Where Louis' only friend in school is Zayn and the small boy doesn't mind being a wallflower, even if that means he has NO chance with his crush that mingles with the popular crowd.
... Or does he?
⚠️warning: mentions of bullying and non consent s...
Hi guys ♥ Thanks for all the comments, it helped me a lot throughout the past few weeks. A few days after I posted the note, my dad passed away. He lost the battle against cancer on the 29th of May...
I started writing again, but please forgive me for the slow updates, I'm not quite 100% yet. Anyway this one goes out to @Rinznaidu.
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I tried to give you a bit more Zouis ♥ I hope you enjoy the chapter!
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It was four in the morning when Zayn opened his eyes and he saw Louis hunched over a table. The shorter lad had a laptop left from him and some kind of yearbook on the other side. Zayn vaguely remembers having to take pictures of everyone in school (even the youngest) because the principle thought it was a good idea to make a yearbook for each grade instead of only for the graduates. There were only three words that Zayn had to say about that; Worst. Idea. Ever.
"You're up early." Zayn yawned scratched his neck while he rolled off the mattress, closer towards Louis.
Louis looked over his shoulder and shrugged, "I thought of something and I wanted to check it. Remember that time we stole Nick's book and it had been oddly empty? Everyone had to write something in each other's books and it all had to be nice, but somehow there was no one that didn't run from us when we came at them with Grimshit's book."
"It didn't have any blanc space left at the end of the day though."
"Yeah, that's what I wanted to check. The pictures were made a few days after and a lot of female students got a turtleneck and long sleeves even though it was spring. Some of the male ones got a black eye or a bruise."
"What do you mean? Do you think he'd beat people up for stupid shit like this? Lou, I know that he's not completely sane, but if he did that, it'd border on him being a nutjob."
Louis shrugged for the second time and focused his attention back on the laptop, carefully typing out names to look people up that had been in their classes. Zayn sighed. It felt like the rabbit hole they jumped into was endless and now they were a bit too deep to jump out of it.
Zayn grabbed one of the pillows from under Niall's head (making the blond's head fall down a bit, but that didn't stop the snoring at all) and sat down besides Louis.
"Alright. What's the plan? Do you need me to look through this and scan the pictures for anything odd? We could wake the lazy bunch and make them help too."
"You're the best, Zaynie." Louis grinned before he pulled his friend into a tight hug, "Let's get this done before they wake up. They'll have to make breakfast as a compensation."
"You just want to eat Harry's pancakes again, don't you?"
Louis put his hands in the air, a smirk plastered in his lips, "Guilty."
The two of them started looking through the books. From time to time, Louis typed in a name on Facebook and sent a vague message to briefly explain what they were doing and to ask if they got any dirt on Nick. It was already 10a.m. when the first reply popped up in Louis' inbox. However, neither Zayn nor Louis expected it to be from Stan.
Stan[9.59 a.m.]: Hey Tommo, heard you were looking into some stuff. I can send you a list of people the guy harassed if you want? Can't promise they all want to talk though. We were friends with the ass.
Louis[10.01 a.m.]: The list would help a lot! Thanks for helping Stan 😊
Stan[10.02 a.m.]: Any time, mate. That's what friends do, innit?
Stan[10.03 a.m.]: Here's the list.
Stan[10.05 a.m.]: Max William, Amy Brown, Becca Davids, Félicité Tomlinson, Kim Heart, Jordan Cola, Scott Harper, Thomas Spencer, Eleanor Calder, Gareth Wood, Joanne Rees, Lisa Brooks, Chloé Shaw, Lara Mills, Peter Martin, Ben Patel, Tim Evans, Chris Singh, Ryan Hall, Dean Fisher, Naomi Moore.
Stan[10.06 a.m.]: I'm sure there are more, but those should be enough to at least make a case. I know some were threatened for money and a few claim that Grimshaw forced them into drugs. A few girls said some pretty horrid stuff too, but you got to ask the Calder girl about that.
Louis stared at his screen. This couldn't be true.
Félicité Tomlinson
Eleanor Calder
Ben Patel
His sister and two of his friends. Stan had to have made a mistake somewhere. He had to... Fizzy would've told her own brother if she had been bullied. Louis didn't want to believe that his own sister was part of the list.
"Lou? Are you alright?" Zayn wrapped an arm around his friend while his eyes scanned the messages between Louis and Stan, "Shit. Do you want to call home? We can go back. The others will understand if you want to comfort Fizzy first."
"No, I'm fine... Stan made a mistake. Nick couldn't have... he wouldn't have... I can't.... Fizzy was safe. I left before things went south. He had no reason to... Zayn, Nick didn't have a reason to harass her."
"Ben is on the list too though and the guy didn't even go to our school. You know him from preschool and kindergarten."
Louis' eyes started to water. The thought of his sister and his friend getting hurt because they were connected to Louis hurt more than whatever Nick would ever be able to do to Louis himself.
Instead of trying to give Louis a pep talk, Zayn hugged his friends close and rested his chin on Louis' head. The shorter of the two latched on the other like it was his life-support. It was one of the rare times that one of the two was on the brink of a breakdown. And instead of forcing Louis to talk about his feelings or to motivate him (to go after Nick or to go back home, who knows), Zayn started talking about whatever came to his mind. Anything was good enough as long as it would distract his best friend and make the lively, sassy Louis come back.
"You know, before we went on this crazy 007 mission, I actually got a bit jealous." Zayn started, "After we moved, it was us against the world. Remember when we used to sit in the back and criticise the teachers and fantasise about what went on in our classmates lives? I miss that. Don't get me wrong, I love Liam. And Harry and Niall are alright too I guess."
Louis headbutted Zayn's chest at that and the latter laughed.
"No, I love those idiots too. It's just that... They kind of stole your attention away from me. Especially Harry. Seeing you guys almost eat each other's faces every day -and by that, I mean your make out sessions- aren't as cute as Niall thinks it is. And then Ben transferred in. Your old childhood friend and old crush. How can I compete with that? Wherever you go, you seem to attract people, Lou. Everyone seems to radiate towards you. Even Eleanor seems to be willing to get into a fight with her old bully for you."
"Stupid." Louis muttered.
"I'm pouring my heart out and you call me stupid?" Zayn chuckled, "I can feel the love over here."
Louis rolled his eyes, "I mean it. You're stupid, Zaynie. How could any of them replace you, my partner in crime? Ben is one of my best friends and Eleanor is awesome. Harry is amazing and I love him. But, you are family, Zayn. You're my brother. No one can come between us, not even some weird ass road trip that ended up being a James Bond mission like you said. And do you know why?" A dramatic pause before Louis looked up with a playful glare, "Because you know too much."
"You're a little shit, you know that?" Zayn sighed, but he was moved by the whole friendship confession Louis made, "Maybe I should tell the others about your lie." The raven-haired boy winked with a smirk on his lips, "You know, about you not being 5'9"."
"Oh, give me a break! I'm big!" Louis pouted and punched Zayn's arm.
