Amee got a call the Monday following her x-factor audition. Amee was in class when she got a call from an unknown number so she let it go to voicemail and decided that if it was important enough, the person would leave a voicemail. Sure enough after class she checked her phone and there was a voicemail waiting for her. Who could it be other than the one and only Niall Horan and the rest of One Direction! She couldn’t believe her ears when she first heard the voicemail.
“Hello Amee, this is Niall Horan, you know the Irish dude from One Direction,” he said with a laugh and continued, “I hope you don’t find this totally weird but I made the boys watch your audition and they are absolutely in love with your voice.” At this point Amee was full on hyperventilating. “We all wanted to wish you luck at boot camp and we also wanted to let you know that we are rooting for you. Have a nice day, bye!” Niall said as he hung up the phone. Amee couldn’t believe it. This could not be real. She ran to the McDonalds down the street where Reyna and her decided to meet for lunch for the day. As soon as she saw Reyna, she lost it, she was squealing and jumping up and down. Reyna forced her to stop and asked her to explain. As soon as she told Reyna the story, Reyna joined Amee in a happy dance.
“I am so happy for you babe” Reyna said to Amee with a smile plastered on her face. In her head Reyna was shaking her head and saying 'No, he can't have called you, you fan girl'd in front of him this can't be happening.'
“I take it you got my message,” a voice said from behind them. They both turned around and couldn’t believe their eyes, for in front of them stood the man of the hour Niall Horan. Both of the girls froze and looked at him. He walked up close to Amee, touched her cheek and said, “I can’t get you or your voice out of my head.” Then without a second in between he bent down and kissed her straight on the lips. Reyna stood there shocked, as Amee kissed back, suddenly the scene changed and she was walking down the aisle in a blue dress with bridesmaid flowers in hand and she looked at the alter and saw Niall, behind her was Amee in a wedding gown. This couldn’t be happening. If it wasn’t bad enough that the man of her dreams was marrying that stupid girl, she could hear the ringing of an alarm and she didn’t understand what it was.
“Reyna!” Amee called waking Reyna from her slumber. “Wake up, we are gonna be late for class!” Amee said as she grabbed a toothbrush and bath stuff and ran off to the dorm showers.
Reyna looked around the room and thought to herself , ‘it was just a dream, just a dream’. Well whatever she did, she was determined to never make that dream into a reality.
Later that day, Amee got an email from the X-factor boot camp organization team stating the days and times of the different camps that they would have to go through to get to the judges houses which would be announced at the end of boot camp. It read:
Hello Soloists,
I would first like to offer my congratulations on making it this far. You all are truly talented if not you wouldn’t have made it to this stage. I hope this email finds you well. The dates and times for the different boot camps are listed below along with the date and time for the boot camp challenege.
September 13th – Dance Camp – 10am – 3pm
September 14th – Singing Camp – 3pm – 7:30pm
September 22nd – Boot Camp Challenge – 5pm – 9pm
There is a strict check in time of 9am for the dance camp and 2pm for the singing camp. If you are late, you cannot participate in boot camp for that day. The dance camp will be conducted with trained choreographer; the singing camp will be with trained vocal trainers. Utilize this time as these are the people who will help you with the boot camp challenge.
I wish you the best of luck
Sincerely,
Rebecca Winston
Boot Camp Co-ordinator
“Ms. Jonna, is my lecturing getting in the way of your texting?” Her professor asked with crossed arms and a piece of chalk in hand.
“Sorry, professor,” Amee replied sheepishly as she put her phone down.
“Now class, you may think that this is a little bit early, but you will have your first exam next week. It will be in two parts, Day one will be the actual written exam, and day two will be the practical. So one will be during regular class time, Thursday at 10 am, the practical exam will be at 3pm Friday during the regularly scheduled lab time. Remember guys, I don’t do make up exams unless you or a loved one is hospitalized, or dead.” The professor said with a smile.
