During The X Factor (One Direction)

Chapter 3 - The Warning

“It’s back on!” I shout to the room, which suddenly becomes silent as everyone turns to stare at the television screen.

“Do we really have to-” Harry starts to complain, but I cut him off with a quick “YES!” as Dermot’s voice welcomes us back to the show. I can see that Harry actually loves the attention; all of his closest friends gathered in his living room to watch his success at Simon’s house in Spain. Bliss.

He attempts to playfully push me off the arm of the chair that he’s sat on, but I whack him gently on the back of his head so he’ll shut up and let us watch.

Dermot is now telling us about the groups in Marbella. I remember Harry telling me all about it throughout these past two weeks since he had returned, breaking down in fits of laughter in the middle of a story.

The tale that Harry loves to tell, which I had now heard forty dozen times, was currently being broadcasted to The X Factor viewers.

A picture of Harry’s band mate Louis flashes on the screen. He’s waiting outside a hospital entrance, waiting for the verdict on his swollen foot. Another image flashes onto the screen, this time of Harry, Niall, Zayn and Liam perched on a wall looking miserable. Through the corner of my eye I can see Harry grinning at the memory, and I smile too, knowing the story already too well.

Once Dermot announces that One Direction have now been reunited and are ready for their performance, four of our friends, who have been sat on the edge of their seats, applaud them. Harry explodes with laughter and the four girls glare at him.

“He has a girlfriend, Beth, don’t get excited.” Harry tells the dark haired girl who had migrated from the edge of the couch and is now seated right in front of the telly, staring adoringly at Louis.

“Shh,” she tells him without looking around, “Don’t ruin this for me.”

Beth moves back to the couch when some other act appears on the screen, which is when our friend Jason decides to dance along with Princes And Rouges.

“Videooo killed the radioooo staarr” Jason is screeching, completely out of tune and out of time.

As he bobs up and down in the middle of the room more of the boys join in, including Harry, all shouting the words. Actually, they just shout the one line over and over again. They all dance like idiots, the rest of us sat back laughing our heads off.

Harry breaks apart from the rest of the idiots and pulls me up from behind the chair to dance too. Well, I say dance, I can’t actually dance at all. I hold Harry’s hands in mine and jump around in a circle, chanting the words.

The whole room is shaking as twenty teenagers skip around the room, attempting to dance and sing, like a bunch of hyper toddlers. It only stops when Beth stupidly screams,

“IT’S THEM.” Immediately, she realises how much of a desperate fan-girl she sounds like, and sank into the couch to glow crimson in embarrassment.

Again, Harry sits and laughs silently at himself and his new friends as they walk out onto the stone floor and have a quick chat with Simon.

All of this stuff, I already knew about. Harry had told me each and every detail of his trip to Marbella…except their performance.

“I want it to be a surprise.” He had smiled when I first asked him. He hasn’t even told me what song they sang! When he was preparing for his very first audition you could hear Isn’t she lovely drifting from his bedroom and down his street all day, every day, but he hasn’t said a peep to me, or any of our friends, about this song.

As a result, I’m on the verge of mimicking Beth and the other three. I’m nearly jumping through the roof in anticipation, waiting for them to start singing. I feel like throwing something at the television.