Chapter 5: Bitter Enemies and New Beginnings

There was already a crowd hovering over the cast list Friday morning when Louis and Carlos arrived. Carlos squeezed through a mix of disappointed faces and people leaping for joy while Louis hung back, shaking his perfectly-styled head. How could people get so excited over a role in the dumb school play?

"Hey, I got a part!" Carlos cried happily over the crowd.

"Is my name there?!" Louis demanded, shoving a random person out of his path to get closer. Carlos' eyes skimmed the cast list, and Louis could feel his heart pounding. He nervously awaited the response.

"Yeah," Carlos told him at last.

"YES!" Louis shouted which caused a few people to give him strong looks. In response, he cleared his throat and smoothed his blue polo. "I mean, that's pretty neat, I guess."

Almost a second later, Carlos was nearly thrown out of the crowd. "Whew, it's madness in there," he exclaimed. "Isn't this great, Louis? I was cast as Professor Metz! He's the crazy scientist who brings Whiteside a cockroach farm!"

"Terrific," said Louis with less emotion than a brick. "Who am I?" he asked urgently, but Carlos just scratched his head.

"I have no clue."

Louis nearly exploded. "What?! But you saw my name. Why didn't you just look over to see who I was?"

"Hey, I found your name. You can't expect me to do everything around here," Carlos replied, holding up his hands in defense.

Louis grumbled as he headed back into the sea of anxious teenagers. A couple people moved away from the door so he could get a better look.

John…...Louis Tomlinson

Who the hell is John?

Louis was just about to ask Carlos until he saw the pretty girl from the audition, and he lost his train of thought. He tried not to stare as she graciously thanked some friends who were congratulating her, but he found himself gazing at her smile. After internally debating with himself, he decided to talk to her.

"Hey," he said, catching her attention. She turned with a smile still on her face. "Your audition was amazing," he told her sweetly. "What part did you get?"

She beamed. "Oh, thank you! That's so nice of you. I got Maggie."

"Congratulations!" exclaimed Louis. He was pretty sure that Maggie was the lead, and he hoped that she and John would have scenes together.

"Thanks," she said again. "My name is Grace Pearson, by the way. I don't think I caught your name."

Louis tried his smoldering smirk. "It's Louis Tomlinson," he said suavely.

Grace's expression didn't change. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Louis," she said. "Did you get a part? I haven't seen you in shows before."

"Yes," Louis said proudly. "I'm –"

But before he could tell her, Harry Styles and his devilish good looks swept into the conversation. He ignored Louis completely and wrapped his arms around Grace, then picked her up and spun her around.

"Congrats on the lead, Gracie! I knew you'd score it," he said, placing her back on the floor. He flipped his hair back like he was part of an Herbal Essence commercial.

"Thanks, you too! You'll make an excellent Whiteside," she replied. "Do you know Louis, Harry? He got into the show too."

Harry slowly turned to face Louis as if first acknowledging his existence with a slight look of disapproval. This was soon replaced with a thin, cruel smile.

"Yes, Gracie. I know Mr. Tomlinson," he said mockingly, but Grace didn't seem to pick it up.

"What role did you say you got?" she asked Louis.

Louis felt like his tongue had turned to lead, but he managed to say, "John."

Immediately, Harry's head whipped back as he was overcome with a fit of laughter. Louis' face turned beet red as Harry continued hooting like it was the funniest thing he'd ever heard. Obviously he knew something that Louis didn't.

"I don't see what's so funny," Louis said furiously.

"Sorry, how rude of me." Harry wiped away an imaginary tear. "John is the butler, and Whiteside gets to boss him around the entire show." Harry elbowed Louis' side a little too roughly. "Looks like we have to work on our stage chemistry, eh, Lou?"

"Wait, why is that so funny?" Grace questioned.

Harry smiled kindly. "John's role is just really fun," he lied. "He'll have a blast."

Louis wanted to punch the smile right off Harry's face, but the warning bell rang before he could even make that decision. Harry casually wrapped his arm around Grace's shoulder and said, "Let's go get our stuff."

"Nice meeting you, Louis!" Grace called as Harry led her away. "See you at rehearsal!"

All Louis could do was internally fume as he watched Harry and Grace walked back to the auditorium, laughing and smiling, hand in hand.

