Harry and I sit at our lunch table and talk. It's more of me trying to convince him to sing.

"Come on Hazza!!! You have an amazing voice!!"

"Louis, you know I can't. I told you I'd ruin it."

"You won't ruin anything, love. Please do it!"

"Lou I want to but I just can't."

"For me Harry. Do it for me. Please?" I whisper.

"I just can't." He holds his head in his hands.

"Try? We'll position you in such a way that you only see me. You can pretend it's just the both of us, please? Try during practice today?"

He takes a deep breath. "Okay Lou. I'll try for you." He says, his voice cracking. I wrap my arms around him tightly.

"Thank you so much, Harry. I love you."

"I love you too, Louis. You're welcome." He giggles. He fucking giggles.

"Awww Hazzy. You just giggled." I coo and he pouts.

"No, I didn't."

"Did too."

"Did not!!!"

"You did Harry."

"I didn't Louis stop it."

"But it's cute. You deffo giggled."

"But I didn't."

"Just admit it Harry. You giggled."

"I did not giggle Louis William Tomlinson."

"But you did." I pout.

"Louis!!!"

"Fine whatever."

"Don't be mad now." He rubs my arm.

"You're lying. I don't like liars."

"For heaven's sake, Louis!" I stick my tongue out at him and cross my arms stubbornly.

"Lou...." I ignore him. "Louis." He singsongs and I continue ignoring him. "Tommo!" I roll my eyes. "Fine then I'm leaving." He gets up irritably.

"No!" I yell and he raises his eyebrows at me.

"I'm not gonna sit here while you ignore me."

"Why don't you just admit that you giggled?" I whine.

"I'm going now."

"Okay okay okay. That topic is over. No more of it."

"Good." He sits down and I make a face at him. "I can't believe you're fighting me over a damn giggle."

"HA!" I point at him. "So you admit it was a giggle."

"LOUIS!!"

"Fine." I huff. "But you admitted it." I murmur under my breath. I pout and my phone buzzes.

.

. My little sisters who r half our age type faster.

I sigh. He's a fail. Now and always.

I sigh and add him back, locking my phone. Harry looks at me and we both burst into laughter.

-x-x-

"Y'all ready?" Josh calls and we nod. "Kay. Five six seven eight!"

Niall begins his solo with all instruments and we all nod along. Harry doesn't join in the last line but I let it slide. Just as Niall finishes I begin nodding along to the beat. I internally pray that Harry sings his part

Zayn starts the chorus and the drum beats get louder and stronger. All of us are supposed to join in the end. We all do but Harry doesn't. I decide to give it time.

Liam continues with his solo but when Harry doesn't start his I decide to stop the practice. "Hold on!" I call out and Josh Niall and Liam stop playing. I go over to Harry and kneel down beside him placing my hands on his knees. "Harry...."

"I told you I couldn't do it, Lou." He mumbles only for me to hear. I take his hand.

"Harry, I know you can do it, okay? I have faith in you love. Come on. Try, once again, just try."

"Okay. I'm sorry if I'm unable too."

"Hey!! Don't be so hard on yourself. I'm sure you can do it if you want to." I take my place. "Let's take it from the top yeah?" I say and we begin.

Twenty failed tries and nearly two hours later, Harry still can't sing. He gets up and walks out mumbling "I need a breather" to me.

They all just stare at him incredulously as he walks out. "What's his deal?" Zayn exclaims rudely.

"Shut up Zayn. He's been through a lot. You don't know shit and you can't judge him. I'll be back. Take a water break or something y'all. We're meeting back in five." I walk out.

Harry is leaning on the balcony railing with his shoulders hunched. I go over and tap his shoulder making him jump.

"Oh it's you." He looks at me for a split second.

"Yeah. You okay?"

He hums in the affirmative. "I'm sorry, though. I can't do it."

"But Harry I-"

"No Lou." He holds up his hand. "I can't and I won't." He crosses his arms stubbornly and looks over my shoulder, avoiding eye contact.

"There's still two weeks. You can do it y'know."

