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Becoming Harry Styles

Life as Marcel

Chapter 2: Life as Marcel

I woke up for school before my alarm clock sounded, looking forward to a day of learning, hoping for minimal contact with my peers. After taking a delightful hot shower, I dressed myself as usual in a regular sweater vest, brown khakis, gelled my hair back, and fixed my glasses onto my face. I squinted at my appearance a bit in the mirror. I didn’t know why people had such a problem with the way I looked. It shouldn’t matter to anyone else.

I checked my watch, realizing it was nearly time to leave my house. I grabbed my work name tag that read, 'Marcel Sty," and threw it into my backpack before slinging it around my shoulders. I headed for the door, but not before giving my mother a kiss on the cheek. She was a lovely person, who I cared for very much. My mother and my sister, Gemma, were always there for me no matter what I found interesting, or what my appearance looked like.

"Goodbye!" I shouted before walking out the door and over to my best friend Riley Anderson's house as we lived around the block from each other. We had known each other since we were kids. She was the only person out of all our peers who could see past my appearance and accepted me for me. She never made me feel inferior though for my social awkwardness, and I absolutely adored and loved her for that. We both walked together most days. I stepped onto the front door mat of her house and was about to knock when I saw a note in Riley’s hand-writing tapped to the glass window of the door.

It read:
Marcel,
I got a ride to school from Kyle today. I’m sorry, he just kind of showed up. It’s sweet though, isn’t it? Don’t worry, I think you will like him in time.
See you at school and tonight for a music session!
Much love,
Riley

I crumpled the note in my hand. Kyle is Riley’s new boyfriend of about a month. He was so wrong for her in every single way. He was the exact definition of an arse. He acted so sweet and innocent whenever he was around her, but as soon as she walked away he was about the biggest douche bag as they come. He was probably the instigator of about 90% of the pranks pulled on me a day. I didn't have the heart to tell her that though, because she just liked him so much. So, I kept quiet. I stepped from her porch, trying to just remember that I would be hanging out with her later. I loved music, and besides my family, RIley was the only person who knew about it. She was rather musically gifted herself as she knew how to play several instruments while I only loved to sing. It was a bit of a secret passion of mine.

I walked to school in solitude with those thoughts in my head. It was about a 10 block walk. I finally arrived on the school grounds, not greeted by one of my peers as they all were laughing and having a good time. I entered the building only to have the great misfortune of running into one of Kyle's goonish friends...

“Hey Marcel!” he mocked me. I believed this one's name was Seth. Although I wasn't quite sure as I tried not to get too acquainted with my bullies.

I attempted to walk past, not wanting to begin my day with this nonsense. I failed though. He grabbed my arm roughly and yanked me back. “Where do you think you are going?” he shouted in my face, making me squint my eyes.

I pushed my glasses further up my nose, “Umm… j-just to c-class… Can we please just..”

He cut me off as he continued to mock me, “You’re such a nerd Marcel. Just look at you.” He shoved me away and I slammed against a locker. He shouted louder, “And you’re WEAK!”

His friends began to join in. They pulled my arm and I was a bit dazed as to what was going on. They encircled me and began pushing me into each other, like I was their little toy they could easily manipulate. People were watching, but I knew they would do nothing for me. So I shouted no pleas of help, knowing how pointless it would be. I soon fell to the ground, landing hard on my knees, not able to take it anymore. They circled closer to me and someone grabbed my glasses from face. Another decided to strip me of my backpack. I was blind and everyone was laughing at the expense of my embarrassment. I heard the zipper of my backpack and the pouring of its contents to the floor, then the snap of my glasses.

One of them said sarcastically, “Oh no Marcel! I’m so sorry!”

Another stated, “Maybe if you weren’t such a prick, this wouldn’t happen to you.”

The laughter roared louder. I rolled my eyes only slightly, but continued to sit and look at the ground, knowing I would only make it worse if I tried to make a stand.

Then out of all the cheerful laughs I heard a singled out voice. “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?”

I looked over. I knew from the voice it was none other than Riley, with fire in her usual bright blue eyes and her golden blonde hair blowing elegantly over her shoulder.

She was suddenly leaning on the ground next to me, “Who do you assholes think you are? You think this is funny?!” Then she faced her boyfriend, “Kyle! Do something!”

He must have made a face for his friends to stop, only because it was Riley. They all began to walk away, including Kyle. I still hear their quieted laughter coming from their mouths. Riley helped me gather my things and stood up.

Then she handed me my glasses, “Here Marcel. I’m so sorry! I’ve been working on Kyle to get him to make them stop doing this to you. It's just fucking ridiculous and not fair.”

