how deep of a sleeper he is, just like me, so I was able to turn in his arms and face him without waking him up. He adjusted in his sleep, mindlessly keeping me close, our noses touching as I played with his hair.

When he finally blinked his eyes open, slow and drowsy, the smile that appeared on his sleep-filled face made my heart melt. We had spent the last hour asking random questions with the occasional kisses.

I hummed, "I was pretty different. Quiet. Beginning of high school I was a mess. Didn't get placed in Darla's care until... the middle of sophomore year, I think. I left my old school and went to Midtown High. I was still pretty closed off, but I was better. Got my grades up and got a job."

"What do you mean by closed off?" He asks while twirling a strand of my hair with his fingers.

"I still didn't trust anyone. Wouldn't talk to any of my classmates, barely any of my teachers. I was that weird girl who sat in the corner of the library and ate her lunch." I answer.

"That's so hard to picture knowing you now." He says.

I smile at him, "Yeah, senior year was when I finally started to come out of my shell. Not at school, but I started to talk to people at work, and I had opened up to some of my foster siblings. Coming here was kind of a new start. I wasn't the weird orphan girl who would flinch when someone tried to talk to her. My therapist had told me to pick one person to talk to you, and see how I feel. I met Andrew on my first day. Had a five minute conversation, and then he wouldn't leave me alone."

Harry laughed, "So Andrew was your first friend?"

"Yep, I met Mariana and Cassie from a class when we did a project together and Jackie has been best friends with Mariana for years."

"But you didn't have anyone in high school? Not even someone you would talk to every once in a while." His brows furrow at me.

I shake my head, "No, at my first school everyone kind of knew me and my family, so they felt weird after... Um, and then at Midtown I came in halfway through. It was awful. There was all these rumors about me, and the popular crowd did not like me at all."

I was hoping he wouldn't ask me about my family. I hadn't meant to mention them, but I had felt so at ease I had just let it slip. Thankfully, Harry could either sense my apprehension or just knew not to ask about it, so he pressed me further about school, "Were you bullied?"

I chuckled, "I was the quiet girl who ate her lunch in the library. Of course I was bullied." I looked up from his chest, my fingers playing with his necklace, a ring hanging off a small chain. He was watching me closely, and I can see the protectiveness in his eyes. I bring my hand up to cup his face. "It's okay, Harry. It didn't really bug me. I had bigger things going on than worrying about some kids who were probably miserable in their own lives."

"I hate that you had to go through that." He mumbles out lowly, still very concerned.

I shrug the best I can laying down, "We all have to go through things... I just had a lot to go through." I smile widely at him, "But I also think that means that the universe might take a break from me. Maybe I'll have a really amazing life from now on."