"I heard Zayn, Louis. He's annoyed with me. It was very nice of you to defend me but I'm sorry. They just don't have as much patience with me."

"Harry Edward Styles, I'm going to get you to sing, no matter what, just you wait." I say determinedly. "Come on in. We still have 20 minutes." I drag him in. "Okay boys, let's do this, this time Harry will sing." I glare at him playfully.

As we begin the chorus I kneel by Harry. "Sing love." I whisper as his part comes but he just looks around fearfully. 3 practices later, he's still scared. "Let's wrap this up, it's getting late." I call and with murmurs of agreement everyone starts packing. "Good practice lads." I say and Zayn snorts.

"Zayn?" He turns around. "Wanna talk to you." I turn to Harry. "I'll be back in a minute." I grab Zayn by the arm and drag him out.

"What the fuck Lou, let go of my fucking arm." He yanks his arm out of my grasp.

"Zayn you can't fucking do that."

"What'd I do?"

"Harry's trying alright? You can't fucking discourage him like that. This is his fucking tune and most of his lyrics. Least you could do is be grateful."

"Listen man. This thing is in two weeks. Dunno about you but I really value 95% of my grade."

"More than a friend?"

"More than some selectively mute weirdo!"

"ZAYN!!!"

"WHAT LOU??? ALL YOU EVER FUCKING DO ANYMORE IS HANG OUT WITH HIM!!! IT'S ALWAYS HARRY HARRY HARRY!!! I WAS YOUR BEST MATE MAN. WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED. WE USED TO GO OUT EVERY FUCKING DAY!!!"

"You mean we used to get stoned out of our fucking minds every other day. We used to bully little children. Zayn I became a better person. Man if weed is what our friendship is built on then I'm fucking glad I spend almost all my time on Harry. Have you ever even tried to get to fucking know him? Do you know the kind of shit he's been through? You're a shit friend dude. He means a lot to me okay? I really care about him. I myself don't know what he's been through but I'm gonna do every fucking thing I can to protect him."

"You're mad Tommo. You're infatuated with him."

"This isn't infatuation man. Infatuation was what you had with David Beckham in 7th grade. If this was you Zayn, I wouldn't have abandoned you and I'm not gonna abandon him either. I'm not infatuated with him. I care about him. I- I - " I shake my head. "Forget it. I'm going home. Call me when you clear your fucking head and stop acting like a fucking twat."

"No wait. Say it. What you were gonna say. You what? You're in love with him, aren't you? You're whipped. You don't just care about everyone Tommo. You're a sassy little shit who doesn't give a fuck and suddenly Harry comes around and you're Mother Teresa? You're in fucking love. And you're gonna fucking regret it. He's mad and he's gonna ruin you."

"I'm not" I clear my throat. "I'm not in love with him. He's not gonna ruin me and he definitely isn't mad. He's gonna sing on the final day and he's gonna do it better than you. You pride your vocals don't you? He's gonna fucking show you man. He's gonna own the song and no one will spare you a second glance. Don't fucking talk to me or Harry unless what you've got to say is a fucking apology because you fucking owe it after all this bs you just said." I storm back in. "Harry?" I see him crouched near the entrance door. "Shit are you okay darling?" I crouch near him.

"Please don't scream. Too loud. My head hurts." He pulls at his hair.

"Harry, oh my god, I'm so sorry." I wrap my arms around him. "Calm down, love. It's just me. It's just Louis. Shhhhh calm down baby. Take a deep breath. Breathe for me." He buries his head in my neck and cries.

"Too loud. Too many screams. Too much fighting. Too much too much too much."

I hush him. "Don't worry baby. No more fighting or loud screams or anything okay? Breathe with me." I hold him close and he slowly calms down.

"Sing for me?" He requests.

"Of course. I start singing the first song that comes to mind. This by Ed Sheeran.

"I love Ed Sheeran." I smile softly.

"You are the start of something new..." I finish with a warm smile helping Harry up and we go to my car, Harry falling asleep as soon as I buckle him up.