Chapter Three

Louis soon set foot in the school's library. It wasn't anything spectacular, but Louis still found himself spending most of his free time at school there. As Louis had promised, he pulled out his phone and sent Sam a text, telling him that he had arrived 'safe and sound' at the library.

Smiling to himself, Louis entered the library, ignoring the librarian; he wasn't too fond of the man. He tried to act kind and caring to all the kids who walked in here, but he constantly complained about students to other students. Louis had overheard the librarian talking about him to some random student one day, saying that he spent "way too much time in the library" and "that's what happens when you have no friends". Of course, Louis ignored it. Unless he could see the fun in responding to them, Louis usually ignored the insults people threw at him. It had become water off a duck's back to him.

For the last twenty-five minutes of the school day, Louis searched the library for an interesting book he hadn't read yet. Finding a book that fit in that category was a challenge for Louis. That's not saying he didn't find many books interesting, just that he had read a lot of books. For him, they were an escape. It just so happened that he needed to escape a lot, to plunge himself into a different world made of words.

The truth was, most books did interest him. As Sam had so eloquently put it before, Louis was a bit of a nerd. He loved to gather new information and put it into practice. He was pretty sure he would love school for that reason if it weren't for the people and the teachers treating him like some form of garbage. He never understood why they did it, but he had accepted it and learnt to live with it.

So, Louis was often in his school's library, teaching himself most of the time. He rarely actually listened in his classes because, one, he already knew most of the stuff he was being taught, and, two, what the teachers said often went in one ear and out the other. He preferred self-teaching anyway, and that's what he did. If it wasn't in the school's library, it was at the one down the street from his apartment. Or at the bookstore a few blocks over.

Now, though, as Louis looked through the books before him, he already knew everything he would need to know in order to pass his final year at school with his usual straight-A's. An urge to study wasn't coming. He needed something for pleasure. The only problem was, the school's library sucked.

The bell signalling the end of school rippled through the halls and sneaked its way into the quiet library. Louis had given up on trying to find a book, already heading to the exit as the sound reached his ears. Unable to find a proper read, he had decided to try and get a head start on the rest of the students. But he had miscalculated.

"Have a good afternoon!" The librarian's voice came from behind Louis just as he opened the door. Once again, he chose to ignore him, not wanting to spare any time on that "man". But, then again, if Louis thought about it, he didn't really like sparing time on anyone. Louis didn't care about people or being social. It wasn't his thing. Most people weren't bothered by that though, mainly because they found good sport in bullying him. However, Louis didn't care what people thought about him. He enjoyed having, as Sam would say, verbal wars with people.

Speaking of Sam, he was one of the very few people Louis did enjoy spending time with. He was one of the only two people Louis enjoyed, and Kara was the other. She had been Louis' best friend since they were three, but she moved to the other side of the country with her family when she was eleven. They still talked as much as they could.

The reason he had let Sam and Kara in was that they showed they cared, and that was the thing; Louis wouldn't mind people so much if they gave a damn about each other. But to Louis, that didn't seem possible. Not at this school at least.

As Louis ducked into the crowded hall, he did his best to navigate his way through the swarm of students, all heading towards the school exits, anxious to get home. Trying not to trip over anyone or anything, Louis ducked and dodged his way through the crowd before finding his way into an empty classroom. He had never been fond of crowds, especially ones full of angsty teenagers, all trying to stampede their way out of the school at the end of the day. That's why Louis always tried to slip inside a vacated classroom, or even a bathroom—peace and quiet.

There, he could comfortably wait for all of the other students to dissipate before heading out of the building himself. On most days, Sam would keep him company, even drive him home afterwards, but not today. Sam was at football practice. Another thing Louis didn't care for. If it hadn't been for the lovely librarian, on days when Sam was at football practice, Louis would have stayed in the library.

Listening to the sound of his peers' footsteps slowly disappear from the hallway, Louis jumped up from the desk he was sitting on and sluggishly exited the classroom. The hall still held some stragglers talking to each other or just leaning up against the walls, browsing their phones. Most of the students who stayed behind were younger kids whose parents picked them up after work, leaving them to wait a bit.

