Better for You

Of course I was going to meet Harry on this road, he's one of them, I reminded myself, referring to the gangs that hang around here. "Hey Harry." I spoke slowly, feeling slightly intimidated by the crowd of his friends that had gathered around us. There must have been about about 9 others, ten in total including Harry, and I didn't recognize a single one of their faces, not even Zayn was there.
"You know her mate?" One of the boys asked loudly and I nervously looked around to Abby who also looked to be slightly intimidated by the crowd, however was hiding it much better than I was.

"Of course not!" Harry spat, giving me a dirty look as he looked my outfit up and down with a face of disgust. I suddenly felt very self-conscious under his hard gaze. Of course, the insecurity that I felt was nothing compared to the stab in my heart when Harry claimed to not know me.

"Then how does she know your name Harry?" Another guy asked and my eyes immediately flickered in his direction, taking in his scruffy blonde hair, dull blue eyes and lanky form as he took a drag from his cigarette. And in that moment, I was so glad that I had found someone like Mike, who wasn't involved with this type of crowd.

"I have a reputation you know." Harry explained, but no-one looked to be buying his story, so instead he let out a bitter laugh and added, "you really think that I know a girl like that?" He asked, waving his arm up and down in front of me. "Come on guys, I do have some standards!" Harry told them, and after taking a good look at me they must have believed Harry, as they began nodding their heads. Ouch.

My heart felt like it had been stolen from my chest and beaten on the ground by Harry's hands and harsh words. They way he talked about me, right in front of me. He's just like them my mind reminded me, and I scolded myself for actually believing that Harry was different. He's like all of the other players, if anything worse; he had made actually start to like him and then put me down and humiliated me in front of his friends.

"I um..." I began, when I realized that nobody was even listening to me anymore. They had all turned their backs to me and had began muttering between them.

"Come on Izzy, lets go." Abby encouraged, tugging my arm and I followed her, walking away from the group of nasty teenagers. I felt eyes on me as we walked away, and turned my head back to the group to see Harry watching me walk away with a straight face. When he realized that I'd noticed him staring he looked me up and down before turning back to the rest of the group.

The walk back to the dorms was quiet, I wasn't quite in the mood for talking. I don't know why Harry being a ass had affected me so much, but it had. I had somehow believed that he wasn't the same as how everyone else saw him, that maybe he was better than that. I just thought that maybe he wasn't the same as his reputation. But of course, I'm just the innocent girl who was being naive to the mysterious heart-breaker. What was I thinking? Of course he was just the same as the rest of them.

"I'm sorry Izzy, I know that you thought that he wasn't the same as everyone else, but at least you know what he is before you got too attached." Abby told me, as she closed the door to our dorm and gave me a tight hug.

"I just thought that he was different you know?" I told Abby, and she nodded against my back. I sighed and pulled away, plastering a small smile on my face, trying to reassure Abby that I wasn't that hurt by what he had done. I shouldn't be hurt by him pretending that he didn't know me, but the way that he did, maybe that's what hurt so much? The fact that he had basically said that I wasn't good enough for him and wasn't worthy of being acquainted with him; that hurt.

Abby's phone buzzed and she looked at it and rolled her eyes, replying then looking up at me. "Um, Andy's having a few mates around and suggested that we should come, you in?" Abby asked and I shook my head. I really wasn't in the mood to talk to people. I wanted some space to just be with myself, maybe take a walk or something, I don't know. Just anything to take my mind off of the way the boy with curly hair and plenty of attitude who had put me down.

"No, I was thinking of going on a walk tonight or something, plus I promised that I'd Skype Mike back considering last time it got cut short by Harry." I explained, spitting out Harry's name like it was a disease.

"Ok then, I'll see you later then?" Abby asked, walking towards the door and I smiled and nodded. She smiled at me in return and then walked out of the door. As soon as she left the room I let out a breath, I wasn't aware that I was holding in, and flopped back onto my bed. Memories of the way Harry spoke of me with so much distaste flashed back through my mind, and I had to try very hard to fight off the tears that were forming in my eyes. Hold yourself together Izzy I told myself, and blinked back my tears and eventually my vision cleared.

I grabbed my laptop, and switched it on, logging onto Skype. I brought up Mike's profile and called his name. When he picked up I was rewarded by his comforting face. "Hey!" I greeted, smiling widely at his face and he did the same.

"Hey! How have you been?" He asked, adjusting the camera, so that I could see his face properly.

"Not too bad, I've got a class tomorrow morning so I'll have to get up early for that, but other than that it's been great! I bought some stuff in town with Abby, and printed some photos of us!" I told him, showing him a few of the photos that I had printed out. He smiled at the pictures as we reminisced about them and when they were taken.

After a long chat with him we eventually hung up and I got changed into my pajamas, also removing my make-up. Memories of last night and how Harry had said how I looked hot without make-up came to mind, and I cursed myself as blushed thinking about it. It's stupid really, he's given me mixed signals ever since I've met him, I mean, I have yet to have a conversation with him where he isn't rude. However, I won't give him the chance. I don't like giving second chances, and you have to earn them which I know Harry won't do.

