Alternate Paths (Harry Styles Fan Fiction)

Chapter 1 - Reece

Author's Note

Hi Readers!

First things first, this is terribly overdue. It was meant to start this time last year, and then I prolonged it to August... and then I prolonged it until now. I've been busy with family and school and so it's just been nice to have a bit of a break, no matter how much I thought it would be bad. But at least this is actually out now, eh?

And yeah, this chapter was written a while ago. So it'll probably be terrible (not something you want to tell your readers when trying to get them to read a story). Erm, so this is basically a book that you will love to read! (there, much better - I've got to actually try and sell this to you. OK now I'm rambling.) 

Anyway, I dedicated this to AllTimeNutella who has written fantastic fan fictions (my favourite at the moment being Decode). If you are reading this Kirsty, which I hope you are, I would just like to say that you are AWESOME - maybe even more amazing then AmazingPhil... oh, I just went there :O haha... that was a horrible joke. It would mean the world to me if you read this though!

Back to the story *cough*

One Direction's personalities have been changed slightly but that is just for the purpose of this story which explains a 'manufactured band' and the issues involved. (One Direction will not be in the first chapter but they are coming soon). This is purely a work of fiction although it contains the members of One Direction. Please do not take offence at anything I may say... If I say anything offensive O_o

Enjoy,

HopeSilver (Sorry for the horribly long author's note. If you actually read it, comment down below.)

~~~

October, 2012 

"Come down here at once, young lady!" my mother screeched from the bottom of the stairs.

I shivered, scared to go down, but I knew I had to. If I didn't, she would beat me. I pulled on the large jumper that Kat had given me, hoping it would make the pain of my mother's punches less harmful. I crept out of my bedroom and bolted down the stairs, my pale feet pounding on the wood. My legs moved sluggishly and I tried to increase the pace with which I walked. Mother would reprimand me if I didn’t reach her within five seconds, like that was possible.

As I saw the incensed, purple face of my mother, my eyes widened . A vein pulsed in her forehead and I cringed. I didn’t know what she was so agitated about. I had done all my chores, stayed out of her way like she wanted and never once had I been slipshod this week. Realisation hit me like a brick as I saw the object she held. In her hand was a document in a yellow envelope, clean and neatly pressed. Black ink was printed on it next to the elegant symbol from Oxford University. Crap.

"What is THIS?"

I cowered, ducking my head as she stabbed me with her screams. I hadn't told her that I had applied to the university and by the look of the letter they had accepted me. The only reason I applied was because I needed a chance of escape, to escape my horrid life. The university was of a high standard too, but that wasn’t the main reason. My mother was only 19 - just a year older than me now - when she had fallen pregnant with an unknown man, my father. She despised me from the time she discovered her pregnancy. I knew she desperately wished that I had never been born; I heard her at night, speaking to herself as she downed a bottle of wine. Although she hated me, my mother still needed control over what I did and would be outraged if she caught me sneaking behind her back.