Walking in the Wind One Direction EDITING

15. The First Elimination

After our solos and daily interview, we return to our rooms and finish unpacking our bags. Then, I head over to the cafeteria with the girls.

"You know, I really enjoy our duet song," Jade says to Laelynn as she begins filling her plate with food.

"I know. It's so much fun," Laelynn replies, grinning as she piles some salad onto her plate.

"What song are you guys singing?" I ask curiously while adding some vegetables to mine.

"We're doing 'Don't Go Breaking My Heart,'" Laelynn remarks casually.

"Oh, not fair! That's way less choreography than ours," Daisy complains with a playful frown.

"And she's paired up with this guy named Niall. He's really good," Jade laughs, giving Laelynn a playful nudge.

"Oh, how nice! And who are you paired with?" I ask. "Liam?"

"No, I'm just with some random guy, I think his name is Thom," Jade links her arm with mine, adding, "But don't worry, you're ten times prettier than the girl singing with Liam."

"Oh, shut up," I mutter, my cheeks warming slightly.

"Wait, do you like Liam?" Daisy asks as we all sit down at our table.

"Who likes Liam?" Harry suddenly appears behind us with a tray of food, causing all of us to jump.

"No one," I answer harshly, narrowing my eyes.

"I think you might," Jade teases, her voice dripping with mischief.

"No. I. Do. Not," I insist, pretending to hit her with an empty tray that had been left over from lunch. We all laugh.

"What's going on here?" Liam and Louis join us at the table, sitting down.

"Laelynn and Mr. Popular are doing a duet together," I quickly say, pointing toward Niall, who is sitting at another table surrounded by his new friends.

"Oh, yeah. I know. He's friendly to everyone. I even sang some songs with him outside while he was playing guitar," Liam says, settling next to me. "But Laelynn and Niall are pretty good."

"Not as good as us," Harry winks at me and takes a bite of his dinner.

"Are you guys nervous for the first elimination tonight?" Daisy asks, glancing at all of us.

"Not really nervous, but I don't think I can ever listen to 'If I Were a Boy' again after today," Laelynn says with a sigh.

"Oh, I'm definitely nervous," I admit, pushing the broccoli around on my plate.

What if I get kicked out now? I'm really enjoying this. Never thought I would enjoy this as much as I do.

"Oh, you'll do just fine," Liam nudges me with his elbow. "But you do have to eat, or you'll faint," Louis adds, his mouth full of food.

After dinner, we all walk back to Wembley Stadium together. The boys are up first, then the girls. I nervously pace around backstage as I wait for my turn.

"Amber, Laelynn," a guy with a clipboard calls out. We gather on stage in a line with eight other girls. They make us sing one by one. Once we are done, Louis and Simon thank us and let us go. Next up is the group with Jade and Daisy, and I smile at them as we pass each other on stage.

"It's so cruel they won't even give us feedback," Harry grumbles, sitting on a backstage trolley.

"Not knowing is killing me," Louis agrees, his voice tense.

"We'll just have to hope for the best," Laelynn says as she sits down next to Harry.

"Easy for you to say, you've got an amazing voice," I say, joining them.