i'm just a teenage dirtbag baby.

[Seriously though! Some of the things he tweets...like I question why I love him so much. Like he's such a little weirdo, oh my God. ]

Clarity really didn't know what sort of reaction she was expecting from her mum. She knew that there would be a reaction though. She knew it because it wasn't like Clarity ever really brought anyone like Harry home with her. And that probably sounded really bad and judgmental, but that wasn't how Clarity meant for it to seem at all. She could care less about the whole greaser and soc stuff. She could care less about what side of town Harry lived on or who he was friends with or how well-off his family was. None of that actually mattered to her. He seemed like a decent enough person, and she was slowly beginning to find that she liked talking to him. She just didn't know how her mum would react when he walked through the door with her in a few minutes.

"It definitely does." She breathed, realizing that they were on the same exact page. She hadn't really ever spoken about this with anyone else. She was sure that her friends would think it was weird if she wanted out of this town so badly. Her parents would be upset and Drew would probably be in the same boat as her friends and think it was just plain stupid. "Yeah, traveling sounds nice actually. I really think I would like to see the world. I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to appreciate rain though." She let out a quiet laugh, a faint smile tugging at the corners of her lips as she looked over to him.

---

Zayn raised an eyebrow when it was clear that she'd ignored his comment all together. Yeah, she was definitely feisty this was one was. He liked that about her though. He was glad that she wasn't shy and stand-offish. She wasn't a wallflower who allowed her presence to become unknown after a while. She was clearly a fighter. And that was why he was glad that she was involved in this plan out of all the people that he could be hoping to fall for. Because he knew that she would make this whole thing all the more interesting for him. It could get quite boring after a while. All of this scheming and trying to prove a point to Josh and the rest of his gang, so the fact that Lydia would be keeping this interesting was great.

A mischievous smirk tugged at the corners of his lips in response to her words. "I'm really not sure that you'd be able to handle what I have in mind, love." He said, hoping to get some sort of a rise out of her. That was just what he liked to do. He liked getting under people's skin. He liked pissing them off. It amused him to no end. "I was really just thinking that we could shake things up a bit. Though, I'm not so sure that you'd want to take the risk..." He watched her, waiting for her response.

[ I don't really get on twitter that much, but I have seen some of his weird tweets, and it makes me wonder the same thing. He really is. ]

"You're parents aren't going to like try and kill me for being in their house or anything will they?" Harry finally asked Clarity on their way to her house. He wasn't sure if they'd be home or not or anything but he did hope that if they were home that they wouldn't totally freak out about it. It wasn't like he was there to rape their daughter or do anything else they might not approve of. He was going to be there to help with the project he'd been paired to work with her on. And he really kind of needed people to understand that, just so he didn't have to worry about weird confrontations and stuff. Harry just didn't want to fight anyone or get into any kind of trouble just because he'd been paired to work with her and they happened to be working at her house. He wasn't going to try anything. Even if he was finding himself attracted to her in a way, and kind of wanted to get to know her better and see where things went. He wasn't going to try anything. He also knew she had a boyfriend and wouldn't break them up. If they broke up then okay, but he wasn't going to purposely break them up. Really he wasn't even sure if he could break them up. Maybe.

"Yea, I've always had this dream of going somewhere warm and just staying for a while. I actually kind of wanna move to California and like walk along the beaches and stuff. Maybe learn how to ride the waves and stuff. I mean I've heard that the people there are like the best surfers in the world. Or maybe that was a lie, either way they know how to ride boards on the water and can soak up in the sun all day. It just seems amazing there and I'd love to go." He told her knowing it might've been weird, and he knew some of the people here probably thought it was insane for him to want to go that far away. But honestly Harry wanted to get out of this town, away from this place, and just find somewhere new to settle down or spend some time.

---

Lydia pursed her lips together and looked at Zayn for a moment. He was trying to piss her off, or maybe he was trying to get a rise out of her, see how she'd react to being told he didn't think she could handle something. Well she did. He didn't know her, and even if he thought he did he was wrong. Her brother did shit like this all the time. Purposely said things to her that he knew would piss her off. And while she always tried to stay calm and not let it get to her, she couldn't help it. When people told her she couldn't do something, or she couldn't have something it made her want it more and want to prove them wrong. It was part of who she was, and a part of her that she tried to suppress sometimes just because sometimes it could get a little out of control. But Zayn was challenging her. And Lydia Faye wasn't one to back down from a challenge.

"And why's that?" She finally asked him, "why would you think that I couldn't handle whatever you have in mind?" She added crossing her arms and looking at him. She didn't doubt that what he was thinking was pretty insane, but she also didn't doubt herself and knew that she was going to go for it now. She had to show him that she could do it. He clearly didn't think she could, or wanted her to think that he didn't think she could so she would be up for whatever he had planned, but either way she was going for it. "I'm a risk taker. So please enlighten us with your oh so amazing idea that's gonna shake things up?" She told him ready to hear what he had to say.

[I'm on twitter way too much. I freaked out the other day because the guy who plays young Peter favorited one of my tweets. ]

Clarity honestly didn't know why she was so surprised by his question. Maybe it was because he'd asked it so bluntly, or maybe it was because she hadn't been expecting it at all. She'd been wondering the same exact thing though. She wondered how her parents would react when he walked through the door with her in a few minutes. "No, I don't think so. My dad's probably still at work, but my mum'll be home. I don't think you really have to worry about anything though. No one's going to kill you." She offered him a small smile of reassurance. She really hoped that her mum didn't make a big deal out of him being there. She hoped that she would have an at least somewhat open mind about the whole thing. Because she honestly liked Harry. He seemed like a nice guy and she didn't want things to get all awkward because her mum made a snide comment or something.

"I've always wanted to go to California." She said thoughtfully. It was definitely on her list of places she wanted to see when she was older. She'd started that list ages ago, and she just kept adding to it. She knew that when she was older, maybe after high school and once she'd finished university as well, she would do loads of traveling or something. She didn't quite know yet. She knew that she wanted to do some sort of traveling though. "Hmm...I think I can picture you surfing...yeah, definitely." She smiled before averting her gaze for a moment and realizing that they were nearly to her house. "Well, this is it." She said once they'd reached it. It was one of those typical houses with the white picket fence and all and it was relatively big too. Her dad was a surgeon, so the family was pretty well-off. She motioned for him to follow her up the steps and she opened the door. "Mum, I'm home!" She called.

