It Started With a Song [editing]

Chapter 3 - Performing?!

CHAPTER 3

Ten minutes later, we were on the road. I was sitting reading a book in the back of Grace's SUV while Scott (whom I had beaten in our race) was staring out the window. Louis and Liam were in the middle seats while Niall was riding up front with Grace. All four of them were chatting about airplane trips or something like that; it sounded quite boring.  

One Direction was in my car and I was calling it boring.  What kind of person am I?

"Hey, Grace," I asked, "can we turn on the radio? I had left my iPod at home and was dying to listen to some music. 

"Sure," Grace replied, hitting a button up front. The whole car filled with the sound of Sara Bareilles' Brave. It was one of my favorite songs, so after tapping my finger to the beat for a bit I began to sing it quietly while looking out the window. 

Say what you wanna say

And let the words fall out

Honestly, I wanna see you be brave

With what you wanna say

And let the words fall out

Honestly, I wanna see you be brave

Looking up at Grace, I saw her smile at me in the rearview mirror. I love singing and playing my guitar, and whenever there's a song playing that I know, I just have to sing along. I continued to quietly sing along with the radio until we reached American Airlines Arena, where Miami's basketball team plays and where One Direction was going to perform tonight. Louis, Niall, and Liam sang along with me for some of the songs, especially when the radio played What Makes You Beautiful and Story of My Life. They all had such good voices! And Niall told me that later this week, before they leave Florida, he would give me some guitar lessons. I was so excited!

When we reached the arena, we met up with Casey and the others and then walked inside. Surprisingly, there were hardly any fans around. I'm sure the boys appreciated that. As I was standing backstage, watching the stage crew get set up, I was called by Grace to the dressing room, where I found her waiting with all five of the boys.

"Hey, Lyla, so we have a question for you," Zayn began.  I shot a look to Grace, wondering if this was what she was talking about earlier, but she only smiled and shrugged. "You know we didn't really secure an opening act for our tour, thanks to Grace," he added, causing Grace to roll her eyes.

Liam continued. "We were wondering if you would be willing to be our opening act. You would come on tour with us and play before we started," he clarified.

Astonished, I stared at them in shock. "You want me to come on tour with you and open for you? Me?!  Why would you pick me over anyone else? I'm just, well, me!" I honestly had no clue why they would ever want me opening for them, even if it was one of my dreams.

Louis laughed. "Well, y'know, you have a really good voice. We all know that from when you visited us last summer.  I know you play guitar, and Grace told us that you've written some of your own songs. I don't see why you wouldn't work out opening for us. You're really talented, Lyla," he finished.

I Glanced quickly at Harry, who was looking at me with a pleading look in his big green eyes. Liam and Niall had the same look on their faces.

"I-I'd be honored, guys. I just don't know what my parents would say. But I could open today and then check with them tomorrow," I stated, filled with excitement. I couldn't believe it! I was going to open for One Direction!

The boys cheered and Grace smiled. "Leave that part to me," she told me, "and you just worry about what you're going to perform. I'm gonna go keep the others occupied while you talk that through with these guys.  How about we keep it a secret till the concert starts?" I nodded in agreement.  She then walked out of the room, leaving five happy boys and one overjoyed girl.

*~*~*~*~*

"So, I've written about eight songs, maybe more, and I can do lots of covers ," I explained to the boys. "How many songs do you want me to do in the first place?" Niall was going to let me borrow his guitar, so now we were just figuring out what I was going to perform.

"I think about seven or eight songs is good," Liam stated, "even though that's probably more than most opening acts get.  When 5 Seconds of Summer opened for us on our last tour, they played seven songs, so you would be playing only one more song than they did.  You're good enough, and I'm pretty sure you can handle that," he finished, smiling at me. I returned his smile, then focused my attention on Niall.

"So do you just want to play guitar, like acoustic, or did you want a track playing in the background with drums and keys and background guitar?" Niall asked, tapping on his iPad.

I thought about this. "I guess for the covers, a background track would be good. And I have recordings on my phone of me playing my songs with my friends playing their instruments in the background, so maybe you could use those?" Scott, Diana, and I had a band with our two friends Devon and Brooke, and they had helped me with my music.

Niall nodded. "Give me your phone, and I'll get this all set up. Which songs will you be doing?"

"I think I'll do four of my own: Stars, Side by Side, Tomorrow, and Dreamer. Then I'll do covers of Our Song, Best Day of My Life, Disconnected, and Brave.  Is that okay?" I asked Niall, who nodded and started fiddling more with his iPad. 

A thoughtful look crossed Liam's face.  "So those last four would be by Taylor Swift, American Authors, Sara Bareilles, and who?"

I laughed.  "Disconnected is by 5 Seconds of Summer, it's one of my favorites by them."

He nodded in response.  "Gotcha.  Well, those would like they'll be good songs."

Oblivious to our conversation, Niall cut in, "I'll get all the background tracks set up on here, then we can play them over the sound system while you're playing guitar. Speaking of which, my guitar's over in the corner, go practice. Liam will help you with your vocals."

Liam and I walked over to the corner, and I picked up Niall's guitar. We worked for about an hour on my songs, and he gave me several hints on how to improve my singing. He was such a big help, and I almost felt ready for tonight.

"I'm still so nervous, Liam. I can't believe I'm actually going to do this," I confided.

Liam smiled sweetly at me. "Lyla, you'll do amazing. All of your friends will be astonished, and so will our fans. They'll love you, Lyla. Don't worry." He gave me a hug, then went to find the other boys so we could do our sound check.

Liam's so sweet, I thought to myself. And there was just something about his smile that made me feel, I don't know, special. And his big brown eyes... Stop it, Lyla, you're just acting like a fangirl. Focus on tonight.

Taking a deep breath, I walked towards the stage for the sound check.  I was beginning to get really nervous about tonight, but I was excited at the same time. I shook my head to clear it of all the thought tumbling through it. Opening for One Direction!  Who would have ever thought...