Mia's POV:

I block out all of the obnoxious laughter and gossip that my friends find interesting, as the faint pattering of the rain fills my ears. I usually tried my best to steer clear of talking shit on somebody I didn't even know.

My eyes avert to my untouched food as my stomach slightly rumbles. I look up only for Niall's eyes to meet mine. We weren't on very good terms at the moment, but he smiles at me in a friendly manner. I smile back and turn my head back to the window, trying not to really think of our most recent fight.

"Are you going to finish that?" Eleanor asks me, pulling me away from my own thoughts.

I look at her and shake my head. "No, I'm not really hungry. Why?"

She smiles, "Louis was too shy to ask. So, he made me."

I stare at Louis as a small smile tugs at my lips, "Go ahead." I say, pushing it towards him.

He's one of the shyest of the group, but I was the same. Not necessarily shy, but I usually kept to myself. I had a big group of friends, but I didn't really care to talk to half of them.

I put in my headphones blasting my usual playlist of music (filled with my favorite singers and bands, or anything I heard that was catchy on the radio), when two girls named Ashley and Baylee at our table catch my attention. They keep laughing as they point noticeably at me, or somebody directly behind me. Did I have something on my face? I take out one of my headphones to listen into their conversation.

"Damn, he's fine! Tell me Baylee, how is he having a hard time finding a place to sit?" Ashley asks, dreamily.

Baylee just snorts, "Because he's an asshole, and loser. Don't you listen to anything Harry and his friends say? Don't let his good looks get to you." I turn around getting a slight glance at the boy that they were directing their conversation towards.

"Hey!" I butt in, quite angrily. "Why are you judging him? You don't even know him. And since when are Harry and his friends a reliable source on who to talk to? They only say those things about people they feel threatened by."

Sadly, it was true. If Harry and his friends felt any sort of threat towards anybody, they would start talking shit on them, saying mean things about them making sure nobody would talk to them. It was quite sad, actually. Let it be the person's looks, or grades--the boys would want them gone. And by the looks of it, they started spreading these rumors about this kid due to how attractive he was; they don't want to be kicked down on the social ladder.

Baylee rolls her eyes, "Oh butt out, Mia!"

"Or what?" I snap, glaring at her intensly.

Liam's eyes dart over to us, "He is bad news, Mia."

I turn my head towards him, "Oh my God, Liam. You are just like everybody else in this school. Remember that time Harry and his friends spread those rumors about you and nobody would talk to you? You were miserable! But Niall and I still invited you to sit with us, and we found out none of those rumors were true. Just please don't judge him at first glace. You know what? I'm going to invite him over here."

Where did I get this sudden rush of confidence? Why am I speaking to them this way? I would usually keep my opinion out of their conversations.

"Uh, don't you dare. We don't want a freak sitting with us." Baylee snaps.

"Too bad. You're sitting with us, aren't you?" I raise an eyebrow, tauntingly.

She glares at me, "Whatever."

I stand up shakily as I strut over to the boy whom I didn't even know. His eyes widen as he sees me. "Um, hi."

"Hi." He replies, looking me up and down in curiosity.

"Would you like to sit with us?" I ask, motioning over to the table where we all sat.

He smirks slightly for a moment, "Why not?"

I smile, "Follow me."

I lead him over, and sit down, slightly shoveing McKenzie over to give him room to sit. She does so, moving closer to Dominic in the process. The boy hesitates but sits down next to me.

"I'm Mia Clarke, and you are?" I ask, breaking the silence between us.

"I'm Zayn Malik." I smile at the name, something about the way it rolled off his tongue.

"Any particular reason you moved here?"

He scrunches his eyebrows up for a moment and then talks, "I got tired of London. Honestly, I've always wanted to move to America. Just the vibe of it seems more my style. My parents though, didn't want to leave. So I packed up and moved in with my aunt."

"Oh, what part of London?" It surprised me he didn't like London. I always wanted to visit there one day.

"Bradford. I honestly like Longdale so much better. I love how it's just a small town, and nobody really knows about it. I always have wanted to live in a small town." Zayn explains.

"Bradford? My grandpa lives there. Maybe you two know each other? But, I like Longdale a lot too."

Zayn nods in agreement, ignoring my comment about maybe knowing my grandpa. "I also like the woods. I get a great view from my room."

"You live by the woods?" I ask, my heart rate increasing.

"Yep."

Only so many people lived by the woods, like me. "What street?"

We are cut off by Delila, "So you're Zayn?"

I glare at her as Zayn suddenly turns his back to me.

"Bitch." I mutter under my breath.

