Maedbh’s POV
Soon enough, the date of the audition is on us.
“Hello. I’m Harry Styles. I’m 16. I work in a bakery.” He introduces himself on the stage. I grin, shaking my head slightly at his introduction. Seriously Harry? I work in a bakery? I tune back in when I hear Simon ask him what he’s planning on singing.
“Isn’t She Lovely by Stevie Wonder” he says, casting a glance towards the curtain where we are all waiting, his eyes landing on me. I feel my heart flip and grin back at him as he turns his attention back towards the judges as they give him the go ahead. As the judges start giving him his feedback, I can see the hope grow in his eyes. He knows he’s gotten through the second that Simon started praising him. When he gets the two yes’s he needs to get through his face splits into a smile and hurries off the stage.
“You’re through” I yell excitedly, throwing my arms around him as soon as he’s clear of the stage. “I told you! I knew you could do it!” I say as he spins me in a circle with a laugh. I release him as his mom comes over to hug and congratulate him.
“We’ll have to have a party tonight” she says. “To celebrate. You can sing for everyone”
“Mom, we aren’t supposed to tell anyone,” he says with a laugh.
“Rubbish” she says with a grin and he doesn’t disagree, never passing up an opportunity to have a party. “Go call all your friends. Tell them to meet us at our house” she says and he nods pulling out his phone and walking a little ways off to start phoning everyone. We get back to the house just before people start arriving. Anne rushes inside to order pizza and begin making some appetizers for the crowd as Harry starts greeting people who are quick to offer congratulations even without Harry telling them the good news. It was pretty obvious what the party was for. Half an hour later, the majority of the people are here and music is blasting.
“Congratulations man” Will shouts over the music, pulling Harry into a hug and patting him on the back. “Looks like we’ll need to find a new lead singer huh?” he asks jokingly when he releases him. Harry laughs, nodding his head slightly, slipping his arm back around my waist.
“I still need to make it through boot camp” he shouts back.
“You’ll do that, no problem” Luke chimes in. I stiffen slightly as I watch him walk up, joining the conversation before forcing myself to relax. He’d been quite civil the past couple months but I still had trouble forgetting all that had happened. Especially if he appeared unexpectedly like that.
“Thanks mate” Harry says with a wide smile.
“Harry, Will” Haydn calls from besides the make shift stage Anne and Gemma had created by pushing the couches away from the wall forming a small opening. The two boys look over at him as he gestures them over. “One last performance of White Eskimo yea?” he says. The two boys nod their heads with a grin and Harry presses a quick kiss to my temple before they hurry over to where Haydn was setting up, leaving Luke and I there alone.
“Incredible huh? A regular lad from Holmes Chapel being on the X-Factor?” Luke says breaking the silence. “Although I suppose Harry’s never been a regular lad. I always knew he’d be destined for greatness” he muses. I glance up at Luke, seeing him watching the lads set up the microphones. “You know what you have to do right?” he asks looking down at me. My eyebrows knot together in confusion.
“What are you talking about?” I ask uneasily. Where was he going with this?
“You have to break up with him” he says. I choke back a laugh. Of course. He’d use this as an opportunity to try to break us up.
“Yea right” I snort but his expression is serious and I realize he isn’t doing this to be malicious.
“You’re being serious,” I say slowly and he nods his head before looking back at Harry.
“Harry has the chance of being a star. He doesn’t need anything holding him back. You know Harry, if there is someone waiting back at home for him, he’ll feel guilty and won’t be able to live up to all he could be.”
I shake my head, trying to deny Luke’s words but they are already worming into my thoughts. I wouldn’t be a detriment would I? I’d be support right? And yet a voice in the back of my mind was starting to tell me otherwise. He’d have more girl fans if he were single. You’d just be a distraction during the competition. Luke seems to see the conflict on my face.
“Just think about it” he says with a short nod, before walking off to talk to a few of the other guests, leaving me standing there as the thoughts wage war in my head.
“Hey are you alright? You’ve been acting weird for weeks now” Harry says approaching the table I was sitting at. I stiffen slightly as he approaches and pull a headphone out of my ear.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about” I lie, looking down at the textbook in front of me.
“You’ve been avoiding me,” he says, sitting down across from me, the chair scraping on the floor as he pulls it out. The librarian looks up and gives him a sharp glare but he ignores it, focusing on me.
“No I haven’t. I’ve been studying. GSCE’s start this week if you haven’t forgotten.” I say. He frowns slightly, but doesn’t comment on it. Instead, he grabs my textbook, spinning it around to face him, his eyes skimming the words.
Before I have a chance to protest, he asks, “Why do you even bother to study? You know everything anyways.” I small smile pops onto my face and I shake my head.
“I’m not as prepared as I usually am. It’s been an… eventful year,” I say choosing my words carefully. He chuckles slightly, nodding his head.
“I suppose,” he concedes.
“Now if you don’t mind” I say swinging the book back around to face me. “I should get back to studying. These verbs aren’t going to conjugate themselves” He realizes his cue to leave and stands up with a sigh. I feel a twinge of guilt as he leaves but quickly push it back down. These past few weeks, Luke’s words had been playing over and over in my head, and as much as I tried to deny it, I’d started to realize he was right. I couldn’t hold Harry back. In just a few more weeks, he’d be going off to boot camp and then from there, the live shows. He didn’t need some girl from home holding him back. I knew what I had to do, but I kept putting it off. Delaying the inevitable. Perhaps I thought, if I avoided him, he’d get over me and be the one to end it. So far that theory hadn’t worked. With a sigh I realize I’m not going to get any studying done now, so I start packing up my things, throwing them carelessly into my backpack. Things had been going this way every time I tried to study. I’d start studying but Harry would pop into my mind and I’d lose all focus and any chance of getting anything done.
