Within [Rewriting. Please don't read.]

Chapter Five

• Chapter Five •

Liam

***

"So, how did you sleep?" rang the overly cheery voice of Adanna from across the table.

I mumbled something incoherent into my cereal, while trying my best to keep my eyes open and not give into their incessant need to droop closed.

Judging from my non-response, I think Adanna got her answer.

Sure, last night was fun. We all got to know each other and were already on the way to becoming mates. At least until I was jolted awake, along with everyone else in the cabin, by an ear-piercingly loud and high pitched alarm. I found myself to be curled up next to Niall on the rug, with cards from the poker game absolutely everywhere.

After cleaning up and getting dressed, we wandered over to a tiny structure, which supposedly was our kitchen. It contained a table, chairs, two cabinets, a small fridge, an equally mini stove, a sink and three brunettes (one of them being Adanna) plus a girl with pink hair sitting at the table, eating cereal. They introduced themselves as Sam-if-you-ever-call-me-Samantha-I'll-cut-you, Emily and Kate.

We all smiled at each other and exchanged "nice to meet you"s and "good morning"s while sitting down and pouring ourselves some Cheerios and milk.

I instinctively started to reach for the mug of coffee that was always present next to my plate of breakfast back home. Unfortunately, all I got was air. That was when I remembered Adanna telling us that they didn't have tea bags, let alone a coffee machine or instant coffee mix in the volunteer kitchen or anywhere else in the village. The weather was just too hot.

It was only then that I truly regretted my decision to get about an hour of sleep.

Kate's voice broke me out of my zombie-like state, where I was chanting the mantra "I should have slept" over and over in my head.

"Do you guys know where Alice is?"

"Yeah." answered Adanna. "Working on her song in her classroom. You know how excited she is to finish it, she's been obsessing over that thing for ages now."

"I should've known, considering it's Al we're talking about here. She gets so attached to her music, it's crazy" laughed Kate, tucking a piece of magenta hair behind her ear.

"Alice is the music teacher, right?" questioned Niall.

"Yeah, she's amazing, Al can play four instruments and writes the most gorgeous songs. Maybe she'll play a few for you sometime", replied Brian, with obvious pride and a smile in his voice.

"I don't think I told you guys, but she's going to help you choose a song and work on it with you before you go back home and record it", Adanna informed us.

Zayn and I shared a look. If this "Alice" got permission from management, she must be pretty talented.

The conversation then veered to another topic: how all the volunteers ended up here.

Everyone found out about the program by flyers and bulletins at their universities explaining the project.

The interesting thing is, they all came from different places. I found it pretty cool that if not for Red Nose Day, these nine volunteers would have never crossed paths. Funny how one decision can make such a huge difference in people's lives.

Well, if my singing career was to ever fizzle out, I could always be a philosopher.

Brian, Alex, Emily and Evan came from America. Emily and Alex both lived in Ohio and met on the plane. Brian grew up in New Jersey and Evan was native to New York.