As Amee was entering herself a reminder to study, she came across a conflict, it seemed there was another event that was entered in at the same time, her boot camp. Amee’s heart dropped as she thought, ‘Well Olly doesn’t need to hold much down anymore, I can’t go to boot camp and be in class to take this exam at the same time. I am screwed!’
“Ms. Jonna,” her professor said as he pulled Amee out of her trance.
“Yes sir?” She looked up a little dazed.
“Please tell me, who discovered penicillin?”
“I don’t know,” she said, however in her head, she was saying, ‘Oh god, this can’t be happening! I got into boot camp; I can’t come this far for nothing. I don’t care old man I don’t care about who created stupid penicillin. Well that’s not true, I am incredibly happy for penicillin. I think it is one of the best medicines available. Stop Amee, focus, what are you going to do?’
“You don’t know? Well I only told the class about five minutes ago,” he said, and when Amee didn’t respond he said, “Ms. Jonna, please leave my classroom and don’t come back unless your head is clear. Amee was about to say something in protest, but when the professor looked at her with a stern look that said ‘You can’t talk your way out of this one’, she got up and packed her things and left.
Outside the door was Reyna, she didn’t have a class at that time so she decided to sit outside Amee’s class and study while she waited for her to come out. Looking at Amee’s expression she asked, “what’s wrong babe? Why are you out so early?”
“Professor Dragonwart, kicked me out for not paying attention,” Amee said.
Sensing something else wrong in Amee’s voice Reyna asked, “What else is wrong love, that can’t be the only thing.”
Amee looked at Reyna and said, “I think this whole X-Factor thing is going to fall apart, I need to pull out of the competition.”
Reyna’s eyes got big as she said, “Why in the world would you do that?” though in her head she warring between two things one was saying, ‘Thank god, please quit, that way that horrible dream will never come true’ and the other thing was ‘No, please don’t quit, you are my way to Niall!’ Reyna had this war in her head while Amee told her what happened during class, Reyna came back to reality when she heard Amee say, “Who even cares about Penicillin?” by that time, Reyna had already come to a decision. She looked at Amee and gave her a comforting smile.
“Amee, close your eyes, breathe in and out” she said as she pulled Amee into a hug and continued, “Amee, remember during dorm room orientation, when the senior counselor asked us to share a secret with our roommate, you know kind of like an ice breaker? Do you remember what you told me?”
Amee nodded and looked at Reyna as she pulled away and said, “I secretly want to be a singer.” Reyna nodded, that was the night when she first heard Amee sing and decided that she would convince her to audition for the X-Factor. “Do you really want to be a doctor?” Reyna asked Amee. Amee nodded and said, “Yes, I want to be a pediatrician like my brother.”
“But if you got the chance of a lifetime of becoming a singer, would you take it?” Reyna asked Amee earnestly. “Before you say no, really think about it.” Reyna said as people started filing out of classrooms. Reyna clicked a button on top of her cell phone to check the time and asked, “Babe, I have class in ten minutes, would you like to walk me to class and then you can chill outside and think?” Amee nodded and followed Reyna. Neither one of them said much on their way to Reyna’s class, Reyna hugged Amee and ran inside to class.
Amee sat outside Reyna’s class and looked at her phone, it was two pm in oxford, she quickly calculated the time in Chicago 8am. That meant that Her brother was up and about to get into his car for the morning commute to work. She dialed his number and waited for him to answer.
“Yummy!” Olly answered.
“Hey Oyster,” hearing her brothers voice always cheered her up.
“What are you up to? How is school? I’ve got about a half-hour to talk before I get to work and have to deal with mini people and their runny noses.” He said with a laugh.
“Well Olly, I kinda have a bit of an issue to deal with,” Amee said
“Kid, when do you not have something you are dealing with?” Olly replied.
Amee laughed in agreement and started to tell him what happened in class.
