Always Expect the Unexpected

I was at school when I figured out what every girl wanted to hear (and some boys) about the mystery prize for the competition our school held. Everyone was to write an essay about somethig they like to do in their free time, how it compares to other things, how it gets us "high", and so on and so on. The prize is a mystery, and I wrote about singing. I love singing. We were in our school auditorium and waiting for the winners to be announced. There was a first, second, and third place prize. We read the winning essays out loud to everyone if we won. They called the names in order from Third to first. I was sitting anxiously with all of the other boys and girls. There was a boy competitio and girl competition. The boys were announced first. The essays were pretty good. The first place winner got to go on a trip with several famous women (A.K.A. Taylor Swift, Carly Rae Jepsen, and so on). I squirmed around in my seat while the last boy read his essay out loud.

"And that is why Masturbating gets me high!" he finished. Everyone in the crowd erupted with laughter.

"Okay, now we need to get on to the girls. Our thrid place winner is..." our principal said, opening up a folded pirce of paper kind of like the Grammys. He squinted and then smiled. "Ashley Fisher!"

Every applauded as Ashley made her way up to the stage. She was a small fidgety girl like me. She was a lot prettier than me, her black hair going down to her breasts, the blue streaks in it bringing out her eyes. Everyone called her Rain. I never understood it until now, when she started bawling like a baby while reading her essay. It was about cutting herself. I felt sorry for her, and while she read it I even cried too. It was all about her hard home life and how she was abused. I'm not saying theres a good reason to self harm, but she seemed to have a good enough reason to me.Sa

"The pain was the part that made it better I thought. Now I am free though, and that makes me happy. I don't self harm anymore, but it still was better than my alternative, which was suicide," she finished, and bowed her head and recieved the $10,000 prize for third place.

"What a touching story, now time for our 2nd place winner," the principal sighed, opening another folded paper. "Sam Hoffner!"

I froze and looked at my best friend next to me, Sam. She looked startled to hear her name. I high fived her and pushed her out of her seat. I screamed "Woo! You go girl!" as Sam fumbled on her way to the stage. She looked like a deer in headlights.

"Congradulations Sam, can you read us your essay?" the principal asked.

Sam stared at him. "Uhm, sure," she sighed and started reading. I had already read her essay about 40 times. I knew it by heart now. I mouthed every word along with her and when she looked up and found my eyes she would smile at me. When she was finally done, she had won about $30,000 dollars. I don't know where my school gets the money.

"Okay, and our first place winner is..." my principal said dramatically. There was a corny fake drum roll as he opened the paper. He accidentally dropped it and I saw part of the name. It said Abbey. I stared at the stage for a moment and cringed. I wasn't the only Abbey in our grade than entered that contest. I sighed and waited for the name to be called so this could be over with and I could go home.

When the principal finally stood up he smiled at the crowd and then read the name. "Abbey Heartman."

I sat there stunned for a moment. That was my name. I looked to my left and saw Sam, looking just as shocked as I was. I slowly got up and walked up to the stage looking at everyone. I felt like I was in a movie. You know, the ones where when the main character walks through a crowd of people and its dead silent, but you know there is noise going on in the bckground? Thats how it was.

When I finally got up to the stage everyone was watching me. I made eye contact with half of my school while the principal droned on about something. I snapped back into reality when the essay that I wrote was held in front on my face.

"Oh, uh, yeah," I managed, grabbing the essay and clearing my throat into the mic. I looked around the other half of the room and then looked down at my essay. I started reading it loudly and clearly into the mic. The words started to get blurry and I realized I was crying. "Singing gives me a natural high, as apposed to the drugs that I helplessly fell in love with three years ago," I choked out, making eye contact with Sam. She knew me when I was doing drugs and thought I was cool. I am the reason she is so helplessly hooked now.

"I sing when I want to forget about any possible trouble in my life. I sing when I want to live my life. I sing when I feel good, or when I feel bad," I cried harder. This was a sensitive subject for me. "My favorite song to sing is Viva La Vida by Coldplay, simply because I find it to be beautiful," I made eye contact with Trever, a boy who had taken advantage of me once. "I sing it when I think about the sexual abuse I've endured. I sing it when I want to kill my self and everyone around me. Singing is my drug, and with out it, I would be hanging by a rope in my closet right now," I finished, wiping my eyes and feeling a little stronger. I had just realized where I was and started blushing a little.

"Wow," the principal said, actually wiping tears from his eyes. "That was amazing. Everyone, give Abbey a hand."

The applause was amazing and everyone was enthusiastic. I smiled and bowed, trying to keep a calm head. The principal signaled everyone to be quiet and I waited to hear what my prize was.

"Okay, so this is the other mystery prize. I'm sure all girls would love this one," he exclaimer, changing the picture on the projector above my head from a picture of our school mascot to a picture of 5 boys that were all very attactive. Above them was the words "One Direction". "Our friend Abbey here gets to spend a little over a month with the world famous boy band, One Direction!"

I heard a bunch of high pitched screams and covered my ears. I looked at the picture puzzled. I had never heard of them. "What do you want to say, Abbey?" the principal asked, handing me a mic.

I stared at Sam, who gave me a thumbs up, and Trever, who stared down at his feet. "I want to say thank you for all of the people who ever hurt me, because they got me where I am right now," I said in my usual monotone.

The next few hours that went by was me packing for a month long trip that I leave for tomorrow. If I had a little more notice I would already be done with this. I looked at my clock. 11:30 pm. I grunted and threw my suitcase on my bed and called Sam, who picked up the phone on the first ring.

