Banner Year

Chapter 2

I told Shia I didn’t want to stay for the after party. I did everything I could to keep down what little food was in my stomach. I explained to her that I was about to hurl, but she did nothing. Was it not enough that I had already tripped in front of all of Hollywood? Was I doomed to puke in front of it too. I walked past interviewer after interviewer all asking variations of the same question. “Would you like to talk about your fall?” No. I clearly did not want to talk about my fall. 

My brain was preoccupied on getting home without soiling the beautiful dress I was wearing. I couldn’t even fake smiles anymore, I felt so sick. Finally, after nearly 30 minutes of searching, I found my limo. The driver was standing next to it, talking to someone I couldn’t see. I approached him slowly, waiting patiently for him to finish his conversation before requesting a ride home. The man he was talking to was another limo driver.

“At least you get a chick this time. I got One Direction. You’d think those boys had never been in a limo before,” the other driver said.

One Direction. At least the night hadn’t been all bad. I smiled a little bit involuntarily. My driver noticed me. 

“What is it you need, Ms. Potter?”

“I really hate to inconvenience you, sir, but do you think you could take me home?” I felt bad for leaving Shia and my stylists, but I needed to get home now.

“Sure thing, Miss.” He smiled in a way that told me that most people he drove weren’t as respectful to him. He opened my door and I thanked him. Just before he shut it, though, I stopped him. 

“Sir,” I called to the other driver, “You said you drove One Direction here. And you’re driving them home?”

“That is correct.” He smiled.

“Do you think you might, um, give Harry this?” I reached into my clutch and removed the folded napkin I had prepared earlier. 

The driver reached out his hand, took the napkin and unfolded it. A smile spread warmly across his face. “I think Mr. Styles will appreciate this.” With that, he turned and got into his vehicle. My driver closed my door, got in the limousine himself, and put the key in the ignition.

I thanked the driver profusely upon arriving at home. He insisted that it wasn’t a big deal, but I couldn’t help but feel that it had been.  It was 12:32 when I finally walked in the doors to my house. My mother was on the couch watching a movie. She turned when she heard me come in. 

“Oh, peanut, how are you feeling! Are you ok?” she held my head in a warm hug.

“I need to sleep. I’m so beyond nauseous.”

My mom helped me out of my tight dress. I slipped on an old tshirt and some shorts while she hung it up. We sat on my bed together. She brushed out my hair while I picked the glued rhinestones off my shoulders and tediously wiped the makeup off my face. We sat like that, in silence, for a while.

“Obviously you saw.” I finally said, gently tugging false lashes off of my eye lids.

“You were amazing, Honey. You looked stunning.” 

“I was talking about the fall.”

“You popped right back up. With the help of some cute boys, might I add.” I hid my smile.“And truly, you handled the whole situation so well. Even I laughed at the underwear joke.”

“That was literally the first thing that popped into my head.”

“Well it worked. I knew you didn’t feel good, so I kept looking for your face to see how you were doing. You looked a little off, but nothing too bad. You smiled naturally.”

“I wanted to murder Taylor Swift. I felt the cameras focus on me.”

“I couldn’t tell at all! You looked absolutely charming.”

“How often did they pan to my face?”

“A lot. And that One Direction speech...”

“How bad was it?”

“Each boy would start talking and they’d pan to you. Then Harry said ‘Maybe we’ll have some fun before tour’ and then the camera focused on your face until they cut to commercial.”

I blushed. Now the whole world thought we were secretly dating. I had never met the kid.

My mom tucked me in for the first time in years and  kissed the top of my forehead. “Night, ducky.”  “Night, mom.”

I woke up to the sounds of people downstairs. I rolled out of bed sleepily and rubbed my eyes as my feet found their way to my bathroom. My bangs were a bit messed up and there was mascara residue left under my eyes, but it was nothing I couldn’t easily touch up. I was combing through my hair when my sister, Emma walked in the room.

“Maddy,” pipped the nine-year-old. “Shia’s here. She said you’re gonna go on Good Morning America, I think. She also said that you should go online as soon as you get downstairs.”

“Thanks, Em. You wanna tell her I’ll be down in a minute?”

“Yeah, sure!” Emma ran from the room, her steps thudding down the stairs. I picked up my toothbrush and began brushing my teeth while I walked over to my laptop. I opened Tumblr. Post after post on the PCA tag was me sprawled across the stairs. Yahoo. The first topic on the trending board was “Madeline Potter” followed by “Harry Styles”. Twitter. #PullingaPotter #Hardy and #Hazzaline were the top three trending hashtags. I was trending, big time. 

I shut my laptop and stood for a moment looking out the window,toothbrush hanging out of my mouth. I had to be dreaming. People were shipping me with Harry Styles. ME. And HARRY FREAKING STYLES. My suspicions had been confirmed. EVERYONE thought I was dating Harry Styles. 

Emma’s feet pattered back up the stairs as I put away my toothbrush. “Seriously, Maddy.” She stood in the doorway, hands on her hips, desperately trying to act older than she was. “Come downstairs right now!”

“Sure thing, Little Ducky,” I said, ruffling her light red bangs. She angrily batted my hand away. “I’m not a Little Ducky.” 

I skipped the last four steps and landed with a thud. Shia stood in the kitchen, talking to my mother over a cup of coffee, a laptop between them. “There you are, my little Sleeping Beauty. Have you been online lately?” Her smile practically oozed excitement.

“Yeah. It’s a bit...”

“Fantastic! Everyone is talking about you! and the best part: I booked you on Good Morning, America for tomorrow morning!” She practically screamed.

“Wait, So I’m leaving...”

“TODAY! You need to start packing, Baby Doll!”

I was actually kind of excited. I was going to New York to be interviewed on Good Morning, America! 

Because I had fallen flat on my face...

Before I could say a word, I heard a faint buzz coming from my purse on the kitchen floor. I picked up my phone, not recognizing the number.

“Madeline,” My mother’s tone was exasperated, “Don’t answer your phone in the middle of a conversation. That’s rude.”

I lightly held up my index finger to indicate that I only needed a moment.

“Well at least tell us who’s calling!”

“Hello?” I ignored my mother.

“Hi, is this Madeline Potter?” Asked a deep male voice in a British accent

“Yeah, who’s this?”

I light chuckle came over the phone. “It’s Harry. Harry Styles.”