You're Just A Daydream Away

Chapter 1

Hello! I also have this story up on onedirectionfanfiction.com but I realise a lot of you want to be able to read even when you don't have an Internet connection so I put it up on here too! My twitter is @wearethecraic. It's a shared account so make sure to direct any tweets towards me (Ashley). I have a tumblr that I'm going to start using more to post things about this story! It's the same username as my twitter :) I love you for reading this far already! Enjoy! X

I'm Haley. I'm a normal girl. Well, sort of. But we'll get to that later. I used to live in Chicago with my parents and two brothers. I have a sister, Adrianna, but she's 15 years older than me so I've never really known her. My older brother, Luke, is only 2 years older than me and my little brother, Jeremy, is 5 years younger than me. When he was first born I treated him like other little girls would treat a baby doll. I rocked him, fed him, and played with him 24/7. I swear I spent more time with him than my mom did just because I wouldn't let her take over except to change his diapers. All the way up until I was 10 and he was 5 we were inseparable. Luke was around a lot too, but he wasn't as sociable as we were. He was always sort of in the background of things. If we decided to have a race or dance competition, Luke was a judge not a participant. I don't think he minded, it was his choice really. He was into sports and me and Jeremy liked to play inside on the computer and our Gameboys and eventually Playstation and Nintendo DS.

My mom is British. She is from Bradford and was a foreign exchange student in college. I have never even met my mom's side of the family. I know I have two uncles and 5 cousins and that both of her parents are still alive, but I've Never met any of them. She and my father met at school. They went to the University of Chicago and after dating my dad for her semester in the States, she kept getting her student visa renewed. I remember hearing so many stories growing up about how my dad wooed her. It definitely explains my older sister. My mom got pregnant with her in her senior year of college but was able to finish out the year. The week after graduation my mom popped out Adrianna. Since they didn't plan on starting a family at that time, my parents didn't have any more kids for a while; instead, focusing on their careers. My dad was an accountant and did the books for Live Nation. My mom was a therapist and owned her own company. She mostly dealt with children. That's probably one of the reason I don't lie. She could see through the smallest white lie I told. Now, I'm just paranoid that if I lie she'll know, so I've always been very open with her. As important as my parents' jobs seemed and how time consuming they could be, my parents were always home when I got back from school.

When I was ten, every thing changed. One day I got home and my dad wasn't there. I found my mom in the fetal position in the middle of our living room. I wasn't sure what to do because I was so young but I didn't want Jeremy to see her like that. I took him to his room. When I returned to the living room my older brother was sitting on the floor cross legged with my mothers head in his lap, stroking her hair. I remember looking at him and admiring him. Not many 12 year old boys would do that for their moms. I thought about how great of a husband and dad he would be one day.

I went to occupy Jeremy while Luke comforted my mom. I had no idea what she was upset about but I figured I should keep Jeremy away from it.

I played Chutes and Ladders with Jeremy, made him play Pretty Pretty Princess with me, and we danced to Britney Spears and NSYNC among other things. We were going about our business, completely oblivious to what was going on with our mom.

After about an hour I heard Luke walk by Jeremy's room back to his own room. I told Jeremy to stay in his room. Quietly, I went to talk to Luke. I asked him what was going on and he just shook his head at me.

After being denied answers by Luke, I did all I could do. I went to talk to my mother. I found her standing in the kitchen, with her back to me, starting to prepare dinner.

"Mom," I started

She turned around where she standing so she could see me. As soon as we made eye contact her eyes filled with tears and she engulfed me in a huge hug. I pulled away from her embrace after a while.

"Mommy, what happened?"

"I'm so sorry baby. I'm so sorry," she said while tears streamed down her face. "Daddy was in a car accident. H-he didn't make it."

That's where my memory starts to fail me. I have no idea how I reacted to her words. The days that followed are a blur. I remember sitting at my father's wake numb and at a loss for words. This was the first time I met my mom's parents. They were typical grandparents. Old, dressed funny and smelled weird. But I didn't know them so it was awkward.

After burying my dad, my grandparents stayed at our house for a week. They helped us pack boxes of our belongings and had them shipped to their house. We would be staying with them for about a month while my mom finalized the house she had bought there.

I didn't really care that we were moving. I was pretty young and didn't have a best friend or anything. I kept to myself a lot at school, saving all my energy for at home.

We boarded the plane in silence on a Sunday. We took our seats and Jeremy and I whipped out our Gameboys to get some valuable play time in before the plane took off. Luke just rolled our eyes at us while our mom sat there quietly.

The flight was fine and didn't have much turbulence. My grandparents couldn't drive so their neighbor was picking us up. I didn't pay much attention to who the stranger was; I didn't really care.

We arrived at my grandparents house around 6am. I slept most of the plane ride and so did my brothers. At this point my sister was already a few years out of college with her own life, so she didn't move with us.

When we got to their house, Luke, Jeremy and I ran through the place so we could claim our sleeping spots for the next month. Jeremy and I chose the shared bedroom while Luke was left with the futon in the office. My mom was staying in her old room. The place was roomy but had a weird vibe to it.

One day Jeremy and I were sitting on the swings in our grandparents' backyard playing Pokémon when a boy my age walked over from next door.

"Hi, can I play with you guys?" he asked politely in his accent.

"Sure!" Jeremy blurted.

The boy whipped some Pokémon cards out of his back pocket along with his Gameboy and about 5 games.

We played Pokémon for about an hour until Jeremy and I had to go in for lunch. While we were picking up our stuff outside before we went in, Granny came outside and saw the boy.

"Oh hello, Zayn. I see you've met my grandchildren, Haley and Jeremy. I forgot you like those silly handheld games too," she stated plainly, then asked him in for lunch.

That was the day I became best friends with Zayn Malik. He was the first and only person Jeremy and I had ever both fully accepted into our group.

Once we moved out of my grandparents house into our own, nothing really changed. I got my own room and bathroom though because my mom thought I would seriously want it in a few years in house of brothers. My bedroom was painted hot pink. When I turned thirteen I added cool wallpapers and black stripes.

When I lived next door to Zayn it was easier to hang out with him. The month I lived there we played hide and seek, played Pokemon for hours on end, and had sleepovers almost every day. Once I moved a few blocks over it was harder to play with him, but almost every weekend I either went there or he came to my house. Usually the latter so we could include Jeremy.

Once we became teenagers, our parents stopped allowing the sleep overs. But being best friends, we'd sneak into each other's bedrooms at 1 am and stay over. Then in the mornings we'd wake up early and run home before anyone noticed.

Me and Zayn watched shows like X-factor and Britain's Got Talent religiously. His mom also watched with us every week. Around the time I was 16, Zayn had an incredible voice. I talked it over with his mother and we both agreed he would never have the confidence to apply or try out for a show like that on his own, so We did it for him. And just like that, our lives changed forever.