Arcane

chapter 3

I'm awoken by banging on my door, I sit up straight, panicked. Rushing to the door I look in the peephole, seeing Chelsea. "Open up!! It's the big day!!"

I open the door and groan, "It's 10 pm what are you doing here so early? Concerts not till 19 30" She sends me a confused look, "7:30?" I sigh, "Oh! Yes I know, but we need to go shopping for an outfit." She answered, inviting herself in my flat. I love the girl but she's way too energetic in the mornings, and every time I bring it up she just repeats the same two words.

"It's motivating!"

"What? I thought you already had an outfit ready?" She ignored me and went straight to my closet, flipping through all my clothes and sighing. "Just what I thought. You don't have concert worthy clothes in here Em!"

"What do you mean? I was just gonna wear some jeans and a t shirt." Her jaw dropped to the floor, "Your kidding right?"

I shrugged, and she pulled a pair of pants from the closet and pushed my legs through them. "What are you doing?!" I yelled, laughing as I almost tripped as she dressed me. "We're going to the mall to find you the perfect outfit!"

"I don't need a perfect outfit Chelsea" but I knew there was no point in arguing with her, she would find some way to get me to the mall. And she did, there was a food court, and she offered to pay. We went through the whole mall, took us hours until we found the 'perfect outfit' but what really pissed me off is that we didn't even end up getting the food.

When we got back to my place she threw the clothes to me and told me to put it on, and that "We need a couple hours to get makeup and hair ready! Stat!" She was acting like it was going to be the end of the world if one hair was out of place.

As I changed into the clothes I looked into my mirror, surprisingly liking the person staring back at me. My long hair flowed down my back, in waves looking perfect but not forced. My outfit wasn't terrible either.

And as Chelsea did my makeup, I couldn't help but feel my hopes grow by the second. What if he did see me? What if he recognized me? Will he hate me? Will he kick me out of the concert? Call security on me? Or what if he wants to catch up? Would I want to? I do miss him. A lot. Even though it was only 5th grade, he was my best friend.

We promised to stay best friends.

I guess promises don't always stay together.

"Done!" Chelsea said, snapping my mind back into reality. She held up a small mirror as I looked at myself.

"Simple, yet still beautiful as ever" she said, "Do you like it?" I looked up at her, than at myself again through the mirror, feeling a smile grow on my face. "I love it, thank you Chelsea." I meant it, I was never one for makeup. Mostly because I was terrible at it. But I didn't hate the way I looked right now.

"Perfect, now let's go."

I looked back at her, "What?"

"It's already 7, we have to go if we want to get a good spot!" She said showing me the time on her phone, realization hit in, and I felt the nerves growing in my stomach.

Push through it. Just push through it.

The car ride was worse, traffic. Everyone seemed to be going to the same place, but we eventually got in. Through security check and into the stadium.

When I tell you my mind was blown, I mean my brains were literally everywhere. There are hundreds of people here. No. Thousands. "I'm guessing a lot of people love him, huh?" Chelsea only smiled at me, pulling me as close to the front of the pit as we could get. Somehow we made it so close to the stage, the only thing separating us from it was a small barricade.

"We're so close!" Chelsea yelled excitedly over the chatter, "We're so close" I murmured, not having the same happy feeling as her.

Suddenly the lights all went out and the crowd went crazy. Oh god, he's about to show up isn't he? Slowly the cheering became louder as each of the band members showed up, a drummer, a couple guitarists and a person on keyboard. Then a spotlight showed up in the middle, a platform in the middle opening.

First thing that showed up were the infamous curls, rising higher, and the screams got so loud I could barely hear my thoughts.

The air in my lungs seemed to be stolen as I saw Harry, he seemed so different yet the same. Of course I had always been caught up with him, and knew what he looked like throughout the years. But seeing him in person was so... surreal. Never in my life had I thought I would ever see him again.

He had a huge grin plastered on his face, his dimples cutting into his cheeks. His bunny teeth seemed cute as ever, his tall build and bright energy taking over the stage without him even trying.

Music started immediately and the ground shook along with the bass. What really surprised me was his voice, sure the audience was loud, but his voice silenced them into awe.

"Open up your eyes, shut your mouth and see. That I'm still the only one that's been in love with me. I'm just happy getting you stuck in between my teeth."

He started, his voice low yet powerful, a rasp that sounded so perfect. When we were younger we sang together a lot, I always thought he was good. I knew he had potential, I knew he was going somewhere in life.

I'm so proud of him. Proud of who he's becoming. Of who he is. Of how happy he seems.

I can only imagine how hard he worked for this.

I look around the stadium, looking at the thousands of people in the crowd. Each with their own story, different traumas, different memories, different backgrounds. They all came here for him. To support him. Because they love him. Because they're proud of him.

They're family.