"Hello?" she said on the other line.

"Hey, it's me," I sighed, throwing a bunch of my bikini's into my bag. I moved on to throw a stash of money in there, too. Hiding it at the bottom of my bag wrapped in underwear.

"Hey! You are the luckiest girl alive, you know!" I heard Sam squeal. She was defiantly fan girling fight now.

I sighed heavily into the phone. "I don't know who they are."

Sam was silent for a moment and then started telling me everything about them to know. I waited for her to finish before yelling "WHAT THE FUCK. And HOW am I supposed to remember that?" I asked.

Sam thought about it for a momnt. "I dunno. Just thought I would gush to you, because I've been holding back for a while."

I nodded my head with out thinking and then shook my head. "Uh, should I bring my red lace thong incase I meet someone cute?" I asked.

Sam almost burst out laughing.

"What?" I asked. I can't believe she's being so rediculous.

"You are staying with the 5 hottest guys in the WORLD. By default, you should know you'll be meeting a bunch of cute guys."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah what ever. So is that a yes or a no?"

"A definate yes. Will you text me pictures? And get them to sign autographs? And kiss one?" Sam squealed again, saying a huge list of things she wants.

"Why would I stealtheir underwear?" I yelled. I was completely frustrated now. I ended up hanging up and finishing packing. I finally got 4 whole suit cases filled with clothes, makeup, books, my journal, electronics, and money. I sighed and went to sleep. When I woke up tomorrow I was off to London to meet the, as Sam puts it, "5 hottest guys in the world". I rolled my eyes and fell asleep.

~Next day~

While on the airplane my trip already stated out amazing. I got to sit next to this hot guy named Randall. We flirted and listened to music together. Finally, he asked me what was bringing me to London.

"I get to stay with the famous band, One Direction. I don't even know who they are," I sighed.

"Really? Wow, my apartment is actually just down the hall from Niall Horan's apartment. Maybe you can stay with me, unless you already have your living arangements settled."

I looked at him funny for a second then shook my head. "Uh, well the letter I got gives me directions to where I'm staying," I handed him the letter to read.

"Oh, that actually is the apartment next to mine. It's also next to Niall's."

I nodded. When I finally got off of the plane I got a cab to drive me there with Randall and he payed. He walked me to my new apartment and waited for me to unlock the door before walking away. I opened the door and was suprised to see all 5 of the boys standing there, yelling "Surprise!!"

I jumped back out of the apartment and took a deep breath and smiled. I reached back for my bags, but all of the but one with darker hair helped me with my bags. The dragged them to my room. The one who didn't help said "Hello, my names Zayn."

His accent was adorable. I blushed. "My names Abbey," I said, a little scared from the huge surprise.

"Yeah, I know. So, you're from the states, eh?" he asked.

"Yes," I nodded and closed the appartment door.

All of the other boys rushed back out and all in a rush said their names, which sounded like "Who-ee-am-al" Who was a mix of Harrym Louis, Liam, and Niall. I laughed and said held out my hands. "Slow down. Who are you?" I asked, pointing to the one with a big mouth and long curly hair with green eyes that reminded me of orbs of light.

"My names Harry!" he exclamed.

I smiled. "Nice you meet you. What about you, what's your name?" I asked, pointing to the blonde.

He smiled. "My names Niall!" he said. His accent caught me off gaurd.

"You're irish?" I asked.

He nodded. "Yes. I'm not an Englishman like my mates here," he wrapped his arms around all of his friends.

I liked him already. I smiled at him and look at the next one, who had long straight hair with blue-green eyes. "And you?" I asked.

"Louis Tomlinson!" he sang in a high voice.

I giggled at his enthusiasm. I finally pointed to the last one who had a buzz cut and brown eyes. "My name is Liam Payne!" he said. I smiled at him and nodded.

"My name is Abbey," I exclaimed happily.

"Yeah, we know," they all said in unison.

We stood there awkwardly for a minute before Niall said "We should let her rest guys. She just got off of an airplane. We'll see you tomorrow love."

I greatfully nodded at Niall and then let them leave, but Niall stayed there.

"I wanted to know how old you were, no one told us," he sighed, sitting down on my couch.

I smiled. "I'm 18, I'm about to graduate when I get back," I smiled.

He nodded. "Nice. I'm 19," he smiled and got up and hugged me.

I stood there for a moment and then lifted my arms an hugged him back.

He let go of me and backed up and breathed in deeply. He patted my shoulder and pointed to the door. "I'm just next door, knock if you wanna come over or if you need anything!" he said, walking out slowly. Just before he closed the door he smiled at me and said "You need to open up a little. We don't bite," and then left. I walked over and locked the door. I agreed with him. I do need to open up.

I walked into my room and got undressed and changed into new underwear and pajamas. I unpacked my stuff into the dresser and into the bathroom and my closet. My apartment was fairly large. It was built like a house. A small, one story house with a balcony for some reason. I went into my kitchen and looked at it. It was really clean. I looked in the firdge and saw it was stocked full of food. I pulled out some of the food, and I didn't recognize some of it. There were weird shaped gooey things and so on. I saw everything and then closed the fridge and looked in the cabinets. There was a bunch of canned food and things that looked like they had been there a while. I rolled my eyes and grabbed a glass from a different place and filled it with water and drank some. Finally I decided to go to sleep and I went into my room and curled up into the bed and closed my eyes. After a while of tossing and turning I finally fell asleep and was ready for the day ahead of me.

Notes