The next morning
"Wake up." I hear someone say and I turn around to face who it is. It's my sister's face looking at me. "There's someone here." she says and I groan. It's only nine o'clock, and I got back to the hotel at eleven yesterday. Calum and I just watched Rome being beautiful, and we had a few drinks. Not too much though. I just enjoyed his company. We had dinner together and just chatted about everything and nothing.
"Is it Calum?" "No, it's someone else." she says and I get up. I quickly dress myself in normal clothes and head to the lobby. I don't know who I expected to see, but it definitely wasn't Michael.
"What are you doing here?" I ask him while he wraps his arms around me. "Oh, I went on behalf of Calum. He couldn't tell you himself." he says and that gives me the sign that it's not good news. The band wasn't supposed to leave until tomorrow, so that means Calum's still in Rome. "What's going on?" I ask and he sits down, at which I do the same.
"Calum already left, because... his parents were in a car accident."
"WHAT?" I yell in shock and then quickly shut myself up. This is a major shock.
"Yeah," Michael says with a sad look in his eyes, "So we're leaving today too, the three of us. It happened late last night. Calum texted you, he's already on the plane home. We're taking a plane later today." "Okay," I say, "This is very bad. I have to go with you. Calum needs me." Michael looks at me with an eyebrow raised. "No, Calum made it clear that he didn't want to ruin your vacation. I fold my arms in front of my chest. "I want to. Yesterday was so nice and I just can't abandon him now."
Michael sighs and says, "Look, I know I can't stop you, but I have to leave now. Just read Calum's text, okay?" He wraps me in a hug and then, before I can say anyting else, he walks out. I then rush over to my bedroom, grabbing my phone and reading the text that Calum supposedly sent me.
"Wake up." I hear someone saying and I go to lay on my back in my bed. The first thing I see is my sister's face looking at me. "There's someone here." she says and I groan. "Is it Calum?" "No, it's someone else." she says and I get up. I dress myself in normal clothes and head for the living room of the hotel. I don't know who I expected to see, but it definitely wasn't Michael.
Hey Sara, sorry to leave so soon and that I couldn't tell you myself. I'm really sorry but I didn't wanna ruin your holiday. Please don't be mad at me. Have fun & hope to see you again, Calum
What hurts me the most is that he thinks I'd be mad at him. And without even thinking or explaining it to my parents or sister I start packing my suitcase. I throw everything in as fast as I can, but just as I haul my stuff out of the room my parents stand there. I know that I have to explain everything, so that's what I do. They don't even put up a fight and even look for plane tickets with me. It appears that I'll be on the same plane as Michael, Luke and Ashton, but I'm not planning on letting them know. They'll see me when they get out of the plane, I suppose. Fifteen minutes after explaining everything, I'm ready to go to Australia. Now it hits me: this really is a crazy plan. Me, a girl who just turned seventeen, alone, on a plane to a country on the other side of the world. My parents and Eva won't be coming with me, but they'll make sure everything will be organised for me when I arrive.
I throw my suitcase in the back of the car and we drive off to the airport. Just in time we arrive at the airport and I say my goodbyes to my family. The steward gives me a weird look when I walk into the plane all by myself at the last minute, but I ignore it and sit down on my assigned seat. I haven't even thought this completely through. All I know is that I have to ask one of the guys for Calum's adress. They'll wonder why and get suspicious, so I decide to stall it until we've landed in Sydney.
Once the plane has taken off I decide to head off to business class and check if the guys really are sitting there. Not that they have to know, but I just want to be sure. Unfortunately the stewardess isn't accepting that and I'm more than ready to argue.
"My friends are in there, I just wanted to check if they are really there." I say and the stewardess gives me a sceptical look. "And what are their names?" I lower my voice and say, "Michael Clifford, Luke Hemmings and Ashton Irwin. Can I please get in now? I won't talk to them, I just wanna make sure they are really there."
The stewardess once again disagrees and I sigh. Suddenly I hear someone on the other side of the door say, "Is that Sara I hear? That's impossible, isn't it?"
Then the door opens and Ashton appears in the doorway. "Do you know her?" The stewardess now asks and Ashton nods. "Yeah, she's my friend. What are you doing here?"
