Chapter Text
They didn’t so much meet as they were thrown together due to annoying and entirely avoidable circumstances. Zayn, a senior at Glenmore High School, found himself in trouble after his teacher decided she’d finally had enough of him coming late to English class- seeing as it was for the hundredth time. Before, she’d mostly cut him some slack because despite his moody nonchalance towards most of his other classes, he was really quite good in English and it was his last semester in high school anyway so it wasn’t like she could suddenly change his tardy habit now.
But when he strolled in one Wednesday morning over 20 minutes late (usually he had the decency to at least keep it under 10 minutes), the scent of smoke and cologne trailing after him as he casually made his way to his chair, the young honey-haired Ms Hayden narrowed her eyes at him. “Good morning Zayn, so nice of you to go out of your way to be with us today. See me after class.”
To cut a long story short, after much disappointed tut-tutting and lecturing on her part and unmoved one-word answers on Zayn’s part, her eyes lit up and she told him that she had the perfect solution- his penance would be to tutor a struggling freshman for the rest of the semester. “I won’t even bother giving you detention. All your teachers have been doing exactly that for the past 4 years and look how much that’s helped.”
“Ms Hayden, this is cruel and unusual punishment. You can’t expect me to spend my last days as a senior helping some dumb kid.”
“He’s not dumb. Far from it, he just needs a little help with a few things which you happen to be very good at. Who knows- you might actually gain something valuable out of this too?”
Zayn snorted, still managing to keep his expression ever-so-bored. “Something valuable? Like what exactly?”
“Like how good it feels to help someone and watch them improve.”
She wouldn’t budge so that was that. Zayn was going to be spending every Thursday afternoon tutoring some 14 year-old. Kill me now, he thought.
She got him the kid’s number from her files and told him she expected the first session to take place the very next day.
He left the texting until late that night hoping the boy would be forced to cancel their session due to the short notice.
This is Zayn from school. Ms Hayden said she’d tell you about the new arrangement. We can meet in the library straight after school. Unless you've already made other plans for tomorrow.
A minute later: Hi Zayn! Thank u so much 4 agereein t help me ! Afta school sounds gud !!
Dammit, there went the cancelling theory. And could this kid’s way of texting be any more annoying? Why was it so hard to spell out words and spell them correctly?
After school the next day, Zayn received much hooting and laughter from Louis and Danny when he informed them that he couldn’t hang out because he would be with some freshman in the library all afternoon. After flipping them off, he made his way to the library, seething. Actually, the library building was usually one of his favourite places to be because more than anything in the world he adored books, all types of books, not that he’d ever admit it to his peers. Other 18 year-olds' favourite places mostly included shopping malls and anywhere absurd amounts of booze were available.
He chose a secluded table in the far corner of the library. Plopping his bag down and reclining back in his chair, his expression was that of someone who would rather be anywhere else in the world right now. So in other words, his face at that moment was an exact accurate representation of how he was feeling.
Just as he realised that he and his new protégé hadn’t made any plans on how they would identify each other, a boy with bright blonde hair who was dressed in baggy jeans and an oversized t-shirt cautiously approached his table.
He looked really nervous. Maybe even scared. Good, Zayn thought.
“Um, hi, y-you’re Zayn right?”
Zayn merely nodded, but he was surprised the boy knew him- he didn’t think he’d ever seen the kid in his life. The blonde sat down opposite him, giving him a wide smile. “I’m Niall. But I’m sure you’ve worked that out. Thanks again for doing this. I kinda suck at English.”
“Hi. Let’s get started.” The sooner this was over, the better for Zayn. Niall pulled out his notebook as well as a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and Zayn was secretly ecstatic. It was one of his favourite books and he hadn’t read it in quite a while. For one of their weekly assignments, Niall’s class needed to provide a summary of the chapter they'd read that week which had to include a key character quote and its importance to the story.
Turns out the teacher was right- Niall definitely wasn’t stupid, Zayn would give him that much. He understood the story and had really insightful ideas about character behaviour and motivations. But he expressed himself sloppily on paper and his spelling was rather atrocious which didn’t help any. When he spoke however, Zayn found himself listening intently and encouraging him with questions to keep him talking and the ideas flowing. Before they knew it, the hour was up.
Zayn grudgingly admitted to himself as he gathered his things that he hadn’t had that bad a time. Niall gave him a crooked-toothed grin as he walked away. The kid smiled a lot, Zayn noted.
The next few days, Zayn would sometimes catch sight of Niall in the hallways. Niall would wave and sport that wide beam, surrounded by a gaggle of similar tiny hyper friends. Zayn would just nod back in his direction.
At their next tutoring session, Niall wasn’t smiling however. He looked almost woeful as he said, “We have to write a short story due on Monday. I can’t write stories. Like at all.”
Zayn wanted to laugh at the look on his face but chose to rather say, “Well if you find it hard making up completely new characters and situations, rather write about something you know- give your characters a few characteristics of people you know. Write about something that’s important to you, otherwise whatever you're writing won’t ring true. Y’know, even professional writers do that actually- in some or other character, in some way or format you’ll find traits of either the writer themself or the people in their life. It’s something that can’t be helped I guess, because story writing is so personal.”
