Know Your Enemy

Other than Harlow choosing to sit with Clara at lunch, things were playing out in my favor. Harlow hadn’t been offered pom-poms or a spot on the pyramid yet. All was right in the world. I had stopped at my locker to switch some books when I noticed something.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Harlow walking with some guy with a mess of curls on top of his head. I made the connection and wasn’t surprised in the slightest that Styles had already made sure he introduced himself. That little bastard knew how to push peoples’ buttons, and no one called him on it because he was funny. Not to mention, he was good looking. He stopped trying to get a rise out of me because he knew all I’d do is call him out on it like I did in freshman biology. The look on his face had been priceless. Anyways, Harry talking to Harlow was better than some jock stalking her.

“Hey,” some unfamiliar voice said from behind me.

I snapped out of my daze and spun around startled. “Holy hell! You really gotta give a girl some warning or somethin’...” My heartbeat slowed down to its normal pace. I recognized the kid. Zayn’s drunk friend from the other night.

“Stop with the yelling,” he groaned. “Anyways, I couldn’t find Zayn, but tell him thanks for the other night.”

I furrowed my brows. “Hey, Kyle-”

“Niall.”

The look I gave him shut him up. “Sorry, I couldn’t decode everything through the slurring. I helped in that whole process of dragging you into your house.”

He let out a sigh. “Well, thanks.”

“Don’t mention it,” I fake smiled exaggeratedly before returning to my apathetic expression. “You were havin’ a grand old time. On cloud nine, really.”

“Alright, I get it. I don’t even wanna know.” He shook his head as he scrunched up his face.

“Smart choice.” I swung open my locker and tossed a book in. When I turned around, Zayn was walking up to us.

“Niall here was just about to beg your forgiveness for last night,” I smirked.

Niall rolled his eyes before they landed on Zayn. He raked his fingers through his messy blond hair.

“Yeah, that was... Don’t make a habit of it, Niall.”

“Got it. I’ll see you guys.” He turned on his heel and walked off.

Zayn turned and leaned against my locker. “Talked to Harlow earlier. She was with Harry. They needed a pass.”

“Huh. Just saw them together a second ago. If she’s hanging around with him... do you think she’ll come to that party on Friday? Sometimes, he shows up.”

Zayn looked at me cluelessly and shrugged his shoulders. “How the hell should I know?”

I rolled my eyes at him. “Anyways, I’m freezing,” I said, pulling my jacket closer to me. There were tiny little goosebumps appearing all over my legs.

“Gee, I wonder why,” a voice sang to her friends with laugh as she walked by. I wasn’t crazy; the hall had gotten noticeably quieter. The day one of us cracked would probably be the greatest day in these kids’ lives.

I was three seconds away from yanking that high-pony down to the floor. Not because the comment offended me or anything, just because I was bored, and it would have been pretty damn comical. Her confidence was just strong enough for her friends to be impressed. God only knows how she had any self-confidence when she wore something that looked like it was taken from my grandma’s closet. I glanced down at my leather jacket, white tee, and denim cutoffs with my perfectly beaten up Chuck Taylors. I’d much rather stick with my outfits of choice. God forbid the school population sees a girl’s legs.

“Yeah, you see, when you wear clothes that show more than just your ankles, you might know the feeling. Don’t worry, someday, you’ll get there.”

Clara clenched her teeth, “I’ll dress like you when Hell freezes over.”

“Damn, fingers crossed it doesn’t, then. Never liked the cold.”

Her friend, whose name still hadn’t caught on, muttered something in disgust in her ear before trotting off.

“Bitch,” Zayn muttered.

After school, I was walking to Zayn’s car. He was leaning against the hood, smoking a cig. Before I got to him, I saw Harlow walking around looking for who I guessed was Louis.

“Harlow!” I called. She whipped around. I ended up at her side, walking with her. “So, how was the first day?”

“I don’t really know what to think of it just yet,” she laughed.

“You had to have met some new people... How were they?” I smiled knowingly.

She pressed her lips together hiding the fact the corners of her mouth had quirked upwards and nodded, understanding where I was coming from. “Harry helped me out today. He was fine.”

“Oh, great. Well, I just wanted to ask you if you had plans for Friday. There’s this party, and you can totally come if you want to.” Her eyes lit up when I mentioned the word “party”, but then slightly dimmed down. I shot her a confused look.

“No, no. It’s just, that’d be great, but some people were asking if I’d go to the football game Friday night,” she explained. I ignored the fact that “some people” most likely meant Princess Clara. There was definitely a home game on Friday night, considering the amount of squares babbling on about it in my last period class. There was no doubt about that.

“Oh, Harlow...” I flashed a distasteful smile.

She tilted her head in disbelief. Jokingly, she asked, “What? Lana Hayes never wanted to go to a school football game?” My lips pursed with dislike. “Well, I don’t know what I’m doing Friday, but I’ll let you know if I wanna take you up on that offer.”

“Yeah, let me know. I gotta go, but I’ll talk to you.” I looked over my shoulder to see Zayn put out his cigarette and get in the car to start it up.

“Yeah, me too,” she motioned to Louis waving to her from the car. “See ya.”

I turned around to start walking out to the lot, but a bunch of jocks ran out of the school to the bus on the curb. Those dumbasses had an away game that day. Careful not to get too close, they scooted around me. The last hope I had of Harlow coming to that party was Styles. Shit.