Of course, Delila doesn't pay any attention to me. She hates me and always will hate me. Ignorantly, she claims I stole Harry Styles from her. She says that he liked her a lot, until I, not wanting too, became his partner in science. She said that he stopped liking her after he met me. But I don't understand her logic. If he truly liked her, why would he drop her for me? It's not like I liked him anyway, he was a "man whore"--as many would call him--but I think he just has quite a lot of girlfriends.  He banged any female thing that lived. It's disgusting, really.

My eyes make their way towards his table, but it turns out he's already staring at me. I quickly turn my head back to my table.

Eleanor stares at me blankly, "Sorry what?"

"I asked if you were feeling alright. You don't look too good." Everyone's attention at the table turns to me.

"Uh, yeah. I'm feeling totally fine." I lie, now that I think about it I feel like shit.

"Are you sure? You're really pale." Niall explains.

My eyes widen as I feel the familiar lump rising in my throat. "No!" I answer, quickly.

I stand up, rushing out of the lunchroom. Not wanting to be embarrassed, I run faster down the halls as I hear a pair of footsteps walk behind me. I push open the girl's bathroom door and fling open a stall door, preparing myself to empty all of the contents in my stomach. But nothing comes out.

I sit there dry heaving for a minute or two when I feel a hand being placed on my shoulder. I turn around, slowly. As I turn around a name pops into my mind. Is it? Could it be Zayn? My heart drops as I see Harry looking down at me with worried eyes.

"Are you okay?" He asks.

"I-I'm fine, Harry. Thanks for making sure I was okay, but why are you here in the girl's bathroom?" I ask.

He looks down, "I was worried about you. You just ran out of the cafeteria, but it took me a few minutes to get the courage to follow you."

My mouth slightly parts, he wasn't the one who was walking down the hall after me? Who was then?

"When you came to check on me, did anyone else walk out of the cafeteria?" I ask Harry, exiting the girls bathroom with him hot on my trail.

He shakes his head, "No one besides Zayn-" my heart stops, did Zayn go to check on me? To see if I was alright? But Harry wasn't finished. "-and Delila."

"Oh." That's all that I can say. He went with Delila. But to do what? My stomach churns as I realize I knew the answer. I knew what they were doing alone.

"He's making a mistake though, she'll fuck him and leave him to go on to the next boy." Harry explains, probably noticing my disappointment.

Why am I even disappointed? I just met him today and simply had a short conversation with the boy for heaven sakes! But maybe it's the way when he talks his eyes light up, almost like no one has talked to him in the longest time. How when I walked up to him, his eyes lit up in mischief, or how he was so easy to speak to, all my shyness just vanished and I felt like I could talk to him forever.

"Hey, Mia?" Harry asks, waving his hand in my face.

"Oh, sorry." I apologize, staring into his dark green eyes.

"It's fine, you just kind of just spaced out." He laughs, the ends of his mouth turning up. I stare at him slightly, and he insecurely looks at the ground pushing his hair back casually.

"Again, I'm sorry. So, how do you know him?"

He scoffs, "I don't know him. I don't even know his name."

"Oh." I reply. "You sound like you aren't too fond of him."

"There's just something off about him, he's different."

"So? He's quite nice. And what's so bad about different? Our generation tries to make different cool, yet when somebody is actually different, we turn them away." I defend him.

"So you think." Harry mumbles, I barely catch what he says.

"What?" I ask. Was he saying that about Zayn being nice? I thought he didn't know him?

"Oh nothing. I was just thinking that maybe you shouldn't defend him so quickly. Do you know what I mean? He's been here a week and you just start talking to him. Don't you find that kind of odd? Why would he avoid everyone else, but when you go to talk to him, it's like he's attached already."

Attached? No, just intrigued maybe. But I couldn't help but think Harry is exaggerating a bit. Zayn isn't attached, we just talked. He just came and sat by me is all.

I let Harry's words sink in, "I get where you're coming from, but why are you so quick to judge? You don't even know him."

Harry looks away, "Oh trust me, I know him better than you think..."

"What?" I couldn't comprehend what he was saying. He claims he doesn't know who Zayn is, but yet, he's talking about him like he's known him his whole life.

----

Hello, and welcome to my new book "Darkness"! I really hope you all enjoyed the first chapter, and I know Harry is already a tad bit confusing already, but it is how I picture him in this story.

This book is going to be super fun to write, and I hope it is as equally fun to read. Like most of my other stories (ex. Haunted), this will be a paranormal/thriller story. Yet, it will not have the same story line at all. It will be completely different. And yes, I do realize half of my stories involve the paranormal. But can you blame me? Everybody loves a bit of scary in their life.

I'll be trying to update this 1-3 times a week, but most likely once or twice depending on time and inspiration.

Ashley Benson as Mia Clarke

Zayn Malik as Zayn Malik

Harry Styles as Harry Styles

Carlson Young as Delila Young