My Overprotective Best Friend: Zayn Malik (Niall Horan Short Story)

Chapter 1

Author's Note: Hey Guys! So I've decided to slowly start posting these chapters again. I've finished "Cat Got Your Tongue?", so now not only can I just focus on this, but it will give me time to continue writing some more. Enjoy! --Ekat =D

Zoey’s P.O.V.

            Everyone knows about One Direction. How could you not; they are the biggest boy band in the world right now. Some people say they’re the biggest boy band in history, but that’s up for debate. It’s funny to see how their fans try to find out everything about their lives before The X-Factor. What I find even funnier is how they’ve never found out about me. I’m Zoey Summers, and I’m Zayn Malik’s childhood best friend. The reason that One Direction fans haven’t heard of me is because of Zayn. He’s very, shall we say, protective of me, even from the first day we met.

            Zayn and I first met when I moved to Bradford from Liverpool at the age of nine, ten years ago. Zayn was ten at the time, making him one year older than me. On the first day of school, I was the quiet type. Who could blame me though; you spend about five years with the same people, and then you have friendship circles that are hard to enter. So to sum it all up, being the new kid sucks. To me, the only thing being the new kid represents is being a target. You’re either going to be the one kid that everyone wants to hang out with, or the one kid everyone wants to pick on. Well, seeing as how this isn’t a fairytale, I became the target to everyone.

            At recess on the first day, I was surrounded by a group of kids. It was almost being in a crowd at the mall, not knowing who to look at because there are so many people around. Then before any of them could lay a finger on me, a boy stood up for me. That boy with a single sentence saved me from having the worst childhood. That was the day Zayn and I became best friends. I owe so much to Zayn. He introduced me to his friends, and made me feel welcome. He made it so I wasn’t alone. But, then there’s the flip side to this coin. Because I was this scared, little, school girl on my first day, Zayn became extremely protective of me. Just one look from a girl, and Zayn was ready to pounce. I still remember when a boy told me I was pretty in middle school. I told Zayn because I was so giddy, and the next time I saw that boy, he had a black eye. With that being said, the only boy in my life is Zayn. There’s never been anything romantic about our relationship; we are both best friends, and nothing more. It’s more of a brother-sister relationship, but on steroids.

            When Zayn left for The X Factor, I’m not going to lie, and say that everyone was fine, because it wasn’t. My other half that I spent all of my time with left me. You don’t just get over something like that. It’s not something that you wake up in the morning, and think your life won’t be affected. Don’t get me wrong, we still talked. Actually, Zayn and I talked all the time; but it’s still not the same as being able to hold your best friend in your arms, lie on your bed, and watch movies together. Zayn would inform me about things that were going on with him and the boys. The only thing he wouldn’t tell me is their choice of song for the week. He made me wait to watch the show to find out. He’s such an amazing singer, and no matter how much I knew I was going to miss him, there was no way in hell I was going to stand in his way. What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t support my best friend? I even had to push the little coward to show up for his audition. Go figure that my best friend would have such courage when it comes to defending me, but would be such a wuss when it comes to doing something for himself. But, that’s one of the things that I love about Zayn. He’s so protective of the ones that he cares about, and he’ll push you forward, but when it comes to something that he wants to do, it’s like walking down the steps into a pool, taking them slowly, and one step at a time.

            After The X Factor, Zayn was bummed him and the boys didn’t win. It literally took a two hour pep talk for him to get happy again. That’s the other thing with Zayn’s confidence; when it’s dropped even the slightest, it was hard to pick back up. Then after a few hours, I got a phone call from him, explaining that Simon Cowell signed him and the other boys to his record label. I was so proud of him.