Secret Sister » 1D

Chapter 16

Chapter 16


"If you were a girl, what would you do?" I asked Harry, staring at him intently.

He stared back at me and smirked. "I would probably go straight to the bathroom and take my clothes off," he said.

I shrugged slightly. "Eh, I would probably do the same thing," I said. "If I were a boy, I mean." He laughed.

"Guys, what are you doing?" Liam asked, coming up behind Harry so I wouldn't jump.

"Just wrapping up our conversation," I told him, not breaking my eye contact with Harry.

Liam frowned. "What conversation?" he asked.

"This one," Harry replied, like it was obvious. He didn't stop staring at me. "Now shush."

Liam sighed, rolled his eyes, and walked away.

"If you could be an animal for one day, what would you be?" Harry asked me.

This one was a toughie. "Probably a cat," I said. "They get to laze around all day. Eat, sleep, play. Just the way I like it."

He grinned. "I like cats," he said.

"No, you don't," I scoffed. "You like pussies. There's a huge difference."

He laughed again. "I suppose," he said. "Anyway, I would probably be a... PENGUIN!!"

I frowned. "A penguin?" I asked. "Why?"

"Because they're cute and cuddly. Like Niall."

I laughed. "So, in other words, you would like to be Niall for a day?" I guessed. "You could've just said that."

"But Niall's not an animal."

"He sure eats like one, but he's a mammal. Doesn't that kind of make him an animal?"

"I dunno, but I guess so...."

"Why are you talking about my penguin-like self?" an Irish voice asked, and we looked up. I shrugged. "What was supposed to be a simple question turned into a serious discussion," I explained.

I turned to Harry. "I guess that ends our conversation," I said.

"Who says?" he retorted as I stood up. "We can always continue to converse some other time."

I laughed and nodded in agreement. He stretched his hands out towards me, and I got the message. I grabbed his hands and hauled him up out of his seat. He was heavy, but his large hands really helped me get a good grip.

"Liam!" Niall yelled over his shoulder. "Lily and Harry are holding hands!"

I scowled and immediately let go. Harry frowned slightly and glared at Niall's back. Liam entered the room, rolled his eyes again, and said, "Come on, boys and girl, we don't have much time. We have two hours until the concert, and we should've left five minutes ago!"

We were practically pushed out the door by Liam, and in the car I ended up being squished between Niall and Harry. "Step on it!" Zayn yelled, and we started speeding towards the theater.

I raised my eyebrows. "You're not much of a screamer, Zayn," I reminded him.

"I know," he replied. "But this time around it's necessary. We can't be late for our first concert."

I bounced up and down excitedly to prevent myself from squealing. Oh, this was so exciting!

"I'm in the mood to exercise our vocals," Louis said, grinning.

"Why not?" Harry said with a shrug.

"1D Supernote!" I declared. "Three, two, one, go!"

They each sucked in a breath and started humming or whatever. I grinned as I watched them. I slapped Niall's chest, and with a gasp he was out.

"Hey!" he cried indignantly as I giggled. "Oh, come on, Niall," I said. "We all knew you were going to be out first."

"Mean," he huffed, folding his arms.

Next out would be Louis. I reached over and hit him. He coughed once, trying to continue, but he failed. "Cheater!" he yelled at me as I smiled back at him innocently.

Louis flicked Liam's throat, and he was out. "Hey!" he gasped.

"It was only fair," Louis said matter-of-factly. "A Payne takes the good one out, and another Payne must go."

"Excuse me?" Niall demanded. "Since when were you the good one?"

Louis smirked. "I never said my name, now did I?" he reminded Niall. The Irish boy looked confused. "Ugh, too much brain magic!" he hollered, clutching his hair. I laughed.

A few minutes later, the screams could be heard from the fans waiting or forced outside the theater. "We'll be taking the back way," Liam said. "Delilah, stay close to us."

"As long as you stop using my full name," I scowled and he made a face back at me.

"We have twenty seconds," he said once the car stopped, pointing from us to the door nearly hidden in the shadows. "Everybody ready?"

"Nope," Harry said, and bent down his head to ruffle his hair. When he straightened up again, I purposely slapped him upside the head. "You can pretty up later," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Red, yellow, green!" Liam counted down (or is it colored down?), and we burst out of the car, almost like we were running for our lives.

"Pretend you're in the Jurassic Park movie," Louis had told me. "Pretend there's this huge herd of T-Rexes stampeding after you along with a trillion little tiny carnivore dinosaurs. That's a lot like what our fans are like." Personally, I wasn't surprised.

"In! In! In!" Liam shoved me inside and closed the door behind us before any fans could see us. I think we all breathed a sigh of relief.

As the other boys rushed off towards their dressing rooms, Liam gave me directions. "What do I do?" I asked excitedly.

"Stand over there and try not to get seen," he told me, pointing towards a shadowed part of the stage. "It would probably be safer if Paul was with you, but I want to keep an eye on you. Don't go anywhere. Promise me?"

Geez, he's so overprotective, but I promised anyway.

"Good," he said, sounding satisfied. "Now I'm going to go get changed. Until we go onstage, go wherever you like, AS LONG AS it's backstage." He ran off before I could come up with a smartass comment, and I had dozens.

