Niall walked quickly through his school doors. He had 10 minutes until class, so he had enough time to look for his locker, and his first class. As Niall walked causally down the hall, oblivious to the looks he got, he started to hum a song he heard on the radio last night. He couldn't remember the name, but he liked the song.

Finally after turning down a few different halls, Niall found his locker, and to his luck, his class was right across the hall from it. Niall put in his combination, and pried the locker open. Niall was shocked when he found that they had given him a good locker.

Last year, Niall had to trade 3 different lockers, because they wouldn't open. He felt sorry for the people who got those. Niall started up the humming again, and put the books away he wouldn't need until after lunch. He was closing his locker, when he heard his name.

"Horan! There you are." Josh quipped. Josh was the head captain of the football team, so he was quite popular, but he was also the leader of the group that beat him up.

Nonetheless, Niall smiled. "Here I am, Josh. Did you need something?"

Josh gave Niall a weird look. How could he be so friendly to someone that beat him up? He swung his arm around Niall's shoulders, and leaned into him to whisper in his ear.

"Meet me in the toilets during lunch. Got it?" He hissed.

Niall nodded, and bit his lip. He was hoping Josh wouldn't bug him today. He actually wanted to make it to lunch this time, and have time to eat. Last time he met Josh in the toilets, he had only five minutes to eat.

"Okay, Josh. See you then." Niall smiled at him again, before walking away.

"The fuck is up with Horan? Why is he always smiling?" Niall heard behind him.

"Don't know, kids strange."

Someone snorted, "Got that right." 

Niall walked into his first period, and went straight up to the teacher. Every teacher in the school knew of, or about, Niall. Niall was talked amongst with the teachers. They liked him; he was a good student, good grades, never in trouble, polite.

"Hello, Mr. Douglas. I'm Niall." Niall beamed at him, and offered his hand to the teacher.

Mr. Douglas smiled, and sighed in relief. . He was hoping to get Niall before he left, and he did. He couldn't be happier. Mr. Douglas shook Niall's hand, and led him to his seat. Front row, first desk.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Niall. I've heard a lot about you from your old teachers. I'm excited to work with you this year." Mr. Douglas chirped happily.

Niall blushed, but ducked his head down to hide it. "Thank you, I'm glad to be in this class." He whispered.

He heard Mr. Douglas chuckle, before he was clapped on the back. Retreating footsteps caused him to look up, and Niall smiled again, ready to start the lesson.

--

By time lunch rolled around, Niall had every teacher cooing over him. He couldn't help it; it was the way he was. Niall was just generally a nice person, and thought everything was nice. Niall thought everyone should have been this way, but he was wrong.

He just didn't want to believe it. People weren't nice; people did bad things, and said bad things. Niall didn't like that, and it made people steer clear of him. They thought he was a goody two shoes, he was innocent. 

They called him a freak when he told them he has never seen a scary movie. Niall didn't like scary movies, it was all bad. Killing was bad, cussing was bad, and everything in scary movies was bad.

Niall hurriedly walked to his locker, before replacing his books for the ones he would need after lunch. He stuffed them into his book bag, and almost sprinted to the toilets. He didn't want Josh mad at him for being late, and then the beating would be harder.

"Sorry I'm late." Niall said as he busted through the doors. He was panting a little from running and being out of shape.

Josh looked up at the new voice, and grinned wide. "Niall, right on time pal. I was starting to wonder if you would show up. I thought you'd bail."

Niall was quick to shake his head. "Bailing on people isn't right." He whispered.

Josh nodded, "That's right Niall. Bailing is very bad, it makes people mad." He hissed in his face.

"Did I make you mad, Josh?" Niall whispered again.

Josh chuckled, "No Niall, you made it right on time."

Before Niall could speak, a fist was thrown his way. It landed on his cheek, but it didn't stop there. Josh had punched, and kicked, and slammed until Niall lay breathless on the ground. Josh simply rolled his shoulders, rubbed his knuckles, and walked to the door to leave.

"Same time tomorrow, Horan. Oh, and I'd hurry if I were you. Lunch ends in fifteen."

Niall nodded weakly. Even though he didn't understand why he was being beat up and beating people up was bad, Niall had assumed something bad was happening to Josh at home and he just needed someone to take the built up anger out on. Niall was oblivious to things around him.

Niall had finally gained his breath back, and slowly sat up until his back was leaning against the wall. He decided he'd skip lunch today, and just eat when he got home. He would start packing his lunch, so he could eat in the toilets after his beating. That way he wouldn't miss lunch.

Niall smiled at his idea, he loved it. Fifteen minutes ticked by, and the bell had rung. Niall had tried to stand, and he succeeds with bearable pain through his body. He didn't want to look in the mirror, knowing he was covered in bruises, and blood. So he simply washed his face, and left to class.

--

Niall had received strange looks most of the day, a lot were pity though. They knew what happened during lunch every day, but nobody had the guts to stand up, or tell a teacher. They did feel bad for Niall, even if everyone found him strange, but that wasn't why people didn't befriend him.

Some people in the school didn't care how weird he was, but they were threatened to never speak to him. Josh had something out for him, and nobody knew why, but nobody wanted to get beat like Niall was, so they all shut their mouths and kept quiet.

Everybody, well almost everybody, knew of Niall. The only person who didn't was, Harry Styles.

Harry had heard Niall's name pass him through the halls, and he thinks he has seen him a couple times, but he wasn't sure. When he asked his best pal, Louis, who Niall was, Louis quickly looked away and shrugged. He knew Louis was lying, but he didn't bother to pry into it.

He just assumed Niall was a popular kid who got all the ladies. He didn't know who he really was, and he wasn't going to find out, at least not yet.

--

Harry turned to his best friend, "Hey Lou, I have to use the restroom. Come with me?"

Louis quickly grabbed Harry's hand, and pulled him back down. "Um, Harry, you can't. You know the toilets are off limits during lunch." Louis laughed nervously.

Harry peered at his friend, looking at him strangely. "But Lou, I really need to piss." Harry pouted.

"Haz there is only five minutes left, you can wait." Louis replied sharply, leaving no room to argue. Harry puffed out a reply, and turned away, getting lost in his own little world once again.

Louis always wondered what Harry thought about, it must have been really interesting if Harry got lost in it every day. He never pried though, if Harry wanted to spill, then he would.

--

Finally the five minutes were up, and Harry almost ran to the toilets. He dodged past people, muttering 'sorry' if he ran into them. He seen the doors, and he was ready to push it open when it opened, and a boy with blonde hair came rushing out.

He quickly took in the boys features, and noticed bruises were forming on his face and arms. He turned towards the boy, ready to say something, but he was gone.