“Stop sulking, Aria. You look weird when you’re sulking.” Nikhil remarked, with his mouth full of chips.

“I’m not sulking. I’m just feeling under the weather.”

“You are sulking. And if you can’t tell us why, you don’t get to sulk in front of us.” Liana put in, fixing her jacket.

They were standing in front of the school door, waiting for Carol to arrive. However, Carol was nowhere to be seen and neither was she picking up her phone. She was late for school. Where could she be? Aria dialed her number for the umpteenth time, but there was no response. Carol’s mom was out of town so there would be no point calling her either.

“It’s getting chilly. Can we go inside?” Nikhil complained, throwing away his empty bag of chips. Everyone agreed and decided to head inside to get their books. Since Liana and Aria’s lockers were just across each other’s they headed in front of Nikhil and Alan.

The usual badgering and taunting remarks followed Aria as she crossed the hallway, a few girls even pushed against her with force, trying to make her fall. She muted their voices out and walked carefully towards her locker.

“So, do I get to know what happened or not?” Liana asked.

“Not.”

“God, Ari! Don’t be so hard!”

“I’ll tell you later! I don’t wanna think about it right now, Li.”

“Fine. Suit yourself.” Liana gave up, irritated by all the mystery.

Aria opened her locker, but what she saw inside left her completely stunned. All of her books were gone and instead there was a beautiful, yellow flower that was shaped like a tea cup sitting on a saucer, lying on the surface of the locker. A daffodil? Aria warily picked it up and looked inside to see if there was any note in there, only to find nothing. Who in the world left a daffodil in her locker?

“So, what’s your first class?” Alan walked up behind Aria, disrupting her thoughts.

“Huh? Oh. Math.” Aria replied, gaining her composure and closing her locker.

“What’s that?” Alan asked, pointing at the daffodil in Aria’s hand.

“Oh umm- flower!” Aria raised the flower for Alan to have a better look.

“No kidding, Sherlock! I meant where’d you get it?” Alan asked, chuckling. By this time, Nick and Liana had joined him, staring at the yellow magnificence.

“Don’t know! Someone must’ve left it mistakenly in my locker.”

“Where are your books?” Liana queried, leaning against the locker.

“Whoever left this must’ve taken them out! I think I’ll head to the lost and found department to see if someone left my books there and also return the flower. You guys can head to classes. I’ll catch up with you soon.”

“How do you know it’s not for you?” Nikhil asked, winking at Aria. “Maybe you have a secret admirer!”

“Uh-huh. Okay. I’m gonna go now before you clowns come up with something stupid.” Aria joked, looking at Alan and Nikhil with a smile. “For all I know, Nikhil, your honeybunch maybe pulling a prank on me to make me look ridiculous in front of the entire school.”

Nikhil’s face burned red but he didn’t comment. The three bid their goodbyes and headed to the opposite direction as Aria looked once more at the beautiful flower in her hand and smiled. If only someone had given it to her. She turned around and was about to make her way towards the administrator’s office but was stopped by a tall figure standing three feet away from her, leaning against the wall.

Green eyes bore down on Aria, as she stood transfixed by his beauty. Harry was biting down on his plump pink lips as he watched her. His eyes had a mysterious look in them but Aria couldn’t contemplate what it was. His eyes suddenly flickered from her face to the flower in her hand, giving away his anxiety. It dawned on Aria exactly who had left the flower in her locker and she was reminded of the day before. Anger started taking over Aria as she remembered his preposterous proposal.

She was about to turn away and head to her class but was stopped by howls of laughter and chattering coming from that direction. It was Harry’s group of followers. They were heading Harry’s way and Aria knew better than to stand there and become their punching bag. She decided to head to the girl’s bathroom, in the opposite direction, and stay there until the bell rang. As she was about to leave, she heard a familiar voice with a thick Irish accent call out her name.

“ARIA! WAIT UP!”

Aria pretended not to hear him and kept walking fast. However, she was halted by Niall’s hand on her shoulder. He had caught up to her. She put on a smile for Niall’s benefit and turned around, giving him a surprised look.

“Oh hey, Niall! How’s it going?”

“Good. What’s up with you?”

“You know! The same!” Aria shrugged her shoulders, taking a quick peek at Harry. He was surrounded by his clique now but he was still looking at her direction. Niall continued, diverting Aria’s attention.

“Louis was asking about you yesterday. Where were you?”

“Oh! Umm- my parents got back just yesterday so I didn’t really get the chance to talk to him.”

“Cool. So, you up for the party this week at the Gates’?”

“Umm- I’m not sure, Nia-“

“Well, lookey here! If it isn’t the sexy little kitten herself!” Krug spoke up, giving Aria a flirty look. Aria stopped herself from puking all over the floor. If Krug thought that look made him look irresistible then he needed to rethink his life.

“So, where’d you run off to at the party, sweet cheeks?” Krug winked, leaning against the locker.

Aria glanced at Harry to see his reaction and from the sharp prominence of his jaw line, Aria could tell that Harry was gritting down on his teeth.

“Away from you, of course!”Aria snapped, giving Krug a sugary smile. No way in hell would Aria be Krug’s substitute for Amy.

