Chapter 6
Danielle’s P.O.V:
I woke up this morning at about 11. That was really late for me. The boys mentioned that they had interviews and photo shoots today and they wouldn’t be home until the afternoon. I decided that today, I was going to teach myself how to play the guitar some more. I decided to skip breakfast; I have really lost my appetite since mum is gone.
Yesterday, all my boxes from home arrived, so after I unpacked the last few things, I pulled out my laptop and looked up how to play the guitar online. I used to play piano when I was younger but I hated my teacher. When I watched x factor last year, I was determined to teach myself how to play some sort of instrument. I had taught myself the first verse of Skyscraper by Demi Lovato, I was pretty proud of myself!
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Everyday, when the boys had to go to the studio or whatever, I would normally stay at home and teach myself the guitar. I didn’t like being in the public eye, so I rarely went with them. I have taught myself the full song of Skyscraper by Demi Lovato now. I loved that song, I connected to it easily.
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Today the boys were at another studio session and I’ve decided to teach myself a new song. I strummed along to Skyscaper and sang along first just to warm up. I never sang if the boys were in the house, I would be too embarrassed! They also didn’t know I played guitar, I kept it hidden. I was scrolling through my favourite songs on my iPod and I decided I was going to teach myself how to play ‘Missed’ by Ella Henderson. She is one of my favourite artists, and I cried for an hour when she was kicked off the x factor! I looked up the chords and slowly started learning them. I found it hard because I didn’t know all of my proper chords yet. When I had learnt the first chorus, I played it through and sang along.
George’s P.O.V
I felt like rubbish, I had a horrible sore head and a runny nose. I have had a cold for a few days, but today was the worst, so I decided to skip the studio and stay in bed. The boys just left about half an hour ago. I think Dani was still asleep. I loved having Dani around; she was so much fun, when she is not being shy. I think she will start to open up when she gets to know us better, she was so cute. We’re so lucky that she knows how to cook and look after herself! I don’t think us boys would be able to look after a child; we can barely look after ourselves!
I decided I would take a paracetemol to ease the pain in my head and relax in bed for the morning. I dragged myself out of bed and over to the bathroom, splashed some water on my face and headed downstairs. After making myself some toast and taking some medicine, I felt a lot better. I headed up to my room. My room is across the corridor from Josh’s and beside Danielle’s. I could hear some music being played from Dani’s room, and guitar being played. Whoever was singing was singing one of Ella’s songs. It didn’t sound like Ella though, wait, was that Danielle? She doesn’t play guitar though, she has an amazing voice!
Should I knock on the door or not? She thinks she is home alone like usual, maybe she might knock me out. She doesn’t seem like she would be strong enough to knock me out. I’m going to knock on the door. I slowly walked up to the door and knocked on it before going in. All I could see was Dani’s laptop and a guitar on her bed.
“Danielle, are you there?” I croaked. “It’s George”. I closed the door behind me and I saw Dani crawl out from under her bed, she was seriously pale. “Are you okay?” I asked. She nodded “I thought you were a burglar, you scared the shit outta me!”. “Sorry” I giggled “Was that you singing?” I asked. Dani blushed and stared at the floor, I took this as a yes. “You were really good!” I complimented. I could see Dani go even redder and shake her head ever so slightly. She needed to believe in herself more, have more self confidence, she was so shy. “Do you play guitar?” I asked. “I started teaching myself about a week ago” Dani murmured. “Do you know any songs?” I smiled. She nodded. I gestured towards the guitar. Dani sat on her bed and placed the guitar on her lap. I could see how nervous she was even performing in front of me, this girl had some serious confidence issues.
