Half a Heart

chapter three

I stayed there for a long time, sitting on my bed in darkness, contemplating on my past life, and looking through the books in the shelf. Most of them, I found out, were poetry. sad, depressing poetry. I had not the heart to read them, though. I felt like these stories were something I left behind, and shouldn't stir up. Besides, depression seemed like a dark abyss that one willingly jumps into, and I wasn't going to make that mistake again. 

So I just sat there, on the edge of my sharply-colored bed sheets. the time that I spent here consisted mainly of looking down at the framed picture of my best friend. It was sort of ironic that it was the only colored thing in the room. I contemplated these things, finding most of these thoughts quite irrelevant. 

"Natalie." A faint sounded from behind me. I shifted my vision to find Jeremy poking his nose through the crack in my door. I stifled a laugh. "Dinner's ready." he finished. I nodded, suddenly realizing that he had left already. I stood up, a little too fast, and black spots raced across my vision. I ignored them, as I walked my way towards the main dining room, where my family sat in wait of my arrival. 

"Hello, darling." My mom said sheepishly. I smiled, and took a seat next to my brother. "We'll be having fish and peas..... We're out of chips. Hope you don't mind."  I nodded, taking in all of the aromas that surrounded me. Jeremy nudged my arm with his shoulder. "You can feel free to talk, you know." He whispered rather sheepishly. I shrugged, replying in a hushed tone, "Okay."

"It smells good." I said kind of matter-of-fact. My mother shifted her gaze to meet mine, and smiled. "that's great, Natalie. Now, I hope it tastes as good as it smells." She handed me a silver plate full of tiny green peas and beer-battered fish. I took it, and carefully placed it on the table in front of me. Across the table, my dad cleared his thought. "We're so glad to have you back, Natalie. We missed you so much." He looked over at my mom, and she smiled sadly. "We love you so much, darling. I hope you know that." 

"And I you." I replied, looking over my family members. It really was nice having a family. 

We finished our food rather quickly, and afterwards Jeremy followed me into my room. "He knows you're awake, you know." he said. I nodded. "I wonder what he looks like now." I whispered, not meaning for him to hear my thoughts. "He's the same...Looks older a bit, but generally the same." I could hear his smirk as he spoke. 

I saw a glow appear behind me as Jeremy pulled out his hand held, and we reached my room. I didn't mean for him to, but he flicked the lights on as we entered, causing for the dark chandelier to fill with light. "You never let me in here, before you know." He said, admiring the way the light gave to room a glow. "It's a cool room." He focused his attention on his hand held, and sat on the couch, gesturing for me to do the same. I did. 

"Okay, so today is the boot camp edition of the competition..." He turned the hand held's screen towards me, so I could watch. The little screen showed a row of people, boys and girls, standing before the three judges. 

"There he is! I see him!" I whispered excitedly. Jeremy laughed a little. Liam stood hopefully in the middle of the pack. He looked the same, like Jeremy had said; but there was a certain joy to the way he looked at the stage, and stood on the floor. It was like he was meant to be there. I turned my head to face my brother, who looked engrossed in the show. I smiled a little, and turned my attention back onto the tiny screen. 

A few contestants were before Liam, so we waited for a bit before he came on. And when he did, he looked nervous. "He's never looked so uncomfortable.... Performing comes so naturally form him." Jeremy remarked. I nodded slowly, watching his every move.

Judge: "Hello Liam, what'll you be singing for us tonight?"

Liam: "I'll be singing a song dedicated to my best friend back home; Natalie Simone."

I gasped, and turned my head to Jeremy, whose jaw was opened ever so slightly. "Wow." He whispered. I nodded in approval.

Judge: "What's it called?"

Liam: "Stop Crying Your Heart Out by Oasis."

Judge: "Alright, lets hear it."

And then he sang a song. But this song wasn't just any song, It was my favorite song. How I knew this, I had no Idea, It just came to me. Jeremy looked at me, "This was your-" I cut him off. "Favorite song, I know." 

After the song was over, It was time for elimination round. Jeremy and I squirmed in our seats, anxious to see what would become of the young Liam Payne. The scenario was all so suspenseful, and it took minutes to call the first five names. But as time went on, and Liam remained on the stage, I began to slowly loose hope. Soon, He and about seven other boys stood on the now empty stage, and I knew what was about to happen. He would be eliminated.

Jeremy twisted his dark locks between his fingers as we watched the eliminated contestants walk off of the stage in utter defeat. To me, It was hard to watch them walk away like this, swollen in the face. But just then, they were called back on. A group of five girls and five boys, including Liam, stood in two clusters on opposite ends of the stage. Jeremy put his arms around my shoulder, in wait of what would be said.

Judge: "We have decided that all of you have amazing talents, and it would be a waste for us to eliminate you all entirely from our show. We have decided that all of you deserve a second chance at your dreams, and are glad to announce that all of you will be continuing in our group challenge." 

"Oh my GOD! Is that even allowed?" Jeremy exclaimed. I shook my head, "I have no idea, but it is brilliant!" I found myself yelling. I haven't yelled in a long time. 

Then, we watched as the chosen groups screamed in unison, and hugged each other. They ran down the halls and screamed, slamming into their friends. "Looks like Liam Won't be coming home very soon." I whispered, a bit disappointed.