"W-what... what's going on!" I spluttered, gripping my script so hard I could almost feel my nails making tiny rips in the pages.

Sitting before me were none other then One Direction. Louis, Harry, Liam and Zayn all gave me cheeky smirks and waved at me happily.

Niall could only stare at me in shock - clearly he was not in on whatever plan the others had come up with. His eyes were a mixture of pain, anger and.... even a bit of sadness. I tore my gaze away from him, unable to continue looking at his haunted expression.

"Ms... Alice Juliet, right?" Louis said, as if he didn't already know.

"You know who I am, Louis Tomlinson." I said, gritting my teeth, "What.is.going.on?"

"Isn't it obvious? Stand Up is going to be our new music video, and we'd like you to be in it." Liam said shrugging, "We knew you were an actress, so we asked your sister if she had any videos of your talent. Once we watched those we knew for sure we wanted to have you in it. The audition was really just a formality."

I took a deep breath, trying very hard to ignore Niall who was now staring at the table gripping his hands so tightly his knuckles were turning white.

"I'm not sure that would be appropriate." I said quietly, "Give the circumstances."

"Nonsense!" Louis said rolling his eyes, "You're perfect for the job, so you've got it."

"I haven't even auditioned!"

"Then audition right now," Harry said slipping out of his seat and coming to stand next to me, his own script in hand, "Come on, we'll do the scene between us."

I took a deep breath, "Okay fine."

"Alright! Action!" Louis said leaning back in his chair.

"I didn't think you'd be here..." Harry said quietly, taking a step forward.

"You've got something I need," I murmured softly, matching his step forward, "Something I intend to get back."

"Is that so? What would that be?"

I looked at him in the eyes, and smirked before leaning in to whisper in his ear, making sure to brush my lips lightly over his cheek, "The jewel."

BAM.
The sound of the door slamming tore the two of us apart, and I felt as though the sound had electrified my body, putting me on edge.

I glanced over at the table - Niall's seat was now empty.

"Well! I think that went smashingly well." Louis said clapping his hands, "What do you lads think?"

The other four boys nodded their head in agreement, and I could only stare at them in disbelief.

"And what about Niall? I don't think he really agrees." I muttered, crossing my arms.

Zayn looked at the other boys, "It's four against one, love. Niall's outvoted."

"A.J." Louis got up, coming over to stand infront of me, "Just trust us, okay? Leave Niall to us. This gig could do wonders for your career!"

I bit my lip, mulling it over, "I don't know..."

"Pleeeaasseee?" Harry looked at me with his best puppy eyes, "Please, please, please, A.J? Do it for us? If not for us, do it for yourself. Like Lou said, it could open up so many doors for you!"

I took a deep breath, "Alright. I'll do it."

"YES!" Louis jumped up and then clapped a hand on my shoulder, "We fly out to L.A in two days to start filming, okay? And like I said, trust us about Niall okay, love? Everything's gonna work out."

I nodded and smiled, the boys were truly my friends and I hoped that they were right that everything was going to work out.

But Niall's gaze from earlier kept haunting me.