I couldn't take it anymore. “Riley, KYLE is part of the problem!”

She shook her head, “No, he really does feel terrible this happens to you. He knows his friends are dipshits.”

She handed me my backpack and I looped my arms through the straps. I was going to make another argument about Kyle when she gave me a hug. Suddenly I didn’t want to fight with her about it. She was so warm. All I needed was her to make everything better. The bell rang and we waved each other goodbye.

I walked off to my first class, Accounting, with my broken glasses in hand. I slumped into my desk and reached for some tape in the bottom of my backpack. Having broken possessions was somewhat of a recurring situation for me. Those douches were always breaking my belongings, this just happened to be the first time it was my glasses.

I began wrapping the tap around the middle frame of my glasses as popular girl named Valerie sat next to me, “Marcel. I heard about what happened.” She sounded genuine.

For a second I thought she was going to say something nice to me. “Yeah?” I asked hopeful still upset about the situation.

Unfortunately, I was wrong. She flipped her hair and stated, “I can’t believe you need a girl to defend you. That’s why you will never have a girlfriend. A girl wants someone who can stand up for them. Not the other way around, Marcel.”

She and her friends giggled at me while a few other classmates joined in. I simply rolled my eyes and placed my taped glasses on my face. Class was about to begin, and I didn't have time for their pettiness. This business class was my favorite, and my professor, Mr. Calhoun, was always my favorite. He was quite lively and excited about what he was teaching. So it was easy for me to be inspired by him.

I was always given questions in class, and most of the time I was able to answer them proudly. I liked being praised by teachers for my smarts. I guess you could call me a bit of a teacher's pet in that sense. I received remarks from Valerie, her friends, and other peers, but I didn't care. I wasn't going to act like some thing I'm not just for them to like me.

To my relief, I was able to enjoy my studies for the rest of the day with minimal bullying. Class always went too fast. At lunch, I sat with Riley and we talked about our plans for the night. We were going to have a bit of a music session. While I loved school and learning, I also had a deep passion for music. I usually sang while Riley played various instruments. I thought we were quite good together.

After another round of rigorous and interesting classes, the day ended. I went to meet Riley at her locker. “Hey Rils!” I smiled while greeting her.

“Hey!” she smiled back in return. She was so beautiful. The sad thing is that she had no idea how much because Kyle never would tell her, or appreciate her for anything.

“I’ll see you after I am done with work, yeah?” I asked

She nodded her head, “For sure!”

Then Kyle walked up to her other side. “Hey babe!” He leaned in for a kiss. I swear he only did it to make my insides jerk. She pulled away from him a bit uncomfortably looking to me. He shot me a glare, unnoticed by Riley, and continued on, “Wanna get out of here?”

She giggled and nodded. Then she turned to me, “See you later Marcel!” She waved and walked towards the exit. I didn’t know what she saw in him. He was a complete arse.

I watched her walk out the school doors on the arm of another man, with a skip in her step and her beautiful long blonde hair blowing behind her as she walked. I stood there for I don't know how long lost in my thoughts. I felt so crestfallen as I knew I could treat her so much better. I eventually slumped along their same path, out of school to head to work.

I worked at the nicest little bakery, filled with the most caring old ladies. Besides my family and Riley, they were the only people who enjoyed me for me, didn't mind what my interests were, and what I looked like. I entered the double doors, being surrounded by the lovely aroma of baking bread.

I clocked in and the first thing Barbara asked me was, “So how are things going with Riley?”

I chuckled a little. She probably wanted us together more than I did, which is hard to imagine. “Same as always, Barbara.”

She smiled, “She’ll come around sometime, Marcel dear.” She embraced me in a short hug before getting to work. I began rolling out dough and rolling them into little baked goods such as donuts and croissants. Barbara liked to give me loads of advice for me to win Riley over. She was quite comical about it all, but I always gave her my full attention. “Being romantic is the fastest way into a lady’s heart, you know.”

I laughed, “Really? Hmm… I don’t think I could ever tell her how I feel.”

She gave me a stern look, “Nonsense. You’ll grow more confident.”

Somehow I didn’t believe that was true.

Margaret, another lady at the bakery, chimed in, “No, the fastest way to a girl’s heart is baking for her!” She walked up to me rubbing some flour on my face, making me laugh.

I smiled, “Well that’s good, because I am a great baker.”

Margaret nodded her and smiled in agreement. "You sure are, Marcel."

The rest of the night went smoothly, as usual. Work always passed so quickly, it was already passed 7:00. I punched out quickly and headed home with excitement because I was going to see Riley.