Adopted by One Direction

Not That Different

After we all took a bath and found the car keys (which were in Liam's pocket, but Liam had dumped his trousers in the washing machine so we had to fish the keys out of all the dirty clothes), we sat down for a dinner of Louis' burnt pizza."How could you even screw up something as easy as a pizza?" Niall complained."The pizza is perfectly fine!" Louis retorted. "Just peel off the burnt parts and you'll have a perfect pizza.""Yeah, right." Harry said, laughing. "If I peeled off all the burnt parts, there'd be no pizza left!"

After dinner, Liam suggested that we go for a run."Run?" Shouted Zayn almost aggressively. "Never in a million years!""Why not?" I asked. "Running is relaxing, plus you get a good workout.""No freaking way." Harry shook his head. "Besides, we don't have any clothes that are suitable for running.""I have loads, I could lend you some!" Liam said brightly and ran back upstairs.

"Thanks, but no thanks." Niall called up the stairs, but Liam was already coming down, which four sets of running clothes in his hands. He tossed the other boys each a set. Louis picked his up with two fingers and looked at them disgustingly."We never wear that." He said."There's always a first time." Liam replied. "Come on, get changed, we'll go out in a few minutes. Trust me, running will be fun.""Yeah, do this for me guys, OK?" I added, then I went back to my room to get changed."Oh, come on!" I said. "How hard can running be?"

 looked through my closet. Yup, the boys did buy me sportswear. I put on a hot pink tank top and turquoise leggings. I looked through my collection of shoes and found a pair of cool running shoes, and put them on along with a red sports cap (polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=108312416). All done. I went back downstairs, where the boys were still complaining. Only Liam was ready to go.

"Very, when you're running with Liam." Louis replied. "You don't know what he's like. If you're running with him, you'll be dead within 30 seconds. I'm not joking.""Exactly." Niall agreed. "There's nothing enjoyable about running anyway.""Yeah, there is!" I said indignantly. "When I run, I feel...free. Like no one in the world could stop me."

In the orphanage, I was always trapped within the walls. Only when I ran could I feel free, feel that I was really myself. When I ran, I felt like I was running away from all my troubles. That's why I love running.After another ten minutes, Liam and I persuaded the other boys to come running. We went out into the suffocating September air, equipped with hats and sunglasses. It was partially to protect us from the sun, but mostly to protect the boys from being spotted by fans. It felt so relaxing to be running. The last time I ran was actually the day before, when I was running away from bullies, but it already felt like a lifetime ago. Running with people was definitely better than running from people."Hey guys, catch me!" I shouted with sudden impulse, picking up my pace. I was ahead of them, but I heard Liam's footsteps coming closer and close until he finally caught up with me."Ha!" He yelled, "Now you come and catch me!"

"I'm going to beat you this time, Liam!" I yelled and sprinted after him. After a few minutes, I started closing up on him."HA!" I yelled even louder than he had,jumping on him tackling him on the floor. "GOTCHA!""You're not going to get away that easily!" Liam said as he tickled me until both of us were lying on the floor, completely out of breath.Five minutes later, I slowly sat up, looking around for the other boys. I saw them in the far distance, walking so slowly that a snail would've reached us sooner than they would. I glanced at Liam, and he smiled at me, winking. Our minds were thinking alike. We raced back to the boys, me taking the lead for most of the way, but Liam caught up to me in the last second."I hate you!" I said, hitting him playfully. "I was winning!""You guys are insane." Harry groaned in mild annoyance. He was already sitting on the pavement, finishing up his bottle of water."Not really," I said, "You guys could've caught up with us if you tried."

"That's alright for you to say," Zayn replied, "I was the one who had to run as fast as I could while carrying a 12-year-old earlier!""Oh yeah, I forgot about that." I said, quietening down with gratefulness. "Thanks, Zayn, by the way.""Not a problem." He said, rumpling my hair. "But can we go back now?"By the time we got home, it was already 9 o'clock. We had a quick game of rock-paper-scissors, which I lost, so I had to wait for another half-hour before I could go take a shower.I was completely exhausted by the time I could crawl into bed, but just tossed and turned for more than an hour because my brain wouldn't fall asleep. I was afraid of the dream that I knew would come to me as soon as I closed my eyes. After another hour, I decided to go sleep in one of the boy's room. However intruding it would be, I just couldn't sleep on my own. Putting my slippers on, I walked out in the hallway. The hallway was drowned in a gloomy darkness, with barely any moonlight shinning through. I shivered. The hallway was perfectly friendly in the daytime, but at night, it seemed all sinister and evil. I quickly hurried into Liam's room, but stopped just as I put my hand on the door handle.No, I won't go to Liam tonight, I decided. He was already tired enough. I heard some shuffling coming from Zayn's room so I peeked my head inside, seeing Zayn pacing around while staring out of the window. He stopped abruptly when he heard me.