I walked through the school doors, heading for the front office to collect my schedule. I spotted a woman behind the desk and offered a smile before speaking. “Hi, my name is Harry Edward Styles, and I was wondering if this is where I pick up my schedule?” She returned my smile and nodded.
“Harry Edward Styles…your schedule will be printed shortly. If you don’t mind waiting and sitting in those chairs over there, I’ll call you when it’s ready.” I nodded politely. “Thank you,” I said, and moved towards the chairs lined against the wall, settling into one of them. Minutes ticked by. "Dammit...the printer is jammed...how about we email your schedule to you?" she suggested, frustration evident in her tone. I shrugged.
I gave her my email address, and within a minute, a message titled ‘Schedule’ appeared in my inbox. I thanked her again before leaving the office and stepping into the bustling hallways. A groan escaped my lips. This was going to be my secret life as an undercover agent for years to come…the thought alone was suffocating.
My father, head of the agency, had ensured I finished school quickly at eighteen, prioritizing my education before fully immersing myself in this life. I’d handled the knowledge requirements, but the sheer length of this assignment, the frustration of living a double life, felt overwhelming.
I couldn’t focus on anything beyond the immediate task, lost in thought, I bumped into someone by the lockers. “Ow…” “Ouch…” “I’m so sorry,” I blurted out, chuckling self-deprecatingly. “Tend to get so lost in my head, it messes with my clumsiness.”
“It’s alright. At least you have the decency to apologize,” the other boy said, his tone surprisingly even. I smiled. “The name’s Harry.”
“Well, welcome to the good life of university, Harry. Please tell me that you caught the sarcasm?” He joked, and I laughed, understanding the underlying weariness. They walked together for a little while, and then the boy was picked up by strong arms. The arms belonged to a boy with short, light brown hair and matching brown eyes.
“Hey Zaynie,” the boy greeted, and my new acquaintance flashed a brilliant smile. “Hey Lima.” Then came a moment of quiet intimacy. They shared a sweet kiss, and I couldn’t help but notice the love in their eyes.
Zayn pulled away and looked at me. “Oh my god, do you have a problem with gays?” He asked, his voice laced with nervousness. I smiled, a genuine one. “No, I’m quite supportive of the LGBTQ community. I actually have a rainbow flag hanging above my bed. Plus, I’m bi, so it would be pretty weird to hate gays when I’m kind of gay as well.”
Relief washed over Zayn’s face. “My name is Harry. It’s a pleasure to meet you Lima,” I greeted, and the two boys laughed. “That’s not his actual name. That is his nickname for me to use.” Zayn explained. “Yeah, my actual name is Liam. You can call me Li though,” Liam added, and I smiled.
“Well it’s a pleasure to meet you Liam,” I corrected, and he returned the smile before we shook hands. “So what do you major in?” Zayn asked. “Music and Photography,” I replied. “Oh? Well I major in Music and Arts while Liam’s is Music and History. Don’t know how he can handle that boring shit, but that’s what he majors in,” Zayn said, and I saw Liam roll his eyes.
“History isn’t bad. It’s actually pretty interesting,” he defended. “I didn’t say that it was bad. I just said that it was and is really boring,” Zayn repeated, and I chuckled as Liam rolled his eyes again. “Anyways, what class do you have right now, Harry?” Liam asked, and I glanced at my phone. “Um…English with Ms. Sheeran?”
“Oh good! A good friend of ours named Niall has that class as well. We can drop you off there so that the two of you can get to know each other. Now what block do you have for lunch?” Zayn asked, and I looked at my schedule again. “It says block C.” “That’s our lunch. You can sit at our table when Lunch comes around.” Zayn told me, and I smiled.
They walked me to my English class, and the three of us entered. In the front, a boy with bleached blonde hair was looking out the window. He brightened when he heard the door open, recognizing his friends. “Thank god you’re here, I was getting so bored!” he exclaimed.
“Hey Ni,” Zayn said. “Hey Z.” “Hey Niall? Where’s Louis?” “Where do you think he is?” “With Eleawhore?” Zayn guessed. “Ding! Ding! Ding! We got a winner!” "Ugh. I don't see why he's still with her. Can he not see that she's only using him for sex? The bitch don't even sit with him at lunch. She's with other guys, and he always has some type of excuse as to why she wasn't with him like he planned," Liam said, his voice dripping with frustration.
“I know right? Anywho! Who’s this?” Niall asked, and I smiled. “Niall, this is a new friend of ours and he’s new here. His name is Harry,” Zayn answered, and Niall’s smile widened. “Yay! Well, my name is Niall, and it’s very nice to meet you mate!”