“You know penicillin, is a very good medicine, just putting it out there and as for this class thing I have a plan would you like to hear it.” Olly said.
“ Yes please, I would love a solution!” Amee said waiting for her brother to save the day.
“Drop the term,” Olly stated matter of factly.
“Drop my huzza watta? Are you serious?” Amee asked out of shock.
“Woman get your ears checked, you couldn’t hear me the last time you called me, and you can’t hear me now. I said drop all your classes.” Olly said.
“Olly, have you lost your mind, what if dad finds out? Where will I stay? What if I don’t make it through, how am I supposed to keep it from dad then? What if I don’t make it then I won’t graduate on time and even if we don’t tell dad now, he will find out then?” Amee asked.
“Will you take a breath and just listen to what I have to say first?” Olly asked patiently.
“Fine, continue” Amee said.
“Drop your classes for this term, our cousin Ivy lives in Oxford, remember stay with her for a little bit till you make it through, which you will. You are probably taking four classes this term right?” Olly asked.
“Yes,” Amee responded she was getting a little excited ‘this plan might actually work’ she thought.
“Well you have this coming summer and the summer after that to set everything right and you will graduate on time, if you don’t make it, which you will” Olly said.
There was a little bit of silence as Amee thought this through.
“So what do I do with the Tuition money?” Amee asked
“Take the remainder of the tuition check, because they won’t give you the whole amount, put it in the bank in your name. Since dad doesn’t have access to your account up there.” Olly finished.
There was silence again as Amee thought this through.
“Oyster you are a genius!” Amee said gleefully. If she could reach through the phone and hug him she would.
“Why thank you, that’s why they are making me the chief of the pediatric department,” Olly said.
“What?” Amee asked, this time she really didn’t hear what he said.
“You are going deaf ,you need to get those ears of yours checked,” Olly said as he laughed and repeated what he said before.
“Oh. My. God. Oyster that is amazing” Amee said even more excited.
“Thanks Yummy,” he responded. “Alright Yummy, I have to go, I just got to the hospital. All the best sis, make me proud” Olly said as he hung up.
When Reyna came out of class she told her about the conversation with her brother. Reyna hugged her and said “Atta girl!” and thought to herself ‘Well, that’s good now I don’t have to convince her of that, first step sending her to boot camp next step Niall!’
‘Oh my god, this is more nerve racking, than the audition’ Amee thought as she stepped through the doors that read Office of Admission. She couldn’t believe she was actually doing this. What would her father say if he found out? He would kill her of course! He would kill her and make sure they are not any witnesses or any evidence. He was a doctor, he has his ways! Then he would proceed to present Olly as his only child. Amee thought for a minute about walking out and not looking back. She was thinking about going back to her modern medicine class, sit, take notes, and become a doctor like her parents. As she was rushing out the door to follow the safe route again, she heard some girls sitting on a bench giggling and saying “amdertacful”. Amee stopped so fast there are probably skid marks on the floor.
“Niall is so cute,” One of them giggled.
“That girl is lucky, she met Niall and he created a word for her! I hope she makes it past boot camp, the judges house, moves on to the live shows, and wins, her voice is so beautiful.” the other one gushed. Amee blushed and took a deep breath. She walked back towards the desk where a brown haired English woman sat typing away.
“How can I help you dear?” The lady asked as Amee approached.
“I would like to apply for a tuition refund,” Amee replied with a strong voice, she was going through with this. ‘We’ll worry about the worst case scenario later,’ Amee thought. Right now I have to see this through.
“We are two weeks into the term, you can’t get the entire tuition back for the term” The woman said as Amee looked at her and nodded.
“Sign here, here, and here, initial page three, and I will go get the remainder of your tuition” she said as she got up and went into another room as Amee did as she was told.
