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I rolled my eyes as they scanned quickly across another article about Harry Styles. Our town was small, but they treated him like a celebrity. The article that I began reading was probably the tenth this month about this kid's accomplishments. Honestly, I don't know why I continued reading. I basically knew everything about him already from the other nine articles that the town's local paper did on him, plus the one that appeared in the newspaper from a nearby city.

"Charlie, did you see? Your boyfriend is in the paper again." My mom teased as she strolled into the kitchen with her coffee mug. She was already dressed for work, with her hair up in a tight bun, and her glasses perched on her nose.

I scoffed, but let out a light laugh. "I hate him. I just despise everything about him."

My mother chuckled, as she came closer to place a peck on my cheek. "You only think you hate him. Have you actually ever had a conversation with the boy?"

I scowled at the thought. "Never. And I don't plan to."

I let my eyes move back to the picture of Harry, in which he was pitching for his baseball team. I don't understand him fully. I've never actually seen him play baseball, but apparently he's ‘scholarship worthy’, because he was approached by a lot of universities. Meanwhile, I sat my ass at home and applied to the universities that I thought I might have a chance to get accepted by.

Dartmouth, Harvard, Wayne State, and UCLA all offered him scholarships among others. I didn't have any schools scouting me out. It really just pisses me off because he doesn't deserve it. Wait, no. I mean, if you look at his grades (4.0 GPA), and the time he has dedicated to baseball, you'd call me crazy, but if you just listen to the kid. God. He just makes me want to sucker punch him in the face.

I didn't lie when I told my mom that I'd never had a conversation with him. The only time I can ever recall him directly speaking to me was back in freshman year. He had asked me what I had gotten on my stupid History test. He'd scowled and turned away when I told him. I didn't know much about him back then, so I didn't understand the scowl, but later learned that he was only upset because I had gotten a higher mark than he had. Cue rolling of the eyes.

I completely understand the concept of a good, clean competition between students, but he's just ridiculous. His mother is the guidance counsellor at our high school, and I'm almost positive that Harry uses that to his advantage. How else did he know my final History mark in freshman year before I did? The little bitch went onto his mother's computer and found it, that's how.

What made me hate him even more was the fact that he had declined. He'd said no to all of the prestigious schools that basically offered him a free ride through whatever program he chose. He'd chosen to play baseball for some other university that wasn't known for their varsity team or anything. I wasn't completely sure where he was actually going, I'd scrunched the newspaper in my hands before I read anything else about him. Furthermore, he'd chosen to decline his acceptance to such amazing schools, rubbing it in all of our faces that he actually had a choice to do so.

"I'm off to work. I'll be home around six. Try to get the rest of your things packed today, Charlie." My mother said, as she made her way around the kitchen, towards the front foyer of our house, "Need I remind you that I'm dropping you off at school tomorrow?"

I sighed, putting the paper down, and then taking the last gulp of orange juice from my glass. "Yeah, yeah, mom, okay."

Time flew by while packing that night, and the next day flew by as well. My mom and I made the six and a half hour drive to my new home. My mom wasn't totally keen on the idea of me going to school so far away from home, but I'd convinced her eventually. We were from a little town just outside of Buffalo, New York, and I'd been ecstatic when I had learned that I had been accepted at NYU. Sure, it was a six and a half hour drive from my little home in Elma, New York, but I wasn't going to decline the acceptance (unlike someone else we all know).

I plopped down onto my new bed, running my hands over the new blue and pink polka-dotted comforter that my mom and I had bought just the week earlier. Despite the ugly pale yellow walls, the grey carpet on the floor, and the outdated furniture that the residence provided, my room didn't look half bad. I knew it would look better once my roommate arrived. I'm sure she'd fix the sad, lonely vibe that was currently emanating from the walls.

My mom stood in the doorway, watching me as I let my eyes scan over every last detail in the room before finally landing on her. She smiled shyly at me, and I grinned back at her.

