Chapter One

   North London

     “Harry, get your arse up and get ready you bloody fool!” Liam Payne shouted while banging on Harry Style’s door outside. Harry jolted right up, waking the girl next to him that he slept with last night. “What time is it?” she croaked. Harry had a massive pounding headache from last night’s party but manage to look up to the clock that was hanging on the wall across the bed. 6 o’clock in the bloody morning, crap, he thought. Today was the day that he and the lads are flying to San Francisco for a two-year break.

     As much as they love going on tours, meeting fans and making music, it was getting too overwhelming. Paps and fans following them around as if they don’t know the meaning of privacy. Thanks to their ‘uncle’ Simon and the management, they’ve managed to keep the news on the down low and got an apartment that is away from the city. Harry got out of the bed and looked around the floor for a pair of boxers. It’s always been a habit of him to leave his clothes around and the girls he bring back don’t seem to mind.

        

    Finding his lucky green boxers, he put it on. “I’ve got to get ready,” he muttered to girl whose name he forgotten. It happens all the time; he goes to any random party or hung out at the pub 15 minutes away from his and Lou’s apartment and finds the most attractive girls to hook up with. It’s like a hobby, hooking up. And he wasn’t even surprise when he sees himself in the papers every now and then. Though the other boys, particularly Liam don’t approve of Harry’s behaviour but what was he supposed to do? Girls find him charming and the curls are quite seductive.

     

     The girl on the bed was already up, putting back on the skimpy black dress she wore last night that made Harry attracted to her. As she got all of her belongings together, she stood up and walked towards Harry who was standing beside the door. “I had the best night of my life,” she purred as she ran her fingers through his curls. He placed his left arm around her waist and his right hand clutching on the door knob, twisting it. “I had a great time too, uhh...” he said hesitantly. “love,” He flashed his million dollar smile that showed off the dimples. That was just enough to not get her mad. She tip-toed, kissing my lips then went to my ear, whispering, “Call me when you get to San Francisco.” She got out of the room, walking towards the stairs, allowing Harry to enjoy the view from behind.

    

     The moment of pleasure ended too soon as someone hit a towel at him that was lying on the floor a few minutes ago. The culprit turned out to be Louis. “Why the hate, Boo Bear?” he teased, knowing it gets Louis annoyed when people call him that, particularly Harry. “Don’t start,” Louis growled. “Thanks to you and your new sex buddy, I only managed to get 4 hours of sleep.” He walked away to his room, still nagging. “And now Liam is mad at me for getting up late!” He slammed the door shut, ending the conversation. Harry just chuckled. Sometimes these guys worry too much, he thought to himself as he headed back to his room to pack up.

San Francisco

    West Bridge Academy’s music club has been hectic and it was only the beginning of school. They’ve been doing last-minute preparation for the West Bridge Fund Raiser for West Africa that was happening this weekend. The students were wearing sweatshirts, tank tops and shorts instead of their usual uniform. Melissa Marie Anderson was sitting on one of the large speakers for that weekend, guitar in hand. But she was too distracted with the dance crew that was practising for the fund raiser. “5, 6, 7, 8!” Elaine Waldorf shouted as she and the dance crew went through their dance routine for the opening act.

     Melissa was amazed at how the routine went, but Elaine thought otherwise as usual. “No, you’re doing it wrong!” She screamed. The music that was going on stopped for a moment. “Its step-ball change then clap! How many times do we have to go through this! From the top,” she gestured towards Emmett Morrison, the guy in charge of technical and music and also a close friend of Melissa. He quickly pressed a button from a remote and ‘Starships’ started blasting.

     She then stood up, clearly out of distraction mode and decided to go to the A/V room, considering that was the only quiet place that she could practise for the fund raiser. She flashed a smile at Emmett as she passed by. Once she got to the room, she opened the door to find her best friend, Jessica Hathaway strumming a few chords on her guitar. She clearly got the same idea as Melissa did. Jessica and she were best friends since diapers, considering their moms were best friends themselves.

    “Ah, my mind-reading/idiotic friend of mine has arrived,” she teased with a smile on her face. Melissa stuck her tongue out, Jessica stuck hers back. Whenever they were together, sarcasm and insults just burst between the two of them. “You know, this whole mind-reading thing is getting tiring,” Melissa chided. “And you’re the bigger idiot.” They both laughed and Melissa’s stupid statement. “Well, what brings you here O Wise idiot of mine?” she asked in a ridiculous British accent. Melissa replied to her with the same accent as well, “Thee has come to thou to practise fort the fund raiser.” Jessica burst out laughing again. Next to any comedian, Melissa could make Jessica laugh until she wets herself.