It was 8:30 PM BST(British Standard Time), Reyna and Amee just pulled up in front of Ivy’s house and looked at it. Amee knew Ivy lived in a big house, she just didn’t realize that it was this big. It was big enough to have a front porch that stretched along the entire perimeter, and a nice small Gazebo with a table and chairs nice for a summer brunch with the family.
“Holy mother of god!” the girls said in unison and looked at each other.
“Babe?” Reyna asked Amee as she stared back at the house in awe.
“hmm” Amee replied staring at the house in a similar fashion.
“Two questions, One, How are you related to these people? Two, You don’t happen to have a hot cousin brother that you haven’t told me about?” Reyna asked as Amee giggled
“My aunt is my dad’s sister, she was the very first rebel in the family when she chose to marry someone other than who my grandfather had arranged for her to marry, and didn’t become a doctor.” Amee answered and pulled her gaze away from the house to look at Reyna.
“An arranged marriage, are you going to have one too?” Reyna asked half hoping Amee to say yes.
“No, my father didn’t agree with my grandfather. He thought that the man my aunt loved was an amazing guy, and he loved my aunt, apparently you could see it in the way he looked at her. My dad told her that she could be with whoever she wanted to be with as long as she was happy. My grandfather, however, gave my aunt a choice. She could either marry the guy she loves, and forget the rest of the family or she could choose to live her life my grandfather’s way.” Amee said.
“Oh, so is that why you’ve never seen this house, because she married the man she loved and was basically exiled from the family?” Reyna asked feeling sorry for the poor woman.
“No they just moved here last week, they used to live in a flat down in inner city London. Now they are renting it out” Amee answered and continued to say, “The man, whoever he was, left my aunt when she told him she was going to choose him over her family, apparently he wanted my grandfather’s money more than he wanted her. ”
“Aww, that must have been heartbreaking” Reyna said.
“It was, my aunt wasn’t herself for weeks after that apparently. After a few weeks my grandfather had asked her about marrying my uncle, she said yes. She said she had learned her lesson and she started preaching, ‘Parents know best’. I honestly don’t know how Ivy and Richie even got her to agree to not tell my dad.”
“Oh my god, who is that?”, Reyna asked clearly distracted by whoever was outside of the window. Amee turned around to see two figures racing down the drive way towards the car.
“Oh that’s probably Ivy and Richie,” Amee replied.
“Hello Richie,” Reyna as Amee laughed at her tone. Richie opened the door and pulled Amee out of the car and into a tight hug.
“I have missed you so much birthday twin,” Richie said as he hugged her tighter.
“I’ve missed you too brother,” Amee replied
“Birthday twin? You two technically have the same blood in you, you are actual twins,” Reyna said as she approached the both of them.
“And this lovely lady must be Reyna,” Richie said as he held his hand out to shake hers.
“Reyna Henderson, pleasure to meet you” Reyna said as she took his hand.
‘Hair like Liam’s, Zayn’s skin tone, Harry’s dimples, Louis sense of style, he is one good looking boy.’ Reyna thought as her eyes moved to the girl who was hugging Amee and thought, ‘Clearly good looks run in the family’
Ivy Carnes was a girl no older than seventeen. She was bold and confident and it was these two qualities that made her truly beautiful. She had a sense of grace to her face that made you feel comfortable when you looked at her. The first time you look at Ivy, it’s hard to look away. She was the life of a party, and that was probably why she had a lot of friends. The best part of Ivy was that if she loved you, she would fight for you no matter what, and she wouldn’t let anything harm you. Once she gets comfortable with you, however, this girl opened her mouth, and that’s when all the grace is thrown out the window. Ivy talked like she was constantly on caffine. You wouldn’t know where they started or ended, and it was precisely this that got Reyna annoyed.
It wasn’t that Ivy was comfortable with Reyna, she had only just met her, it was that her favorite cousin was in town and finally they could all catch up. When Richie called Amee earlier that day to tell her that he talked to his mother to let her know that Amee was going to stay over for a little bit, Ivy was listening on the other end of the phone. She got so excited she started screaming in the phone.