I managed to avoid Harry through the rest of the GCSEs. He had tried to make plans a couple of times to catch a movie or go to the park, but I always made the excuse I was studying, often reminding him that he should be also. Finally, he seemed to get the hint, but I’d often catch him watching me worriedly in the halls. Whenever I saw him staring, I’d quickly turn away, finding a new path to class where I wouldn’t pass him. I know, real mature.
“Maedbh we need to talk” Harry says, grabbing my arm as I walk out of the examination room after my final test. I look up at him, startled that he’d been waiting for me to finish since his had ended hours ago. “You’ve been avoiding me,” he says. “Don’t bother denying it,” he says cutting off my protests. I fall silent, looking down and letting the hair fall in my face as I feel those bright green orbs looking down at me. He hesitates a moment before finally asking the question. The one I’d anticipated coming. The one I’d been bracing myself for. “Do you want to break up?” he asks softly. I nod slowly, squeezing my eyes tight, but not before a tear trickles down my cheek. “Why?” he asks and I can hear the confusion in his voice.
“It’s not working Harry” I lie. I’d realized I couldn’t tell him it was because of the X-factor. I didn’t want him carrying that guilt with him through the show. He might accidentally do something to mess it up for himself. “We are just too different of people.” I say lamely.
“I..I can change” he says, his voice wavering. I quickly shake my head, my hands balling into fists as I try to hide the emotions reeling through my head.
“Don’t change Harry.” I say glancing up at him. “Don’t ever change for anyone. “I say urgency filling my voice. For some reason, it seemed important to me for him to agree to this. “Promise me,” I say urgently. He nods his head, confusion clouding his eyes.
“Promise” he says softly and I feel a flood of relief my hands relaxing by my side.
“Goodbye Harry” I say quietly pulling my hand out of his grasp, turning as I start walking to the car where Uncle Simon was waiting.
“Maedbh please don’t do this,” he begs but I force myself to keep going, picking up my pace even.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper quietly, knowing he couldn’t hear me as I finally let the tears fall down my cheeks.
“Maedbh please!” he begs again, banging on the front door. “Please! Can’t we talk about it?” he calls, desperation lacing his voice. It was 3 days until he left for boot camp. Since I’d ended it 2 weeks ago, he’d been texting, calling, and coming to my house almost non-stop. I steel myself against his voice, debating on what to do. He wasn’t going to give up. “I know you’re in there” he calls again, banging on the door.
“Caellum don’t,” I say sternly when he scampers down the stairs excitedly. Every time Harry came over, he wanted to say hi, to play with the music man. He gives me a defiant look. “Uncle Simon said I could,” he protests before marching to the door.
“Shit” I mutter under my breath swinging myself off the couch and making it halfway up the stairs before the door swings open.
“Maedbh” Harry calls immediately, seeing me. I freeze, turning slowly and plastering a smile on my face.
“Hi Harry,” I say trying to keep my voice neutral.
“Guess what music man? We had show and tell in class today and it was my turn and I sang Danny Boy” Caellum says excitedly, oblivious to the tension around him.
“That’s great little man” Harry says giving Caellum a smile before looking back up at me, catching me trying to sneak the rest of the way up the stairs. “Now do you mind if I talk to your sister for a bit?” he asks. Caellum nods reluctantly, letting Harry pass. Harry walks up to me, his eyes locked on me as if, if he looked away, I’d disappear for good. “We need to talk,” he says firmly. I nod my head, heading up to my room with him following closely behind. He walks in and sits on my bed as I close the door behind us.
“Maedbh I need to know what I did wrong” he begs. “If this is still about the bet…”
“No, it’s not that. You didn’t do anything Harry” I interrupt shaking my head.
“Then what is it?” he asks standing up walking over so he’s right in front of me. “Just tell me” he pleads.
“I…” I say, struggling to think of something that would finally get him to stop. To forget about me and be able to move on. Finally my brain clicks on something. I knew what I had to say to make him forget about me for good. He’d hate me. The thought brings tears to my eyes but I blink them back. “I slept with Luke” I lie before I lost the nerve. I get the exact reaction I was expecting.
“What?” he asks coolly freezing in place.
“I slept with Luke,” I repeat, the tears breaking through, running down my cheeks. Harry shakes his head in disbelief.
“No. No” he says his voice beginning to rise. “You two hate each other. You wouldn’t,” he says denying it. I don’t say anything, not wanting to make this into a huge lie where I’d end up tripping over my own words. The less I said the more believable it’d be. “Maedbh tell me it’s not true” he pleads, his eyes boring into mine. I gather every last nerve I have, meeting his eyes.
“I’m sorry Harry,” I say simply. I see the shutters close over his eyes. The walls building between the two of us as he finally believes my words. I step aside as he goes for the door, yanking it open and storming out. Caellum sees him emerge and a grin breaks out on his face as he rushes over to play but Harry brushes past him and out the door.
“What did you do,” Caellum yells at me, hurt written all over his face as a wave of pain races over me. I’d done it. Harry wouldn’t come back. I’d been left behind.
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Ahhh guys please don't hate me! I'm so sorry! I wasn't planning on it happening this way at all but it just fit way to well. There's only the epilogue left but I promise this story isn't ending as painfully as WEML did. It does get better I swear. There is still hope! I've got the epilogue finished already so I'll post it in the next couple of days after I give you all a chance to read this part. Again, I'm really sorry. I know I'm a horrible person.
Also, if you want the chance to be in the next story, fill out the 'Auditions' form in that story thing. I'll be picking most of the characters from there. And also, would you all want a new story with one of the other lads or woudl you want a sequel to either this one or WEML? Let me know!