Suddenly the stewardess smiles at me and I give her an evil smile back.
"Shh," I say, "I'm going to Australia. I have to help Calum. Michael told me what happened but he forbid me to go with him."
"Come in," Ashton says, "We'll talk about your crazy plan. How did you even get on the plane without any trouble?" I follow him and he sits down, gesturing for me to sit on his lap. Luke was looking out the window, but when he sees me in the reflection he turns around in shock.
"Sara, what are you doing here?"
"I guess I'm crazy." I smile at him.
"Yes you are crazy. You decided this all by yourself?" I nod and then the door of the toilet opens. Michael walks out and when he sees me he sighs. "You're fucking crazy, I swear." he says and I grin at him. I explain the whole thing to the three of them: that I didn't want them to know I'd be going to Australia, but that Ashton caught me and that I'm staying at a hotel for a week to support Calum.
"You can stay with one of us!" Luke protests, but I don't want to bother him and his mom, so I decline that. But after a while of arguing I decide to stay with Luke. He was the one not giving up and there was no way for me to stay at the hotel according to him. By the time the plane has landed I notice that he must have already informed his mom that I'd be staying with them. Luke's mother smiles as soon as she sees the four of us and she walks up to me after giving her son and his friends a hug. "You must be Sara, Calum's girlfriend." she says and I shake my head. "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Hemmings, but I'm not-" I start to say, but Michael's laughter interrupts me.
"This is Jack, Luke's brother." Liz says and I shake his hand. I have to resist the urge to say how much they look alike. They really do, but they hear that all the time probably. After saying goodbye to Ashton and Michael, I walk to the car with Luke and his family. It's only a twenty-minute drive and I'm surprised to see that the house the Hemmings family lives in, isn't as big as I thought it'd be. Liz opens the door and I go ahead to take off my shoes. Luke doesn't even bother and heads straight for the kitchen. I raise and eyebrow and Jack laughs while he takes my coat.
"Luke's a sucker for my mom's brownies. But so am I, Luke's just a little less patient." I grin and walk over tot he living room. From my point of view I can see Luke already stuffing a big piece of brownie into his mouth. "Want some?" he asks and I nod, still grinning. I sit down on the couch and Liz somes walking over to me with two plates of brownie."I'm heading over to Celeste." Jack says, grabbing his keys from the table. "Sure, will you be home for dinner?" his mother asks and that's when I realize that it's already four pm. I was so busy with everything I hadn't even noticed the time difference! I already called my parents while in the car, so they have a full update on where I'm staying and what my plan is. They would have freaked out if they noticed I never checked in at the hotel
"Luke, I'm planning on going to the hospital. Do you have any directions for me?" I ask him and he shakes his head. "I'm coming with you, just a minute." he runs up the stairs and a little later he comes running down again. He has put on another shirt and we put on our shoes. "I'm afraid we'll have to take the bus." he says and I shrug. "Doesn't matter." "I don't know when we'll be back mum," Luke says, "I'll let you know." He opens the door and when we are seated in the bus I feel myself panicking a little. What will Calum do when he sees me? Will he be mad? Maybe he doesn't even want to see me right now. What if that's the case?
"I can hear your heart beating," Luke says and puts a hand on my leg, "Are you nervous?" I manage to nod and he says, "Take a deep breath. Calum won't be mad at you or something. He'll appreciate it." I shrug and nod, but my heart continues to beat heavily. The bus ride seems to last forever, and when we reach the hospital I have to close my eyes for a moment. "Will they let us in?" I ask and Luke shrugs. "I don't know. I hope so, and they know who I am, so I hope they let us in." I nod and follow him over to the reception. Luke does the talking and after a while of waiting I see him smile at the nurse, so I assume they'll let us in. He walks over to me and grabs my arm. "They allow us in, Calum's still there. Follow me." he says and I do just that. We walk up the stairs and when we stand in front of the big door I decide to knock three times on it. "Who's it?" I hear Calum's trembling voice say and Luke says, "It's me. I brought someone with me. Can we come in?" Calum remains silent for a moment and then says, "Okay." Luke opens the door and I stay behind him. I'm still a little afraid. I have never handled hospitals well, and at this moment I have no idea what's going to happen.