“ohmygodIcan’twaittillyoucomeoversothatwecandoeachothersmakeupandIcantellyouaboutmartinthereallycutekidandwehaveamillionroomsokaysoitsonotamillionmorelikesixbutstillohmygodIcan’twaitIcan’twaitIcan’twait I.Can’t.Wait. call me before you get here cousin!” she said as she hung up. Not too long after she got another call from Richie, “Call me when you start driving so that we can have an approximation of when to expect you, love” he said.
“Sure no problem, but I have one question, how did you get Aunt Embrie to agree, I would think that she would be the first person against this.” Amee asked.
“I don’t know Ames, I just decided to tell her the truth straight up, she had just gotten into an argument with Gramps so maybe she was feeling rebellious again or something.” He said with a laugh. Amee laughed and continued joking around with him as she packed for her trip to their house. The thing about Richie was that he was one of those guys that everyone loved. He had a way of making people feel special. The major similarity between him and Ivy was that if anyone even thinks about harming those he loves, they would have to face his wrath. Another side to Richie was the hopeless romantic. He believed in fairytales and that the happy girls were the prettiest, and also he believed in love at first site. So when he saw Reyna in person, he was very glad that he had decided to wear what he was wearing that night. A nice button up shirt with a pair of Jack Wills trousers and Toms to tie the look together. Sure Reyna was pretty but it was the smile that got him hooked. When Reyna smiled it was like the world was glowing. To him her laugh was like musical notes. Throughout the evening he fell for her harder and harder.
Ivy approached Reyna and stuck out her hand for Reyna to shake “Ivy Carnes you must be Reyna Henderson,” she said.
Reyna shook her hand and smiled and looked towards Amee. Ivy took Reyna and Amee by the arm and pulled them towards the house, as Richie protested the baggage he was dragging behind them.
“Did you bring the whole North American continent with you?” he asked as he walked through the front door and dropped the baggage onto the floor. The girls laughed at him.
“Oh come on are a couple of bags too heavy for Mr. Muscle?” Amee asked as she and the other girls laughed.
“No Ames, what did he call himself, Mr.TheRealIronman,” Ivy said as they fell into another fit of laughter.
“Well I guess you can carry these bags to your room by yourself then,” Richie said as he marched away as the girls laughed harder.
“Is that my Yummy Bear laughing,” came a voice from the other room, it was Amee’s Aunt Embrie.
She walked into the room and extended her arms out to call Amee over for a hug. “Aunt Embrie!” Amee yelled as she ran in to the waiting arms.
“Where’s Uncle Jared?” Amee asked.
“He is in the other room,” Embrie said as she guided her over.
“Hi, I am Reyna,” Reyna said to get Amee and Embrie’s attention.
“Oh I am so sorry Rey! This is Reyna my roommate and new best friend,” Amee introduced.
“Isn’tshesoprettymomImeanlookatherlookathowtallsheisandherhairohmygodIwanthairlikeyours!” Ivy said as Reyna gave her an awkward smile.
“Well you are a beautiful young girl aren’t you, I am Embrie Carnes, Mother of the crazy fast talker over there, and the handsome young man over there, and aunt of this lovely young lady right here.” Embrie said and held her hand out to shake Reyna’s.
“It really is a pleasure to meet you,” Reyna said with a smile.
“Now let me take you to see my husband,” Embrie said as she guided them into the next room. Reyna was a little confused since no one was there. All there was, was pictures and family portraits like a sitting room.
“Hi Uncle Jared, I miss you,” Amee said to a picture. Reyna stood there in shock, she didn’t understand what was going on.
“Sorry to scare you dear, I didn’t know Amee didn’t tell you,” Embrie said reading the look off of Reyna’s face. “My husband died in march from a heart attack.” She continued.
“Oh I am so sorry to hear that, my condolences” Reyna said as she started to feel awkward again.
