Put Your Heart On Your Sleeve

"This year is definitely going to be different," she thought to herself.

It's now January 1, 2011. Cristina jumped around in the family room, smiling that 2011 was finally here. She grabbed her kazoo and ran out with her cousin and sister. She put the kazoo to her mouth and started humming happy birthday through it. She was the silly, bubbly, charismatic girl you would always want to be friends with.

"Cristina, why are you playing Happy Birthday? Are you five?" her cousin, Karly asked.

Cristina stopped playing with her kazoo and put it away in her pocket. She secretly despised how her cousin was the 'leader' of this trio that she was in. Her cousin always talked bad about people, but people looked up to her to make the decisions and what she wanted to do. Karly put on her music from her phone and started playing Big Time Rush. Cristina rolled her eyes.

"If you don't want me to sing Happy Birthday on my kazoo then stop playing Big Time Rush," she said.

"It's my phone, Cristina. I get to play it if I want to."

"Fine," she said. She walked off and started walking around in the small downtown of Des Plaines. She walked in to the 7-11 and grabbed a slurpee. She pulled down the lever on her two favorite flavors, the cherry and blueberry flavors. She mixed it up, as the liquid ice turned purple. She looked at her phone for any new text messages. 'One New Text Message', it showed on the screen. She slid her finger across the screen and read the text.

"Happy New Year, Mumu! Love, Daddy," she read on the screen. She took a sip from her slurpee and replied to her father. "Happy Birthday, Daddy! and happy new year!" she tapped the send button on her screen and put her phone back in her pocket. Just as she put her phone in her pocket she felt it buzz. She looked at her phone and saw a text message from her friend, Elizabeth.

"OMG CRIS! YOU HAVE TO CHECK THIS OUT! GO ON YOUTUBE AND TYPE ONE DIRECTION," she read on the screen.

"Alright, alright, Bitzy. As soon as I get home, I'll look them up." she tapped the send button, almost immediately Bitzy responded.

"No. GO HOME NOW." it said.

"Fine, Miss Bossy Pants." she responded and walked on her way home. As soon as she got home she saw her cousin and her sister in the family room watching Big Time Rush.

"Happy New Years, you guys." she said calmly to them.

She was still mad the way Karly had treated her, but this isn't the first time she's been treated this way. She walked up to her and turned on her laptop. She went onto YouTube and typed One Direction in the search bar. She clicked on the first video that popped up and waited for the video to load. "British, that's hot." she said. She kept watching the video as the music started to play. Her eyes widened as soon as she saw the makeup on them. "Vampires... strange." she said. As the camera did a close up on each of the boys she laughed. The boys looked so silly as vampires. The boys started singing and her jaw dropped. "Who are these boys?" she said out loud. She ran down the stairs, straight to the family room. "Guys, holy cow. There's this new boy band and they're British and they're super cute! You-"

"Cristina, no one gives a fuck. Does it look like I care? I'm watching Big Time Rush. I don't care about some British boy band. They are probably all gay." Karly said.

Cristina's sister looked at her. She felt bad that Karly was treating her likes this but she wasn't allowed to say anything.

"You watch, they're going to be so big in America one day and then you're going to be getting the best tickets in the venue and act like you've always loved them. I hope you remember this day." she said, and she walked back up stairs to her room. Who are these boys? Where did they come from? What are their names? She looked up One Direction on Google and found a Wikipedia page about them. She read about their discovery and where they all came from. As she reached to each person's biography she stopped. She looked at the picture of the boy with the curly brown hair. She stared at his picture for one minute. Two minutes. Three minutes. Seven minutes. Fifteen minutes. "Harry...." she whispered. She went back on YouTube and typed 'Harry Styles X Factor Audition.' She read the description in the video. Her jaw dropped. He sang 'Isn't She Lovely' by Stevie Wonder. She played the video. "What an interesting person," she thought. She watched the whole video. As soon as she finished watching the video her heart was racing, a strong feeling of butterflies were in her stomach, her face was warm, and her hands were sweaty. "Harry Styles, I like you." she said, pointing at the screen. She never had an interest like this with famous people since she knew she never was going to have a chance with any of them but with Harry, it felt different. She felt a deep connection with Harry even if she had just learned about his presence in this world half an hour ago. As soon as he said he wanted to study law, business, and sociology in college, she knew he had her heart. She had a huge smile in her face. She closed her laptop and went downstairs, slowly walking down. "I'm in love. I'm in love and I don't care who knows it." she said, happily, almost in a dream. She twirled around once and felt a pillow thrown at her head.

"Ouch," she yelled, feeling the happiness in her body slip away. "Cristina, can you shut the fuck up before I throw another pillow at your head? I am watching Big Time Rush and Carlos is singing right now." she yelled at me.

"Karly, honestly, you have this recorded. I've just made a great discovery for us and you are more concerned about an episode you have already seen 10 times than something that is really, actually, kinda amazing." she said.

"I don't care what you discovered. It's probably stupid like everything else you discover on the Internet and no one doesn't care. So leave me and Hope alone. you're annoying and no one wants you here." she said. Cristina walked out of the room and walked into the room where her other cousin, Jake, was playing video games.

"Hey Jake," she said.

"Cristina, get out. I'm on a really important battle right now and I have to win." he said.

"Well can I watch," she asked.

"Sure, but be quiet. I need to concentrate." he said. She laid down on the couch, watching her cousin play. She grabbed her phone and slid her finger across the screen. "One Direction is amazing. Thank you for telling me about them." she texted her friend.

She went on to her Twitter app and typed, "Harry Styles, you give me hope." she pressed the tweet button and put her phone away. She sighed, thinking of Harry and when he would come to do a tour in America. She knew one day they would get big and it would be soon. Who can resist five attractive young men? Her cousin, yelled in accomplishment, winning the battle, and being five hundred dollars richer.