Louis pretty much ruled the school.
He had pretty girls wrapped around his finger, teachers who loved him, and students he didn't bother to know the names of worshipping the ground he walked on. Life at school was great.
Until he got to AP History. He was okay at it, but he took as little AP classes as he had to in order to keep his parents off his ass about it, which was one. In the other classes, he could relax and enjoy kicking back and making fun of the kids that sat near him.
But in AP History, he crammed and studied and took notes. He didn't have stellar grades, not failing but not excelling, but it was even more difficult to get a C in AP History.
What also made History difficult was the least-nerdy nerd Louis's ever met. Harry Styles was something else. Sure, he got amazing grades and was well on the way of being valedictorian, and maybe he looked a little shy in the hallways, but he was cheeky. Louis had heard stories about him from the other gay guys and their gossip, about when he'd flirt with them and then say something about how he's not allowed to date or some shit.
The truth was, Louis wasn't homophobic. In fact, his ex-best friend was gay, and very much of it. But the way that Harry Styles was gay — God, it pissed him off. He was so blatant about it and when he'd make a comment about Louis being pretty, like he did last night — that was infuriating. Louis didn't like it when guys hit on him, but that was normal. He was as straight as they come.
"Hey, Louis," Sara, one of the cheerleaders, greeted him with a smile. "What's up?"
See, Sara was cool. She wasn't overbearing or especially rude like some of the cheerleaders were. Which was the main reason why Louis was okay with sleeping with her and letting her think that they were together. Let her live in her own fantasy land, he'd told his friends when they asked about it. Not everyone can live with the fact that I just don't do relationships.
They'd grinned and laughed at that. Part of Louis wanted to say something about it to Harry, just because. He could picture Harry, looking flustered as he always did whenever he was pushed roughly into the cold, metal lockers, hearing the devastating news that his crush didn't do relationships, let alone guys, let alone guys like him.
"Not much. 'm about to meet up with Liam and Zayn."
"Want to come over this afternoon? Parents aren't home," she invited with an innocent smile.
"Sounds great, babe!" Louis called, meeting up with Liam and Zayn from where they were talking at Liam's locker. "You guys seen the nerd today? He looks like he's having fun. Say we go talk to him about it?"
Liam sighed, looking expectantly at Zayn. Louis gave them both a puzzled look, but awaited their answers anyway.
"Sure, man. You comin', Li?"
"Whatever," Liam muttered under his breath. "I'm going to go meet up with Sophia. She wanted to talk to me."
Louis looked curiously as Zayn gave Liam a look that he couldn't quite read. Sophia was this sweet girl who wasn't a cheerleader but still really nice and definitely cute.
"Feel happy for Liam. Sophia's hot, and she'd be good for him."
"Whatever," Zayn repeated Liam and walked away next to Louis.
"What's up? You got a thing for Sophia?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure."
"Oh, sorry," Louis apologized, wondering why his best friends were acting so weird.
His thoughts were forgotten when he saw Harry talking to an underclassman who looked terrified when the two boys walked up.
"Seriously?" Harry asked as Louis approached.
Louis only gave a fake smile. "You found a friend for once? How sweet."
"They needed a tutor. I figured I could earn some extra cash, even though I've already got a job."
Louis's fake smile turned into a scowl. "Whatever, asshole."
He didn't need Zayn finding out about the job in the first place. He didn't want anyone from school finding out, mostly because it was embarrassing. He was known for coming from a rich family, and the fact that he needed a job to prove himself was humiliating.
"See, Z, nerdy Harry's got a little crush," Louis said, smirking.
Harry gulped from where he was cornered into the lockers. He couldn't have been that obvious, could he? All he did was serve him, anyway. How could Louis read him so easily?
"You know Alex? On the team?"
Zayn was on football team, so the answer was blatantly obvious. Everyone knew Alex, so, even if Zayn wasn't on the team, it was pretty much a rhetorical question.
"Our little gay Harry's got a big crush on him," Louis told him innocently. Looking to Harry, he said, "Maybe you should've thought of it before, huh? I'll tell Alex, or maybe I won't even have to. Maybe he'll get smarter suddenly and, I don't know, open his eyes to see that the gayest kid in school loves him."
"I don't like him!" Harry said, loudly. "I told you that, you asshole! You can tell him whatever you want, but I'll doubt he'll believe you, because all you do it spread bullshit rumors around the school that no one believes!" He took a deep breath. "And there's no need for you to comment about how smart he is, because you're no better. At least he's got real friends."
And with that, he walked away. Louis turned angrily to Zayn. "You could've helped out a little!"
"I don't know why you give only him shit for being gay. There are plenty of other gay guys in this school." Zayn rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Like that kid who sings all the time. He's gay and he's got a boyfriend. Go mess with him for a change."
"Whatever. What's wrong with Liam?"
"Nothing. He's fine. I just said something, and he got mad."
"I'm going to talk to him," Louis said.