The Secret Princess (N.H.)

Chapter 1: Present Day

Rewritten 8/10/15

It's the sixth of October, which meant it was autumn. The air has gotten colder the last few days, the skies more grey than blue, and the rain started coming down. Work is starting to get a little busier due to the cold whether, but I don't mind because it keeps me on my toes. I lived alone in this huge penthouse; my flat mates and best friends were out of the country, but they'd be back soon.

Missing my friends, I looked up at the picture collage above my desk. The pictures varied with me and my five best mates all over Europe. I was really lucky to be able to spend a good part of the summer with them. Then they came home for two weeks, and left to go to America to finish the last leg of their tour, and I had to return to work.

Yes, my best friends are One Direction.

My eyes skimmed over the collage to find a picture with a brown-eyed boy and a blue-eyed girl with matching puppy dog pouts. I smiled at the picture looking at me and my cousin, the infamous Liam Payne.

When I was a baby, my parents were killed in a car accident. In their will, they stated that my mother's half-brother and his wife, my Uncle Geoff and Aunt Karen, were to be my guardians. They had three kids of their own: two older daughters, Nicola and Ruth, and a son six months older than me, Liam. Nicola and Ruth move out ages ago; I wasn't the closest with them due to the age difference but they loved and treated me like their sister. Liam and I instantly became best friends and playmates, and it's been that way since then. He was my brother and I his sister. We've always looked out for each other and taken care of one another, and I love him to death.

Liam and I were very well rounded growing up. Both of us were athletic, playing on varsity for our sports (Liam boxed, ran track and cross country, and a bit of football; I did gymnastics and tennis); we were pretty studious (although Liam slipped a couple times); both of us did volunteer work; and both of us were musically talented (both of us sing, play piano and guitar, and Liam plays drums).

As you know, Liam tried out for X-Factor twice. And you know that he was put into an all boy group with Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson, and they became One Direction. Once 1D took off, he basically moved out of the house and bought his own. All the boys have their own house plus this penthouse. They just use the penthouse when they're in the city for business and after coming home from tours, then they normally go home to see their families and then back to their own houses.

The boys were over in America finishing their last leg of their Where We Are Tour, and they come home in tomorrow! I've missed them a lot, especially Liam. The penthouse is too big for just one person.

I'm a registered nurse at St. Mary's Hospital in Paddington, an area in Westminster. It's quite funny: I was actually born at St. Mary's, and so were Princes William and Harry. Since work is in the city, and it made no sense to commute for an hour each way (from Liam or Uncle Geoff and Aunt Karen's house), the boys begged for me to just live in their London penthouse. They brought it up so casually like it wasn't a big deal. At first, I was just going to get my own apartment but then the boys used their puppy eyes and pout and it won me over. The boys have maids to clean the flat, but I just do it myself; I ended up firing the maids because I was skeptical and leery of them.

It's about eleven at night and I decide to sleep soon, knowing I have an early morning at the hospital. I shut off my MacBook Pro, plug in my iPhone and turn off the Christmas lights strewn around my room. I took part of the day off tomorrow so I could spend clean and prepare dinner for the boys before I met them at Heathrow. As my head hits the pillow, I smile thinking of the boys and drift off into a peaceful slumber.

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I'm sorry I keep editing and changing things; I hope you all like it! Comment and vote! Tell me what you wanna see happen or predict what may happen!

xoxo Dana