“I don’t think you boys understand the gravity of the situation. You all unanimously turned down a concert in the biggest concert venue in Scotland because you were all tired from the flight home. Do you know what this means?” Management screamed in our faces. Only it wasn’t screaming, just passive-aggressive anger.

It was always the same to us. We played all day, sang all night. We barely had time to be us. We all just wanted a break to be the normal teenage boys we were. Save for Louis who couldn’t be considered a teenager.

“Here’s what we’ll do,” management said quietly. He folded his hands diplomatically on the table and leaned forward. “There’s a school in New York in the United States that we’re going to send you to. We’re sending you there for two semesters so you can learn some music theory and what it’s like to be treated normally.”

Liam swallowed hard next to me. “You’re sending us to New York because we’re exhausted and couldn’t dance on stage? In what universe is that fair?”

“This isn’t supposed to be fair, Liam. You skipped out on a major concert because you all think that you’re above the rules of this agreement that we have. You are supposed to play at every concert we book. And you’ve broken that agreement. As a little penalty, you will all be placed in a music theory and composition class as well as journalism so you can learn to have more respect for your publicist.”

Harry folded his arms across his chest and sighed angrily. “We were tired, alright? We were singing all night pretty much until we got home. We had less than a day to recuperate our voices. We merely asked if we could have that concert canceled and moved to a later date.”

I sat in the back quietly, observing their tactless arguments against management. I sighed. “It takes a lot of work to cancel a show, Harry. They have to get out all the announcements and then they have to refund all the money and then sell all tickets out again.”

“Thank you, Zayn. Someone understands how serious this situation is. You boys will arrive in New York a week from tomorrow.”



So here we were, walking along the sidewalk at the campus at the Manhattan School of Preforming Arts in New York. It’s warm despite the September breeze that picks up through the yellowing leaves of the trees that border the sidewalk.

Being new students at the school is different. People don’t know our names because they’re too busy being competitive about their schooling grades.

We wander aimlessly, hoping to see someone from our musical theory class who might direct us to the cafeteria or our dormitories. Our first day of class went well. We were all up by eight o’clock and ready for class which started at nine. We had musical theory and musical composition which were put together in one long, four hour class.

We were introduced as celebrities. We saw eyes light up and then lose their sparkle when the professor said not to treat us differently. We were told to sit in the very back next to beautiful brunette girl with sparkling brown eyes.

She told us she pretty much hated us. She completely ignored us and her redheaded friend wasn’t much different. But their conversation did spark curiosity inside my mind when they began to talk about someone named Jonah, who I could only assume was a little kid.

“So, what did you think of that bird? She called you ‘fohawk.’ Isn’t that funny?” Harry snickers.

I roll my eyes. “She called you ‘curly.’ That’s not much better. Anyway, she was nice enough.”

“Nice enough?” Louis hisses. “The girl was purely bestial and not in the flattering way. She is a bird I will gladly stay away from.”

I take in a deep breath. “She wasn’t that bad. You know some people are really competitive about their school grades. Perhaps she’s one of them?”

“Don’t sound so hopeful, Zayn.” I turn and see Niall staring at two birds standing across the campus lawn. They’re holding books in their hands. One has fiery red hair that curls away from her face like Farrah Fawcett from Charlie’s Angels. She turns and smiles at us over her shoulder, throwing a gentle wave in our direction. She has perfectly pale skin with sparkling grey eyes that seem to be ringing with laughter.

The other girl has dark hair and dark eyes, with tan skin like my own. She smiles lightly at us, but casts her gaze downwards slightly when we make eye contact with her. She whispers something to the red haired girl who bursts into loud laughter.

Niall tugs on Harry’s sleeve. “Be my wingman, Harry. Please? Just this one time?”

Harry squints and lifts his hand to shield his eyes from the sun. “Only if you promise me you won’t go after the dark haired one.”

“Good. I’ve got my eye on the red haired girl anyway.” Niall and Harry leave and approach the two birds, already cracking jokes at their expense.

Liam groans. “As soon as we’re shipped off to another country for two semesters of school, Niall and Harry are already searching for girlfriends. That’s two semesters I won’t be able to see Danielle.”

“And I, Eleanor. It’s a shameful thing,” Louis mutters in agreement.

I sigh. “Let’s go back to our dormitory, yeah? I’m tired.”

“School too exhausting for you?” Louis jokes as Liam takes a seat on the small bench that stands alongside sidewalk.

I shrugs. “Jet lag, I think.”

“Oh look. Here they come with those girls.”

The red haired girl has her arm slung through Niall’s, smiling widely with bright teeth. She sticks her hand out to me. “I’m Micah, nice to meet you.”

“Zayn,” I mutter in confusion. I shake her hand and let her greet the others. She’s loud, but not overbearingly so.

The girl with the dark hair and dark eyes smiles meekly and shakes my hand. “I’m Sree. It’s nice to meet you all.”

Micah laughs and leans against Niall’s shoulder. He’s already taken with her. He’s stricken. “So, we’ve got some friends who are having a little back to school party. Would you lads like to join us?”

Niall nods vehemently at us, begging us to say yes. Liam sighs. “Why not? It’s not like we have anything else to do.”

Louis shrugs. “Why not? It’s not like I’m going to actually do my homework.”

I snicker. “Sure.”