After yesterday’s rehearsals, Harry was glad he didn’t have to deal with them today; especially because he didn’t have the energy for Penelope. He could handle his bickering with Sophia, but he couldn’t handle the constant clinging of Penelope.

At lunch time, however, he was going to have to talk about the play. He and Sophia had an interview with Evelyn, which would mean he was going to get to eat with Sophia. He was already smiling to himself thinking about all the ways he could bother her. It had become a bit of a game to him to see how riled up she got by the time they parted ways at the end of the day.

Harry walked into the dining hall where he saw an already annoyed Sophia sitting at a table all alone. He pulled out the chair next to her.

“You’re late.” She said.

“Evelyn isn’t even here yet, so I say I’m on time.”

“I don’t understand what took you so long. We have the exact same class before this.” She said ignoring his previous comment.

“I didn’t realize my presence was needed or else I would have rushed to your side, love.” Harry teased.

“I just didn’t want to have to sit with Evelyn alone.”

“Well like I said earlier, she isn’t here yet. You’re fine.”

“I guess I just don’t want to do this interview.” Sophia confessed.

“Because you have to do it with me?” He questioned.

“Actually no, not this time. Mainly because our interviewer is one of Penelope’s minions.”

“At least it isn’t Penelope.”

“True, but they all hate me and the girls.”

“That’s because you’re better than them.” Harry said, surprising Sophia.

“Oh okay.” She said sarcastically.

“No really. I mean it.” Said Harry. Sophia realized the seriousness in his eyes.

“Sorry I’m late Harry.” Evelyn said, interrupting Sophia and Harry.

Sophia cleared her voice as to get Evelyn’s attention that she was there too.

“And Sophia.” She said with a bitchy tone.

“It’s quite alright, Evelyn. Take a seat.” Harry said pointing to the chair across from him and Sophia.

Evelyn placed her bag down in the seat next to her and pulled out her chair to sit down. She then reached into her bag and pulled out a pen and a notebook.

“Okay. Let’s begin, shall we?” She asked. Harry and Sophia both nodded.

“Harry, no surprise you are Romeo but how surprised were you to learn Sophia somehow got the part of Juliet?”

“Excuse me?” Said Harry.

“I mean I was shocked to learn that she had gotten it, considering I had watched Penelope go over her monologue so flawlessly before her audition.”

Harry looked over at Sophia. Her mouth was open as she listened to Evelyn.

“Clearly Mr. Doris felt differently. He chose Sophia because he believes she’ll do the best job.” He told her.

“Okay. Sophia, how lucky are you to get to be the love interest of Harry?” Evelyn questioned.

“Lucky? I don’t know about lucky. I would say that it’s what’s required of me for the play, so I’ll do it but I won’t say lucky.”

Evelyn rolled her eyes at Sophia and moved her attention back on Harry.

“What does this love story mean to you, Harry? How would you describe it?”

Sophia quickly covered her mouth to stop herself from laughing out loud at Evelyn. She didn’t seriously think Harry was going to give a good answer to this did she?

“I think it’s very tragic. Two people destined to be together but always torn apart. Their love is not accepted so they hide it from those they love. Their young too, which I think only adds to the tragedy because they aren’t jaded to love yet so they feel it deeper. They don’t have their hearts guarded. There are no walls to keep the other out. To me this love story is romantic because they give everything to it including their own lives; but it’s a tragedy because they don’t get a happy ending.”

What?! That is the most beautiful thing Sophia has ever heard said about Romeo and Juliet, and it came out of this idiot seating beside her. She was shocked, and the expression was clear on her face. Evelyn too was taken aback by his answer.

“Umm…thanks Harry. That was great.” Was all Evelyn managed to get out. She looked down at her watch and closed her notebook.

“That’ll have to be it for now. I’m afraid classes are starting again in five minutes.” She pointed out. “Again, thanks so much Harry. It was a great interview. I’m sure it will give me a great article.”

Sophia cleared her throat, to once again let Evelyn know she was also there. Evelyn turned to Sophia and gave her a fake smile. “Sophia, you…you did alright. But don’t worry I’ll make you look better.” She turned back to Harry.

“Harry, would you like to come and hang with Penelope and us in the common room tonight?”

He couldn’t help but notice how she intentionally mentioned Penelope. “I’m afraid not Evelyn. Sophia and I have that science project to work on.” Thank God, He thought.

“Oh, well if you want a better time tonight the offer is still open.” And with that Evelyn turned and left, leaving Harry and Sophia alone once again.

“Ready for Literature?” Harry asked standing up.

“Can you believe her?” Sophia complained as she collected her things and followed Harry out of the dining hall.

“She was a bit unprofessional.” He commented

“A bit? Sharks are cuddlier than she is.”

“Cuddle a lot of sharks, have we?” Harry questioned.

“No. Just saying that they are much nicer than she is.”

Harry laughed at her, “Come on or we’ll be late for class.”

---

Audrey paced the field. She was growing impatient with every minute.

“You’re going to create a trench if you keep doing that.”

Audrey looked up to see a smiling Emma. She immediately ran to her and hugged her.

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to write about the game, for the paper.” She told her.

Suddenly Audrey felt someone wrap their arms around her. She turned around.

“Juliet! Charlotte! Sophia! You all came!”

“We wouldn’t miss it!” Said Sophia.

“Yeah, our girl is playing in her first game here. The only female to make the team. How could we not attend?” Asked Juliet.

“Thank you! It means a lot.” Audrey told them.

“We should probably go grab our seats.” Charlotte said pointing over to the bleachers.