“Hey let me cheer up the mood, let’s all play some trivia pursuit?” Richie said as he walked back into the room.
“Yes sounds like a fantastic idea,” Amee said as she put her arm around Reyna’s shoulder and pulled her back into the other room.
“Yeah he is another reason they moved from the flat to all the way out here.” Amee stated as they followed Richie into what looked like another sitting room.
As the night progressed there was a lot of trivia pursuit and laughter. They were all playing on their own, while Embrie sat with some wine and refereed the game. When she thought things were getting a little rough or when she thought that Richie was cheating, she would interfere, but other than that, she didn’t say much. It was about mid night when Reyna looked at the clock and decided that it was time to drive back to Oxford.
“What? It’s too late to be driving all the way out there,” Richie said flabbergasted that she would even suggest leaving at such a late hour.
“But, I have class in the morning,” Reyna said sensing that the boy was taking a liking to her.
Amee sensed this too so she said, “No Rey, you can miss one class. You can share the guest bedroom with me if you’d like.”
“Are you sure?” Reyna asked while looking at each and every one of them.
“Of course we’re sure,” Embrie said from her place on the couch.
“Well in that case I guess can miss one class” Reyna said as everyone cheered. This family had started growing on her. They were sweet and welcoming just like Amee. “What am I going do while you are gone for the term?” Rena asked genuinely feeling alone. Reyna liked Amee, she was fun to hang out with, great help when it came to shopping, but most of all Amee was a great listener. If Reyna was having an off day, Amee would listen to everything that Reyna wanted to vent about. It seemed like there was no end to her patience. Reyna could go on for hours and hours and Amee would sit there and listen to her every word. It was never that she didn’t like Amee, It was that she couldn’t stand the thought of Niall ever liking Amee. All she’s ever wanted was Niall. She wanted to go out into the world and have him call her his. She would take all the hate that the haters will give her. She would take all the paparazzi following her every move. She would take it all and more, even if it meant that she would have to betray a friend. As long as she had Niall, she didn’t care.
The next morning Reyna woke up to find she was the only person still in bed. She stumbled through the house trying to figure out where she was. It was a very big house. She finally found her way down the stairs into the kitchen where there was a short and stout cook making breakfast. Embrie was in a suit and seemed to be ready to go to work, while Ivy seemed to be putting on the finishing touches of her make up. Amee looked she was scrolling through her iPod, and she was the only one still in her pajamas. They all looked up at Reyna as she walked down the stairs.
“Good morning love” Embrie said as Reyna approached the table.
“Good morning,” Reyna replied cheerfully. The cook walked up to the table holding three plates, one that had hash browns toast and two chocolate chip pancakes, for Amee; one with scrambled eggs and toast for Embrie; and bowl of cereal for Ivy. Reyna looked around the room but Richie wasn’t there. Then the door opened and in jogged through what seemed to be one of the hottest boys alive. He had head phones in his ears and an arm band with an iPod in it. Sweat had matted down his hair, but somehow Richie looked hotter than ever. Reyna was in midsentence telling the cook what she would like for breakfast, but she hardly thought that saying that boy standing in the doorway, would be something decent to say. Richie turned looked at Reyna and smiled, realizing that she couldn’t look away.
“Richie, we have guests go put a shirt on,” Embrie said sternly.
“Yes Mother,” Richie replied. He took one more glance at Reyna, who had turned back to the cook to continue to tell him what she’d like, smiled and turned to walk out the room.
‘Holy mother of god, can I live here too?’ Reyna thought to herself as she tried to freeze the moment that handsome boy walked into the house.
After breakfast, it was finally time for Reyna to go and as she got into the car and turned wave, she looked at Amee and felt a wave of sadness. She now had to drive all the way back to Oxford alone. Things were going to get boring, fast. ‘Richie maybe cute, but he is no Niall, but we will see how he will come into use.’ she thought as she drove off the driveway.