Niall had never heard Zayn say so many words in one go and he kind of just stared at him for a moment. He said he’d give it a try though, still sounding very sceptical. He got to work, discussing with Zayn and asking his advice every few minutes or so. Again, Zayn was pleasantly surprised at the interesting and intuitive way Niall viewed the world and the people in it. Towards the end of their hour together, they got to talking about themselves a bit. Zayn learned that Niall was 15 (Zayn thought he looked closer to 12 though) and originally from Ireland which would explain the slight accent.
Over the next few weeks, Zayn found himself actually looking forward to Thursdays. Somewhere along the way they’d moved their sessions from the library to Niall’s kitchen where they would have their books sprawled all over the table and copious amounts of snacks on hand. Zayn wondered where Niall put all that food in that scrawny body of his. Some days they’d take longer than Ms Hayden’s specified 1 hour, just talking. Niall was really good to talk to, he was sweet and entirely open -almost innocent, Zayn thought often- not jaded like a lot of Zayn’s friends.
And he laughed a lot which was a bit annoying in the beginning but more and more Zayn found himself joining him. Which felt nice. Zayn was going through some stuff at home with his parents so he’d tell Niall a few things about that, appreciating the fact that the blonde would just listen and not try to offer solutions because really Zayn just wanted to be heard when it came to these things. When Niall would show him his vastly improved English tests and assignments after they came back from the teacher, Zayn couldn’t be happier or prouder of the kid. Maybe Ms Hayden had actually been onto something.
Sometimes Zayn would catch Niall looking at him in a certain way and the blonde would quickly look back down at his books with a blush when he realised he’d been caught. But Zayn would pretend not to notice those awkward moments. Hopefully it wasn’t what he thought it was, hopefully it was nothing.
But of course it was something. Towards the end of the semester with just a couple of weeks left until Zayn’s senior year was over, they were sitting next to each other at the dining room table, no longer on complete opposite ends like when they’d first met. Niall was working his way through an English comprehension assignment and Zayn was taking the time to look over his own History assignment.
Niall suddenly put his pen down, and turned to him with wide blue eyes. He cleared his throat, blushing bright red and looking on edge. Zayn had a very bad feeling about this.
“Um... Z-Zayn. You’re leaving soon. I mean wh-when the school year ends, not like right now at my house or whatever... ”
There was a long pause and Zayn felt bad for him so he nodded to encourage him to talk.
“So yeah, you’re leaving. But I wouldn’t want you to go without- I just really want you to know how I feel. About you.”
That sinking feeling in Zayn’s stomach, sank even lower. The blonde looked like he was about to be sick with nervousness and Zayn wished he could stop him, for Niall’s own sake.
Niall took a deep breath and said, “Basically. Uh- I like you. I really like you. I kinda had a crush on you even before you started tutoring me.”
Silence filled the room as they looked at each other. Eventually Zayn realised that he was supposed to say something.
“Niall. I really don’t know what to say. I think you’re a nice kid-” Zayn noticed how the other boy’s face fell at the word kid. Zayn sighed and continued, “I’m sorry... I don’t like you in that way. I’m too old for you and too - I don’t know, too messed up.”
Niall looked so disappointed at these words that Zayn wished he could have been able to tell him what he wanted to hear. Niall’s eyes brimmed with the start of tears as he ducked his head closer to his books and nodded. He said in a small voice, “Ok. I get it. Someone like you would never go for someone like me anyway.”
“Huh, someone like me? Someone like you? No, no. You’re getting it all wrong, Niall. I think you’re great and I like to think of us as friends. But I don't want to lie to you. We'd be no good together. I’m sorry.”
“Ok,” Niall said again, “Um. I think I’m good with this comprehension. I don’t really need any more help for today. So you can feel free to go.” Niall stood up and Zayn followed suit, noticing yet again how little the other boy was - he was a good 4 inches shorter than Zayn and in his hunched-over sadness his frame looked even smaller.
“Niall- please don’t be upset.” Zayn put a hand on his shoulder but that seemed to only make things worse - Niall quickly moved away as though Zayn’s hand burned him.
“The last thing I want is your pity, Zayn. Please just go.”
Zayn contemplated saying something, doing something, but really he didn’t know what to say or do. So he did as Niall asked and left.
Things at school were not good between the two of them after that. Niall stopped doing his waving and smiling and laughing thing. In fact, he went out of his way to avoid looking directly at Zayn altogether. One time, Zayn actually saw him turn around in alarm and walk the other way when he saw Zayn approaching in the hallway.
The night before what was meant to be their very last tutoring session for the semester, Niall sent him a text that made Zayn feel really sad. He wished things weren’t like this.
I kno were meant t meet tomoro but its not really necesery anymo seein as its the end of the yr and all. Im sure u have better things t do so dont worry about it.
Zayn thought of replying because he would have still liked to see Niall, maybe just hangout and talk like they used to. But actually, that would probably be really unfair to Niall. So he left it.
And that was that. The school year ended, seniors said their goodbyes and Zayn left for his gap year abroad in England.