Tracks (A One Direction Fan Fiction)

Chapter Three

I woke up dizzy and disorientated. Where was I? I looked around the room and realization hit me. Memories of the past 24 hours flooded my head as tears pricked at my eyes. I wiped them off with my sleeve before they fell. No more tears.

I looked at Taylors clock next to her empty bed. 5:32 a.m. It felt a lot later than that. Then I realized it was 10 in England.

“Well shit. I’m already up.” I muttered to myself as I stood and stretched, my back cracking in multiple places. I peeled off the clothes from the previous day I didn’t bother taking off and grabbed a towel from on top of my dresser. I wrapped it around me and stepped out in the short hallway. The dorms were set into pairs of rooms, two girls each room. Each dorm had its own bathroom which I was grateful for, but sucked since I still had to share it with three other girls.

Suddenly a thought hit me. I hadn’t even thought about the two other girls across from me and Taylor. What if it was Taylors clones? No no no I couldn’t deal with that. I already wanted to punch my own roommate in the throat, let alone have to live with the other two.

But as if God heard my panic, the door leading out to the main hall swung open and in walked in a girl with jet black hair and a gym bag. She was so focused on her phone that was nearly glued to her face, she almost ran into me.

“Oh hey! I didn’t even see you there. Why are you just standing there?” She spit out words quicker than I could understand after just waking up to process. It took me a second to register she had asked me a question.  I noticed she had a Texan accent and when she looked up at me, I realized she had beautiful striking blue eyes.

“I was just… uh..” What was I doing? Having a meltdown about possible dorm mates while standing in the hallway damn near nude? Not a good look.

“Oh wow! I get it. You must be Taylors new roommate… Sorry about that.” She actually seemed like she felt bad.

“Yeah I am. Just got here yesterday. I’m Ali. And is Taylor really that bad that you have to apologize for her?” I laughed to lightened my statement but I was still being serious. She reached out to shake my hand and I gladly returned the gesture.

She laughed back with me. “I’m Candice.  Welcome to UNLV and yeah, it’s that bad. But look, I actually don’t have a roommate yet. If no one shows up in the next few days, feel free to move in over here. Taylor can be a major pain in the ass.” She smiled a big cheesy grin at me. Maybe she could be one of my first friends here. She had one of those smiles that made the saddest person perk up. Plus she didn’t even bat an eyelash at my appearance.

“Well thanks, I might just do that.” I actually smiled back at her. I can’t remember the last time I actually smiled.

“Well I’m guessing you want to shower. If want to, we can grab breakfast afterwards.”

“Yeah man, I’m starved.” I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until Candice said something.

“Okay cool!” She gave me her 1000 watt cheesy smile again. “Just knock on the door when you’re ready.” And with that she disappeared into her room.

I finally made my way to the shower. The whole time, I kept promising myself that this was good. I prayed that I would meet more people like Candice. I really needed positive vibes in my life.

After I was showered and dressed in my comfy jeggings, black Vans, and a grey oversized jumper, I walked over to Candice’s room and knocked lightly.

“Hold on!” Her Texan accent seemed thicker the louder she was and her yelling made me slightly twitch away, like I could escape the noise. I walked back into my room and grabbed my phone and purse. I shut the door just as Candice walked out of her room. She changed out her gym attire into a purple Nike jumper, light wash jeans and matching purple Nike shoes.

“Ready?” I asked her as I pulled my hair into a high pony tail.

“Yep!” She responded cheerfully. I could get used to her. She was that kind of person that normal people would get irritated at because she was too happy. But she was just what I needed right now.

We stepped out of the dorms and made our ways out of the building, asking each other random questions to get to know each other.

“So what’s your favorite color?” It was her turn to ask. I laughed at myself at the innocent question.

“Yellow. Your’s?”

“Ummmm, kinda like a sunset orange. Like Peeta in The Hunger Games.” She looked embarrassed to be telling me this. I thought it was adorable.

“That’s actually really cool. Orange was my mom’s favorite color.” I frowned at the memory of my mom’s last birthday where the theme was orange. Literally everything was orange. The cake, the decorations, everything.

“Did you hear what I said?” I guess I zoned out.

“Shit, sorry no. What was it?”

“I said that I was taking you to the place all the students hang out. It connected to the main cafeteria so people can eat in there.”

“Oh okay. That’s cool, I wanna know all the good spots to go. So I have to ask, what’s stuck up Taylor’s ass?”

She looked like she was milling it over in her head. “I guess she’s just stuck up. She’s the head cheerleader. Apparently she won all these competitions in high school and they gave her a full athletic scholarship.

What a fucking cliché. Stuck with the head cheerleader, aka  queen of the bitch clones, aka my new roommate. What was this, a damn teen novel?

“But good thing I’ll give to Taylor is Sexy Styles.”

I had to laugh. “What the hell is ‘Sexy Styles’?”

“Just the most popular guys on campus of course. I mean she is the head cheerleader. It’s like practically meant to be.”

“We’re here!” She pulled me out of my thoughts as I thought about this “Sexy Styles”. How hot could this guy honestly be? All the freshman have only been here a few days.

We stepped into the student lounge as kids sat around drinking coffee and talking. A lot of kids looked like they had just woken up from partying, or hadn’t gone to sleep yet.  Classes hadn’t started yet so no one was really doing homework or anything. Just then, I saw the Wicked Bitch of the West.

“You have got to be shitting me.” Just as I was about to tell Candice about Taylor sitting in the corner of the room with a skanky black cocktail dress and smudged red lipstick, HE stopped me. And when I say he, I meant the boy next to Taylor with a mess of curls and a half unbuttoned black shirt on. His lips. That’s what drew me in. They were a deep pink, almost to the point that you would think they were swollen. And his eyes. Even from meters away I could tell he had gorgeous green eyes.

“What are you staring a- Oooohhhh. Yeah that. That is Sexy Styles.. Mr. Harry Styles himself.” For some reason I wanted her to stop talking about him like that. It made me uncomfortable. But I was staring so  just as I was about to look away, he looked up straight at me. I couldn’t break the intensity of his green eyed stare. Taylor followed his gaze and as soon as she laid her eyes on me, her look turned cold. She seemed to say something to Harry and he just shrugged. They got up to leave and as me and Candice got our coffee and muffins, I half listened to her ramble about her majoring in Engineering. All I could really think about was a certain Sexy Styles.