That afternoon, Maya had tutored Zayn in the coffee shop of his father's bookstore. She was surprised at how quickly he picked up her tips. The logic of math came easily, but once the questions were written differently, he had trouble comprehending what they were asking. Maya was able to help him out there.

Zayn was also pleasantly surprised at how kind Maya was. When he first met her, she seemed nice enough, but he thought that she'd easily slip into a know-it-all mode like Mr. Styles. This wasn't the case, and she was never impatient or cross. He was able to acknowledge that she was a wonderful tutor… Could she ever be more than that?

"And how do you solve this one?" she asked him, pointing to a problem in the textbook. Zayn read through it.

"It doesn't say to use first principles, so you should solve for the derivative using the product rule, right?" he asked her.

"Absolutely right," she said, and Zayn began to scribble on his looseleaf. "You don't have to solve it. You've done enough of these to know how to answer it. In fact, we've been at this for more than two hours now."

Zayn looked at the clock and was completely taken by surprise. "Oh, wow, you're right. Time has flown by. Time never flies by when I'm doing math."

Maya giggled. "You're getting really good at these derivatives," she said, closing the textbook. "I think you can be done for the day."

Zayn shoveled his work papers into a folder then relaxed his hands behind his head. He made a quick decision to be bold.

"You know, I don't usually agree with Mr. Styles. But making you tutor me has to be the nicest thing he's ever done for me," he said.

Maya didn't even look at him as she said, "I usually agree with Mr. Styles. But making me tutor you is at the top of my list." Zayn was happily taken aback by her response, and he glanced at her as she packed up her stuff into her backpack.

"I appreciate it," he told her. "I know you probably have a million other better ways you could be spending your Friday evening."

"It's alright, I still have my Saturday evening," she teased. Her bag was all packed now, but she didn't look like she had any intention of leaving just yet.

"Do you want something to drink?" Zayn asked.

"Oh, it's fine," she said hastily.

"Let me get you something to drink," he repeated politely. "It's the least I can do for spending two hours with me doing calculus."

"Zayn, you don't have to –"

He held up a hand. "I insist."

Maya sat there, flattered and defeated, while Zayn ordered hot chocolates for them both. In a few minutes, the waiter brought them over. Zayn hadn't originally intended for their tutoring session to become a date-of-sorts, but he was more than happy it had. He kept looking at Maya to see if she felt the same way, but she just seemed conflicted.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, taking a sip from his mug.

Maya turned back around and looked at him with her round brown eyes.

"Not at all," she replied quickly. Her pupils darted back and forth for a second before she spoke again. "Hey, I wanted to ask you something."

"Shoot," he said.

"Niall's having a seasonal party next Saturday, and he's inviting the whole grade," she told him. "I was wondering, well… I don't know if you're working next Saturday, or if you have plans or something… But I wanted to know if maybe you wanted to, um…"

"Go?" he asked with a grin, saving her from more stuttering.

"With me," Maya completed.

They both looked at each other a moment, enraptured in each other's eyes. Zayn was feeling the fireworks, and he hoped that she was too. He hoped more than anything that this was more than just a casual invitation, but he couldn't tell. Actually, he felt an overwhelming urge to kiss her right then and there, but he was afraid of rejection.

"Yes," he said at last. Maya exhaled heavily, and he wondered if she had been holding her breath the whole time.

"Really?" she choked, surprised.

He smiled at her warmly so she knew that he actually wanted to be with her at that party. They made intense eye contact once more before Maya broke it and picked up her backpack. With a small smile on her face, she swung it over her shoulder and said, "Thanks for the hot chocolate, Zayn. I'll see you around school. Bye!"

She hastily grabbed her jacket and headed out of the bookstore. Zayn watched her go. He had completely fallen for her.

At the moment, he had ignored the fact that he hated parties. He never knew what to do, and he never really fit in with the other teenagers. Zayn also strongly disliked a lot of the other seniors at Pineview High School, because they were always shooting him disapproving glares. A sour feeling in his stomach warned him that there would be several awkward moments at this party.

But despite all this, he smiled at the memory of Maya stumbling over her words to ask him, and he couldn't help but say to himself, "I'm suddenly really looking forward to next Saturday."

Louis is jealous of Harry, and Maya and Zayn are going on a date? Have you ever had a crush on your enemy's significant other?

Sneak Peak: We join Louis, Grace, Harry, and Kendall Knight at play practice…