The Secret Daughter

Chapter 10

Zayn piles into the before me as Harry sits down in the driver's seat and drops his coffee in the cup holder.

"Riding in the car, riding in the car, we love riding in the car!" Louis cries, flopping into the back seat next to Liam. 

"We're gonna go have some fun!" Zayn rolls down the window and lets his hair fly back.

"Aren't you like, super obsessed with your hair?" I ask as he rolls up the window and slumps in  his seat.

"Only in the fan fictions." He smiles a warm smile at me. 

"Hey, how long of a drive is this?" Liam kicks the back of my seat.

"Only about 20 minutes." Harry says. "But we'll probably get lost because I don't have a phone."

"Oh shut up, that was so yesterday," Louis fixes his hair with the camera on his phone. I twist around and grab it from his outstretched hand.

"Let's see what's going on with Louis..." I open up the twitter app and start a new tweet.

"Hanging out with my new best friend @MicaAtkinnn43."  (If this is your  or someone you know's twitter, sorry I didn't  check, If you want me to change it leave a comment) I read out loud as I send the tweet. I shove the phone in my purse. Louis says some very naughty words as he reaches for the bag, but I move it between my feet. 

"What did you say, @MicaAtkin?" Liam pulls out his phone,

"@ M-i-c-a-A-t-k-i-n-n-n-4-3," I say as my phone beeps. I pull it out. New follower. A few seconds later something else appears.

"So excited to spend the day with @MicaAtkinnn43." A tweet appears from Liam.

"Aw, that's cute!" I say, but I'm interrupted by a huge commotion from my phone. 

New follower

New follower

New follower

New follower

New follower

My phone dings over and over. Zayn gently takes it from my hand and turns off the sound, then slips the phone back in my purse. He smiles again and I smile back. 

"This is the life," Harry leans back in his seat and rolls down the window. He flicks on the radio.

"So I'm putting my defenses up, 'cus I don't want to fall in love; If I ever did that, I think I'd have a heart attack."

*5 days earlier*

"C'mon Mica, it'd be a wonderful experience." Mum shoves the sign up sheet across the counter. "You have your dad's voice."

"I don't want to try out for the X-Factor, mum." I huff, grabbing the sheet and crumpling it into a ball and stomping off into my room. I plug in my iPhone headphones and shuffle the music.

"So I'm putting my defenses up, 'cuz I don't want to fall in love; If i ever did that, I think I'd have a heart attack." I start to sing along, dancing around my room, tossing the piece of paper in the trash can. I stop the music and pull out my headphones and sing a few chords of the song to myself. Maybe it would be fun, thousands of fans cheering you on, totally in love with your music. Alone onstage in a huge arena, the lights dimmed, a guitar in hand, singing.

I didn't think about what I was doing as I ran into the bathroom to do my hair. I didn't have second thoughts as I did my makeup or pulled on my new expensive outfit. I didn't dream of the future as I called my friends and told them I wanted to make a music video.

They obviously agreed, they knew I had a nice voice. They brought their cameras out onto the streets of London for me and we started filming, my hair blowing into my face on the double decker bus, and taking long strides through the little park by my house. My dad was thrilled when I told him I wanted to record a song at the studio. He even cancelled an interview to come help me. My friends edited the video. They put it on youtube. I didn't think anything would happen. At first, nothing did. Then it started getting views. And likes. Hundreds of views. Thousands of views. Eventually I stopped checking. I'd created the exact thing I didn't want.

 My hands acted without my brain as I pulled out my phone, ignoring the constant 'New follower' reminders. My fingers danced across the keyboard and soon, I was on the screen. Louis Niall Liam and Zayn all lean around my phone as Harry shuts off the radio.

"That's... you." Liam stares at me, like he just uncovered the answer to on of the greatest secrets of all time.

"Yes..." All of a sudden I'm out of  breath. I exit the video.

"You.. You're Tom Atkin's daughter." Zayn says, struggling to find words.

"You knew my last name." I tell him, shoving the phone into the bottom of my purse and zipping it all the way up.

"You're amazing." Liam tells me. I ignore his compliment.

"My mum wants me to audition for the X-Factor." I tell them. 

"You totally should." Louis pipes up.

"I don't want to." I tell them looking toward the window. We pull into the car lot of the park and step out of the car. "I don't want to talk about this anymore." I tell them walking toward the ticket booth as the don baseball caps and sunglasses. 

"Hey Mica, wait up." Liam breaks into a jog. "I want to talk about last night. Alone." He says falling into step beside me. 

"I'm sorry Liam."  I say getting into the queue forming at the gate. He stands close to me.

"You know thousands of girl would kill to be in your position right now." He jokes, placing his arm arlound me.

"You know I'd kill thousands of people to get out of this position right now." I squirm out of his grasp.  

"C'mon, Mica." He smiles at me. "I'm just joking with you."

"I know." I tell him. "I'm not looking for a boyfriend right now."

"Awww, please?"

"No way!" I tell him as the rest of the boys join us in line.

"This is going to be so much fun!" Louis says as we walk up to the booth.

"5 adults." Zayn says. He collects the wristbands and distributes them among us.

"I'm going on Terror Course." Louis points to the tallest coaster in the park.

"Sounds good to me." Zayn says as we start the walk. Maybe this will turn out to be a really fun day.