Smile *A Zayn Malik Love Story*

The Winner

Pic of Anna and Liam over there >>>>>>

The breakfast table seems oddly quiet this morning. My father reads the newspaper silently across the table. My phone dings. Cara.

Wut r u doing after school? she types.

Homework probably. wanna meet up? I type back.

The contest results r coming out today. She says, then a few seconds later adds I don't think we won.

It had been four months that Tiffany, Cara and I entered the contest at the mall. We hadn't thought about it much since then.

Keep ur hopes up. I tell her. We need ur good narks.

:) I gotta go. I'll pick u up after school with Tiff. We can do homework while we wait for the results. She tells me. I shove my phone in my pocket, grab my lunch, and run out to the bus. The hours passed by slowly, wondering the whole day about the contest. I planned out every word I would say to Zayn Malik, what outfit I would wear, and how I would convince him to fall in love with me.

"What's going on with you Reagan?" Anna asks as we're gathering our books into our backpacks. "You've been acting weird all day."

"It's a One Direction thing." I tell her. "You wouldn't understand." Anna looks down.

"I get it." She says. She picks up her backpack and walks away, barely shouting goodbye over her shoulder. I head out into the parking lot and see Cara's old Camry. I hop in the back seat next to Tiffany.

"Are you guys excited?" Cara asks, pulling out of the lot.

"Super! I've been thinking about it all day." I tell her.

"Me too." Tiffany adds. We start fangirling about what we'd say to them, and I relay what I've been thinking about all day out loud. We pull into the house where Cara and her parents live. We walk through the front door where her elderly Sharpei greets us excitedly, and her Husky wags his tail. We make our way up to her bedroom and she immediately takes out the computer.  

"They aren't announcing it for half an hour." She tells us showing us the countdown clock on the Delia's website. I take out my math homework and drown myself iin problems.

"Guys!" Tiffany says looking up from her book. She points to the clock. 57 seconds left. 

"I feel like I'm gonna explode. I need to get this over with." Cara says, rolling backward. 30 seconds. Each one passes by like an hour. 10. 9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2.

Cara screams.

Tiffany hides her face in her hands.

I don't dare look.

Cara does. "Guys don't worry. It's just the runner up. The one who wins the shopping trip to Delia's."

"Click the button! I need to know who won!" Tiffany shouts. Cara hits the button and all the air escapes my lungs. On the screen, under the flashing word 'WINNER' is my name.