Saving Ella // 1D

Chapter 3

I woke up to the bustle of the other girls around me getting out of their beds, and pulled myself out of bed to join them. We all groggily made our way down to the kitchen, where Miss Clarke was frantically dishing out bows of oatmeal to each girl. "The potential donors will be here in less than an hour, and I want all of you fed, dressed, and in your common rooms by the time they arrive" she said in a rushed, clearly anxious voice. When sis was Hannah, Brooke, Kennedy and I's turn to get breakfast though, she stopped the four of us and said "I want you four to stay down here once you're dressed. Since you're the oldest girls you will help me greet our guests and give them the tour."

We got our food and found a place to sit at one of the dining tables. "Since when do donors get tours from us" I said, which earned a few shrugs from the other three. "I'll bet 10 bucks they're a bunch of stuck up businessmen looking for a tax break" Hannah said smirking. "No way" I responded, "Miss Clarke would never make such a big deal over a bunch of suits. I bet they're famous." "Alright, you're on" Hannah said. We shook on the bet, which got a laugh out of the other girls, and then we cleaned our dishes and headed upstairs to get dressed.

I threw on a pair of black jeans and the nicest sweater I owned, not really sure what you were supposed to wear when giving a tour of your orphanage to really rich people. I was relieved to see that the other girls were wearing similar outfits when I came back down the stairs to the main living room. We sat in anticipation for what felt like forever, until we heard several cars pull into the driveway, followed by a knock on the door a few moments later. Miss Clarke practically ran to the front door, and we heard muffled voices greeting her on the front porch.

The four of us immediately stood up when the crowd of people walked into the room, trying to look as casual yet presentable as possible. "We are just thrilled to have you all here" Miss Clarke gushed as they entered. "These four lovely girls are the oldest here, and they will be showing you around shortly. This is Ella, Hannah, Brooke, and Kennedy" she said as she pointed each of us out, "and girls, these are the boys of One Direction."

All of our jaws practically hit the floor. Our absolute favorite band in the entire world, the ones that we listened to practically every day, were standing in the New Hope living room, smiling down at us. "Hello girls!" Chirped the blonde boy who I immediately recognized as Niall Horan. "I'm Niall, and these are my mates Harry, Louis, Liam and Zayn." I laughed nervously and said "oh we know" which earned a laugh from all of the boys. "Well its lovely to meet you all" said Harry with a sweet smile. "It's really cool to meet you too," I said, "How about that tour?"

As we led the boys up the stairs I heard Hannah behind me, so I turned around to face her, holding out my hand. "Pay up" I said with a smirk, which was followed by her mumbling something and tossing a 10 dollar bill at me, earning laughs from the other girls and confused looks from the boys. "Hannah thought you were going to be a bunch of old men" Brooke whispered to Zayn, which made him burst out laughing.

As we kept on with the tour I pointed out all of the different dorms and common rooms, explaining the age groups each was divided into. We finally got the the top floor and Kennedy opened the doors yelling "home sweet home" and turning to face the boys. I couldn't really read the looks on their faces, until Liam finally spoke up. "So, all of you stay in this one room?" he said, looking around at the beds lined up in the tiny room. "Yeah, we've got it way better than some of the younger girls. The 8-10 year olds are 6 to a room." Brooke answered before I could think of what to say. Liam's face fell into a look of sadness I knew all to well. "Lets go to the common's!" I said quickly, hating the way their pitying looks made me feel. "When's the last time you had your own room?" Louis asked me quietly as we walked into the other room. "I honestly can't remember" I replied. "I've been at New Hope since I was 10, and before that I bounced around foster families and group homes, and I always shared with whoever else was staying there." He didn't say anything for a few moments, so I spoke up again and said "it seriously doesn't bother me Louis. I'm really lucky to have New Hope."