Chapter One

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"That's Harry Styles. Oh my god."

I rolled my eyes for what seemed the thirtieth time that day. "No, it's not, Stella." I continued writing on the withdrawal form. Between us going to concerts and paying for gas and food, I was going broke.

"No. Jasey. Look." Stella hit my arm repeatedly, making my handwriting less than legible. "Jase. THAT'S HIM. HE'S WITH THE OTHERS OH MY GOD THAT'S HIM."

I decided to appease my blonde friend and lifted my eyes. Following her pointing finer, I looked over to the line for the counter where five guys and a rather large man were standing. My mouth dropped open as one of them turned around. What in the world were they doing in this tiny road stop of a bank?

One of them smiled at Stella as she stood there gaping and blushing. She about fainted on the spot.

"Aren't you going to say something?" I hissed at her, noticing as a couple of them were watching us expectantly. One with short hair smiled shyly at me, and I returned it. Even if they were as gay as people said, they sure were cute.

"Say something?" Stella raised her eyebrows as if I was suggesting something completely out of the question. "You don't just 'say something' to One Direction."

I gave her a smile. "Wanna bet?"

Her eyes widened in disbelief. "Oh, no. No no no. That's the look that got us onto 3oh!3's tour bus."

"And wasn't it one of the best times of your life?" She smiled, recalling the memory. I continued, "Alright. Let me say one thing, and if they think we're weird, I'll never talk to bands again."

Stella watched me warily for a moment, then sighed. "Fine. But Niall's mine!" I laughed and picked up my withdrawal slip, heading over to stand in line behind them. Stella followed me, blushing like crazy and staying a bit behind me in case I embarrassed us and she needed to make a quick getaway. The one with a mass of dark curls on his head smiled and turned to face us, along with short hair, who continued watching me.

"Well, hello, ladies!"

Okay. The accent caught me off guard.

"Hello yourself!" I replied while Stella muttered a greeting behind me. "So what brings you guys all the way out here?"

"Don't let him tell you it's for the scenery." Dark hair, dark eyes...this one was Zayn, I assumed. He smiled at us as the body guard made it up to the counter.

"We stopped for gas and Hank's card got rejected!" One other boy turned to tell us, and rather loudly.

"He has money!" Curly hair argued, then turned and raised an eyebrow to Stella. "Or so he tells us." Stella dissolved into a puddle of giggles, obviously pleasing him, who stuck out his hand to me. "I'm Harry."

I smiled back at him. He was quite the charmer. I took hold on his hand, saying "I'm Jasey." Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed someone pulling on a mask. Confused, I turned to look, and I saw three more masked men behind him. The boys must have followed my gaze, because I heard one of them say, "What the hell is--"

"EVERYBODY GET DOWN!" One of them bellowed, and we all dropped to the floor as shots were fired into the air. I found myself being pushed behind one of the boys as the few other people in the bank screamed, Stella included. I looked up and saw the man--Hank, I presumed--turn around and pull his own gun out. Before he could do anything, one of the four robbers shot him, and he dropped to the ground, unmoving.

  "Hank!" Harry yelled, eyes wide. Two men ran to the counter, shouting at the clerks to get them the money. One other approached us, gun pointed to the boy directly in front of me.

"Well, look at what we have here." The man smiled, staring at me and Short hair. "You kids would make a mighty fine prize!"

"We've got the cash, let's go." Said another of the masked men, holding bags stuffed full.

The guy looking at us--he must have been the leader--shouldered his gun for a moment, thinking, then brought it back down. "No. Hold on." He continued looking at us. "These boys are pretty famous. The neighbor girls are big fans." He looked behind Short hair to me, and poked his gun towards me. "If they're with them, these girls must be worth something, too."

Short hair in front of me knocked the gun away from my face. "Don't touch her!"

The leader growled and kicked his foot out, striking him across the face, and then again in the stomach. He fell back onto me, and I stared at him, eyes wide as he coughed, trying to breathe.

"Don't you touch Liam!" The loud boy said, standing, but he was hit in the head form the side by one of the other men's guns.

"We're taking them. All of them." The leader stated, eyes narrowed, then pointed the gun at us. "Up. All of you. Get up."

Slowly we stood, the loud boy stumbling a bit from his head wound. He stared defiantly at the leader, even as blood dripped down his face. I helped Liam up, trying not to hurt his ribs. We were directed in a single file line to a van, where we were tied up and tossed in the back. Two of the men stayed back there with us as we were carted off to who knows where. Everyone was silent, save for Stella's soft crying.

"Stella. Hey." I whispered, glancing warily at the guards. The seemed to care less if I talked, absorbed in their own conversation. She was across te van from me, in between Zayn and the blonde one. "Stella. Look at me."

Lower lip quivering, she looked up at me, hair sticking to the tear streaks on her face. I smiled, swallowing my own doubt. "Hey, we're gonna be fine." I said, hoping she believed me. She stared at me doubtfully, then the blonde one nudged her.

"Just look at this as some sort of road trip." He said, giving her a sheepish grin, clearly embarrassed at trying to help. A road trip? How was that supposed to make her feel better?

To my utter surprise, she gave a small laugh. Well, stick a cute Irish guy that she was secretly in love with (borderline obsessive) next to her, and I guess she could withstand any situation. He smiled, clearly proud that he had helped calm her down.

I looked to my left where the loud boy sat, passed out, the blood dried on the side of his head. Fear once again flooded my mind as I imagined what else they were going to do to us.

Would we really be okay?

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