---

Zayn had a feeling that she knew what he was up to. It wasn't hard to figure out though. Once people got to know him, they realized how much he enjoyed pissing people off and getting rises out of them. It just amused him to no end really. He didn't know why that was the case, but it was for whatever reason. Maybe it was because he'd never really been able to act out or be spiteful when he'd been living under his parents' roof. They'd kept him on an extremely short leash to say the least, and he was beyond relieved to be off of that leash now. The freedom was just absolutely amazing. It was nearly indescribable.

He gave his shoulders a slight shrug. "I was just checking." He said, the smirk still on his face as his dark eyes looked her over. "Didn't mean to offend you or anything, love." He sent a flirty wink her way. Yeah, he was laying the charm on. He knew that he was and he was sure that Liam and Sara realized that too, and maybe Sara realized that he was up to something, but he could honestly care less. If he was going to get her to fall for him, he was going to have to start sooner or later. "Well, if you're so sure that you can handle anything, come on then. You don't need to know what I've got planned just yet."

[ Usually the only time I'm tweeting like a crazy person is when I'm in Nashville with my friend, or like leaving a concert or something. I think it's because my life is kind of boring and I doubt everyone online wants to hear about my boring life. That is pretty cool though, I would've freaked too ]

"Okay, well I think I can handle your mum, not to sound rude or anything like that but I'm a bit better with mum's than dads." Harry told her laughing a bit. "I mean with mum's I can just put on my charm and ya know hopefully get on their good side. But when it comes to dads they're a bit tougher. They usually don't like me, they think I'm gonna like ruin their daughters or something. It's like I can't actually be a nice charming young man without having some other motive." He told her, and though he didn't really spend a lot of time on this side of town or getting to know the people he spent time on his side of the tracks and well that's how things went over there. He'd had a lot of girlfriends, but it wasn't what people thought. He wasn't the type to sleep with a girl then dump her, yet people thought he was just because he'd happened to have had a lot of girls in the past. Really he'd only felt close enough with one girl to actually sleep with her. The point here was though that Harry felt like he was a good guy but the dad's just never really liked him.

"This is a nice house." He told her when he heard her say they were there and led her towards the place. It was bigger than his house that was sure, "oh and thanks I think." He said in regards to being told she could see him as a surfer. It was kind of a dream of his to learn how so being told he could be seen doing it was nice. And he supposed once it was said and done with and he knew how then he'd mark it of his bucket list he'd started when he was younger and move on to something else. Of course until then he was still working on the other things on his list. It was really kind of a long list. Usually no matter what he was doing if the thought of something else he wanted to do came to his mind then he just made a mental note to add it to the list and then did when he got home.

---

"Lydia are you sure this is a good idea." Lydia heard Sara pipe up which caused the dark haired girl to tear her gaze from Zayn and turn her head to her friend while she tucked her hair behind her ear. "I mean you should think about these things before you just jump to running off and doing who knows what." And Lydia knew Sara was just trying to be the level headed friend who probably was also trying to protect her from Zayn because well Lydia just got the feeling that Sara didn't trust him any more than anyone else did. "I'll be fine. If you don't wanna come that's fine. I mean I know how much you wanted to go to the drive in tonight." She told her friend nudging her lightly. "Why don't you and Liam just go without me and have a romantic night or something." She said not really sure what he hell they did when they were alone. "Just be alone, and I won't be a third wheel. I'll just go with Zayn and trust that he's not trying to drag me along on some boring ass plan that'll make me actually want to go home." She said knowing she was probably about to protest, but Lydia wasn't going to let her. Whatever Zayn had in mind Lydia was taking part in it with or without her friend.

She finally heard her friend sigh, which meant that she was going to give up because she knew wouldn't win. "Fine, just be careful," her friend told her before she saw Sara steal a glance at Zayn, "and watch out for that one." Which caused Lydia to laugh a little. "Don't worry, I'll be fine." She finally said kind of happy that her plans had suddenly changed. "Hope you don't mind that it'll just be the two of us." She said before sending Sara and Liam a smile and turning back to Zayn. "So it's a surprise." She said not sure what else to call it, and it was kind of a surprise since she had no idea what they were going to do and clearly she wouldn't know until she needed to know according to Mr. I like to keep secrets next to her.

[I'm on twitter like 24/7, hahaha. I seriously freaked out. I love when slightly famous people notice my tweets. Now if only I could get someone from 1D to notice them...]

"That's good to know." Clarity said, letting out a quiet laugh. She could definitely see how he could easily win over her mum. She had a feeling that he could be quiet the charmer when he wanted to be. She could definitely picture him being a total smooth talker and just being super polite to parents and stuff like that. She didn't know why she could, she hardly knew him at all, but she just could. She just had this feeling. She didn't know where it was coming from, but it was definitely there. "Dads are usually a lot harder to crack." She knew that her dad was. She was just glad that he wasn't one of those really overprotective dads who took out his shotgun whenever she brought a guy over. Now that would just be downright embarrassing.

"Thanks." She smiled at him before crossing over the threshold and into the house. "In the kitchen!" She heard her mum call. She glanced over to Harry and motioned for him to follow her. She figured that she might as well introduce him to her mum now and get that out of the way. They'd obviously be working on this project for a couple of weeks, so she wanted to make that clear to her mum, and hopefully she would be okay with it and she wouldn't be judgmental or anything like that at all. That was the last thing that she wanted. "I thought you were going over Drew's after school, love." Her mum said as she pulled a tray of cookies out of the oven. Turning, her eyes widened slightly in surprise when she saw that her daughter wasn't alone. "And who might this be?" She asked, eying the tall, curly haired boy who had followed her daughter into the kitchen.

---

A bored expression took over Zayn's face as he listened to Lydia and Sara go back and fourth about all of this. He wasn't going to go to the drive-in, regardless of whether Lydia decided to tag along with him or not. There were only so many times he could go there in a week, and sure they didn't go there too often, but he just wasn't in the mood to go sit there and watch a movie or anything. Sure, he could cause some trouble with some of the socs who were bound to be there, but he could do that anywhere. Plus, what he had planned was much more fun than messing with some socs at the drive-in, something that he could do any day of the week.

