Pranksters

Chapter 1

//Songs for this chapter:

California Calling - Beach Boys

Party in the USA - Miley Cyrus

Friends Forever - Old 97's

Listen along on this playlist, we'll be adding to it as we write:

http://open.spotify.com/user/barbaravaccaro/playlist/2wacDd7wdBZr0tTob2BJYH

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The plane ride had been long, but Harry was used to being on planes. After finishing up his regular schooling, he had taken a year off to go and travel. He had worked a weekend job at a bakery back home during his school years for the sole purpose of saving money to travel. Everyone in the UK called it a gap year but he'd heard that that phrase wasn't entirely common in the States. He'd hopscotched all over Europe, meeting up with various friends and wandering on his own. But now, he was ready to settle into university life. He was just doing it in America. Another new place, another new set of friends. He was SO excited but right now too tired to show it much.

He landed at LAX at 10 am PST. His body clock was way off but he knew he'd just have to get used to it. Cal was due to pick him up any time now. He was excited to see Cal; it'd been a while since he'd seen his cousin. Cal was the one who has suggested that Harry look at schools in the states, and had slowly but surely nudged him towards schools in the LA area. He had already had his heart set on studying at a foreign school and his parents had said that as long as he WENT to school, he could go where he wanted. His older sister Gemma was already at school in Sheffield so his parents were officially empty nesters. He felt like he was almost doing them a favor by completely getting out of their hair.

Harry smiled to himself at the memory of his mum dropping him off at Heathrow. "I'm going to miss you SO much. But you'll always be my baby, no matter how old you get," said Anne. "Now go make some friends for the flight, be polite and try not to snore when you fall asleep. No one likes the bloke who snores."

"Ok, ok, let me go. And I don't snore! Are you sure you and Robin will be ok in that big house to yourselves now?"

"Yes! Now GO before you miss the boarding call!"

A loud honk broke Harry out of his memories of 12 hours ago as a large truck pulled up, Cal grinning at him from the front seat. Cal was a good decade or so older than Harry, a cousin on his dad's side. They became close when Cal had been over in the UK for a while, working for a music act who was on tour. Cal was a photographer and Harry thought that his life on the road was possibly the coolest gig around.

"Hey Styles! Nice to see they actually let you in the country!"

"Hah, yeah, dunno what they were thinking. Must have been my charming personality and amazing jokes. One of the custom ladies said I looked a bit like Jagger and actually blushed at me."

"Oh you'll be fine here. Cheeky little Brit like you? Ladies will be all over you. Hungry?"

With that, Cal threw Harry's bags into the back of the truck and they set off in search of some grub, because as soon as Cal had mentioned it, Harry was absolutely STARVING. Forty-five minutes later, they were tucking into the best Mexican food Harry had ever tasted. He could definitely get used to living in California if the Mexican food was this good. Cal joked that it was because Mexico was so close. Harry wasn't due at orientation until 3 p.m., so they had some time to eat, chat and catch up. All Harry really knew about his new school and living situation was that he was in a shared double room with some kid with an Irish name from North Carolina. He and Niall had chatted on Facebook a few times but Harry really wasn't one for social media too often. He'd have to get better at checking it to make sure he stayed in touch with his friends back home.