Things were awkward.

Harry did not dare to look at Louis. Some would think that he was ignoring his (ex-?)best friend, but since Harry had clung to Niall's side like a lifeline ever since the fight, he knew better. Niall knew that Harry was just as much focused on Louis as before, but that the sight of him was heartbreaking for Harry.

Louis, on the other hand, seemed greatly bothered that Harry was not giving him any attention and started teasing and tantalizing the poor boy every chance he got, leaving angrily every time he got no reaction out of him.

Niall was sick and tired of their behaviours. He saw how much it hurt Harry whenever his best friend was rude to him. And Harry, well, Niall loved Harry, honestly. But it started to bother him that Harry could not seem to go anywhere without him. He was constantly following Niall and seeking him out like a lost puppy whenever they had different classes. It was suffocating.

It was another confirmation that Louis and Harry where perfect for each other. They used to be together 24/7 and never grew tired of each other. Niall wanted to find someone like that. A girl, preferably.

He glanced at Harry who was strolling over the grass beside him, noticing him frowning. Following his like of vision, he rolled his eyes.

There was Louis, but not alone. For the past few weeks, he was always seen in with the 'coolest kids of the school'-group, which consisted of the most important people from the sports teams. And it seemed like Louis had forgotten that Zayn had been their enemy, because now they acted like best mates.

Not only that, but it seemed like Eleanor was always by his side, enjoying the attention of being the new 'star couple', though Louis did not seem opposed either.

"Come on." Niall wrapped an arm around Harry and led him away from the sight. They decided to go to the study room to get some work done.

//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\

"Almost finished. What about you?" Harry asked quietly to not disturb the other students.

"Umm... might take a while." Niall said, hoping Harry got the hint.

"Okay, I'll wait."

Did not get the hint then, Niall thought. "You can go up to our room alone, if you want." He said casually.

"No, no. It's fine. I'll wait." Harry insisted. Niall sent him a forced smile, sighing internally. He felt bad trying to shake the heartbroken boy off but... he just felt like he needed some time to himself.

So he tried again when they were back in their room. "Harry?" He said carefully. "I wanted to go to the sushi restaurant in the evening."

Harry nodded. "Sounds good. I haven't had Sushi in ages."

"Umm... Haz." Niall said, carefully watching his friend. "I wanted to go... with a girl." Harry looked at him, puzzled, so Niall added. "Alone."

Harry's eyes widened, a flash of panic passing through his eyes. "Oh."

"Yeah." Niall said awkwardly.

"Why can't I come?" Harry asked.

"Umm..." Niall tried to find an excuse that would not hurt Harry. "Umm... It's a date." He lied.

"I can still come." Harry insisted. "I'll be quiet."

Niall facepalmed. "That's not how dates work."

"Then I just sit on another table. Who is the girl?"

"Umm..." Niall hesitated. There was no girl. "Jesy."

"Jesy?" Harry asked in disbelief. "But I thought she was interested in that Troy guy."

"Umm... yeah." Niall contemplated if he should keep this lie going, but decided against it. "Okay, there is no girl. I just want to go alone."

"Why?" Harry asked. "I can keep you company. Alone is boring."

"Well, some people need to be alone once in a while." Niall saw that Harry was about to protest but he was losing his patience. "For heavens sake, Harry. I can't be your Louis-substitute. I'm sorry what happened between you to but sometimes I just need my alone time to breath and not constantly having a Harry glued to my side!"
Niall immediately regretted his words when he saw Harry's crushed expression. He looked like he was about to cry. "Harry..."

"No, I get it." Harry stood up and walked to the door. "Everyone gets tired of me eventually. Even my Boo." He slammed the door.

Niall sighed and sat down, burying his face in his hands. This was a mess.

/7/7/7/7/7/7/7/7/7/7/7/7/7/

Everyone was shocked when Harry brought a new... friend to their dinner table the next evening. Not only had Harry never been the most sociable person, always happy with just one particular person by his side, but the guy he brought was also not the kind of people they normally associated with.

The guy had red rimmed eyes, which meant he probably had just smoked weed, and his whole outfit was black. His tattooed arms were on display since he was wearing a crop top. Niall wondered how he had gotten his tattoos since he definitely was not eighteen yet.

"Hi guys." Harry said as he took a seat and pulled a chair next to him for the unknown guy to sit down. "This is Billie Sandford. He is one class above ours." Harry introduced the boy.