“The feelings mutual,” I said before looking around. “Um where should I sit?” I asked, and Niall moved his bag from the seat next to him. “Please sit here, if Louis sits here then he’s going to talk about nothing but that bitch, and trust me, you have no idea how many times I’ve been so close to shooting his or my own brain out,” he exaggerated, and I chuckled before settling into the seat.
“Well, I need to drop Zayn off at his art class and I need to get to my History class. See the two of you later,” Liam said, and I nodded. “Bye lads, see you at lunch,” Niall said before the two boys walked out of the classroom. “So Niall, is this teacher tolerable?” I asked as the bell rang, signaling the start of class.
“Oh yeah, for every question that she asks, if you get it right, then you’ll get 10 pieces of candy. If you volunteer for anything, then you get 10.” “Really?” “Yeah, she is the very chill and perky kind of teacher. This is my favorite class actually,” Niall replied.
I took the advice and went through the class, and by the end of it, I had 50 pieces of candy. Niall glared at me, he only had 10. With a smile, I gave him 25 and he immediately stopped glaring at me, and he gave me a hug, thanking me profusely. I chuckled, telling him it was no big deal, but he insisted he’d repay me at some point.
The bell rang, and I headed to my photography class. Walking through the halls, I passed an intersection and bumped into another person.
“Watch where you are going, you prick. You ruined my lipstick!” The girl whined, and I fought the urge to roll my eyes. I just had to smile and offer my apologies…I was lucky to have been raised well.
“Now why do I have to watch where I’m going, princess? I was going straight and it was clear for me before you bumped into me?” I asked instead of apologizing. “Oh, fuck off!” “I’m sorry princess, do you need little old me to help with your lipstick?” I asked, mocking her tone. “No, but you can leave me the fuck alone!”
“I mean, we wouldn’t be still talking if you wouldn’t just keep walking. Your the one who is bugging me actually,” I said, letting my attitude show. “Oh my god, you’re so ann-" "And you’re still talking to me, why?" I asked, cutting her off.
She opened her mouth to speak, but I was guessing she knew I had a comeback for everything she was about to say because she just closed her mouth, scoffed, and walked away. “Hope to see you again, princess!” I shouted sarcastically, and she flipped me the bird. I laughed.
I walked to my photography class, and sat in the middle of the room, chuckling to myself as I remembered the interaction with the girl. Point 1 for Mr. Styles, 0 points for the biggest bitch on this planet.
The bell snapped me out of my thoughts, and I looked to see the teacher already at the board, writing the lesson of the day. “Rule of 3rds, can any of you describe to me what this term means?” He asked, and I smiled, raising my hand.
“Ah yes, Mr…” “Styles,” I filled in, and he smiled. “Well Mr. Styles, can you tell us your knowledge based on the Rule of 3rds?” I nodded, and stood up. “The Rule of 3rds is when you take a photo of a person or of a thing and it must touch three quadrants on the camera.”
“Mind showing us an example?” He asked, and I shrugged before walking to the front of the class. I took a marker and drew the quadrants that you would see through a normal camera, and I drew an apple right on it. “Take this for example,” I said, pointing at my drawing.
“The apple is touching these three quadrants, which actually makes this picture a good picture. If the thing or person that you are taking a photo of touches any of these squares, and it has to be 3 squares, then you just took a good picture,” I further explained, and my teacher nodded his head in approval.
“Nice job Mr. Styles, you may take your seat now,” He told me, and I thanked him before walking back to my seat. He simply used what I said, but added a bit more detail into it. When he had us take our phones and go out to take a picture of anything, we all got out.
I took my phone and walked around to see if anyone was watching me, and I called into the agency to report in. “Nancy. Tell Des that I’ve made it into the school, and that I’m waiting on my next step on this task.” I spoke as I pressed 5 on my phone and she was on my screen. She nodded and wrote the message on a paper. “Copy that, but in the meantime, keep your guard up. That school has a lot of people and we can’t risk you getting caught.” She warned me.
“I know that Nancy. I am the highest skilled agent that is in this business. Now I have to go, I can’t have my teacher catching me.” “Copy that, we’ll be ready for your report by the end of the day.” “Yes mam,” Was the last thing before I hung up and opened up my camera and took a picture of something random before I chose to head back to class.
I showed the picture to my teacher and he smiled at it. “Nice job, Mr. Styles, you are going to be a great photographer in your future.” He complimented, and I smiled. “Thank you sir.” I told him before I walked back to my desk and went through the rest of my class.