"I was going regardless of whether or not it would just be the two of us, babe." He said, motioning for her to follow him out the door. He stole a glance over to her as he walked, smirking at her later words. "Yes. I hope you have nothing against vandalism." And that mischievous glint returned to his eyes. He'd always been a bit of an artist, but his parents had never really supported him in that fact, and he'd been arrested numerous times as of late for graffiti and other things. But those were the times that he'd actually gotten caught. He had no intention of getting caught tonight.

Harry couldn't help but nod his head to that one. She was right. Dad's were always harder to crack. Of course he kind of understood why he supposed. If he were a father he'd only want the best for his daughter and most likely threaten to hurt someone who tried to hurt his little girl. It was how dad's thought, kind of like how mothers had the instincts to help their children no matter what. He knew his mum was like that anyways. He was positive that his mum would do anything in the world to keep him safe, hell she'd most likely sacrifice herself for him if it ever came to it. And he that his dad freaked out like every time his sister brought some guy home. And it was likely he'd be the same way. So maybe in a way he got why dad's maybe didn't like him, because they didn't really trust teenage boys for the whole they used to be one and know how they think thing, and well Harry wasn't going to think too much of it right now either.

Harry smiled when he followed Clarity into the kitchen to meet her mother. "Harry Styles Mrs. Jones." Harry said sticking his hand out for her to shake. "I have a few classes with your daughter and we were paired up together for an English project and just thought it would be a good idea to get started right away." He told her mother keeping his charming smile on, he was really hoping his dimples or maybe the fact that he could be polite would win the woman over. The last thing he really wanted was to be here to work on something with Clarity and have her mother leaning over their shoulders the whole time watching them closer than ever because she didn't trust him or something weird like that. He could be trusted alone with someone. And well the only way he felt he could make this a comfortable environment for himself was to make her mum like him. Then he'd be welcome again and maybe if Harry ever had to meet her father then her mother could help talk him up and make things less awkward.

---

Lydia ignored feeling her friends eyes on her. She didn't really care that no one trusted Zayn. She wasn't even sure she trusted him herself. The thing was she didn't need to trust him. Well not in a way that people thought she did. She just needed to trust that he wouldn't get her killed, getting into trouble wasn't a worry she had. And she was pretty sure he didn't care about getting into trouble. It wasn't like she had real feelings for him, and she was going to do everything in her power to make sure she didn't develop real feelings either. Of course she knew what she'd do if she did. She'd leave. There was no way in hell she was keeping this thing up if she really fell for him. Because it was one of the only things that could ruin everything, and by everything she kind of meant everything. Falling for him could ruin her plans, it would probably mean a broken heart, and who knew what else. So she was promising herself that no matter what there would be no emotional connections. It was all purely physical.

"I can't really say I have anything against it. Of course I can't really say much about it at all truthfully. I've never actually vandalized anything. Well nothing really worth vandalizing anyways." She told him remembering the one time she'd drawn all over the walls of their house before they'd moved to where they lived now. And she wasn't even sure if that would be considered vandalizing. Her parents had certainly thought it was, and she'd gotten into a lot of trouble. Of course thinking about it she didn't get why they'd gotten so mad, she'd been like 7 and really into art. Plus even though she'd made a large mess it didn't take that long to clean up because it wasn't like she'd used some permeant marker that wouldn't come off. "I wouldn't even really consider it vandalizing either. I mean I was seven and I kind of finger painted all over the walls my my bedroom, and it was with easy clean up paint. My parents were really mad and had punished me, but really I don't think it was a big deal. Nothing I could get arrested for or anything."

Clarity could tell that her mum was surprised to see Harry there. She hoped it was more so because she wasn't expecting Clarity home, let along that she'd bring a boy with her that she hadn't met yet, and not because of Harry's over all appearance. It was pretty obvious that he wasn't as clean-cut as Drew or anything like that, but he had a good personality, and they seemed to be on the same page about a lot of things, so she hoped that her mum wouldn't judge him or anything and make all of this super awkward for both of them. She knew that, if anyone was more openminded out of both her parents, it was her mum. Her dad wasn't so much though.

She watched her mum closely, hoping to see a good reaction. Personally, she was pretty impressed by how Harry was acting. She could definitely see how he was good with mothers. What with how he was acting, his charm and those dimples that only seemed to add to his boyish looks, well, she could clearly see what he'd meant. "Please, call me Laura. Mrs.Jones is much too formal for my liking." Her mother said, smiling as she shook Harry's hand. So far so good. Clarity thought to herself. "I wouldn't want to keep you kids from your homework though. Go ahead. I'll bring up some cookies later." Clarity smiled, honestly relieved that her mum didn't seem to be passing any sort of judgement. "Thanks, mum. We'll be upstairs." She motioned for Harry to follow her as she headed up to her room.

---

Zayn knew that Sara didn't trust him. He'd already figured that one out ages ago. It wasn't like she tried to hide it or anything. In fact, she kind of made it pretty obvious. He could care less though. If she didn't trust him, so be it. It wasn't like she'd be the first person. He knew that a lot of people didn't trust him. He also knew that a lot of people didn't like him, but he never actually let it bother him. And why should he? None of those people really mattered to him. The only people he really cared about were the lads. They were there for each other when no one else was. Sure, most of them had families who cared about them too, but as far as friends went, their circle wasn't really that big.

"Well, there's a first time for everything." He said, a wide smirk on his face. He hoped that his stash of spray paint would still be where he'd left it last time. He hadn't gotten caught last time, so it hadn't been confiscated, and he assumed that it would remain where he'd last left it. He was pretty sure that everyone on this side of town knew that he was the one behind most of the graffiti, and none of them would rat him out or else there would be some sort of hell to pay. But today, he wasn't planning on vandalizing this side of town. Nope. He was moving onto bigger and better things.

Harry smiled at Laura. "Okay, Laura it is then." He told her thinking it had went quite well. Even more so when she told them she'd bring them cookies later. Clearly he'd won her mum over, which really hadn't been that hard. Even for him, and he wasn't nearly as clean cut as most of the guys around here. Hell he wasn't anything like half the guys around here. But as long as he made good impression that could be over looked. And well unlike some people on the other side of the tracks Harry didn't usually go out of his way to piss off the parentals. Well unless those parents happened to be parents of people he didn't like or were parents that went out of their way to make Harry's life living hell because they thought he was rude to their children. Then Harry didn't care what he had to do but he'd make sure they knew who they were messing with. That didn't happen often though, because he made it kind of a goal to stay far away from this side of town unless he had to. And well this was kind of a have to. Plus he liked Clarity so here he was.