"This is it, I guess." She murmured, shrugging off of the wall, and making her way over towards me. "I'm going to miss you, Charlie."

I blushed at the sentiment in her voice. I was never one to have moments with other people. I liked them, and they had the tendency to make me feel warm fuzzies, but that was only after the initial awkwardness that I always seem to generate. My mind went blank in those types of situations.

"I - um - yeah..." I let my voice fade off into a mumble, my mouth spitting out random things that I wasn't even sure of.

My mom sat down beside me, and gave me a curious look. "What? Did you say something about lasagna?"

I nodded sheepishly. "I just said something about how I'll miss your cooking, mom."

She laughed, wrapping one of her arms around my shoulders. "Of course you will." She stood up then, and I followed suit, clasping my hands together in front of my body. "I have to leave so that I'll get home before dark."

I let my eyes dart around the room, knowing that another awkward situation was about to arise. "Yeah, you should go." I took a deep breath, and finally settled my gaze back on her. "I'll be fine." I added with new found confidence.

She pressed her lips to my forehead for a moment, and brushed a strand of my hair away from my face, before stepping back again. "That phone and computer are there for a reason, Charlie. Make sure you call or email every once in awhile, okay?"

I smiled. "Yes, mother."

She left shortly after that. I didn't really have much to do until the Pep Rally later in the day that welcomed all of the first year students, so I pulled out my computer and checked my email. It wasn't much later that a girl with dark brown hair, cut into a pixie cut, hustled through the door with her arms full of blankets and pillows.

I waited for her to put down her things, before standing up from my bed to call attention to myself. Her head immediately snapped in my direction, and I gave her a small smile. This was already feeling like a potentially awkward situation.

"Hi! I'm Daphne."

She smiled at me with her bright brown eyes looking directly into my own gray ones. I let my lips curl up into a genuine smile, glad that she was initiating the conversation; I was never one with words. I had always feared getting a bitch for a roommate. When I filled out the forms for roommates, I had tried to answer it as un-bitchy as I could, hoping I'd get rewarded with an un-bitchy roommate. It made sense when I was filling it out.

"Charlie." I replied, biting my lip awkwardly.

Her eyes widened a little bit in awe. "That's such a cool name. I'm proud to say that you're the first Charlie I've ever met."

I smiled, and couldn't help the blush from rising onto my cheeks. "Uh...thanks?"

She let out a giggle, and I sighed in relief, knowing that Daphne was not the kind of person that would be very difficult for me to get along with because she was obviously undeterred by my awkwardness towards anything and everything that had even a minuscule chance of being awkward.

She skipped over towards me, with her bright smile still evident on her face. "So, are you ready to go?" she asked excitedly.

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, looking down at her arm as she linked it with mine. I'm feeling the awkwardness coming back. "Go? Go where?"

She tugged me towards the door, and rolled her eyes playfully. "The pep rally?"

I brought my free hand up to smack myself on the forehead. I'm so stupid. I had almost completely forgotten about the pep rally that I had actually been looking forward to tonight (and I may or may not have almost assumed Daphne was a little bicurious, because of all of this touching). It was supposed to be for all first years from my dorm building, so that we could have a chance to get to know each other. I liked the idea, and I only hoped that I'd refrain from making anything awkward. Plus, there was a bonfire afterwards. Those are always fun.

"Sorry," I chuckled a little at myself, and she joined in without hesitation, "just let me change out of these sweats."

*~

"Wooooo!" I screamed with the rest of the first years that surrounded me, fully enjoying ourselves, and getting into the school spirit.

We were all gathered out on the football field of the University's stadium. The bonfire had started now, as the sun had gone down long ago. There were a lot of us out there, and I knew it couldn't have only my dorm building because of the number of people around me. The volunteer students in their third or fourth year had set everything up for us, and it even included us learning a dance.