Billie barely reacted, just looked at their full plates judgementally and started eating his salad. Niall furrowed his eyebrows. Why was Harry talking to this guy? He had not seen Harry all day. But he thought the boy was just still hurt from when Niall wanted to have his alone time yesterday. Apparently, Harry had used that time to make a new friend, but why Billie?

The guy seemed to feel eyes on him and glared at Niall distastefully, then swept his hand across his forehead to adjust his fringe. This gesture, it reminded Niall an awful lot of someone...

Liam leaned close to him and whispered. "He looks like Louis, don't you think?"

Niall nodded slowly, looking closer at Billie's messy, light brown fringe, his blue eyes and sharp features. Although he noted that Louis looked much better than this boy whose features were constantly wearing a judgemental look.

"Really?" Was the first thing Billie said. He was talking to Perrie. She and Jade had joined their table since the other three girls went off with Louis and his 'cool' group. "Are you gonna eat this? It will make you even fatter."

"Excuse me?" Jade defended before anyone else could say anything. Perrie looked down on her stomach, insecure, then up to her cheese Sandwich. "Don't listen to him Perrie. You're not fat. Eat it!"

Perrie hesitated but Niall agreed. "She's right, Pez. You're not fat at all. And this sandwich is not gonna change anything."

Perrie looked at Niall's heavily loaded plate doubtfully, but slowly took the sandwich and bit into it. Billie rolled his eyes. "Your decision."

"What's your problem?" Niall snapped.

"Niall!" Harry glared. "He's just giving her advice."

"This is awful advice. If you can even call it that." Niall argued.

"If you can't stand me making new friends then you should leave." Harry said.

"What's that got to do with-" Niall cut himself off. "You know what? We have to talk. Alone." He looked down on his food and added. "After dinner."

//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//

Niall did not get the chance to talk to Harry after dinner. And also not on the next day. Harry was avoiding him. He came to their group with Billie but every time Niall tried to get him alone the two would disappear.

Also, there was another sheet hanging on the news wall, showing details about the first task in the partner project, which was the hot topic now and distracted Niall often from his aim.

Apparently, the first task was just a normal school presentation but with a visual or model they had to come up with fitting to the topic. The over all topic was 'partners and social interaction' and they had to find a topic which the PhD students had to approve of. That was basically it.

Almost everyone Niall had talked to were disappointed with the task. They all had expected something... more exciting. Especially after that whole hassle of finding a partner.
Except for Liam, who said that it could be a very exciting task if you made it just that.

During these two days, Billie made no better impression than he had at the first evening. He ate a chewing gum loudly, judgementally eyed their outfits and made distasteful comments on whatever they were doing. According to Billie, their room was too bright, their topics were boring, they were boring since they did not have any weed, Liam's hair was so last century, and so on.

But Harry never seemed to be bothered by Billie's behaviour and comments. He did not even really listen, Niall assumed. He had to knock some sense into the boy.

The chance came after school. When Niall came into their room, the only people inside were Liam, Harry and Billie. Zayn and Louis seemed to barely be there anymore.

"Okay!" Niall said loudly, clapping his hands once to gain attention. "Billie, Liam, out! I need to talk to Harry alone."

"No-" Harry tried to protest but Niall threw his bag into a corner and strode over to him, grabbing his wrist and forcing him to stay seated on his bed.

"Out please." Liam obliged easily, mouthing him 'good luck' before opening the door, holding it open for Billie, who was rolling his eyes but fortunately did not say anything.

"I don't get why you're always going against Lou- Billie." Harry complained. "He is a really nice guy."

Niall gave him a deadpanning glare but Harry just stared back cluelessly, making Niall sigh. "Look, we get that you miss Louis-"

"What does Louis have to do with anything?" Harry interrupted defensively.

"Harry, please listen first, okay?" Niall said. "We get that you miss Louis, we really do. But looking for a substitute-Louis won't help, yeah?"

"I'm not-"

"Don't even try denying it."Niall cut of any protests. "Billie looks similar to Louis and you're trying to replace him. I get it, okay? You have to cope somehow, but this is not the way. Billie is awful. He's constantly judging us and making us feel insecure even though we've never done anything to him."

"No, you're just misunderstanding him."

"Maybe." Niall said. "But we still don't like him. And you should open your eyes and see what he's doing to us. Harry," Niall was sure to make eye contact before continuing. "He is not Louis. No one can replace Louis."

At that, Harry seemed to crumble. Niall opened his arms wordlessly and let Harry bury himself into Niall's shoulder, shaking with sobs again. He did that way too often these past few weeks.

Niall really hoped Louis would figure out his shit soon.

A/N: Who do you want Niall to date???