   After a few laughing moments and idiotic remarks, they practised their song together for the next 15 minutes. And when they practise, they really made an effort to it. Their voices went together well like chocolate and bacon. But the moment was ruined when Emmett burst in, struggling to carry what seem like 4 heavy boxes. “Mind helping me out here?” he grunted, sweat already pouring on his forehead. Jessica was already by his side, carrying a box as Melissa set her guitar aside to help as well. “Ugh, what’s in these boxes, rocks?” Jessica grunted. Melissa took a box and knows how Jessica felt.

   “Sort of,” Emmett said as he placed the remaining two boxes he was carrying on the floor. He then took out a razor blade from his tool belt. He cut along the tape in the middle of the box, opening it. Looking closer, Melissa realised that it was just an amplifier. “Harvey’s Electric Store got these cool amps which I thought would be great for the fund raiser, considering the crowd that’s coming over.” Emmett explained. The event was held at the West Bridge Mall, easy to attract the people there. “It’s quite mean of you to make us, damsels in distress to carry such heavy boxes,” Melissa sighed dramatically as she and Jessica placed their hands on their foreheads, worried princess-style. Emmett simply sighed then smiled, catching the hint. “Give me 20 minutes to put these away and I’ll take you damsels out for Ben & Jerry.” The girls cheered while giving each other a high-five. Besides sarcasm and insulting each other, they could always make Emmett buy them anything out of the ordinary.

      True to his words, Emmett finished had finish his task and the three of them headed towards the Ben & Jerry ice cream stand just outside WBA. After getting their ice creams, they headed out to the nearby playground and sat on one of the benches. “So, I just got the news from my Uncle Marvin who works at Syco,” Jessica started while licking her Cookies ‘n’ Cream ice cream. “Turns out that the hottest boy band in the entire world is taking a two-year break, and guess where they’re headed to,” she sang cheerfully. Melissa knew it was about One Direction, the hottest British boy-band. Jessica has been hinting on it since last week. Crushing Jessica’s spirit, she pretended she was clueless, “Germany?” Emmett joined in, pretending to confirm their location. “Mexico.” Melissa laughed as Jessica growled in frustration, clearly annoyed when her friends did this to her. “You guys are seriously, hopeless,” she whined. “They’re coming to San Francisco!”

     “And this involves us, how?” Melissa rolled her eyes, clearly uninterested. “Oh, come on, Mel! I thought you like One Direction,” Jessica argued. “Yeah; like. Not fan-girl obsessive,” she replied lamely. Jessica just glared at her friend and turned her head away from Melissa. It’s true, Melissa does like One Direction but not until the point where you fan-girl or stalk them. She especially hates it when the girls start screaming over them which sounds way worse than a mother giving birth. To her, they look like 5 normal-looking boys to her. There were a few minutes of awkward silence until Emmett broke it off. “Why take a break in San Francisco? The fans here are just as worst as the ones in New York.”

    “Or the whole United States for that matter,” Melissa whispered in sarcasm. Hearing her, Jessica bended down, grabbed a handful of dried leaves and threw it towards Melissa. Knowing Jessica had forgiven her, Melissa threw a handful back. A mini-dried leaves throwing began. A few moments later, Jessica went back on the topic. “Beats me,” she shrugged. “But Uncle Marvin told me to keep it on low profile. The boys clearly need the space and privacy considering the fan-frenzy in the UK and US.” Jessica was right. Melissa used to write for the entertainment section in the school’s monthly magazine. She read stories about Harry Styles and his family having to move out of their house because of the fans or the death threats on twitter towards the boy’s female friends. She also read Harry’s playboy status, having to date or hook up with a supermodel every week.

    “As much as I ‘like’ to hear more of the story,” Emmett interrupted Melissa’s train of thoughts. “I gotta head back to the school. Mr. Seville needs help with his computer again.” He stood up, ready to walk back to school. “Teacher’s pet,” Melissa teased. Academic wise, Emmett wasn’t so great but he does know how to win the teachers’ hearts by running errands for them. “But this is like the fifth time this week,” he complained. “Well, it’s not their fault you’re so nice, doing things for them just to get away from homework.” Jessica stated teasingly. Being the guy who doesn’t really know how to make a come-back, Emmett simply walked away while muttering something like a goodbye. Jessica and Melissa simply laughed it off. Life seriously couldn’t get any crazier.