𝕘𝕠𝕝𝕕𝕖𝕟 𝕓𝕠𝕪 // 𝕟𝕒𝕣𝕣𝕪

𝖔𝖓𝖊

Harry grumbled as his father practically shoved him out of his sleek sports car, quickly driving off as soon as Harry had shut the door. As per routine, he didn't bother to bid his son goodbye.

"Have a nice day, dad," Harry muttered sarcastically, hiking his backpack higher on his shoulder as he climbed the many steps leading to a grand front entrance. Prestigious or not, his school had one thing in common with any and all other establishments made for the purpose of education—it was hell. It wasn't that he hated learning, but more the fact that he'd rather be out having fun with his friends (and maybe a few girls) than be stuck studying all day in a jail-like building, albeit a rich one. Despite this attitude, Harry performed exceptionally well in school, report cards continuously stuffed to the brim with high A's, much to the surprise of—well, no one, really.

Harry was quite well-known for succeeding in pretty much everything he tried his hand at. And while that type of person usually obtained many envious enemies, Harry's charming humour and genuine compassion could make a person with the coldest of hearts swoon.

Naturally, he had accumulated friends and followers alike, which was incredibly obvious by the way he was greeted by a chorus of voices the moment he walked through the 'gates of misery', as he liked to call them. He smiled kindly, cracking a few jokes with his friends and grinning at a few people who glanced at him fleetingly. While he was a part of quite a large social circle, he had two people in particular that he kept close at all times: his best mates, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik. The three of them were thick as thieves, having gone through almost everything together. (That included Harry's brief childhood obsession with My Little Pony, the births of Louis' many sisters, and Zayn's most recent 'blond stripe' phase, to only name a few.) The trio met back in primary school and, as they say, the rest was history.

If titles were a necessity, Harry thought they would look something like this:

Louis was the athlete. A football prodigy, the number of tricks he could pull on an expansive green field were innumerable. He had, some might say 'single-handedly', brought up their school's team to one of the best in London, and several scouts from various universities had already reached out to him, hinting at huge scholarship money for him to play for their team. It went without saying that his twinkling blue eyes and mischievous grin had gotten him (and his friends) into trouble more than he'd care to admit.

Zayn was the artist. That would probably come as a shock to many people, considering Zayn's adamance on maintaining his 'bad boy' persona, although, at his core, Zayn was anything but. (Harry guessed the whole 'baddie' charade was for the girls. Zayn was really just a huge softie.) His portfolio was extremely impressive, its contents ranging from intricate still-lifes to hazy impressions, breathtaking landscapes to expressive abstracts. His dream was to attend the Royal College of Art on a full-ride, even though he knew his parents wanted him to pursue a more 'substantial' career.

And Harry was the all-star. The school's 'golden boy'. Excels at all, fails at none. The predicted valedictorian of their graduating class that somehow found the time to balance his social life with academics. All the girls wanted to be with him, all the guys wanted to be him, etc. etc. etc.

To be honest, Harry cared for none of that.

It might've been funny to joke around about them 'ruling the school', but he hated the way the three of them were sometimes put on such high pedestals by their peers and teachers alike. While extremely flattering, it was incredibly pressuring as well. They were just normal people, going through the same things as the others around them. They had their flaws, and they definitely had their moments of weakness.

To him, they were just Louis, Zayn, and Harry.

He found the two rascals soon enough, laughing about some incident at Louis' locker as he exchanged several textbooks for today's schedule.