In This World (Harry Styles)

18

(DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. It's important to remember this is all totally fabricated, embellished, and exaggerated for entertainment purposes.)

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All I know is we said, "Hello"

So dust off your highest hopes

All I know is pouring rain

And everything has changed

All I know is a newfound grace

All my days, I'll know your face

Everything Has Changed – Taylor Swift

ZAYN

It was shaping up to be a long summer. "One Time" and "Baby" by Justin Bieber played nonstop all over the radio and drove me mad. It wasn't exactly that I was annoyed by it or anything, just exhausted. He was on top, captivating the world at the minute, and I couldn't necessarily expect much else from mainstream pop stations now that they'd set their sights on a new rising star. All the girls were obsessed with him, which was something I didn't quite understand, to be honest; and I couldn't imagine what that level of intensity must've been like for a lad his age who was just an average Joe a few years ago. I wondered how he balanced it all. That strange place between staying grounded, but also acquiring global fame at such a rapid rate. How did he reconcile remaining humble and down-to-earth, while accumulating obscene wealth? That sort of power would change anybody, I was sure of it.

For a long time I thought of success as some big pipe dream that was unlikely to fall into my lap, at least not in an industry as unconventional as music or acting. Realistically, I'd my sights set on attending uni and majoring in English or Drama, and hopefully becoming a successful professor afterwards. It was the safe bet. It was practical, it was attainable, it was respectable. But hoping for success as a musician? This was something I only entertained when I dared to be misty-eyed at the end of a long day of monotony, lost in my headphones and exploring my playlists. Certain artists like Prince and Frank Ocean and even Chris Brown lately really got my gears turning and left me wondering if that life could be for me as well. I related to them all so much, and even felt I had the vocal chops to cut it in their world if gifted the opportunity.

Truth be told, it was something I longed to happen in the back of my mind, but at the end of the day just seemed a foggy, far-away impossibility. Like transforming my success onstage at school into a career in film in Hollywood. I wasn't some acting sensation that this should one day come to pass. Nor was I much of a performer in singing that I could see myself in front of sold out arenas touring from country to country if I ever went the music route. When I looked around back home, nothing about my environment facilitated change or even innovation. Not the attitudes of the people, the education system, or the local opportunities. You never heard about talent scouts beating down the doors in East Bowling looking for the next breakaway star. We were mostly a forgotten people; or a people who were never really paid much attention in the first place. So, we were reared to conform as it was the only other way to put food on the table. Conformity was key to surviving in this world. And in some ways, it was nice to have things all mapped out in front of you by the generations who'd walked those pragmatic paths first. In that case you sort of knew what to expect and everyone just got on with it and didn't ask questions.