Song of the Chapter: Whole Wide World by Mindy Gledhill. Start playing the song when you read the # sign.
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I was walking through the crowded hallways of Wilmslow, snaking my way through people who looked like they were genuinely having a fun time with their friends, engaged in conversation and laughing at every other word, and here I was, alone. How fun. I felt heavier, like every step was a workout. I smiled at a few people who I thought would smile back. They didn't, and just avoided my eyes. I tried to ignore them, but the pathetic feeling of loneliness nagged at me.
As I turned the corner, I saw them and I instantly felt overcome with fear and a desire to run away. Unfortunately, it was hard not to notice me, being the fact that I was a stout, unconfident, freckled girl with specks the size of Spain resting at the edge of my nose. In other words, I was dead meat. Great.
Luke Cramer made his way toward me, with his usual cronies walking behind him. I tried to turn around, but one of them was behind me as well.
Double great.
"Where do you think you're going, Hefty?" Luke said behind me. Every fiber of my being was begging me to change my name, lose fifteen million pounds, move to the outskirts of Tailand, and go to massage school, but I had no other choice. I turned around, afraid that within the next two minutes the little bit of pride I had left would be beaten down until it ceased to exist.
"No- nowhere," I stuttered, avoiding his eyes. He squatted down to find them and continued, looking straight into my eyes with his neck craned to the side.
"It looks like you've been putting on the pounds. Maybe tonight you should skip the dessert," Jake said from behind him and slapped my stomach. At that moment, my pride was nonexistent.
"St--stop-p- it-t," I managed to get out, though the tears threatened to leave my eyes any second. If I said any more words, I was afraid I'd open the floodgates. I felt absolutely defenseless.
"But we were just getting started, chubby!" Mason said and they all laughed, as if it were the funniest thing on earth to be said.
"Actually, we do have to get running. You know, for the football game we have to practice for tonight," Luke said and the corner of his mouth curled into a mischievious smile.
"Yeah, I can't wait to get all that exercise. Heck, I might be able to lose a couple pounds! Maybe Beth should try that!" Parker chimed in. Everyone around me laughed. I felt so small with them all towering over me, acting as if I was 3 inches tall.
Suddenly, Luke grabbed my shoulders and slammed me against the lockers. Hard. Each lock dug into my back, making me wince at the pain.
"You better be at that game tonight," He whispered through gritted teeth. Each word was like a dagger in me, and each pair of eyes belonging to the kids in the halls burned a hole through me.
As if he hadn't done enough, he snatched my glasses off my face and threw them to the ground.
"Now get lost, faggot."
After he left, the tears spilled out of my eyes.
"Beth," I heard a voice say. I didn't recognize whose it is.
"Beth," the voice cooed again, and I was desperately looking throughout the halls to find the voice.
"BETH!" The voice said, snapping me awake.
The voice was Amanda. I was in the moving truck. It was only a dream.
But it wasn't just a dream.
"Are you okay?" Amanda asked skeptically, eyeing the tear streaming down my cheek. I quickly swiped it away and forced a smile.
"Yeah, sorry, just a bad dream," I laughed awkwardly. Amanda smiled quizzickly and got out of the car. Zeus whimpered, wanting to go out as well, so I followed her.
The first thing I saw was the tiny cottage I rented, and I was pleasantly surprised by how good it actually looked.
It was the epitome of the 'cute little cottage in the woods' cottage and I liked the look of it. It was a small, square based front, with three steps up to the red door of the house. There were plants and vines snaking up the front walls, making it look even more woodsy, and there was a tree in front of the house with limbs and branches that hung rather than just stuck out of the tree, making it look like a canopy. In simple terms, it was beautiful.
The clank of the moving truck's door hitting the top of the trunk snapped me out of my reverie. I set Zeus down and let him play in the yard while I began to unload with Amanda onto the front yard so she could leave and I could finish up.
Once we were done, there were literal towers of shabby brown colored boxes littering the lawn with the occasional furniture piece, like my bed. I even made Amanda take a picture of me on my bed in front of the house, surrounded by boxes. I told myself that I would post it later that night, because knowing me, once I went on Instagram, I wouldn't be able to get off of it.
Once we got the big furniture pieces that I otherwise couldn't have lifted on my own inside of my house, I paid Amanda and she was on her way.
The inside of the house was just as marvelous and cozy as the outside, and I was in awe that it as all mine. The cottage had everything I needed. A bedroom, bathroom, a small office which I would use as a music room, kitchen (with appliances that hadn't ever been updated since the building of the house), and a living room complete with a fireplace. Everything was small and quaint, but I found it just to my liking.
I plugged my phone into my stray iHome that was on top of a box and played some music whilst I unpacked. Mindy Gledhill blasted through the speaker while I unpacked my new life.
I decided to unpack the kitchen first, because it's the kitchen and I practically lived in the kitchen. Food was my baby. It took about an hour to finish unpacking the kitchen utensils and tools, but the living room only took 15 minutes to do, considering it was only a crate full of blankets, a couch, and a few little pieces here and there with artwork hanging on the walls.
By that time, I was tired of unpacking, so I got my purse, called for Zeus, and decided to go into town to go grocery shopping at ASDA. As I walked outside, Zeus waddled next to me, excited for the walk.