"So I think that went well." He whispered to her as they made their way out of the kitchen to head to her room and start working on their project. "I mean she seems nice, and she's brining us cookies." He said proud of himself, and the fact that he hadn't made a bad impression, or at least it hadn't seemed that way. Which meant that this wasn't going to be an awkward situation. They could work in peace and not have to worry about her mum staring over their shoulder ever few minutes to make sure he behaved himself around her daughter or something weird like that. No, he was assuming it was going to be like her mum trusted them both to actually work on their project and not to do things that clearly would piss her off. And well Harry wasn't going to break that, because he kind of wanted to be welcome back for the remainder of them working on this, and he supposed possibly being invited over after that for whatever.

---

Lydia knew that Zayn wasn't one who cared what people thought about him. She could easily tell that though. He just acted like the bad boy who didn't care. And that's what he was. The bad boy who didn't care. Which was one of the reasons she'd known as soon as she'd seen him earlier that very same day that he'd be the perfect guy to piss people off. The fact that he had tattoos, she was pretty sure she'd seen a pierced ear, and smoked, well those were only a few added bonus on her part. Because that of course would get a rise out of people more. He was a rebel. He was that guy that parents talked about staying away from. The one who was trouble, and the one most girls believed their parents about. There were a few girls who might know he was trouble and still try to get close to him because they had some stupid plan that they could make him fall in love with them and that he'd change for them. Those girls just got themselves hurt though. And Lydia knew that people were right, he was trouble, but the different was Lydia refused to fall in love with him. Her plan was simple. Zayn was trouble, hanging around him, making her parents believe that their daughter was hanging around, dating a boy like him was what she wanted. Because once they saw what she was willing to do shit would happen, they'd either kick her out for not listening too many times, or change how they treated her because she was their only little girl and they didn't want to lose her. Either way she'd be free of this life that had planned out for her and she'd be happy.

"True." She said knowing there was a first time for everything, and this was going to be her first time vandalizing anything other than her bedroom walls with finger paint. And she was nervous and anxious at the same time. There was just something thrilling about thinking about things that they shouldn't do incase they were caught. But there was also the whole what if they got caught thing. Though she wasn't nearly as nervous about getting caught as she was anxious about doing this. If she got caught anyways she'd think of a way to get out of it. It wasn't like she'd been arrested before, so surely they'd give her a warning or something. And though she really shouldn't if she did happen to get caught she'd just suck up to the officer, they probably knew her dad anyways and she was sure she could think of something to get out of it. Or she was going to tell herself that she could find a way out of it if she was caught. But she pushed that from her mind soon enough wanting to focus on the fact that she was doing this.

Clarity was so beyond relieved that her mum hadn't said anything rude to Harry. She didn't know why, but she'd kind of been anticipating it for one reason or another. She'd figured that her mum would have judged him, and maybe she would have if he wasn't nearly as charming as he was. Maybe her mum saw that he wasn't a delinquent like the other greasers. She would never really know her mum's exact reasoning though, and she wasn't going to bring it up either. Because it wasn't a problem that she was going to have to deal with.

"It went extremely well." She said quietly, sending a smile his way as she headed up the stairs to her room. "You were right. You're definitely good with mums. I mean you're already on a first name basis with her. That definitely says something right there. And she doesn't offer her chocolate chip cookies to just anyone either." She let out a quiet laugh, pausing once they'd reached their room. "We can get some work done in here." She said as she pushed the door open and headed on inside. She set her books down and climbed onto her bed, tucking her legs underneath her. "So, I guess we should figure out what we're going to be researching first."

---

"So, do you sneak out often?" Zayn asked, deciding that he'd at least try to make some small talk for the time being. He was still honestly trying to pick her brain. He wanted to get to know her a bit better, but only so he knew just how challenging all of this would really be for him. He had a feeling that it wouldn't be too challenging, but that it would be challenging enough all the same. And that was what he wanted. He wanted at least somewhat of a challenge so that he wouldn't get bored, but he didn't want to have too much difficulty either. He had a feeling that she would be just the right amount of difficulty though, so he honestly couldn't complain at all.

And once he got to know her better, for the sole purpose of figuring her out, he could really start to make his move. He knew that once he did, it would only be a matter of time before she started falling for him. And that was exactly what he wanted to happen. Because once she fell for him, and he knew that she would, he could end things with her. He could break her. And he could prove to Josh that he could do just about anything if he put his mind to it. And that was precisely what he wanted to do.

Harry was pretty glad that her mum hadn't made a scene or big deal about anything too. He didn't really want to cause anything like that, and well he wasn't the best in awkward situations either. And he was pretty sure it would've been kind of awkward if her mum would've made a big deal about him being there. Of course why would there really be a problem. He was just here to work with her on a project, and he had to wonder if people honestly thought he even looked like the kind of guy who would try something with any girl just because he thought he could. Sure you couldn't always judge a person by how they looked, but that didn't mean that sometimes looks didn't give everything away.

"Well I feel special then." Harry told her while he followed her into her room. "I mean if she doesn't give her cookies to anyone then I'm guessing they're pretty good, and in that case I feel special that I'm getting some on my first day meeting her." He told her with another smile. "And I told you I was. They love me. I think it's the dimples." He said shrugging his shoulder some before he looked around her room and finally took a seat at her desk smiling over at her. He wasn't really sure where else to sit, and didn't want to sit on her bed or anything in case that was too weird, and again, he was trying not to give the wrong impression to anyone, plus keep whatever the hell he was feeling about her to himself. Since he knew she had a boyfriend, and wasn't even sure if she'd want something to happen or not. And he was still just in the process of getting to know her.

---

"Not all the time." Lydia told him tucking her hair behind her ear, "usually it's just when I have something better to do than lay around my room. Like tonight. I made plans with Sara and Liam like two weeks ago and I wasn't going to just not show up because I was grounded for my 'reckless behavior' earlier. Even though I'm clearly not with them anymore." She added biting her lip, "lord if my brother hears about this he's gonna be so pissed." She said letting out a soft laugh. She didn't really care if her brother found out, but thinking about it now she realized that if he did find out he would be really pissed and there was no telling what he'd do. Which would make things harder for her, of course she might be able to talk to him about something. She'd worry more about that when she had to though, and right now she didn't have to worry about it. Or at least she didn't want to think about having to worry about it.

