So sorry I haven't updaed in forever. I got a job so I have been extremely busy lately.
You all should check out my friend MDEggleton's new Christmas story! It's a Niall story! I am dedicating this chapter to her because she is the one who pushed me to write.
Sorry if there are spelling/grammar issues...
Dress is on the side.
Enjoy Chapter 16!
“Keara wake up! We’re going to be late!” Someone was jumping on my bed. “Keara! Don’t make me go get Harry. You know what he would do to you.”
My eyes snap open to see Emily standing on my bed over top of me.
“What time is it?” I ask, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and sitting up in the bed.
“Seven a.m.” She states, getting off of the bed. “We need to be there by eight-thirty remember? That’s supposed to be when the assembly starts.”
“Oh yeah, I was kind of talking to Liam all night.”
“How is he?” She asks, as she begins walking to the door.
“He's fine.” I reply while jumping out of bed and finding my outfit for my performance. Emily just nods, walking out of the room.
I jump in a quick shower, then wave my hair and put on my makeup. I find the clothes I had set out and put them on. My outfit consists of a jean Capri’s that end just below my knees and a white tank top with an off white cardigan. I throw on my black chucks to tie it all together.
Once I am finished, I walk out of the room and downstairs to see my parents sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee and reading the newspaper. In the living room Gemma is talking with Emily while Harry is intently watching SpongeBob on the TV.
“Why is everyone up so early?” I wonder out loud. Everyone looks over to me and smiles, causing me to be a bit weirded out.
“Because we are all going to watch you sing silly!” Gemma says, standing up and wrapping her arm across my shoulder. “Plus, I've only heard you through YouTube. I haven’t seen you sing live since you were little.”
Just then I heard a knock at the door. My father stands up and walks to the door opening it. On the other side is summer, all dressed in her professional wear.
“Summer!” I squeal while running and tackling her into a hug. She giggles as we begin to make small talk on how we have both been in the past month. Apparently she has spent it with her family in LA, catching up and meeting new members of her family. Her older sister had a baby a few months back and she was pulling her phone out of her bag to show me pictures when my mother clears her throat.
My mom looks at her watch, sighing. “Alright, we better go so you can get there a little early to set up.
“Okay, let me go grab my guitar. Meet you all in the car.” I say, taking off up the stairs.
As we pull into the parking lot, I begin to get a bit nervous. I could tell Emily was also. This place wasn’t exactly our favorite place to be. We used to be bullied for being a bit different, and everything became worse once people started to figure out Harry was my cousin.
I mean, not all of it was bad, some parts were great. We did have some friends who were in the grade below us that actually liked us for us. Most of the teachers were great too. Especially Mrs. Sykes, who always would give me advise when I needed and was practically my mentor. She helped me through the hard times when I was being bullied just for being related to Harry. She even tried to get me to sing again, yet I apparently wasn’t ready at the time.
As we got out of the car, Emily sighed loudly, causing me to give her a questioning look.
“Doesn’t it feel weird to be back here again?” she asks as Harry grabbed her hand and intertwined their fingers.
“Yeah.” I reply, sucking in a deep breath and letting it out a second later.
Just as we began to walk to the front doors of the office, I felt my phone buzz in my back pocket. Pulling it out, I notice I had just received a text.
Liam: Good luck babeee! I miss you so muchhh…… :) <3
Smiling, I put my phone back into my pocket and follow my family into the school, lugging my guitar along with me.
As we walk into the doors, I notice the principal standing by the main office. He walks over to us and greets us, then shows my parents to the auditorium, and me back stage.
As I sit back stage, I can hear all of the students talking, probably wondering what is going on. I hear the principal begin to talk about the upcoming seasons and the season break, explaining to the students what days they have off and when they will be returning. Then I hear him begin to talk about what is going on today.
“And now we have a bit of a surprise for all of you.” The principal begins. “You all may know who she is because she just graduated from here last spring. But let me tell you some of the things this marvelous young lady has been accomplishing since then. This young lady traveled to England to only visit a family member, but has managed to receive a job as an opening act for one of the largest bands in the world. Ever since she left our small town, she has been traveling the world, singing for millions of people. But she is back home for awhile, and I made contact with her, and she has agreed to come and perform for all of us! Everyone, please welcome our very own, Keara Styles!”
I walk out onto the stage smiling. Some students are screaming like they can't believe they are actually seeing me right now, while others are just clapping, like they don’t really care. You can tell who the freshmen are, because they are the ones screaming their heads off. Well mostly just the one direction fans who know who I am. As I look out at the crowd, I see my family and Emily sitting in the top balcony, along with the teachers who haven’t been put on kid watching duty.
Sitting in the top balcony is Mrs. Sykes, who has both of her hands covering her mouth, eyes wide open and teary eyed. I smile and wave at her, only to receive a shell shocked wave back, causing me to giggle.
As I sit on the stool in front of the microphone, I greet everyone with a smile. “Hello Everyone! How are you all doing?”
Everyone screams excitedly as a response.
“Well I am going to play a few songs for you all. But I promise, they all won't be just Christmas songs, I'm going to make this a bit fun. Sound alright?”
More screams.
I begin to strum the guitar, coming into the familiar sound of Wake Me Up by Avicii.
“Alright I want everyone on their feet; no one should be sitting down. I know this song isn’t a fast, fun, dance song, but I need energy coming from all of you.”
As everyone stands up, I spot my old group of friend sitting in the front row. As I still play the guitar, I walk down the stairs on the front of the stage and make my way over to them. I dance and sing as I walk through the aisles. Enjoying the fun vibe I am feeling from them. I never even realized how much I missed performing.
