Long Way Home

Chapter 1

I love my job, I love my job, I love my job, I repeated as I shovelled yet another scoop of horse poo into a sack. When I pictured my work experience as a vets assistant I saw cute animals being brought in and me only having to sit and comfort them as they got a check up, and NOT having to drive out to the most isolated place in Australia to help unblock the intestines of a horse on a very early Monday morning.

My boss had left me in the middle of a bloody forest to put poo in sacks and deliver them to a not-so-nearby gardening store and I was fuming.

"Thank the Lord", I panted as I shovelled the last of the poo into a sack.

I took a short breather leaning against the side of my small SUV. It was the first time in the 6 hours I had been there that I noticed just how beautiful everything looked. The green hilly landscape and it's immense jungle of life. I climbed back into my car and reversed it back onto the rough dirt track that connected to the main road a little way up the hillside. I switched on the radio as I drove and Happily by One Direction came on.

"I love this song!"

I sang along to the tune as I approached the main road.

As I began heading down the main road I spotted a very large vehicle a little way up with its hazard lights on. I turned off the radio as I neared the vehicle. There was a small group of guys huddled around the bonnet of what looked like a large bus. They turned around as they saw my car and started frantically waving their arms. They looked pretty desperate so I pulled up in front of the bus and before I could even turn my engine off a boy with curly hair held back by a red bandana poked his head through my already open passenger window.

"Can you help us please? We thought this was a short cut to Sydney and then our bus broke down and there's like zero phone signal out here so...."

I cut him off laughing.

"Ok, ok calm your farm. I'll help you"

He returned a relieved grin.

"Thanks! Oh, by the way I'm Ashton."

He held out his arms for a hug, but being a socially awkward person I shook one of his outstretched hands instead.

" Hi, I'm Grace."

I got out of the car and walked slowly over to the other boys. I couldn't help but smile when I realised that they were all VERY attractive. There were three other boys and one older man who looked like some sort of security guard. I quickly smothered my smile by biting my lip.

"Everyone this is Grace and she's here to help us so be nice."

The first of the rest of the boys to approach me was a boy with floppy dark hair and tanned skin.

"Hey, I'm Calum!" he said loudly. " and before you ask me, I'm not Asian"

And before I could politely resist he had pulled me into a tight embrace in his muscular arms. I was then introduced to a very tall boy with very tall blonde hair.

" Hi! Umm.. I'm Luke"

He waved at me from a distance until Calum jokingly pushed him forward into me where he quickly hugged me before letting go and stepping away blushing.

Next a boy with bright purple coloured hair and a pale complexion gave me a sweaty, but cosy hug.

" Hey, I'm Michael! How are you?"

" Oh, good thanks"

The older man only held out his hand thankfully.

" Kevin", he stated blankly.

"Pleasure", I responded with as little expression I could muster.

I saw Ashton and Luke behind him put their hands to their mouths to smother their snickers.

" So what can I help you with?" I asked changing the subject.

"Well", began Ashton. " We were driving home from Perth when we lost contact with Sydney's Allphones Arena during a call and soon after our bus started like stopping and starting and then we saw smoke coming out of the front so we pulled over and that brings us here. Kevin's a mechanic but he said he needs at least a whole day to get it back up and running. And we really need to get back to Sydney by Friday at the latest for our concerts and interviews."

"And to see our families", added Calum.

"Wait....... you guys are a band! Cool!"

They all exchanged puzzled looks for some reason before Michael finally said what they were all thinking.

"We're 5 Seconds of Summer. You know.... Australian band"

"Started through YouTube", suggested Luke

"Wait, so you seriously don't know who we are?" asked Calum curiously

"Nope" I said simply.

"That would explain why you weren't going all crazy and licking our faces off" said Ashton

I giggled at his comment.

"Do you get that reaction a lot then?"

"Not exactly" laughed Luke.

They sounded like a big time band, but for some reason I had never heard of them.

Ashton looked determined to prove that I'd heard of them before.

"What about one of our songs? Calum sing She Looks So Perfect."

"Hey, but I'm the lead singer", whined Luke.

"Shut up Luke!" Michael chimed in.

Calum began to sing;

"You look so perfect standing there,

In my American Apparel underwear ,

And I know now,

that I'm so down."

"It actually does sound familiar" I said truthfully.

"Ok now we've got that cleared up we need to fix the real problem here", Ashton said bringing us back to the situation at hand. "We are really desperate. How far away is the nearest town?"

"It's like 3 hours away, but I don't know if it has telephone connection, 'cause it's only a block of public toilets and a swing set in the middle of a paddock."

"Shit!" swore Michael kicking a rock onto the road.

"I'm really sorry guys I don't know what else I can do for you", I said helplessly.

I looked across at the boys disappointed faces. Calum suddenly stepped towards me and smiled.

"I think I've got an idea."

The rest of the boys looked up.

"That's a first." Michael mumbled.

"It better not be stupid", said Ashton crossing his arms threateningly.

"It's not, trust me", Calum began. " I think Kevin could stay here and fix the bus, maybe flag down another car, and all of us could get a lift in Grace's car to a hotel or somewhere we can contact someone to pick us up and Grace can go home with the satisfaction of helping fellow human beings."

"Sure, it sounds like you guys have nothing to lose anyway. I'm ok with it", I responded.

Luke smiled at Calum.

"It's settled then", he said turning his gaze at us. "Let's do it! It looks like we're taking the long way home."

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Ok guys so this is my first chapter. WOOHOOO!!

I hoped you liked it and I'm gonna try and post at least one chapter a week so stay tuned.

Random Fact: On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily.

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