Lounsbury Prep

After two months passed, and the boys returned from their Christmas vacations, which they each spent at their respective homes, the episodes of Glee had all been watched, and Harry looked confident as he stood in front of his Glee Club, a broad smile on his face. His hands were hooked behind his back, and he started to march back and forth, which made him look like some kind of criminal mastermind to Zayn.

“Now, we’ve all had two weeks to think over how we want our set to go,” he started gravely, and Zayn had to control himself from bursting into hysterical laughter. “I’ve mostly figured out what I want the choreography to be, but if anyone has any suggestions, feel free to shoot them out now.”

The boys stayed quiet for a few seconds, the varying colors of eyes scanning over their fellow group members, waiting for someone to have something productive to offer to the meeting.

Finally, it was Niall who spoke, his Irish brogue sounding thicker than it had before the break. “How about some fire? Like, giant flamethrowers on the side of the stage. That’d be pretty exciting.”

Harry glared at him for a second before sighing. “Are there any ideas that aren’t completely stupid or ridiculous or dangerous?”

No one had any information to offer.

“Okay, great. So here’s what I had in mind.”

Zayn expected Harry to break out the music and bust out the moves, right there in front of them, all by himself. After all, what did he have to be embarrassed of? All the boys were supposed to be great friends.

But instead, Harry disappeared backstage and wheeled out an old television set, one of the ones that had the VCR built into the bottom. It was borderline archaic, but nobody wanted to question the insanity of the situation.

“Watch and learn, my singing companions.” After hitting the play button, he backed up slowly and plopped his butt down on the stage next to Liam, already looking fixated on the static that preceded whatever the video had to offer.

And then there was Harry, standing in the middle of what looked like an unfinished, empty basement. He was surrounded by dingy dark gray concrete walls on all sides, and the music, when it started, almost seemed to echo off the walls.

The dance he’d constructed, which was displayed on the screen, was somewhat straightforward, easy enough for the group’s poor excuse for dancers to follow, while still maintaining a kind of flair and enough interest to keep a group intrigued. Or at least entertained enough to refrain from throwing any soft drinks at the five boys.

“What do you think?” Harry questioned the second the blue screen took over the television screen. His face was open and expectant, his wide eyes hopeful.

“I like it a lot,” Zayn voiced with a small smile. “I think the episodes of Glee really helped.”

“They were a great idea,” Harry allowed, “but most of this came out of my own genius mind.”

Louis snorted, and Zayn immediately snapped out his fist to hit his boyfriend in the leg as a reflex. The act did nothing but make Louis laugh more, the opposite effect of what Zayn intended, and draw attention to the two of them.

Instead of asking what had happened, Harry rolled his eyes and directed his attention to the blonde and brunette that were chatting amongst themselves. “Hey, Niall, Liam? What do you two think?”

“Thumbs up, mate,” Liam approved, while Niall nodded enthusiastically, possibly too afraid to speak after his original idea had been dismissed so quickly and wholeheartedly.

“Great. So let’s get started on learning these moves, shall we?”



“So what happened over vacation with your parents?” Louis asked at dinner the next day, stirring his soda with his straw absentmindedly as he spoke. “Did they suspect you were doing anything you shouldn’t have been?”

Zayn hurriedly swallowed the piece of bread that had been in his mouth, lucky that he hadn’t choked. “Um, no. They were fine. My English and chemistry grades were lower than they would have liked, but they just blamed it on the harder courses and told me that I should keep up my hard work.”

“Perfect.” The blue-eyed boy grinned widely before he spoke again. “I hope you don’t mind that I told my mum about you. She was so excited for me, and she’s desperate to meet you when she gets the chance.”

Zayn flushed slightly, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “Oh, yeah, that’s fine. I’d like to meet her, too. As long as I don’t end up embarrassing myself.”

“Oh, don’t be daft. You’ll be great. She’ll love you.”

“You underestimate my ability to be awkward, I think.” Zayn avoided Louis’ amused gaze as he popped another piece of chicken in his mouth and chewed thoughtfully.

“I don’t think I do at all,” Louis laughed. “Because it’s hard to remember a time when you’ve been anything but awkward.”

Zayn wanted to feel mortified, but his boyfriend quickly added, “Not that it’s a bad thing. It’s endearing, really, since you’re not weird awkward. Don’t stress about it. My mum will adore you, and you can meet her after the school year is out.”

The boy from Bradford felt himself relax at the declaration that he had an entire semester to get used to the idea of the impending humiliation, and he turned back to his food, figuring that the conversation was over.

“So do you have homework, or can we spend some time together tonight?”

God, Zayn had never been so happy that he’d holed himself up in his room from the second his last class let out until Liam came down to drag him to dinner. “I’m all set with my homework for tonight,” Zayn replied, trying to stay as casual as possible. “What did you have in mind?”

“I just figured we could watch a movie in my room or something?”

Zayn shrugged. “Sure. That sounds good.”

“Awesome.”

“What are we talking about?” Harry intervened, his face showing that he was waiting expectantly for a great story.

“Hanging out later,” Louis answered. “Stop snooping, creep.”

“I resent that. And what else am I supposed to do? Liam and Niall are boring me to death.”

The three boys turned toward their friends just in time for Niall to start telling a story about his girlfriend, which Liam could only tolerate because the English boy had met the girl on a few occasions and was friendly enough with her.

“See what I mean?” Harry whined, sticking out his bottom lip just a touch to make himself look beyond pathetic.

“I do,” Louis sighed. “And you’re welcome to join this conversation if you like.”

“Thank God.”

So they started to discuss more interesting things, like the newest episode of The Walking Dead, which had ended controversially, video games, and what they would do the next time they went into town.