After I finish that song, I run back onto the stage and put my guitar down, pulling out my phone. I ran backstage really quick, grabbing a portable microphone and hooking it onto me. Being stage crew for musicals and plays for four years taught me how to use the machines back here. I grab my phone and hook it to the sound system, beginning to play just music that I have on my phone, considering my band isn’t here. As I get the music started, I run back out onto the stage to see people have come up to the front of the stage, just like at a concert. I smile and hit play for the music and Still Into You by Paramore begins to play.
After a few songs, I tell everyone to go back to their seats and relax for a bit. Of course, they all groan, but they listen.
I grab my guitar again, playing a few more songs, these being Christmas ones, and before I know it, it is all over and the students are being ushered back to class. Before they leave, I run down and give my old friends a quick hug, along with Emily who ended up coming and sitting with them instead of upstairs.
As we arrive back home, my mother tells me to get ready for a Christmas party that Emily’s family is throwing at their house. Harry had gone home with Emily to help her family prepare the house for the party so Summer and I will be riding with Gemma over later on.
Every year, Emily’s Parents throw a formal Christmas party which we are always invited to. Once ten o’clock hits, Emily and I will be having our own party in the basement. Now I know what you are thinking, no, we aren’t having a party with drinks and stuff. We are having a small get together with a few of our old friends and watching Christmas movies on the big screen in the basement. This is a tradition we have adapted to every year since we were like 13 years old.
“Don’t forget to pack an extra set of clothes for the after party!” I yell to Summer and Gemma who are both in the next room over.
A few days ago, Emily, Gemma, and I all went shopping for our Christmas dresses and I have found the most gorgeous dress I have ever seen. It's red with chopped ends to it that reach mid thigh and chopped sleeves that reach just below my elbows. It isn’t tight yet it isn’t loose and has jewels covering most of the dress. I had found the perfect black pumps with a small pointed tip and small jewels to go with it.
As I begin to get ready, my phone rings. Walking over to it I notice it is Liam calling.
“Hello?” I answer while putting it on speaker so I can finish touching up the waves in my hair.
“Hey babe, how are you?”
“Good, just getting ready for Emily’s family Christmas party.” I say as I flip my hair upside down and shake it a bit to give it some volume.
“Sounds fun. Am I bothering you by calling?” He asks.
“No you’re fine. I have you on speaker while I am doing my hair and make-up.” I say as I sit at my vanity stand and pull out my makeup bag.
“You look beautiful without any makeup. You don’t need it.” I could hear his cheesy smile through the phone.
“Ha ha, very funny.” I reply back sarcastically.
“But it's true.” He replies as I finish up with the makeup and begin to strip my clothes and put on my dress.
“I'm sure it is. I will be right back. I need help zipping my dress up.” He replies with an “okay” as I walk out of my door and to the room next to me, knocking on the door.
Gemma opens the door and looks at me. Her eyes begin to widen when she sees my dress.
“Wow. Wow kea, you look . . . you look . . .—“
“You look hot!” Summer says coming up from behind Gemma.
My face reddens. “Thanks I guess. Can one of you help zip me up?”
“Sure.” Gemma walks behind me and zips up my dress.
“Thanks.”
As I walk back into my room, I hear a voice coming from my phone. Quietly walking towards it I can hear Liam softly singing Moments on the other side.
“You sound nice.” I say, interrupting him.
“Oh, hey, I didn’t hear you come back.” He says.
“I'm sneaky like that.”
He chuckles.
“Li? I have to go. We are leaving for the party in a minute.”
“Oh, okay. I will talk to you soon.”
I sigh, putting my phone to my ear. “I miss you.”
“I miss you too babe. Have fun tonight.” I could hear the frown ever present in his voice.
“Never without you.”
He laughed. “Try then, for me. Goodbye babe.”
“Bye LiLi.”
Ding Dong!
The door flies open to show Harry, dressed in a black tux with a white shirt and black tie. His hair in is normal messiness but somehow looks smoother and tamer, as if he had curled it with a curling iron. . . .
“Hey Harry. You look . . . spiffy . . .” Gemma snickers.
“Yeah, and your hair looks nice! What type of curling iron did you use?” I snicker. Both Gemma and I burst out laughing, causing Harry to glare at us before moving out of the way to let us inside.
Emily’s house is kind of like the Cullen’s house in Twilight. It's off in the woods, vast, and lovely. The door opens to a foyer; straight forward is the stairs leading upstairs, which has been blocked off by a red ribbon that is tied in the middle into a fancy bow. On the left is the dining room that leads into the kitchen and to the right is the massive living room. A Christmas tree sits in the center of the room, as tall as the ceiling. Under the stairs is a door that opens to another set of stairs that leads down into the fully furnished basement.
Stepping past Harry, I greet Emily and her parents. After all of the greetings and hugs are over, Emily’s mothers asks Emily and I to be the greeters for the guests when they arrive. This is something Emily and I have done for years now.
Guests should be arriving soon, so Emily and I make our way over to the front door as the doorbell rings. I open the door as Emily greets Hello.
About a half an hour through the greetings, everyone is here. Emily and I remain at the door just in case someone else shows up late. Harry, Summer, and Gemma come over to us and begin talking. A few minutes later the doorbell rings startling all of us.
“I've got it.” I say before walking to the door and opening it.
A young guy dressed in a dark red shirt and black tux and black tie stands there with his left hand shoved into his pocket and a bouquet of red roses in his right hand. His chocolate brown hair up in a perfect quiff. His Brown eyes sparkling in the sunset. A beautiful Smile plastered on his perfectly chiseled face.
I gasp in realization of whom this man is that is standing before me. My eyes, wide with shock, tearing up.
“Liam?”
“Surprise.”