I let out a long sigh, before laying down in my bed and switching off the bed side light and falling into a deep slumber clouded by Mike and Harry.

A grunt escaped my lips as the sound of my alarm cut through the air. I rolled over and hit snooze, giving myself an extra 5 minutes before I had to get up.

Once the five minutes were up I got up and walked grumpily towards the shower, my footsteps harsh on the tile floors as I made it to the shower.

I didn't take long in shower and quickly got changed into a pink thin strapped lace dress and then hurried back into the dorm, where Abby laid quietly, still asleep. I then put on light eye make-up and a bit of coral lipstick, before accessorizing with pink brackets and sunglasses.

My phone then buzzed on my dresser as I walked over to pick it up. 'Wanna meet up at Starbucks in half an hour? -Andy xxxx' Andy asked, and typed back a quick yes before continuing with my outfit by ading some studded sandal heels and a black biker jacket. I then quickly tied my hair up into a messy bun, before stuffing my English stuff into my brown leather bag and hurried out of the door.

I made it to Starbucks a few minutes early and ordered a strawberry iced frappe when Andy walked through the door. "Hey!" She greeted, smiling happily as she walked straight over to me as it was so early in the morning that no-one else was in the cue.

"Hey!" I replied handing the man my money. Andy then ordered a vanilla iced-frappe, and we waited for the drinks to be made, discussing our essays.

After a few minutes of waiting, out drinks were handed to us, and we decided to sit outside and bask in America's famous summer sun. "I really love your dress" Andy told me and I smiled at her fiddling with the lace hem.

"Thanks, I can't even remember where I got it from!" I laughed, taking a sip from my frappe. "So how was your day off?" I asked and Andy shrugged, sipping from her drink.

"It was alright, I had the guys over and Abby, you should have come! We had a great time!" Andy gushed and I smiled softly.

"Yeah, I was skyping my boyfriend, plus I kind of needed some alone time." I told her, even though both of my points contradicted themselves. "Well, I needed some time by myself, then I Skyped my boyfriend." I corrected and Andy chuckled, nodding.

"Yeah, Abby told me about your encounter with Harry. I'm really sorry, he's just an ass." Andy told me and I nodded weakly, taking a sip of my drink so that I didn't have to force a smile.

"I know, I was just a little hurt by the way that he put me down, you know? He talked about me like I was some crazy stalker girl who was not worthy of knowing him and it just, it kinda sucked." I told Abby, my eyes cast down on my thumbs as they fiddled with themselves nervously.

"Yeah, I know, he has a reputation of hurting girls. But at least you now know what he's like." Andy told me sincerely and I smiled at her weakly, before she moved onto a story of how Niall had managed to fit 10 marshmallows in his mouth all at once while playing 'chubby bunny'.

After a good 30 minute talk with Andy, we both began to walk towards our class, of course arriving 10 minutes early. We took our seats at the front and took out our essays, handing them to each other as we read each other's essays.

"It's really good! The structure is good and you made some good links between the different books." I told Abby as the chair next to me screeched along the floor. I raised my eyes up to find him staring down at me. Of course Harry would be in today, and of course he would take the seat next to me while looking nothing short of perfect. I rolled my eyes and looked back at Andy handing her her essay back as she went over my essay, giving me her feed back.

Half way into the lesson, the professor had given the class some written work to do about planning a novel. I tried hard to concentrate on my work, however it was almost impossible when I could see Harry watching me out of the corner of my eye. "Psst," he whispered, but I ignored him as I had told myself that I would have nothing to do with Harry Styles anymore after what had gone down yesterday.

However, Harry didn't seem to like my idea, as he began poking my arm. "What?" I growled at him and he furrowed his brows at me, probably shocked at my tone.

"What are we supposed to be doing?" He asked and I rolled my eyes at him, looking back down at my paper in front of me.

"You should have been listening." I whispered back, flicking my head to the side to look at him. He had a frown on his face and looked deep in thought.

"Why are you so mad at me?" He asked, and I sighed and continued with my work, ignoring his comment and his presence for the rest of the lesson.

At the end of the lesson I handed my work back to Mr Richards before I made my way out of the classroom. I walked out of the building and into the fresh air as someone tapped my shoulder. I swung around to face them and as met by the one person who I had been successfully ignoring up until now. "What do you want?" I hissed, turning around and began walking away, however Harry just began walking along side me.

"Why are you so mad at me?" He asked, matching my footsteps as we walked in time with each other. I shook my head, not quite understanding how he didn't know why I was mad at him.

"You're kidding me right?" I asked and Harry remained looking clueless as I laughed a forced laugh. "Just go away Harry, you made it very clear that you don't hang out with girls like me, so why not just stick to your words?" I replied.

"Don't tell me that you're actually offended by what happened yesterday?" Harry asked, genuinely shocked. "Look, I have a reputation to hold and you're-" Harry began, but I interrupted him mid sentence.

"And I'm just me. An average naive girl who would never stand a chance against you. I get it, I really do, ok?" I told him and Harry's eyes dropped out of what must have been sadness. "We're two people who are worlds apart. So, why don't you stick to your world, and I'll stick to mine." I told him, and turned to walk away. Harry didn't follow after me, which most probably meant that he knew that I was right.