“Good Luck!” Juliet said, hugging her one more time.

All the girls walked over to the bleachers and sat down. “So who wants to be the one to inform me about what is going on during this game?” Sophia questioned.

“I can do that if you like.” She heard a male voice say next to her.

“Eli? I didn’t see you there.”

“So how ‘bout it? Would you like me help you understand the game?” He smiled.

She smiled back at him and was about to answer when Harry and the other boys sat down behind them. Harry reached out and did that weird hand shake-hug thing boys do.

“What you doing here, Harry? I didn’t think football was your thing.” Eli asked.

“Here to cheer on Liam, of course.” He replied, “What about you?”

“Just here to take pictures and to help Sophia learn the best game ever.” He said slightly nudging Sophia playfully.

“Don’t try too hard, mate. She is American after all.” Harry said eying them both and realizing how close they were sitting together.

“Hey! Games about to start. Pay attention!” Yelled Niall.

Harry couldn’t help but watch Eli with Sophia the entire game. He couldn’t stop watching their playfulness or over look the way she constantly smiled at him. It was weird, he thought, that she should be so giddy with Eli. Not that Eli was a bad person. No he was great, a wonderful guy that any girl would like; but he didn’t like the fact that it was Sophia. It was almost like he was jealous, but that’s ridiculous cause he didn’t like her like that. Harry shook his head and tried to focus on the game. He looked up just in time to see Audrey score.

“Oh my God! Audrey just scored!” Sophia shouted. Standing up with the rest of the crowd. She looked so happy, as she bounced around in celebration for her friend. Harry’s attention was back on her again. If he were really honest, he’d admit that he loved her smile. Something he rarely witnessed because usually her face was fixed in a scowl whenever she was around him. Harry’s mouth spread into a grin as he enjoyed Sophia in front of him. But then it went back into annoyance when she turned to Eli and jumped in to his arms with excitement. And for the first time since knowing his best friend, Harry felt jealous of Eli almost mad at him for getting attention from Sophia. Get over it Styles it’s just Sophia it doesn’t mean anything, he thought, but he wasn’t too convinced of that.

---

After winning the game and celebrating at the dining hall. Sophia went into the study area of the house to go over her science project with Harry.

“That was quite a game.” She said sitting down at the table in the middle of the room, across from him.
“Yeah, Audrey wasn’t too bad out there.” Harry said because that was the only part of the game he saw outside of Eli and Sophia.

“You seemed to really enjoy it.” He commented.

“I liked it. I didn’t know what was going on, but I liked it.”

“Think you’ll go to another game?”

“Definitely, I have to support Audrey.” She said.

There was an awkward silence between them.

“Should we get started?” Sophia asked breaking up the silence.

“Sure. Where do we begin?”

“What do you mean where do we begin? This is your hypothesis. Shouldn’t you know how you want to go about this?” She questioned.

“I haven’t really thought about it.”

“You haven’t thought about it?”

“Are you just going to keep saying what I’m saying but in question form?” He teased.

“This isn’t funny Harry. This is a big part of our grade and I agreed to your idea, so help me out a little, would you?”

Harry sat there and thought about it. How should they approach this? He wanted to be right about it after all, especially to prove Sophia wrong. But where to start?

“What if we surveyed the students, get their opinion on the changes and go from there.”

“That isn’t a bad idea, but there are only ten girls here.”

“So?”

“So, the boys out number us meaning statistically speaking it will come out on your side because it isn’t fair to begin with.”

“Then what do you suggest, Sophia?”

“Maybe we ask a few outside sources. Like our professors or the people in town. Get other opinions on the matter to kind of even the playing field, so to speak.”

“Okay. And after we get theses opinions, then what?”

“I don’t know this is still your idea?” She said frustrated.

“Yeah, but we’re partners in this. We both have to bring ideas to it.” He told her.

“What about the hypothesis?”

“What about it?” Harry questioned

“Well, our hypothesis is that changing the environment of a group of people impacts them negatively right? So shouldn’t we be focusing on how this change is negatively affecting the school?”

“So basically we should be observing how this change is taking its toll on the school. See how much it is really harming it.” He answered.

“Exactly!” Sophia said with excitement. She was smiling again. The second time Harry had witnessed her smile. It made him smile back and they stared at one another like that for a moment, before Sophia looked away and back at the paper she was writing on.

“Do you like Eli?”

“What?!” Sophia said looking up at Harry. Harry looked away from her for a moment, wondering why he had just said that out loud.

“I asked,” he said hesitantly, “if you liked Eli?”

“I don’t think that is any of your business.” She said coldly.

“I just noticed how you two were at the game. That’s all. You seemed awfully into each other.”

“And?” She questioned.

“And…I guess I was just curious. He is my best friend after all.”

“So you think I’m bad for him. Is that what you’re saying?” She said getting defensive.

“No! No, I just…I don’t know. Forget I asked.” He said giving up.

“Are we done here?” She said, still sounding slightly mad.

“I guess.”

She picked up her things and started to walk back to her room leaving Harry alone in the Study room. When he knew she was gone he slide his hands down his face is frustration. Why had he asked her that? What did he care any way, it wasn’t like it affected him. He threw his pencil down and got up out of his chair. They were having such a great time too, he thought. He had actually gotten her to smile before he ruined it with his dumb question.

Notes

A little annoyed Harry during the game for you

And cute Sophia in the Study room.

Again I hoped you liked this chapter. I'm sorry to those of you who aren't getting updates on the story I don't know what's going on but hopefully it is fixed soon. Don't forget to vote, rate, subscribe and comment.

Have a great weekend and a Happy Easter!