Strong

Chapter 1 Remember me

"Ok Gerry, I think I've got everthing"

I was packin for England and my best friend Gerard was goin crazy. He was supposed to be helping me pack, but he was just making it more difficult. He didn't want me to leave so he kept saying I'd left stuff out, which resulted in me being unsure and runnin around the house like a mad woman.

"Are you sure?" he asked raisin an eyebrow at me.

"Not again!" I yelled and stomped out of the room pullin my suit case behind me. I was excited about the move but I was really going to miss my friends. My family were British and I was born in England, Wolverhampton to be specific. We'd moved to America when I was twelve and have been livin in L.A. since. I had a job as a fashion editor at 'Vogue' and they were transferring me to the UK branch. I was completely stoked and terrified at the same time. It's not that I didn't remember living in England, I did. It's just that I hadn't really kept in contact with any of my friends over there. Well, except for Liam. His family and mine were pretty close and they'd even come to visit us when we'd first moved here. And Liam and I Skype all the time. But I didn't know how it would work now that he was in One Direction. It definately wouldn't be the way it was when we were kids.

"Say goodbye to this place" Gerry said as he loaded my suitcase into the boot and I locked the door one last time.

"This is it huh" I looked out at what had been my home for the past two years and sighed.

"It's not too late to change your mind" he called out and I smiled.

"It's not too late to change yours" I smirked as I got into the car.

"Maybe I'll take you up on the offer sometime in the future"

"I'd like that"

Liam's POV

"Zayn, are you comin?" I called out, but didn't get a response.

"I'll come" Niall offered.

I was going t the airport to pick op my friend Isabella and Zayn had said he'd come with, but I don't think he realized how early he'd havta wake op. Bless the lad, very few things were more important to him than sleep.

"Ok Niall, let's go"

"Should I drive?" he asked gettin all excited.

"Thanks mate, but Paul's coming with"

Niall hopped into the backseat and I joined him. He was silent for a few seconds before the questions started.

"So how'da ya know her?"

"We grew op together actually"

"So she's your age?"

"Yup"

"And you've known her all ya life?"

"Yes Niall" I laughed.

"But have ya seen her?"

"Not in person, no"

"So how will we know t find her? Should we make a sign?"

"Haha no. I know what she looks like, we Skype"

"ooh"

I chuckled to myself. It seemed like Niall was more excited than I was. In fact I was kinda nervous. You know how it is meeting someone you havn't seen in a long time and you don't know what to expect.

"Ok boys here we are" Paul said as we pulled into the parking lot at the airport.

"Do you know where t find her?" he asked as he opened the door for us.

"At the terminal, I think"

We made our way through the parking lot without being spotted and I let out a sigh of relief. But it was short lived as some girls noticed Paul and then started flocking around us. You know sometimes I think we'd get around better if we didn't take Paul. Simply because the bloke is so big that he sticks out like a sore thumb and that grim face is just unmistakable. We stopped to take pictures and give some autographs and the girls seemed to be happy. There weren't that many of them so we were done within a few minutes and could proceed to looking for Isabella, which turned out to be quite a task given the amount of dark-haired girls in the terminal. I was just about to give op when I noticed an average girl with an edgy bob chugging a huge suitcase behind her. She stopped to push her hair behind her ear and that face was unmistakable.

"Over there!" I motion for Paul and Niall to follow my lead.

"Hey"

She looked op at me and took a moment to register.

"Liam!" she squealed giving me a hug.

"Iz, how are you?" I asked when I put her down.

"Slightly, disoriantated, why are there so many people here?" she asked gestured to the crowd a small distance away from us.

"Sorry about that babe"

"Ready t go?" Paul interjected herding us away before I could respond. The crowd had grown quite a bit and it was a lil crazy getting outta the airport. I took Isabella's suitcase from her and then offered her my hand. She looked a bit puzzled but took it and followed me as we squeezed our way out.

"Welcome back to England" I said once we were safely inside the car.

"Thanks" she said still trying to catch her breath.

"This is Niall by the way" I said introducing her to the beamin blond.

"Hi Niall" she offered him her hand.

"Nice t meet ya Isabella" he responded.

"And who was that guy pushing me around?" she smirked.

"That gentleman over there is Paully" Niall said patting Paul's head from the back.

"Hi" Paul said looking at Iz in the mirror.

Isabella's POV

Heathrow airport was alot different than I'd remembered. For one it was really noisy and chaotic and I had a really hard time figuring out where I was supposed to go. I turned to ask the girl next to me for some kinda direction, but all I got was a squeal.

"It's Paul!" she yelled and pointed. I turned to see what she was pointing at and noticed a large crowd of girls. There was a big guy trying to push them away, but he didn't seem to be getting anywhere as the girls closed in on whatever was at the center of the crowd. I decided to just go on and see if I could find my luggage. I was just pulling my suitcase through the crowd when I heard someone call my name. I looked up and low and behold it was the one and only Liam James Payne. He greeted briefly and then we had to go. He took my suitcase and then reached for my hand. It was so weird, but there wasn't any time for questions so I just held his hand as he lead me outta the terminal. It was weird how it reminded me of when we were little. I'm a few months younger than he is so he was kinda like my big brother. And everytime we'd cross the street he'd make sure I held his hand. In fact it had been that way right until we'd left even though I was practically a teenager and was more than capable of crossing the street by myself.