As she was strumming along, I couldn’t quite recognise the song, it sounded familiar though, I was patiently waiting for her to start singing so I would know what song it is. She stopped strumming and looked up. “The song has no lyrics?” I joked. “I couldn’t sing in tune if I tried!” she exclaimed. “Please, I won’t judge you!” I insisted. “I’ll sound like a piece of shit compared to you, I mean, you’re in Union J, come on!” she persisted. “Just because I’m famous and can sing doesn’t change anything! Please just sing for me, I promise I won’t judge you!” I could be stubborn if I wanted to. Dani sighed in defeat, I smiled. She started to strum again, I recognised the song she was singing straight away. It was Skyscraper by Demi Lovato! I loved her so much. I could see how tense Dani was now, she was a really good singer, and she has such a unique and amazing voice. When she was done I cheered so loud, until my throat hurt. “That was amazing!” I croaked. Dani raised an eyebrow questioningly.
I suddenly had a genius idea, “How long have you been playing?” I asked. “Erm, a week” Dani replied. “Well, I’m going to teach you the proper chords. This is going to be so exciting!” I grin. “George, you really busy, I don’t want to cause any trouble” Dani stammered. “It’s no problem, now I’m gonna teach you the rest of the chords to missed and were gonna show the boys! They have to hear you, and just remember that I’m your favourite brother, got it?” I giggled. Dani smiled and nodded.
I was almost done teaching Dani the chords, she was a really fast learner. “Wait, aren’t you supposed to be at the studio?” Dani asked. “Well, I’m sick” I replied. “Then you shouldn’t be here, you should be on the couch!” she persisted. I shrugged. “Get downstairs now, I know just what will make you feel better” Dani smiled. “But, I’m fine” I coughed. Dani raised her eyebrows. “Promise me you’ll sing for the boys when they come home?” I grinned. “That’s blackmail” she glared. I shrugged. “Fine” she murmured. I got off her bed and went downstairs to the couch.
Danielle’s P.O.V
When someone knocked on my door, I shit bricks; I was never so scared in my life. I thought I was home alone! I immediately hid under my bed, I was so relieved when I realised it was George. He had heard me singing and he wanted me to sing for him. I was petrified, I never sang in front of anybody before. I can’t sing, no one in my family can. He was starting to really annoy me, so I gave in and sang for him. He then decided he wanted to teach me guitar, I was fed up of being stubborn so I let him.
Whilst he was teaching me some chords, I started to wonder why he wasn’t with the boys. He told me he was sick. I felt bad that I was taking up his time when he should be concentrating on getting better. I decided I would make him some food, and I knew exactly what I was gonna make him. Mum always made me this when I was sick and it always made me better. It was my turn to be stubborn. I forced him to go downstairs onto the couch, although he made me promise to sing to the boys to show them what George taught me. I really don’t want to sing in front of them, I wasn’t any good, and I knew George was just lying to me to make me feel better.
When George was downstairs, I went into his room and yanked the duvet off of his bed and trudged down the stairs. He was lying on the couch on his phone. I chucked the duvet over him and turned on the Big Bang Theory. George smiled and snuggled under his blanket. I went over to the kitchen to start making some lunch. I made chicken noodle soup and put in some extra spaghetti, just like Mum used to.
This was one of my favourite things to eat, I hadn’t made it in ages. I finished the soup and handed George a bowl. “Thanks” he smiled. I sat on the sofa and ate my soup. I loved the Big Bang Theory, it was so funny. I was texting Holly and she decided she wanted to facetime me. I went upstairs to get my iPod. I propped up the pillows on my bed and sat comfortably. I spoke with Holly for nearly an hour, I showed her my bedroom and she loved it. She started to talk about all the crazy things that were going on in the stables. I could have been there, having fun with everyone. I missed them all so much. I could feel the tears stinging at the back of my eyes. I ended the call with Holly and lay down flat on my bed and cried. I needed to let it all out. This was all a bit much, in the last month I’ve gone from having an amazing time, to losing my mum, living in an orphanage and being adopted by Union J. I just missed my mum so much, I missed everyone back home. I just wanted to go home lie in my own bed, wake up and go to the horse riding and enjoy all the fun everyone is having without me.