I smiled as I wandered around. This was just... magical, I suppose you could say. Thank the lord that my parents decided to go to Mexico and leave me behind! The Adventurous Adventures of Delilah Payne were super adventurous!

I swear my eyes glowed when they saw the food table, and I darted over there. I picked up a handful of chips and showered them into my mouth. Yummy. Dang, now I needed some water. There had to be some around here somewhere, right?

Somewhere, I heard a lot of creaking, but I didn't pay any attention to it. It was probably just a lamp or something, maybe the floorboards beneath my feet. But it sounded like metal creaking.

Suddenly, I heard a LOUD crash and an almost louder scream. I jumped fifty feet and nearly wet myself. What the hell?! Maybe it was a fan.... I doubted it. The crash and scream sounded like it had come backstage.

"Guys?" I called nervously. "What was that?" I didn't hear a reply, and I raced forward a few steps. "Guys? Guys!" I yelled. "Liam?" It was like they all just disappeared. Creepy....

Gritting my teeth in frustration, I decided I would go investigate myself. After all, Liam and the boys weren't onstage yet, and I could go wherever I liked.

I ran over where I thought the noises had come from. As I neared, I noticed a lot of broken glass. I winced. What happened?! I started hearing groaning too, and my heart pounded in my chest. I turned the corner and gasped.

A light must have fallen from the ceiling or something, because the glass was shattered and the metal had skittered over ten feet away. There was a ladder nearby, so someone must have tried to fix it. Maybe they had made it fall. And, lying at the bottom of the ladder, was Harry. He was on his side and clutching his wrist. He was the one emitting those horrible groaning sounds.

"Harry!" I gasped, and I ran over and knelt next to him. He glanced up at me, and I got a better look at his wrist. I tried not to throw up. He had obviously broken it: it was black and purple, and it wasn't... exactly... facing the right way. I had to look away.

"D-Delilah!" Harry gasped out, and when I looked back I saw that he was crying. It made me want to cry, but I sucked it up and tried to look strong for him.

"Harry, what happened?" I demanded.

He seemed to be trying to control himself. "They needed help with the light," he explained, minus the occasional groan or gasp. "They couldn't quite reach it, and I'm a tall guy, so...."

I would face-palm, but now was not the time for face-palming. "Harry, you idiot!" I sighed. "Where's everyone else?"

"I dunno," he muttered through gritted teeth. "And who gives a damn? I need a freaking doctor!"

I winced. "I-I know, I know," I said. "I'll try to find some help. Stay here!"

"Duh."

I ran off to find someone, anyone, hopefully a doctor, but instead I ended up barging into Liam. He grabbed onto me. "Delilah, there you are!" he sighed in relief. "I've been looking everywhere for you! I've heard screams and crashes and--"

I shook him off. "Yeah, yeah, we get it, you heard things," I said quickly and irritably. "But that's not the problem! Harry's hurt!"

Liam looked at me weirdly. What's so weird about this?! Harry's hurt! "I'm not kidding, Harry's hurt!" I screamed at him. "He was helping god-knows-who and now he broke his wrist! We have to go!" I tugged on his arm and finally managed to make him start running where Harry lay.

Liam gasped when he saw him and did the same as me. But for some reason Harry refused to speak to him, so I had to retell the story.

"We have to find a doctor!" Liam snapped when I was done.

"No shit, Sherlock!" I shot back and I ignored his glare as I took out my phone and dialed 999.

Some time later Zayn, Louis, and Niall showed up and Liam explained what was going on. I wouldn't be surprised if Louis was near tears.

Someone picked up, and I hurriedly told them what the problem was, who was in need, and where we were. I hung up after the nice man told me they would be there as soon as possible. I didn't need as soon as possible. I needed as soon as humanly possible.

"What about the show?" Zayn asked nervously as the other boys bustled about. He didn't seem exactly sure what to do with himself.

"Shit!" Niall cursed. "We'll have to cancel!" Strange to hear Niall taking charge, but this was worse.

"No!" I cried. "You can't cancel! Think about your fans out there, waiting for you!"

He grimaced. "I'm sorry, Lily," he said. "But there doesn't seem to be anything else we can do." He knelt back down beside Harry.

I stared at Harry thoughtfully. He didn't notice. The show must go on, no matter what. I mean, duh, this was some pretty big shit we're in, but if only there was someone who could entertain the audience while Harry was being treated....

If this were a cartoon, a lightbulb would've shown above my head. Harry glanced at me, and held my gaze. He seemed to read my thoughts. He nodded. And that's when I knew what I had to do.

I spun on my heel and stomped away. Nobody else noticed, but that was fine by me. I stopped by the edge of the curtain, where if I stepped out I would be seen by everybody.

I glanced back a little nervously. I would be disobeying Liam and my parents, and everything could just blow up in my face and go wrong....

Harry was still staring at me, and he somehow managed to force a grin through all the pain. Harry believed in me. He thought I could do it. I smiled back. He'd changed so much from when I first met him.

I looked back out and took a deep breath. I could almost hear my friends and family screaming at me, "DON'T DO IT!!" Except Harry. And that was all the encouragement I needed.

I stepped out onstage.