Chapter Six
I do a double-take, looking back at the group of 5 boys. Louis is talking animatedly to the other boys. Whatever he’s saying must be pretty funny, because they’re all laughing hysterically—the boy with the long curly brown hair and the dimples, the boy with the straight dark hair and the perfect jawline, the boy with the shortish brown hair and the birthmarks across his neck and cheeks, and the boy with the blond hair and the wide, toothy smile. Besides the fact that they’re all abnormally good-looking, they just look like normal guys. The kind of guys who’d ask to borrow your pencil every day in Math class, or have a locker next to yours, or be your lab partner in Biology. Regular people with imperfections and girl problems and crazy best friends and parents who love them unconditionally—not members of an internationally famous boyband.
“You’re losing it, Mel,” I tell her, still watching the boys. “They can’t be One Direction.”
“But they are! Look, I’ll prove it to you, alright?” Melanie pulls her cell phone out of her pocket and starts looking through her photo albums. “Aha!” she says triumphantly. “Look at this!”
I take the phone from her and look at the picture she’s pulled up on her phone. Five very attractive boys are standing in a line, smiling. I look at them from left to right, one-by-one. Jawline. Birthmarks. Smile. Dimples. And last of all, those bright blue eyes.
My jaw drops.
Louis.
Holy crap.
“Now that you believe me,” Melanie says smugly, taking her phone back, “can I pleasego meet them? Pretty please?”
I snap out of my stunned stupor.
“No way!” I reply. I grab Melanie’s arm and start pulling her down the hallway, away from Louis and the other four boys.
“C’mon, Leila, they’re one of my favorite bands! And they’re right there!” Melanie begs, fighting against my grasp.
“Not now, Mel! I’m still trying to process what you just told me, okay?”
Mom and Dad are already searching through the list of available movies on the TV by the time Melanie and I get back to the room. My head is reeling with the revelation about Louis and his friends. Never, in a million years, would I have expected them to be in a boyband together, or to be so darn famous. And I didn’t even have a clue.
We pick a movie, but I’m paying so little attention to it that I don’t even know what I’m watching. Louis is the only thing on my mind. I’m supposed to meet him tomorrow. Oh crap. I can’t do that now! He’s so famous, and I’m so utterly average. Sort of below average, actually, if you factor in my health condition. I’m nothing special at all.
After the movie, Mom and Dad say goodnight, remind me to take my pill, and head straight to bed. Dad is snoring within minutes. I silently change into my pajamas, brush my teeth, take my pill, and crawl into bed. I purposely face the wall, pretending to fall asleep so I won’t have to talk to Melanie, but she jumps on my bed and starts talking to me anyway. I pull my covers over my head.
“So, are you excited for tomorrow?” she asks eagerly.
“Go away,” I snap.
“Oh, don’t be like that,” says Melanie. “A really cute boy from a really famous boyband wants to meet you tomorrow! You should be excited!”
“I don’t want to think about it,” I say, which is perfectly true. My stomach squirms at the thought of meeting Louis now.
“Why not?” Melanie sounds surprised.