"So do you do this kind of thing all the time?" She asked him wondering if he just ran around at night vandalizing random buildings and doing other reckless things that she knew could get them in a lot trouble. Things that she knew her family didn't want her taking part in, yet she knew her brother took part in just because he thought he could. And then she wondered if the sudden thrill of doing something dangerous, or something illegal ever left. Or well stopped occurring because well there was always that first time doing something where even though you knew it was wrong it felt so right. And Lydia hadn't really had many times to experience that but she enjoyed it. She liked the way it felt to live a little dangerously ever now and again.

"Good? My mum's cookies are amazing. They're the best cookies you'll have ever tasted." Clarity said, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. She was honestly really glad that her mum hadn't seemed to pass any judgment or anything like that. She knew that this all could have gone horribly, but it hadn't, and she was so beyond relieved that that was the case. Her mum seemed to like Harry, and he'd obviously made a decent impression on her if she wasn't already breathing down their necks. If her mum didn't trust someone, it was always fairly obvious. So, clearly something Harry had done made her trust him enough to allow them in her bedroom alone so they could work on their project.

"Maybe, although you were very polite, so I don't think it's just the dimples." She said, letting out a soft laugh. Harry kind of seemed to be the person who had the whole package deal. He was sweet, charming, polite and she had a feeling that he had a sense of humor too. If he wasn't a greaser, she had a feeling that her mum would want her to date him. Her mum liked Drew, but she had a feeling that it was only to a certain extent. She didn't know why she felt this way, but she did for whatever reason.

---

Zayn nodded. That was understandable. If she had plans with people and her mum grounded her for whatever reason, he could see why she would turn to sneaking out. He'd done it numerous times when he'd still been living under his parents' roof. And he'd gotten caught a couple of times too. His parents had been absolutely furious when they'd caught him sneaking back into the house in the wee hours of the morning. And it didn't help that, on several of those occasions, he'd been completely smashed. And yet they'd still tolerated him for whatever reason. Maybe they'd hoped that it was all just a phase or something and that he was only acting out for attention, but it didn't take them very long to realize that it wasn't a phase. This was who he wanted to be.

"Define 'this kind of thing'." He said, a slight smirk tugging at the corners of his lips as he looked over to her. He had a feeling that he knew what she meant, and he was only being a smart ass. Not that that was anything knew. He made smart ass comments all the time. Sometimes they went hand in hand with pissing a person off and getting under their skin. His somewhat sarcastic nature didn't help much either, though he could honestly care less what anyone thought about him. He could care less if he pissed people off either.

"Okay, now I have to taste them to make sure you're not lying to me." Harry joked with her as he started to unzip his backpack so he could gather his things he'd need to get to work on this project. "And I supposed it could've been the politeness. I however am going to go with the dimples." He'd once been told that his dimples could be used at his advantage and somehow they'd be the quickest thing to a girls heart once. Of course he wasn't sure he believed that, they were just dimples. He didn't think they had some kind of magical power or anything. Though there was something about those and his rather innocent face he assumed that people just trusted. Which would make it totally suck for people who did easily trust him if he didn't live up to his face. If he was one of those guys who looked innocent only to be one of the worst guys you could meet. He wasn't though.

Sure Harry was far from actually being innocent. He'd gotten into plenty of trouble, and well he knew what he was doing in the sack too, because well he wasn't as innocent as people made him out to be. But he wasn't a player. He wasn't one of those bad guys who just used girls for things like sex only to dump them after he'd gotten what he wanted or when someone better came along. Even he'd been raised better than that. And no matter what side of town he came from he believed that his parents were right on raising him like they had. And he also believed that he was right to listen. And there was something about ruining a girls life by doing something as awful as sleeping with them only to dump them the following day that wasn't him. Especially if he really liked the girl. He knew there were girls who were all for night stands, and if it was a mutual thing then okay, but he wasn't going to lead a girl on just to get one thing then leave.

---

Lydia stole another glance at Zayn while they walked to where ever he was taking her, "if anyone found out I'd snuck out and was doing this I'd be in so much trouble." She told him randomly, "especially my brother. I made him cover for me so I wouldn't get caught this time around and told him that you weren't going to be here. Because he was, well I kind of think he was more pissed than my mum was about this morning." She told him with a small shoulder shrug. Her mum hadn't talked to her the whole walk home from their lunch, and then when they had gotten home she'd just tried to reason with her and well Lydia hadn't wanted to hear it. Her brother however had yelled at her, so while her mum had been softer about trying to get Lydia to listen her brother had been furious and yelled to try and get it through her skull that no one wanted her to be around him. And she hadn't listened, seeing as she was with him right now. But he was part of her plan, and he'd challenged her and she couldn't back down from that.

"I think you know what I mean smart ass." She told him gently pushing into him, biting her lip "but just to clear things up, I mean do you run around town vandalizing stuff and doing other possibly reckless and dangerous things often?" She asked him, though she was pretty sure she already knew the answer. She kind of just wanted him to confirm it for her. Which in a way might only be confirming that everyone was right. He was dangerous, reckless, and well if Josh was right, then just using her for some sick and twisted plan he had to take her brother down. Yet she was still here. She'd come along with him willingly, against everyone else wishes. Because while everyone else might've been right about him and they might even tell her that they'd only tried to keep her from him to protect her, she was here because even though she knew they were right she didn't want them to protect her.

"What exactly are you implying, Styles?" Clarity asked teasingly, raising an eyebrow as she spoke. This all was a bit strange for her. She had never imagined that she would get on so well with someone like Harry. That might have sounded a bit superficial, but it was the truth. Ever since she could remember, she'd been taught that the people on the other side of town were bad. They were low-lifes, delinquents, and pretty much any negative word that came to mind. But Harry wasn't like that at all. At least, he didn't seem like he was though. First impressions were everything to Clarity, and Harry had obviously made a really good one on her. He'd practically saved her life. If that didn't say something about him already, she didn't know what did.

"Alright, if that's what you want to believe, I'm not going to stop you." She let out a soft laugh as a small smile tugged at the corners of her lips. She picked up her English book, setting it down in her lap. "So, what are we doing this project on exactly?" She asked him curiously. She wasn't too picky as long as the topic was an interesting one. Their teacher had given them a list of possible research topics, and a couple of them had seemed interesting enough.

