Harry's POV

The next morning when I got up everyone was already awake. As a teenager I needed more sleep than an adult, it had been scientifically proven that teenagers needed more sleep, so why did school start so early in the morning? I couldn't think straight before 9, so what made adults think I could learn? I ate cereal for breakfast, like I always did, sitting in an unfamiliar kitchen. My mom offered me a ride to school, I accepted of course.

"Don't expect rides in the future, you're taking the bus tomorrow" She said

I just nodded and leaned against the car window.

We arrived at school on time thankfully, I made it to my first class on time, and looked around to see if I could find Niall... Or even better, Louis Tomlinson. I found neither... As it turned out it was one of my only classes without my new best friend, and Louis? He'd failed to show up, again. I almost started to worry about him, but I reminded myself that I'd never even met the guy, nor did I have any reason to worry, maybe he was one of the druggies after all. The bell rang and I practically ran to the next class, Niall arrived shortly after I did, waved slightly across the room and then wove his way through the classroom to sit next to me.

"Harry, guess what?"

"What?"

"You know Louis? The guy you were asking about yesterday?"

"Yeah, hasn't shown up to a single one of his classes?"

"Turns out he was taken away in an ambulance yesterday, someone shoved him down the stairs or something, or maybe he fell? Everyone's saying someone pushed him, but nobody was there to see who"

"You're kidding me... Is he okay?" My eyes went wider than they should have

"I think so... He should be back by tomorrow, I wasn't expecting anything to happen so early in the year"

"Why? Has something like this happened before?"

"Alright, I'll be taking attendance now! Everyone quiet! Look at me. Zach!" The teacher snapped "Zach, up here. Can someone get his attention for me?" The teacher gestured towards a kid in the back with headphones in. Someone tapped him on the shoulder, and he sat upright, removing the headphones.

"Okay. Darren Abdi, Arthur Benview, Tony Bradville, Annie Cartwright"

This was yet another class where the teacher called my name, then called Louis name, got no response, and then moved on. The class felt so much longer than it was, I think partly because the material was uninteresting, I was exhausted, and my mind kept wandering... Eventually we were done. We had to sit through just one more class before lunch, Niall was hungry again, he kept asking me for food throughout the course of the lesson, I gave him the only granola bar that I'd brought, I was going to have to start keeping extra snacks with me if this kind of behaviour was to continue. Lunch came around and we found a seat by ourselves in the corner of the cafeteria. We set down our stuff and got up to get in line for food. It was interestingly better quality food than I had ever seen in a school, freshly made pasta, paninis, salads, I was used to mystery meat and the occasional pizza day... This was new... Now I knew why Niall was looking forward to lunch so much. Of course our lunch break was fifteen minutes long, and we spent ten of those minutes in line, got back to our table and tried to scarf down the meal in five. We ran to class after that. We were late... By a full two minutes apparently.

"I'm going to have to ask you to get a note from the front office."

"But we were just at lunch, it's not our fault we're late"

"You still need a note or I'll have to mark you as tardy."

We were in the D building... The front office was in the A building. We had to run up four flights of stairs to get there. I realized halfway to the office how faulty this system was. Because we had missed part of class, we in turn had to miss even more of the class in order to prove that we hadn't missed any class? We got to the office and I froze in my tracks, breathing heavily while staring into the room. Louis Tomlinson was sitting in a chair across from a young woman, his arm in a sling. From behind I couldn't see any damage except for the arm, Louis wasn't wearing his jacket, he was in a white tank top, and a purple beanie. Niall tapped me on the shoulder and I realized I'd been staring. We slowly approached the desk, standing quietly waiting for the woman to notice us waiting there.

"How can I help you boys?" She asked

"We need a note for class"

"Okay, can I get your names and why you were late?"

"I'm Harry Styles" I said

"Niall Horan"

"Okay, reason you were late?"

"We were at lunch and couldn't make it from the cafeteria to the D building in time."

She wrote us each a slip and handed them to us before turning back to speak with Louis. Louis glanced up at us, I could now see he had a large bruise below his eye and a split lip. I tried to memorize his face until he turned away and Niall and I had to run back to class.

It was a very long day. Louis never showed up to the classes we had together... I wondered if he was okay.

Niall had begun to grow on me even more as the day passed, I didn't usually make friends so quickly. Honestly I think the only reason he hung out with me was because he didn't have any other friends, I decided then and there that I was going to be his best friend, at least until graduation where we'd probably end up going separate ways.

"Hey Niall" I said before we parted ways for the day "Why don't we hang out this weekend?"

A smile broadened on his face "Yes! I would love to!"

"Okay, well... Maybe we should exchange numbers or something? I'll text you?"

"Sure" He dictated his number out loud and I put it into my phone. I sent a quick text so he could add my number.

We got on the bus together, he got off a few stops before me. Tomorrow was Saturday...

It didn't make sense to me to start the school year on a Thursday, why not a Monday?

At home I went upstairs, rummaged around for fifteen minutes to find my laptop amongst everything in the boxes, and set about writing the three essays I had due. I didn't think that teachers realized we had classes besides the one they taught.

I was halfway through the first essay when I was called for dinner. Mom had made Tacos, I ate two, then politely asked to leave to do homework. I made my way back upstairs.