It felt like I had been lying on my bed for hours. I got up and wiped my eyes which were crusty from the tears. I walked into the bathroom and splashed some water on my face before brushing out my hair and tying it up in a messy bun. I walked downstairs to find George asleep on the sofa, I grabbed the TV remote from the table and changed the station. I put on some Show Jumping from Olympic park that happened a month or two ago. I loved watching show jumping. When that was over, I turned on the comedy channel, I felt really lonely and I needed some cheering up. Live at the Apollo was on, I found myself staring blankly at the screen, not taking in anything that was happening, not laughing at the funny jokes I usually found hilarious. I felt empty inside.
I felt really cold so I went upstairs to pull on my hoodie. As I was walking down the stairs, the boys arrived home. “Hey Dani, you alright?” Jaymi smiled. I nodded “Don’t be too loud, George is asleep on the couch” I said. The boys nodded. I decided I would go inside and cook something for dinner, that was usually Olly’s job but he was on overtime tonight at the salon. I made some chicken curry that I learnt to make in school. It actually tasted pretty good and the spices would help George’s cold clear up.
“Dinner” I shouted. The boys all came charging towards the kitchen. I put a separate bowl in the oven for Olly so it would be warm for when he came home. We all sat on the sofa and watched some TV whilst eating our dinner. “This is delicious, thanks Dani!” JJ exclaimed with a mouthful of food. The boys all hummed in agreement. Everyone was silent whilst eating; the only noise was the forks hitting the white porcelain bowls.
When we finished the dinner, I collected the dishes and decided to wash them. “Dani, you don’t have to do that, you’ve been amazing cooking dinner for us already!” Jaymi mentioned. “It’s okay, I don’t mind, honestly, I need to pay you back for what you’ve done for me already” I mumbled. “It was nothing, we love having you around, you don’t owe us anything” Jaymi exclaimed. I smiled at him.
“Dani, you don’t break promises do you?” George shouted from the living area. I could hear the smirk in his voice. “Nope, but I’ll make an exception this time” I sassed back. “Please” George begged. I walked into the living room and shook my head; George gave me the puppy dog eyes. I raised my right eyebrow; I could be really stubborn if I wanted to be. I turned around and sat down on the sofa. The other three boys were looking at me, almost expecting me to tell them what was going on between me and George, and I just stared straight at the TV.
“Please” George whispered in my ear for the 50th time in the last two minutes. I was getting ready to crack and George knew that. “If I do will you finally shut up” I sighed. George nodded. I stood up, about to leave the room. “Where are you going?” Josh asked. “Long story short, George caught me goofing off this morning, because I thought there was no one here. He has a very common disease, aka the cold, which causes him to hear things funny, so he has got it into his bird brain that I can sing, so I’m going to prove to you right now that I can’t and make George stop annoying me” I breathed. “But you can sing” George protested. I sighed and left the room. I trudged upstairs to get my guitar before walking downstairs and sitting on the couch.
“You play guitar?” Jaymi asked. “I taught myself when I came here, I only know two songs and I’m not that good.” I mumbled. “Stop doubting yourself and just play us a song” Jaymi demanded. I gulped and took in a deep breath. I strummed the chords of ‘Missed’ and sang along gently. When I finished, I looked up and saw the boys staring at me open-mouthed. I went into complete shy mode and pulled the sleeves of my hoodie down over my hands. “I knew you were wrong George” I mumbled loud enough so only he could hear, but unfortunately all the boys heard me. “George was right, you’re amazing!” Josh complimented. “Is that Ella’s song?” JJ asked. I nodded “Yeah, it’s one of my favourite songs”. “Will you play us the other song you know?” Jaymi asked. “Please” he begged. I gave in, I’ve swam too far into the ocean, I may as well keep swimming. I strummed the chords to Skyscraper and sang along. I felt all the boys’ eyes staring at me which made me feel self-conscious.
“Dani, you are amazing, did you sing a lot at home?” Jaymi asked. “The first person who ever heard me sing was George this morning, I only sing when I’m home alone” I mumbled. I could feel all the blood rushing to my cheeks. “Your amazing” Jaymi finished. I smiled sheepishly and stared at my hands. I left my guitar upstairs and watched some TV before going to bed early enough.