Bring Me To 1D (One Direction fan fiction)

Scar Tissue

Putting my hand up to my head, I could feel the clumps of drying toilet paper, they were hardening like papier mache and I had to pull them so hard to get them out that I ended up ripping out big tufts of my hair with them, it hurt like hell but I couldn’t let Mr Alvey see me looking like an idiot.

By the time I’d managed to pull most of the toilet paper out of my hair, another 10 minutes had gone by and as soon as I walked into the recording booth, I could see Mr Alvey was annoyed. He looked at his watch. “What happened t..to 3.15 Anna?” He frowned. I hated seeing him disappointed in me.

“Sorry Sir, I got held up.”

His face relaxed, he must have seen I was stressed.

“Anna, are you ok..kay? If you need to t..t…”

“I’m fine,” I snapped, immediately regretting my abrupt tone.

“Ok...kay. Let’s get this rec..corded. I was thinking your song ‘Stay Golden’ is perfect, really appropriate for a go1Den ticket competition. I th..think you’d stand a great chance with that one. Let’s record a lovely s..slow acoustic version, yes?”

“Ok, that sounds good.”

He handed me one of his guitars and as soon as I started strumming the first delicate chord, my whole body relaxed and I felt the familiar wave of joy wash over me. Something I only ever experienced when I was playing music.

Steal away into that way back when
You thought that all would last forever
But like the weather
Nothing can ever...and be in time
Stay golden

“That was beautiful Anna, your voice s..suits acoustic guitar so much, you know you really should get a p..proper demo tape together and send it out to record c..companies. Wasn’t that great Lizzie?”

My head shot round and to my horror, there was Lizzie standing in the doorway of the recording booth.

“Yes, Sir. So sad, I need a tissue.” She was staring at me with pure hatred in her eyes. “Do you have any tissue paper Anna?”

Mr Alvey laughed, not picking up on her sarcastic tone. “It was s..sad. A beautiful song, worthy of a g..go1Den ticket.”

I got up quickly and gathered my stuff together to go. I could see that Lizzie was in a temper and I’d been on the receiving end of it too many times. I didn’t want to stick around to feel the force of it.

I was just about to ask for the disc with my song recording on so I could go when Mr Alvey handed me the guitar. “Why don’t you play for Lizzie’s song Anna? You’re doing ‘m..moments aren’t you Liz?” I saw her nod slowly through gritted teeth out of the corner of my eye. “That’ll sound great with ac..coustic guitar.”

After a second, standing there rooted to the spot, I reluctantly took hold of the guitar and shrank slowly back onto the seat. I could feel Lizzie’s eyes burning a hole into the back of my head. She was so angry.

We went for a rehearsal run with me playing acoustic chords.

Shut the door, turn the light off
I wanna be with you
I wanna feel your love
I wanna lay beside you
I cannot hide this even though I try.

Mr Alvey stopped her after the first verse. “You’re s..slightly off key Lizzie. I think we’re going to have to p..put the auto-tune onto it. Anna maybe you could add in some harmonies. That might help Lizzie to t..tune up to the notes better.” I cringed. I was so going to suffer for this later.

I put some simple harmonies to Lizzies tune, being careful not to do anything too fancy that it might steal her limelight.

You know I'll be
Your life, your voice your reason to be
My love, my heart
Is breathing for this
Moment in time
I'll find the words to say
Before you leave me today.

“Fantastic!” Mr Alvey clapped his hands. “Amazing harmonies Anna, well d..done. They really made the s..song special.” He looked at his watch. “Right, I have to go, I‘ve stayed later than I should and I’ve got b..band practice. Here’s your disc Anna, Lizzie, yours is just c..copying, should be done in a few minutes. Shut the d..door when you leave. Bye girls!” And he was gone.

I turned to go but before I could get out of the door, Lizzie snatched my disc out of my hand. “eugh…g..g..g..reat h…h…harmonies An..n..nn.n..a, she mocked, pronouncing each stutter with pure venom. “Oh, is this your disc?” She waved it in front of me and a cruel smile spread across her lips.

She began bending the disc between her fingers. “Ooh! It’s so thin and flimsy. Just like you. You know, you have to look after it, it could easily SNAP!”

With that she broke the disc in two, threw it on the floor and crushed it with the heel of her shoe. My mouth fell open as I looked down at the pieces of disc on the floor, then suddenly she lunged at me and backed me up against the sound booth wall.

“If you ever make me look like I can’t sing again, that’ll be your head I stamp on, you ugly little freak! I’ve had more singing lessons than you and I’m better than you! You don’t deserve a go1Den ticket, you don’t deserve to have ever been born you’re so ugly.” She punched me in the stomach, took her own song disc from the machine and walked out.

I sat there crumpled on the floor surrounded by bits of broken plastic. I couldn’t help but see the irony. They were a fitting symbol of my broken life.

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