C'mon, C'mon (TMH 1)

Chapter 11: Cerina and Ash

I wake up in a strange room. For a brief second, I forget where I am and how I got here. And then I realize that I still have no idea how or when I arrived in this room. It's unfamiliar; the rich turquoise walls enclose the room which contains nothing but a small twin bed and a wooden chest of drawers against the other wall. The bed is warm though; the sheets are soft and wrapped around my legs and my body feels warm all over.

As I shift my position, my ankle moves and instantly sharp pain snaps up through my leg. I wince and gently slide my leg back flat onto the bed.

And then I remember—Niall.

Niall! I'm—I couldn't possibly-be in his house? I perk my head up, glancing around for telltale Niall signs. But the room must be a spare room; it's almost empty.

I sit up, using my arms to prop myself forward as I carefully slide my leg out from beneath the sheets, being careful not to move my ankle. I lift my other leg, setting it on the floor.

A bar, probably a rack as I notice several bare hangers dangling from it, sits on the wall overhead. Reaching up carefully, I secure my hands around it and slowly get to my feet, still cautious not to bear weight on my right ankle.

I'm still in my clothes from last night, and my hair doesn't feel like it needs much attention as it still lies flat on my shoulders, so without further delay, I open the door and hobble down the stairs.

Near the bottom, the step creaks under me and I stare straight ahead through the kitchen doorway.

"There she is!" squeals a feminine voice that I was not anticipating, and a bubbly-looking brunette with long wavy brown hair sprints out of the kitchen. She's wearing a checkered navy blue and teal long-sleeved top and dark brown leggings with short chestnut boots. Even though I've never seen her before, she wraps her arms around me and gives me a tight hug. "Hi! I'm Cosette!"

"Bella," I say, but before I have the chance to ask where she came from, two other girls emerge from the kitchen. One of them—a girl more around my height with long dirty blonde hair—I don't recognize, but the other is unmistakable.

"Perrie Edwards?!" I stutter. I thought I wasn't living when I was taken to meet One Direction themselves, but I never anticipated I would also cross paths with the lead singer for Little Mix.

"Hello!" she says, smiling. "You must be Bella. I'm so sorry to hear about what happened to you—but at least you're here with us now!"

I can't say anything. It's true, what she said. I'm with my favorite bands; it's everything I've ever imagined, but never actually expected. It's like living a dream.

And yet, I can't deny the feeling of not belonging anywhere. I'm never going back home, not with my stepfather acting the way he was. His actions last night, particularly toward Niall, proved one thing to me.

He's abused me, treated me like his toy, for too long. It's over. I'm never going back. He'll never get to use me again.

But I have no home. No family. No one left for me of all the people I've known throughout my life. After my mum married him, they all distanced themselves, and once she realized what Joseph Fatone truly was, she left him for good. Vacated our house in the dead of night, leaving me behind.

And yet, the sense of being here, with the band I've aspired after for so long, cannot quite replace the family I never had. Niall's rescue of me wasn't a permanent adoption into the 1D family, and even though Perrie sounds all inviting, how honest can she be? Neither One Direction or Little Mix can just accept another character into their midst because she has nowhere else to go and she just happened to be saved by them. That's not real life, and this is coming from a girl who knows real life. Who knows a cruel family.