I scanned the crowd, looking for Daphne who had escaped from my side for the nth time that night. She'd always reappear before I could get the chance to start getting nervous, but I was slowly getting used to it. Meeting new people wasn't so bad. I just had to make sure to smile, and they seemed to look past the awkwardness that I tried so hard to push away.

"Charlie!"

I turned my head into the direction that my name was being called from, and I smiled when I noticed that it was Matt, a guy from my dorm building that Daphne and I had met earlier. He'd stuck around for awhile and talked to us, and I liked him. He wasn't too bad to look at either. I vowed to myself to get out of my little bubble to make friends with him. Even if it didn't turn into anything, I'd still like to be his friend. He seemed so genuine.

"Matt!" I yelled back to him in amusement.

He chuckled in response, making his way over to me. "You disappeared on me," he pouted while slinging his arm over my shoulder, "I almost got lost in there."

I giggled, and shook my head. "Now, where did Daphne run off to?" I pondered out loud.

"She was hanging out with some guys over that way." Matt said, pointing over towards our right. "Come on, let's go make friends too."

He brought his arm off from my shoulders, and grabbed onto my wrist. I was a little nervous about the contact, so I pulled ahead of him, and lead the way to where I could vaguely make out Daphne's bright pink shirt.

It took a little bit of weaving in and out of the crowd until I could finally see her clearly, only 10 feet in front of us. Daphne was standing in the middle of a small group of guys, and I smirked at the grin on her face. She was a lucky bitch talking to all of those hot guys, and she knew it. I smiled, ready to push away the awkwardness that I was fighting so much tonight, but widened my eyes and gasped when my eyes connected with a boy who stood a little bit off to the side of the group Daphne was hanging around.

I immediately stopped in my tracks, and turned around. I was surprised by Matt's body colliding into mine, as he was following closely behind me. I put my hands up to his chest to stop the collision. He looked down at me in confusion, and I smiled sheepishly back at him. I knew my eyes were probably still wide in surprise, but I tried to hide that.

"What's up?" Matt asked, noting my nervous stance.

I bit my lip, knowing I probably couldn't pull off lying to him. Even if we had met only hours earlier, I had never been the best of liars. "I just..." I sighed in frustration, "I know one of the guys over there, and I hate him.

Matt nodded as if he understood. "Well, don't run away from him. Let's go show him what he's missing. You look hot, don't worry."

I widened my eyes in fear again. That's not what I had meant at all! I didn't want to ‘show him what he was missing', and I actually wanted to run in the opposite direction, despite Matt telling me not to. Harry Styles was not some ex who I wanted to make jealous, he was just some jackass who I refused to socialize with.

"No, Matt, that's not what I-"

"Come on, sexy! Let's go!"

Before I could say anything else, Matt had his arm around my shoulders again, bringing me the final 10 feet towards Daphne, Harry and the group of 3 other guys with them. I kept my eyes towards the pair of pink Converse sneakers on my feet. I'd rather look at them than have to make eye contact with the jackass who I had noticed had come closer since Matt and I had joined the group.

"Charlie! Matt!"

I rolled my eyes at Daphne. I didn't know if her giddiness was just her usual self, or if she had gotten a hold of some alcohol that was probably circulating around somewhere here. If the latter were true, I only hoped she would share so I could drown in it to get away from this situation that was both awkward and frustrating for me. I thought I'd gotten away from this kid when I had graduated back in June.

Matt's arm tightened around my shoulders to get my attention, and it worked as I lifted my eyes to his. He winked at me with a smirk on his face that made me even more nervous.

"Hey, what's up? I'm Matt, and this is Charlie." He spoke smoothly.

I kept up my front like I had been doing all night, and smiled at the 3 boys, who now had their attention on me. I completely ignored the fourth pair of eyes that I could feel on the right side of my face. I've ignored Harry Styles everyday for the past 4 years in high school, I was positive that I could at least attempt to do it for the 4 years that I spent at this university.

