Old Sparks

It's the little things that count.

“I really don’t want to do this.” Natalie whispered as we sat backstage, waiting for her turn to perform. “Why not?” I asked a little confused. “You’re one of the best singers at this college.” I said. “I’m really not, and how am I supposed to perform in front of them?” she asked. She pulled the curtain back slightly so we could see One Direction sitting there, all looking slightly bored. “It’s not that bad. They’re just normal teenage lads.” I laughed.

“Ha ha ha.” She said sarcastically. “It’s alright for you, you already know Louis. Why didn’t you tell me this before?” she suddenly asked. I just shrugged. “That conversation never came up.” She let the conversation drop as she sat back down. “Why did I have to be the last one?” she muttered. “It’ll be fine, I promise.” We sat in silence, just waiting for Nat’s turn, whilst other performers went on stage.

Natalie suddenly stood up as if her chair was on fire. “What’s the matter?” I asked as I stood up as well. “I need to talk to Miss Kelly quickly.” She said before walking off. I sighed as I sat back down and pulled out my phone. I decided to check twitter and noticed that many people had retweeted one of Louis’ tweets: @Louis_Tomlinson: It’s hard to know that we haven’t spoken in a while, but I’m there for 100%. Love you babe xx

I just stared at the screen, not knowing what to think. It wasn’t until Natalie sat back next to me that I stopped being shocked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” She laughed. I sighed and showed her my phone. “No!” she was as shocked as I was. “He didn’t?” she asked, whilst still looking at the screen. “Well he clearly did.” I laughed slightly as I took the phone out of her hand. “Why’d you disappear?” I asked. She smiled at me.

“Well, I went and spoke to Miss Kelly, telling her that because it’s the last day of term before Christmas, and asked if a couple of friends could come on stage with me, you know, just to make fools of ourselves.” I looked at her as if she’d gone mad. “You sure about this? It’s One Direction out there.” She just shrugged. “As long as I have you, Libby and Steph, I’ll be fine.” She said as the Libby and Stephanie came over.

“Now are you sure?” Libby asked. “Positive.” Nat nodded as her name was called out. “It’s now or never then.” Steph laughed as we all grabbed a microphone and the music to Wings started playing. “You would!” Me, Libby and Steph laughed. “Come on! Natalie giggled as she grabbed our hands and we made our way on stage.

-Louis-

This competition was boring me. I just really wanted to catch up with Maddie. She always put on a front when things were getting her down. And now she has Cancer…I just want to hold her and never let go. She’s been my best friend through thick and thin, but we just stopped talking. I never forgot her though, never. Mum always gave me updates whenever she heard anything from George (Maddie’s dad), but that wasn’t as often as I’d have liked.

Natalie’s name was called out and the intro to Wings started playing. All 5 of us sat up, interested to hear Natalie sing, especially as all the others had sung slow songs, and we were all bored out of our minds. That when they all came on singing. They were amazing. There was Natalie and Maddie, along with 2 others that I didn’t know, but my eyes were locked on Maddie. Her eyes had that sparkle back, and she looked so happy. She’d always refused to sing in front of people, but now she was having the time of her life.

I quickly pulled my phone out and started recording them. They each took it in turns to sing a verse, and then the harmonies were just… I turned to face the others and saw that they were just as shocked as I was. I turned back to the stage and saw that Maddie was looking straight at me whilst they sang the chorus. “Your worlds don’t mean a thing, I’m not listening, keep talking all I know is…” she winked at me before all 4 girls in the middle of the stage and they all started dancing. “They’ve done this before.” Liam whispered in my ear. I nodded, not taking my eyes off Maddie.

They were so in time with each other it was unbelievable! Maddie looked so happy, but I knew that as soon as they were off stage she’d be thinking about the chemotherapy, and how long she’d have until she got worse. I sighed, and Liam turned to face me. “What’s wrong?” he asked. I stopped recording, and turned to face Liam. “I’m worried about Maddie.” I admitted to him. He frowned.

“What’s there to worry about? She seems happy enough to me.” He turned to face the stage just as they’d finished. The auditorium erupted in applause and the girls bowed and curtsied before heading off stage. “You don’t know her like I do.” I said before standing up and following the girls backstage.

************************************

“Hey, Nat. Where’d Maddie go?” I asked as soon as I caught up with the 3 girls. “She said something about going to the bathroom.” She shrugged before hugging the other 2 girls with her. I left them too it and headed down the corridor until I found the toilets and heard someone coughing in there. “Mads, is that you?” I called out before opening the door. I saw someone crouched over the toilet, throwing up and coughing.

“Oh Mads.” I muttered before sitting down next to her and starting rubbing her back. “Its blood Lou.” She whispered before she started coughing up the scarlet liquid. I heard the door open and Harry running over. “What happened?” he asked, real concern in his voice. Maddie shook her head before sitting up. “Its nothing.” She muttered, her eyes closed, as she started taking deep breaths. “That’s not nothing.” Harry said as he pointed to the toilet.

I quickly flushed so that contents was no longer there, and Harry had the sense to wet a towel and hand it to Maddie. “Maddie..” I started but she smiled. “I had fun, alright. Please don’t tell me I shouldn’t have done it. I’m dying, and there’s nothing you, or anyone else,” she turned to Harry. “Can do about it.” I pulled her into a hug and felt the tears start to fall. “I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again, I don’t want to lose you MJ, not when I’ve only just got you back.”