---

"Yeah?" Zayn asked, letting out a soft chuckle. "I'm pretty sure that's what makes it fun. At least, that's how I see it anyway." He doubted that anything would be all that interesting if there wasn't some sort of risk or possible consequence involved. It just made things all the more fun really. "And in that case, I hope one of his mates sees us together and tells him." He probably wouldn't have acted out nearly as much as he did if his parents hadn't gotten so pissed off every time that they did it. The fact that they didn't want him to do something was the whole point of doing said thing. It had to have something to do with that whole reverse psychology theory. His parents obviously hadn't thought about that much though, because every time he acted out, they got pissed off. They didn't condone what he did no matter what.

He smirked slightly, eyebrows raising in amusement at her words. "Name calling now, are we?" He asked, a slightly teasing tone to his voice. He really didn't care that she'd called him a smart ass. He knew that he was acting like one and deserved to be called one. He didn't care because he knew that it was the truth. He was being a smart ass. "Sometimes, but not always." He said vaguely. "There isn't too much to do in this town though, so more often than not, yes, I suppose I do." He added soon after, figuring that he'd better not be too vague.

"Nothing," Harry said chuckling softly at her, "what makes you think I'm implying anything anyways?" He teased right back. He believed that her mum's cookies could in possible be the best he'd ever eaten. He however wouldn't know until he'd tried on. In which time he'd compare it to what he knew his own mother's cookies tasted like, and of course every other cookie he'd tasted in his life time, then he'd make a very unbiased opinion on who made the best. Okay maybe not. But he would still try one and compare it to his mum's at least because well his own mum made some pretty amazing cookies when she was in the baking mood. Hell he made some pretty amazing cookies himself when he had the time and things he needed. "You know I can cook. I bet you'd be shocked too at how amazing my cookies are." He told her smiling, "most people are, and they usually don't believe me when I tell them I can cook. Of course most people don't know I can cook period."

"Thank you. It wouldn't be very nice of you to ruin my life because you didn't believe that my dimples were capable of getting people to like me." He joked with her before looking down at the paper their teacher had given them with all the things they could study. "I don't know, uh is there anything you wanted to do the project on? Because I'd totally let you pick and just help from there, if you were cool with that." He said kind of hoping she'd have some kind of an idea, because he had nothing. He didn't know what he wanted to do the project on, and while he knew they had a while to actually work on the project they'd both kind of agreed on wanting to get started asap. And he knew it was better to stay on track and do this and get done early and then have time to just goof off later than the other way around and end up with no time to work on things.

---

"Maybe," Lydia replied softly, "I mean pissing off my parents is basically what I live for. Pissing off my brother, well that's another story. It's like I want to because I hate how controlling he is. I hate how he tells me what to do and who I can and can't see like he's my dad. And I hate how they always use the stupid excuse that they don't want me doing something because they're trying to protect me. Like I'm a child who's stepping to close to a fire or something. Like I'm not old enough to figure things out on my own and just discover who I am. I mean how am I supposed to figure out who I am as a person and what I want in life if they keep me held up in my room away from everything and everyone they don't think is safe and want to protect me from. But I know that pissing him off might not be a smart idea at the same time." She told him, it was like she wanted to go along with Zayn and get caught up doing something with him only to be caught by one of her brother's lads so he'd report back to Josh. But at the same time she didn't, because she felt like she needed time to figure out how to handle him without him blowing his top and attempting something unforgivable.

Lydia pressed her chin to her shoulder and looked at Zayn biting her lip. "Yep." She finally said nodding her head and a smile on her face, he had kind of given her a smart ass answer and she'd just kind of called him out on that. It wasn't a big deal though. "Yea it's kind of a small town." She replied kicking a rock with her foot while they walked. "I feel like every weekend's the same. It's either the drive in or the diner. And well it's to the point where I go but I don't really care for it too much anymore. It's always the same, couples everywhere. And while they may be cute and lovey-dovey together, but well I don't have someone to be like that with so I'm kind of left out of the loop and feel kind of awkward being around them all. Plus that whole thing as a date's been done so many times it feels overrated." She said shrugging her shoulders again.

Clarity let out a soft laugh. "Because it sounded like you were implying something." She said simply. She had been in a pretty foul mood earlier that day, but it had disappeared as of late. She found that she liked talking to Harry. She was glad that they'd been paired up for this project, because, well, it gave her an excuse to talk to him. And when Drew and her friends started to talk, she had a reason for why she'd been talking to him. Really, this project was just the perfect in for her. And, in all honesty, she didn't care if people started rumors about her and Harry. Of course, she had a feeling that the negativity would be more directed towards Harry, but that was besides the point. She'd probably shut those rumors down straight away anyways. "You can cook?" She repeated, her eyebrows raising in surprise. "Well, you're just going to have to bake some of those amazing cookies of yours one day so that I can try them. I need to see if you're all talk or not." She teased, smirking slightly.

"I'm pretty sure that your life wouldn't be ruined over something as small as your dimples, but you're welcome." She found herself laughing once more. She didn't think that she'd laughed this much in quite some time. She didn't think that she enjoyed talking with her own friends as much as she enjoyed talking to Harry. There was just something about him. Maybe it was the seemingly mutual level of understanding that they shared. She honestly had no idea, but she liked talking to him. And she was glad that they were working on this project together. "I saw something on the sheet we were given in class about exams and whether or not they should be taken as seriously as they are. Maybe we could do something on that? We could find some information about standardized test scores and then look at overall GPAs and stuff like that and see if they correlate and I'm sure we could find some decent opinions too."

---

Zayn nodded in understanding. "No offense, but your brother's kind of a dick." He said honestly. Josh had been a complete douchebag ever since Zayn had well, become a greaser. As his popularity on this side of town rose, her brother clearly saw him more and more as some sort of a threat to him. Zayn had done nothing to him. He couldn't help it if a lot of people liked him around here, but Josh hadn't seemed to care at all. And he'd been a complete wanker from then on out. And, with several disagreements, came this little rivalry that they had going on right now. Essentially, none of this would have happened if it weren't for her brother. This little plan of Zayn's wouldn't be going on right now. And he would be sure to point that out to Josh when he broke his sister's heart.

