You're Just A Diamond In The Rough.

Today is the day before my birthday. Was I excited? Not really. I was well aware of the ‘whispered’ conversations between everyone, probably about the not so secret party for my birthday tomorrow. Today, as an early birthday present we were going to go on the London Eye. I had no idea why they chose this as they all knew I was deathly afraid of heights. I tried to get out of it, think of something else fun we could do but they were having none of it. They’d already booked a private capsule for us anyway.

We were currently all packed into cars on the way to mydeath present. I was now physically shaking just at the thought of how bad the next couple of hours were going to be for me.

“Oh you’re not seriously that scared are you?” Matt scoffed, noting on my shaking. I rolled my eyes as Val slapped his chest lightly.

“Yes Matt. Yes I am.”

“We thought you would want to see the sights more, since you’re into all that. It’ll be a good experience, Charlotte.” Johnny protested. I sighed in defeat, I knew they meant well.

“I know, I know, I’ll go on the stupid death trap, don’t worry.” I snapped as we pulled up behind the other cars and all piled out. I was trying to look anywhere but at the giant wheel as everyone else all jumped about excited.

“C’mon Charlotte.” Jimmy shouted excitedly, grabbing my arm and pulling me towards the London Eye. I clamped my eyes shut as he dragged me along, still refusing to look at it. The rest of them had already got to the fast track queue and shown the worker the tickets. We were now just waiting for our capsule to reach the bottom for us to get on. I played with my hands nervously before taking in a deep breath, finally deciding to look up. My mouth fell open as I took in all 135 meters of metal in shock.

It was alot bigger than id ever have imagined.

I started shaking my head, backing away from everyone in fear. I felt sick at the thought of getting on this contraption. My head was spinning and I contemplated just turning and running. Maybe they wouldn’t notice. I was just about to start but Frankie grabbed my wrist.

“Charlotte, stop being a fanny, we’re getting on now.” He dragged me to the open capsule the rest of the group were getting on. I had no chance to protest, he pushed me through the doors and before I could leave they shut. I felt dizzy, I had my eyes shut tightly as I felt around for the bench in the centre of the capsule. I found it and sat down, pulling my knees to my chest and burying my face into my arms. I had to focus on my breathing or I was sure I would stop altogether. I felt the capsule moving, slowly, but still moving. I heard everyone laughing at me but I didn’t care, I was almost frozen in fear, stuck to the seat.

I stayed on this seat for about 10 minutes until I heard everyone gasping. Curiosity got the better of me and I glanced up from over my arms. Everyone was pressed up against the side, gawping out of the glass. I came to the conclusion we had reached the top. I took a nervous look around and saw we were most defiantly near the top. I shakily uncurled myself from my position and walked over to the side, gripping the hand rail for dear life. My breath caught in my throat, it was beautiful, as much as I was scared, I had to admit I was fascinated by the view. I was on my way walking over to the rest of the group when the ride jolted; I almost jumped out of my skin, grabbing the arm of whoever was closest to me for comfort.

Which of course had to be Zack.

He didn’t push me off though; he gently held onto my arm and led me over to the rest of the group as I still had my eyes closed. When we stopped however, we let go of each other as if our skin was on fire. I slowly opened my eyes, glaring at everyone's amused expressions.

“I hate you all I hope you know that.” I pouted.

“Shut up. You can’t deny how amazing the view is.” Leana rolled her eyes and pulled me towards the side, my breath hitched in my throat again in my fear but I decided to just suck it up and be brave. I looked through the glass at London, it really was a beautiful place, I couldn’t deny it. I spent the rest of the ride glued to the side, watching the view. I was surprised at myself; I never would’ve pictured myself doing that. We walked off of the ride and I was ecstatic, I practically skipped through the doors.

“I love you all so much!” I gushed as we headed back to the cars. They laughed,

“We told you you’d like it. God, trust us more woman!” Jimmy replied, slapping me upside the head. Leana slapped him back for me and he picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder and running away. It took us all a moment to realize he was actually heading for a rather large water fountain.

“He wouldn’t..” Michelle gaped; the guys were all laughing at Leanas screaming while we girls were exchanging glances. We all knew what this meant.

This was war.

Almost instantaneously we ran towards where Jimmy was seconds away from dropping Leana into the shallow pool of what looked like freezing cold water. Unfortunately, we were too late to save her, we reached them just as he let go and Leana hit the water with a splash and then a scream as the cold took over her senses. We decided since we couldn’t save her, we had to get even. Val casually walked to one side of the laughing Jimmy, whilst I stood the other and Kelly stood behind him. After a mental countdown of 3, me and Val grabbed his arms, pulling him forward whilst Kelly pushed. As soon as Leana realized what was going on she stood up, soaking wet and grabbed his collar too pulling him into the water.

“What the hell guys!” Jimmy whined, completely soaking wet and shivering. Leana laughed and patted his chest.

“Now we’re even.” She said, her teeth chattering. Of course, we stupidly forgot to watch the rest of the guys and almost a second after this we were all being picked up and threw into the water. I screamed as I got to experience first hand just how cold this water is before standing up coughing and spluttering. We glared over at them before diving at them in a ‘group hug’. Soaking every single one of them, even Jimmy helped us.

“Jimmy you’re such a traitor!” Brian shouted whilst trying to peel Michelle off of him. We all giggled before pulling them into the fountain too. They didn’t put up much of a fight, probably weak from laughing so much. We were now all sat in the shallow water, shaking and still giggling.

“I can’t believe that just happened.” I laughed. “I never would’ve thought that I’d be sat in London.. in a fountain with Avenged Sevenfold after just been on the London eye. Seriously” I said, everyone ‘aww’d’ me to which I just rolled my eyes. Lacey splashed water at me, which obviously caused a massive water fight. Ten minutes later and it was still going, I tripped over someone’s leg and fell full force onto Zack who had been sat down, not participating in the fight.

“Owww.” He whined whilst rubbing his chest. I put my head in my hands.

“I’m so sorry.” I muttered. He just scoffed and pulled himself to his feet, getting out of the fountain. I rolled my eyes at his lack of fun. Such a party pooper.

Unfortunately, the drivers of our cars would not let us back in whilst we were soaking wet, so we stayed in the city centre for a couple of hours until we had dried off. We were now just pulling up to the hotel, all desperate for warm clothes we rushed inside and straight to our suites. I went to my room and rifled through my suitcase until I found an outfit I was happy with. When I left my room I found Kelly, Frankie, Zack, Jimmy and Leana all changed and sat in the living room area. They stopped talking as soon as I entered the room; I raised my eyebrows but decided to not comment on it.

“I’m getting a shower.” I stated before walking to the washroom. About half an hour later I was all clean and after pulling on my clean clothes and running a brush through my wet hair I left the room. I expected to see everyone in the same place but it was deserted. I checked everyone’s bedrooms and still found no one.

“Guys?” I shouted. No response. I was confused now, very confused, there was no note. Surely they’d have waited for me if they were going out. I left the suite and ran to the other two suites. After banging on both doors for half an hour to no reply I gave up and went back to my room. I tried calling everyone’s phones but all either went to answer phone or were off completely. I sighed and went into the living room area, switching on the TV. I decided they’d come back soon, they wouldn’t have gone out without me.

Four hours later though I wasn’t so sure. They still weren’t back and I was still very much alone. I wasn’t happy at all; this was the eve of my birthday. I wanted to spend this with my friends. Eventually, I gave up waiting and went to my room in a huff. I got into my bed and was about to turn off the light when I looked at the clock. It was 12:05 am. I was officially 24. And I was alone.

Happy freaking birthday to me.