"Yeah, guys, they're super awesome. Charlie is my roommate, and Matt lives on your floor I think." Daphne explained excitedly. "We should definitely all hang out sometime."

I smiled shyly at the group, already calming down. Ignoring Harry wasn't too hard, and he was already out of my mind, even though he stood less than 3 feet from me talking with Daphne. I'd have to warn her about him later, but who knows? Maybe she's into the whole conceited asshole thing.

One of the boys with short dark hair, smiled back at me and Matt, extending his hand out to me. "I'm Tyler," he introduced himself keeping the smile on his face. Matt grabbed his outstretched hand before I could even think to, and strongly shook it once that actually shook my body because his arm was still around me.

Following Tyler's lead, the other two boys stepped up; one with dirty blonde hair that hung just under his ears, and the other with dark brown hair that was slightly wavy, and was cut short.

"Erik." The blonde boy said, wearing almost an identical smirk that Tyler had had.

"And I'm Chris." The last boy filled in.

Neither of them tried to shake my hand, and I knew it was probably due to the protective arm that Matt had around me, as well as Tyler's failed attempt.

"Nice to meet you, guys." I said warmly. I took Matt's arm off of me, with a smirk. "Can you talk with this kid while I go get a drink? I just met him, and he's already so clingy." I joked, but made sure to put in there that I'd only just met Matt. Despite Matt's plan, I didn't want them to think that I was claimed.

Matt nudged me, with a confused face, but I just rolled my eyes at him. His ‘genius' plan wasn't so genius to me.

"Oh...oh!" Tyler spoke up, realizing the meaning behind my words. "I can grab you something, if you'd like. We have some beer in our cooler."

I bit my lip, but shook my head. "No, thanks. Just water for me tonight."

"I need one too. I'm coming." Daphne said, stepping up beside me. I hadn't noticed, but she'd ended her conversation with Harry, and rejoined ours. I could no longer spot Harry through my peripheral vision, and I let out a sigh of relief, glad that I hadn't had to encounter a confrontation with him.

He probably had no idea that I hated him, but that didn't mean I was comfortable with hiding it. I was especially pissed off at him now, though. Out of all of the prestigious schools that basically handed him full-ride scholarships, and a guaranteed spot on their varsity baseball teams (and probably a spot on the starting line), he just had to choose this school? I was beginning to think that I was cursed or something. I knew it was too good to be true when I had gotten my acceptance here.

I looked over at Matt with a pointed glare, "Don't leave. We'll be right back."

He nodded with a smile, followed by a chorus of laughs from Tyler, Chris and Erik.

Turning around quickly, I had to stop myself midstep, and put my hands out in front of me to stop my body from running into a body that had been standing right behind me. I blushed because my hands were now on the stranger's chest, and couldn't bring my eyes up to the stranger's face as I quickly pulled my hands back.

"Charlie." The stranger whispered. I could feel his breath blow onto my forehead, causing me to back up while my eyes shot up to his.

I scowled as my eyes locked with his for the second time that night. "Harry." I said curtly.

He raised his eyebrows at me in interest, but I shot my eyes back down to his chest before looking too far into it.

"Oh! Harry, this is my roommate, Charlie." Daphne cut in, clearly having not seen the scowl I had sent to Harry only moments earlier.

"Yeah. We - uh - we went to high school together." He said quietly.

I had already started walking away from the two of them. I had nothing else to say to him, and I didn't really want to get into the discussion about how we went to school together for 4 years, and had barely ever spoken to each other. He may be labelled as a ‘genius' by so many others, but not having the brain capacity to understand the concept of modesty puts him pretty low in my books.

The rest of the night went pretty smoothly. I met some more girls who lived on my floor, I blushed some more (it was inevitable), my mom texted me numerous times, Matt backed off enough for Tyler to step in and hang out with me for the rest of the night, and I only had one other run in with Harry.

Oh. And Harry managed to get Daphne's phone number.

I don't know how I feel about that.

Notes