"I can't wait to get the hell out of here." He told her. Technically, there wasn't much keeping him there right now. His family had disowned him, so if he really wanted to, he could probably leave this shitty town now, but he had the lads. And he wasn't going to leave them behind. So, he stuck around and tolerated living here in this boring ass town where nothing new ever seemed to really happen. The only thing that made things remotely exciting was this little rivalry that he had going on with Josh. It kept him on his toes. And, in a town like this, that was exactly what he needed.

"Well not to worry I wasn't implying anything." Harry told her glad that this was turning out so well. Last night had been slightly awkward for him. Sure he'd saved her from whatever the hell those guys had planned for her. Which couldn't have been good. They would've done awful things to her. And it'd been awkward because he never really stood up to them and he'd been worried they might've tried to fight him and won and then he would've felt like he'd let her down. And today at school hadn't felt much better. He'd felt weird being there all day, but he'd gotten over that, only to feel weird because every soc there was talking about him and looking at him weird, and by the end of the day they'd all come up with some rumors about him that we far from true. But everything was calm right now. And he didn't feel like had anything to worry about or feel awkward about now. And he was happy about that. "Oh yea, I used to help my mum in the kitchen when I was little, and then it turned into helping my grams and my mum both. And well now I can do it without help. I do still like to help them out on the holidays though. I guess it's just kind of like a tradition now."

Harry gave her a playful pointed look and shook his head at her later words about his dimples though. "You just don't understand." He joked holding his hands up like it was a big deal. Really it wasn't, because he still knew that his dimples didn't have any kind of magical powers or anything of the sort. Either way though he did sometimes feel like his dimples were capable of a lot though, because girls really seemed to love them. Maybe they thought they were attractive and that was all it was, or maybe there was something else. But Harry was positive that even if they weren't magical or the soul reason someone liked him, that they were capable of wining girls over. Along with his other redeemable qualities. "Sounds like we've got something then." Harry said looking for that on the paper and putting a box around it so he knew that was what'd they were talking about picking and probably what they would pick. It seemed like a good enough thing to do the project over to him after all.

---

"I know." Lydia responded not offended in the least bit. Josh was a dick. He was awful, sure there were moments when he wasn't that bad, moments when she felt like they might be able to actually bond over something and have a brother sister relationship that wasn't totally messed up like theirs seemed to be, but it never happened. And it was to the point now where Lydia viewed him with her parents. Just another person in her life who thought just because they thought they had some kind of authority that they were suddenly in control of her and her life. "So are all his friends." She finally said stealing another glance at him. And that was true too. She'd met the majority of his friends, or well crew or gang or whatever the hell it was before, and honestly she'd thought they were all kind of dicks too.

Lydia looked around for a moment before she replied herself. "I don't really know where I'd go. Or where I even wanna go, but I know that I wanna leave here." She said not seeing anything that would keep her here. Sure Sara was here, and her few other friends who could put up with her but that didn't seem like enough. And Lydia was sure they could all find someone to replace her in no time if they really wanted to. She didn't really feel like she fit in here, she didn't feel like she belonged here, and she knew somehow that she was meant for bigger and better things than this little ole' town had to offer. She was still here though, mostly because for the time being she was being kept here because she didn't really know where she'd go, she didn't have anywhere else to go, and until she saved up a little bit more money she didn't have that either. Because when she left, well she wanted it to be with her own money. She knew her parents would've give her the money anyways. So until everything was figured out she stuck around. Keeping herself busy, and on her toes by pissing off her parents and her brother, and just found things that kept her entertained.

"Whatever you say, Styles." Clarity said, a slight smirk tugging at the corners of her lips. She was really starting to feel comfortable around Harry. She liked talking to him, and how easily they were able to joke around and tease each other. It was nice. She felt like she could truly be herself when she was around him. She didn't have to worry about acting a certain way or impressing anyone, and that was honestly how she felt sometimes when she was with Drew or around some of her friends and girls from the cheerleading squad. Some might say that that wasn't a way to live, but it was all Clarity had ever really known. Until now.

"Well, I expect a batch of cookies sometime in the near future." She told him, the smirk on her face turning into a smile. She thought it was cute how he still liked to bake with his mum and gran. She didn't really know many guys who would actually admit to something like that, but Harry wasn't like most guys she'd met before. He certainly didn't seem like the few other greasers she'd come in contact with in the past. Not that she really understood why socs hated, or were supposed to hate, greasers in the first place. She doubted that she would ever really understand that stupid feud. It had been going on for years now, though she honestly didn't know why. She didn't know what had even caused it in the first place. She was taken from her thoughts when Harry spoken again, a soft laugh bubbling from her lips. "Oh? I don't understand, do I? Well, why don't you try to help me understand." Things really were just so easy when she was with Harry. Of course, she was only really basing that off of today, and she hadn't even really been talking to him for very long, but it just felt that way. It was nice, refreshing even. A change. "Sounds like it..."

---

"You know?" Zayn asked, punctuating his words with a raised eyebrow. He didn't know why he was at all surprised that she was agreeing with him. From what he gathered, Josh wasn't one of Lydia's favorite people. Actually, scratch that, she didn't seem to be very fond of anyone in her family. It sort of reminded him of how he felt about his own family. It was sort of strange that they seemed to have so much in common. He quickly shook the thought from his head though. He wasn't talking to her in the hopes of having some weird bonding experience. He was here so that he could show up her twat of a brother. He was going to make Lydia fall for him, and then he'd break her heart. That would show Josh. "I'm guessing you're not any of their biggest fans then?" He chuckled slightly, pulling out his pack of Marlboros and lighting one, placing the cancer stick between his lips and taking a long drag. He offered the box and his lighter to her. He didn't know if she smoked or not, but he figured he'd offer anyway.

"I think that there are quite a few people like us in this town." He knew that he wanted to get out of this shitty town too, and he wouldn't be surprised if there were others too. He'd be more surprised if there weren't. He didn't really know where he wanted to go either, just that he wanted to get out at some point in the future. After he proved his point of course. This was going to be one of his plans that would actually work. He wasn't going to give up until he was successful. He wasn't going to let Josh think that he and his little group were better than him and the lads. It would be a cold day in hell when that actually happened.