Niall, Liam and Zayn chuckled at her remark while Krug’s face fell. He was about to retort something offensive when the bell rang.

“Which class are you heading to?” Liam asked, letting Aria pass.

“Math! You have it too. Don’t you?” Aria asked, smiling warmly at Liam as they crossed Harry and the rest. Niall caught up to Aria and his gaze fell on the flower in her hand and pointing at it, he asked.

“Who gave you that?”

“Nobody. Just found it.”

Before anybody else could ask anything about it, Aria headed to the nearest trash can and threw it. Taking a last look at Harry, Aria walked away. He was fuming but the wrath in Aria’s eyes overrode his. There was no way in hell he’d get his way by showering her with flowers.

---

“Who’s been giving you flowers?” Carol asked staring at the flowers in Aria’s hand, as they walked back home. By this time, Aria had collected a bouquet of purple hyacinth, a single white poppy and scarlet geranium alongside the daffodil.

“Harry!” Aria replied, curious as to why he was going through the effort of giving her all these.
After Aria had entered Math class, she had found all her books and binders on the table that she normally sat in. Sitting on top of the books had been a beautiful scarlet geranium. A smile had crept up Aria’s face but she had quickly whipped it off when Harry had entered the class and had taken the seat behind her. She had begrudgingly stuffed the beautiful flower in her bag amongst other things. Harry’s sharp intake of breath had told Aria that he had noticed her actions.

Then at English class, Aria had opened her binder to find a lovely white poppy lying between the pages like a bookmark. She hadn’t been able to stop this time as a goofy smile had crept up and stayed fixed on her face throughout the class. Since Harry didn’t have English with her, Aria didn’t have to worry about him noticing her.

If that wasn’t enough, Nikhil had walked up to Aria after lunch and informed her that someone had passed on the small bouquet of purple hyacinth’s to him, without informing him who had given it. At first, Nick had been ecstatic to know that someone had gotten him flowers but had been highly disappointed when he had seen the note attached to it. It read, “To, Aria. I want to make amends for my behavior. Call me? –H x”

“Aawww! That’s so cute, Ari! Why is he giving you flowers though?” Carol asked, as they started heading towards Aria’s front porch.

“Honestly? I’m not quite sure myself.”

“Maybe cause he’s trying to make up for being a dickwad!” Liana put in, bitterly. Hearing Aria and Carol’s gasps, she went on the defense. “What? You know I know that he did something last night, Ari. The look you had this morning gave it away. Minus the fact that you drove your parents away last night.”

“She what?”

“Li!”

Aria and Carol exclaimed simultaneously as Aria opened the door to her room. They were both busy staring at Liana to notice what was inside but Liana’s jaw dropped as she stared into Aria’s room.

“Umm- Ari?” Liana pointed inside, making Aria turn quickly. Her mouth was left hanging at the sight in front of her. Her entire room was filled with balloons of different colors. They were attached against the walls, lying on the floor and some were even floating against the arched ceiling.

“Oh right!” Carol spoke up. “Surprise!”

Aria was bowled over and she quickly swung towards Carol and asked, “What do you mean surprise?”

“Louis and I decorated your room with the balloons this morning after you left. He wanted to apologize.”

“Apologize?”

“Yeah! Read the balloons, stupid!” Carol grabbed one of the balloons excitedly. Aria took it from her hand and read, ‘Sorry I’m such an asshole'

So that’s where Carol was this morning? With Louis? In her house? Filling her room with balloons? Aria’s phone buzzed suddenly and she took it out, still staring at her room in awe. Once she looked down, she saw a message from Louis. She opened it quickly and read, ‘I wanna make it up to you for what I did at the party. Forgive me?’

What had she gotten herself into?

Notes

Aria's Outfit

Harry's Outfit

A/N: Hiiiiiiiii, lovelies! :) Anne here! Thank you all sooo much for the prayers and love you have bestowed upon my dad. I can't really say I have good news. They found blocks in four major arteries and a few others in the minor arteries. So, he will have to undergo a heart bypass surgery within a month. Please keep him in your prayers. I'm extremely grateful for all your lovely words and prayers. Thank you! And thank you also for the votes, subscriptions and feed backs. We never thought we'd come this far. Thank you! :') We'll reply back to all of you by tomorrow morning hopefully. Messages and comments. We're sorry for the delay. :( <3 -A.D

S/N: Hi, my beauties! So, despite my incessant requests to Anne for keeping the story on hold for the time being, she decided not to disappoint all you wonderful people. Thus, we are posting this chapter. It isn't much but we hope you like it. :) Thank you all soooo much for all the love, support and prayers. :) And we're extremely grateful for getting us where we are today. We are and never will be anything without you guys. :) Thank you! For everything! I love you guys with my life. <3 x -N.K

So, let us know what you think of this chapter? :) Whose apology do you think was more sincere, my lovelies? And what do you think Louis or Harry has to say to Aria? Please leave feedbacks? We don't get as many feed back as before. :( We don't want votes or subscriptions. Just your opinions. If we mess up, let us know? Love you all to the moon and back!

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