Louis ignored them all, of course, and headed through the exit, taking in the sunlight. Louis looked around at the car park, watching some students getting inside their cars, others standing around and talking to each other. The younger kids ran over to the buses, shoving and joking with each other, while others stood alone.

Louis shook his head before turning and walking away from the car park, buses, and people. He didn't have a car, and he didn't want to be crammed into a bus with other people. He had no idea how long Sam was going to be at football practice, so he walked home. From the day that Sam had gotten his license and his car, he had driven Louis home from school. They lived relatively close together, so it wasn't a problem for Sam. But now, since Sam decided he wanted to be a jock and take up football, Louis found himself walking home most days.

It was only a short walk, or it was such to Louis, so he didn't mind it too much. It would usually take him half-an-hour to get to his apartment building, depending on how fast he felt like walking. Today, Louis decided to take his time. Relax a bit and walk slower than usual.

He eventually reached the shabby looking building that loomed over him, sitting almost on its own on the corner of the street. The only thing left standing to accompany it was a shorter building to it's left, which Louis knew housed the owner of the larger apartment building. When he had first moved into the building, he wondered why the owner didn't just live with the tenants. Then Louis saw the inside of the building and instantly understood. It wasn't the most glamorous place, and Louis wished that he could move out. Sadly, though, by the look of things, that wouldn't be happening for a very long time.

Louis sighed as he headed up the front steps to the entrance and through the creaky old door. Then, gradually, he made a beeline straight for the stairs. The building did have an elevator, but it didn't work. Louis was pretty certain that it hadn't worked for a very, very long time. At least for almost nine years, since he moved in.

Making his way up the old stairs, Louis hummed to himself. Usually, he would take it slow up the stairs, but he knew he wouldn't be going over to Sam's house to use his gym, so he decided to make this his workout, even if it wasn't a very good one. Due to the humming and the fact that Louis was skipping three steps at a time, he was soon out of breath, and his thighs were burning.

He was by no means the fittest person in the world, but he didn't slack off when it came to working out; and while he had the strength to prove it, cardio was another thing altogether. As the burning in his thighs started to increase, and his breathing started to become more laboured, Louis reached the top of the stairs. He always seemed to underestimate how tall the building was.

As he walked onto the landing of the top floor, Louis moved to stand in front of his apartment door. The apartment building held two apartments on each floor, except for the top floor, where Louis resided, which held four. Two on one side of the hallway, and two on the other; all four of the apartments on the top floor were much smaller than the rest in the building.

Louis turned his attention to the door that led into the apartment next to his. No one had lived there since Louis had moved in with his aunt, and it had held a sign reading 'applications open'. However, the sign was now gone, and Louis couldn't help but wonder if the owner had given up trying to get someone to move in or if someone had decided actually to rent such a terrible apartment.

Shaking the thought away, Louis made his way into his own home. The door had already been unlocked, and as he entered, he was greeted by the strong smell of alcohol. Ignoring the mess that lay before his eyes, which he was used to by now, he looked over at his sleeping aunt; who had crashed on the sofa to his left, breathing heavily in her sleep. Louis walked right past to his bedroom.

Unlike the rest of the apartment, it was spotless. Everything was organised and in its proper place where Louis could easily find it. A single bed that was way too small for him sat with its headboard against the far wall, taking up a lot of the space in the room. A small bookshelf sat beside it, housing as many books as Louis could squeeze in there; he had read all of them Some pictures of his two best friends and his parents were also placed on the bookshelf, among a few other things.

Louis drew a deep sigh, taking off his school bag and placing it at the end of the bed before falling onto the mattress. Coming home was a relief. Once he entered his room, he didn't have to pretend to be anything else. He didn't have to plaster a smile on his face, and he didn't have to put up with people who thought they were better than him; and while Louis did enjoy spending time with Sam and talking with him, it still felt as though he had to force himself to have fun. Of course, it hadn't always been like that, but things changed.

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A/N: Chapter Three!!!

So, a little bit of a filler, yes. BUT, this chapter also holds some good information for later chapters... as does the next chapter. Filler, but for a reason.

Anyway, a question:

From what you've seen so far, what do you think of Louis' home life?