"Of course I'll make you a batch of my amazing cookies." Harry told her, he didn't usually make them for anyone but the lads, and that was only because the lads didn't judge him when he'd told them he could cook. They'd just let it be and accepted it which was probably why they were all such great friends. The five of them didn't judge one another, they just accepted each other and went with it. Which totally a good thing considering Harry was sure he'd be lost with them, they were like a extended family to him. Plus his mum loved them, even Zayn who was a lot more trouble than the rest of them. Sometimes he felt like Zayn always got the short end of the stick when it came to people wanting him in there lives, not that Zayn let that affect him or anything.

"I can't really explain it." He told her shrugging his shoulder as if it were obvious. "It's just something you can't understand unless you have dimples of your own like mine." He told her really trying to hold a straight face and not just bust out laughing at how stupid he sounded. And he was shockingly enough having a really nice time with Clarity, because he didn't joke around like this with just anyone, especially soc's. There was something different about her though, he didn't know what or if it was even a big deal whatever it was, but there was definitely something. And he liked it, it was nice to be able to get along with someone like this. "I think the idea is good though," he said deciding to talk about school some too, after all that's why he was here in the first place.

---

"You sound surprised by that." Lydia said taking the pack of smokes and lighter from him and doing the same. She took the cigarette and placed it between her lips then lit it up and took a drag handing the pack and lighter back to him. "Not really." She said shrugging her shoulders. She felt like if anyone would understand what she meant it'd be him, which was still weird but nice. Though she wasn't about to let that have an affect on anything. Hanging around Zayn wasn't anything more than a plan to piss everyone off and show them that she had control of her own life not them. No matter how much they had in common, or how comfortable she felt talking to him about her family, she wouldn't let it become more than it was.

Lydia wasn't really sure how many other people there could've possibly been who might've wanted the same thing as them, to get away, but she was sure he was right. There had to be more than just them. "I'm sure there are." She said not sure how anyone could really want to live here forever. Even if it was where she'd grown up she didn't really feel any kind of attachment to the place. "You have any idea where you'd go if you did ever leave? Because I don't have a clue where I'd go." She told him feeling like eventually she'd know where she'd want to go, when it was time for her to leave maybe she'd just know. For now though she had no idea.

"I'll be holding you to that." Clarity told him, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. She didn't know what it was about Harry, she just felt really comfortable around him. For once she felt like she could be herself. She didn't have to worry about acting a certain way or impressing anyone. Most of her life seemed to be all about appearances and keeping up with them, and she only did certain things because she didn't want to disappoint her parents or her older siblings. She joined the cheerleading squad because her sister wanted her to follow in her footsteps. She dated Drew because her friends all thought he was fit and he was the captain of the football team. Really, now that she took the time to think about it, everything that she did was for someone else, and that was kind of sad.

"Bullshit." She coughed, letting her smile widen into a slight grin. She was glad that she and Harry had been paired up for this project. If they hadn't been, she honestly didn't know if she'd be sitting here talking to him right now. She really had been in a horrid mood up until this afternoon. Her day sort of seemed so much better and brighter now. "I think so too. I'm sure we'll be able to find loads of research material. Once we have that, the paper should be a piece of cake." She wasn't worried about getting the project done at all. She knew that they would get it done.

---

Zayn gave his shoulders a slight shrug. "I don't know if I'm more surprised about that or just that you're surprising me, if that makes any sense at all." He didn't know why, but he'd sort of figured she'd be different. She was a firecracker, someone who, if she wasn't Josh's sister, he would have probably gotten on well with before now. Sure, he was only hanging around with her now for his little plan, but that didn't mean he had to be miserable to do so. And he certainly wasn't miserable. Lydia seemed to surprise him more and more every time they spent time with each other. He knew winning her over wouldn't be as easily as he had initially hoped, but it would certainly be worth his while in the long-run.

"I'd like to think that knowing exactly where I want to go and what I want to do would take all of the fun out of it." He told her, taking another long drag from his cigarette. He didn't know where he wanted to go when he finally hauled his ass out of this shitty ass town. But that made it all the more exciting. At least, that was how he saw it anyway. Life was all about taking chances, and it wasn't all black and white either. Sure, he'd probably run into some obstacles along the way but so be it. That was what life was about, and he honestly didn't mind a good challenge every now and again.

"Well I'll be sure not to let you down then." Harry told her smiling, he didn't think he could've been happier with how this class project had turned out so far. Usually he would've really hated the idea. He would've went along with whatever the teacher had planned and just partnered up with whoever he was put with only he probably wouldn't have put forth very much effort into helping them out. However with Clarity he planned to help how he could because he kind of enjoyed being around her. And all that might've had something to do with the fact that for a soc she was nice. She didn't make him feel inferior, she didn't even try to make him feel that way. She didn't make him feel like he didn't belong either, even though he knew this wasn't the part of town he lived on. This wasn't how he'd grown up and he liked that.

Harry had his mum, and well his sister but she'd moved out forever ago, and that was about it. His dad hadn't really been in the picture for a while, and it was usually just him and his mum. Of course the lads were always there so that was helpful. But at the end of the day Harry hated that his dad wasn't around. He hated that his mum had struggled just to provide for him. Sometimes he hated that she felt like she had to provide for his friends too since they stayed at his place a lot. But things had gotten better recently which was nice. Still though his home life was so much different than hers was, and he was glad that Clarity didn't make him feel bad about that like so many other soc would've. Because honestly Harry was happy with his life, it wasn't always glamorous but it was enough for him.

---

"I see," Lydia said taking another drag of the cigarette. "So I'm just guessing here, but you totally thought I'd be a bore didn't you?" She said looking at him, and laughing a little. Of course people would think she was a bore. She was sure there were plenty of other people who hadn't gotten to know her who thought she was just some boring girl. Hell they probably thought Josh wouldn't let anyone around her because she was some prim proper girl he didn't want turning out like him or something. When in reality she was anything but. Lydia was all for an adventure, a night of law breaking fun. Even if she hadn't ever actually broken the law, there was a first time for everything.

"Are we almost there?" She asked him wondering if they were nearing wherever they were going. They were almost technically on the soc's side of town, and she could only imagine the damage they could do there. It'd be so much fun though, hell they hadn't even done anything yet and Lydia was already started to feel thrilled with herself. There was just a very freeing feeling about whatever they were going to do. And there was something thrilling about knowing she was going to break the law and that they could get caught. She was sure it'd be even more thrilling if they actually got away with it, which she was sure that Zayn had no intentions on getting caught. He probably wouldn't really care too much if he did though given he already had a record and all.