#
Amanda told me it was about a ten minute walk to town, and I didn't complain because I liked walking. After a while, the scenery of my house faded behind me and I was onto the beginnings of the iconic London. There was an ASDA on the outskirts of the city, but I already knew that if wanted to go shopping in the higher end, I'd have to get on The Tube to get to Central London, which was exactly the problem. I was wanting to check out the shops and the city tonight, but I could most definitely not with a big bag of groceries, meaning I would have to take two trips. How grand.
On my way to to the department store, I stumbled upon a place that would change my life completely: a cafe with a dim-lighted rock theme named The Grind. That's not what interested me though, it was a sign on the window that caught my eye. It said:
Open Mics, all day, every day. Come as you are and rock on.
The sign got me thinking. I mean, one of the reasons I came to London was for my music career, right?
I then decided that the next night I would go to that open mic and I would perform.
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I made my way through the isles with a basket cutting off the circulation in my arm from the heaviness of my first shopping trip in London. When I was about finished, I spotted a familiar face.
It was Alfie Deyes.
Of course, I'd never spoken to him in real life, though it always felt like I had, being the fact that I've watched all his videos. I felt like I already knew him even though he had no idea who I was.
But I couldn't just talk to him. What would I say? How about, "Hey Alfie, I'm Beth and you probably don't know me but I've watched all your videos and you're really funny and I feel like I've known you my whole life."
Yeah, right. How my viewers got up the courage to talk to me when they saw me in person was beyond me if it was anything like that.
My head was lost in thought, but my feet didn't get the memo. Of course, I ran into the nearest aisle, like the big spaz that I am, and boxes of biscuits came tumbling down from the shelf. Each box hit me in various places before finding a new home on the floor. I could feel my cheeks glowing red hot.
All eyes were on me. Panicked, I struggled to pick up some boxes, but it seemed even Zeus was silently laughing at me.
"Need some help there?" A voice said from behind me. I knew without a doubt it was Alfie. I mentally cursed myself for being such a moron.
"Um.. yeah. There seemed to have been an isle there," I stammered as my cheeks grew to an even darker crimson.
Could I have been bigger idiot?
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
Alfie chuckled and helped me replace the boxes on the shelf.
When there were no more to be picked up, we both got up from the ground and it was the first time I'd been able to get a good look at him.
It's not that I was starstruck or anything- he was a Youtuber just like me. I didn't have any romantic feelings towards him and I wasn't intimidated by him.
Then why was I acting so weird, you may ask?
Because I'm a major git.
"Hey, I know you! You're CheshireCat, aren't you?" Alfie smiled. I filled with warmth at the thought that he knew who I was. I realized that we really aren't so different after all.
"And you're PointlessBlog," I said, stating the obvious.
"And you're Zeus," he pointed to Zeus and patted him on the head. I laughed.
"You don't know how excited The Crew and I have been to meet you in person. You're hilarious," he said, saying The Crew like it was a sacred club or something.
"The Crew?" I stated quizzickly.
"Oh, you know, Me, Zoe, Jack, Finn, Caspar, Marcus, Louise, Dan, Phil, Joe.." he trailed off, knowing that I'd caught on.
"Ah yes, I know them," I smiled, even though I didn't know half of the people he'd mentioned. I wasn't one who watched a lot of Youtube, just someone who participated in it.
"You know, there is room for one more...." he said.
"Is there?" I laughed sarcastically.
"There's always room. I was thinking the initiation of that certain person could be tomorrow night?" he said hopefully. I remembered the vow I'd made earlier to go to The Grind tomorrow night.
"I actually had plans to go to The Grind tomorrow night," I stated sadly.
"The Grind? Isn't that a cafe down the street?"
"Yeah, they do open mics every night and I was hoping to sneak a little performance in. One of the reasons I moved to London was to move forward with my music career," I laughed.
"That's awesome. We could definetly do it another time, but that would make it so I would need your number," Alfie says confidently.
"Alfie Deyes, you are smooth," I chuckled.
We both laughed and exchanged numbers.
"I'll see you around, then," I said.
"Yeah, hopefully you can get in the club soon. I'd love to hang out sometime," he said.
"I just have to get through initiation first," I reminded him.
"Ah, yes. Initiation," he laughed.
"Bye, Alfie," I smiled. He said goodbye and we went our own ways.
Zeus and I checked out and I was then faced with the issue of getting six giant bags of food home...
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Once I got home, I knew that I wouldn't be able to explore the city that night. There was just too much to do at home.
I put away the groceries and then started toward my bathroom, which needed to be deep cleaned.
I scrubbed the bathroom while Ed Sheeran blasted through my speaker. Cause you know, Ed Sheeran and scrubbing toilets really go together.
Once the bathroom was cleaned, I lined up all of my necessary beauty products in the cabinet by the mirror. I looked over to the clock by the mirror to see that it was 8:30PM.
I was definitely not going out that night.
I made my way into the kitchen and explored the newly stocked cabinets I first made Zeus a bowl of dog food and then grabbed a box of Cheerios to make myself a bowl of cereal.
I settled myself at the counter with my cereal and my laptop, logging into my Twitter account as I sat down.
The first thing I saw on my feed was from Alfie.
"@PointlessBlogTv: Had a cheeky run-in with @Beth_Stark .... Big things are coming Stark..."