Anonymous

“JESS,” Maria screamed from outside my room, followed by a loud series of knocks.

I jerked awake, making a very unattractive snorting noise, my laptop tumbling from my lap onto the floor with a gut-wrenching crash.

“Wha?” I questioned, my voice thick with sleep. “What’s going on?”

“Get up. Mum made breakfast.”

I smacked my mouth together a couple of times, blinking rapidly, trying to focus a little bit. I was sitting in my chair, still in my jeans and sweater from the day before, my hair in a ponytail that was falling out. The laptop on the ground came back to life when it toppled to the floor, my writing website up, yelling at me that I had two notifications.

It took me a second to remember that I’d fallen asleep while waiting for people to comment on my story. God, I was pathetic. Even though I knew in my heart of hearts that I wasn’t going to get a comment from Louis or Zayn, I still hoped. I wanted to believe that they would take the time out of their massively busy schedules to tell me personally how much they loved me story.

Shit, I was selfish. They said it on freaking national television, and that wasn’t enough for me somehow? Ugh.

But my inner fangirl wouldn’t be satisfied until I got a private message from them, I guessed.

Finally, I stopped pondering what I was doing with my life and got to my feet, stretching my arms over my head and yawning widely. My body ached all over from sleeping in the curled-up position. Although the chair was definitely comfortable, it was not for sleeping.

After going to the bathroom and brushing my teeth, I stumbled down the stairs, my vision still fuzzy from sleep.

“Good morning,” Mum smiled as she put down a plate that was stacked high with chocolate chip pancakes in front of my chair. “How did you sleep?”

“Fine,” I lied with a smile. I reached across the table for the syrup, but Maria swiped it before I could get my hand on it. “Bitch,” I muttered under my breath, narrowing my eyes at her.

“MUUUUUM,” Maria started yelling, so I shot her a sassy look.

“You tell Mum what I said,” I started in a low, threatening voice, “then I’ll tell her what you told me last night.”

That shut her up quite quickly, and she turned her attention to her food, stuffing the pancakes in her mouth.

“What?” Mum turned around and asked. “Maria, what did you want to say?”

“Just that I love you,” she responded with a full mouth. “You’re the best mum ever.”

Mum smirked as she turned back around, shaking her head and muttering under her breath in Italian about what strange children she had.

After pouring a healthy dousing of syrup over my pancakes, I stuffed a few pieces in my mouth, letting the gooeyness distribute evenly.

“Oh my God. These are fantastic,” I expressed.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” was all Mum had to say in response.

I had been eating for about ten minutes when the front door burst open, and Elena stumbled in. “Hello, McCormacks!” she exclaimed excitedly. “How is everyone today?”

Maria kind of groaned to herself, since she wasn’t exactly a fan of Elena, but I grinned. “What are you doing here?” I asked.

“Well, that’s not much of an answer to my question,” she snickered. “But I dunno. I feel like we haven’t hung out in forever, and I had the car today, so I figured I’d come around.” She pulled a chair from the end of the table over next to me and plopped her butt into it. “By the way, love, you’ve got a bit of chocolate on your face.”

I reached up instinctively and wiped where Elena gestured. Once I got rid of all the chocolate, I licked it off my finger. “I’m actually really glad you came over,” I told her seriously. “I have major news to tell you.”

“Do you finally have a boyfriend?” Maria snickered.

“No,” I replied with a catty tone. “But that’s not really any of your business, is it?”

Maria laughed. “I should have known you didn’t. You’re probably never going to get a boyfriend.”

“Thank you for your confidence,” I responded with an eye roll. When Maria got into her bratty moods, there was just absolutely no stopping her. It was a good thing I had such a secure sense of self, or her words might have actually hurt.

“No problem. Just trying to state the truth.” With that, she stood up and put her plate in the sink before bounding back down the stairs.

I rolled my eyes again as I turned my attention back to Elena. “Did you want any pancakes?” I asked
.
“No, I’m okay. I had a fried egg sandwich before I came over.” She eyed my pancakes with a slightly disgusted look. I wasn’t offended, since I knew she wasn’t much of a chocolate person. “But what’s your news?”

I glanced back at the kitchen to make sure that Mum wasn’t wandering around in there. After making sure that the coast was clear, I told her calmly, “You know how you always told me that nothing would ever come of me writing fan-fictions? That I should focus my time on other stuff?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever said it that cruelly, but for the sake of conversation, I’ll agree with you.”

“Okay, well, something did.” I grinned as I stuffed another piece of pancake into my mouth. “And you might not believe me, but you can Google it to see for yourself.”

“Just tell me already,” she begged.

I stayed silent for a couple minutes before bursting out, “One Direction said last night that they’ve read my story!” I wanted to scream, and the excitement was bubbling inside of me, but I knew that my mother couldn’t hear. She probably wouldn’t love the fact that I post stories online, thinking that they’d reveal my top-secret location or something.

Elena narrowed her eyes. “Wait, what?” As she asked her question, she flicked something off her arm. “By the way, you spit on me.”

“Sorry,” I laughed. “But yeah, they said in their interview that my story was one of their favorite fan-fictions they’ve ever read.”

I expected her to jump up and down in excitement, to initiate a fan-girling session, even though she didn’t like One Direction in the least.

But instead, she laughed out loud and said, “Wow. I knew they were pathetic, but they actually read fan-fictions about themselves?!”

“How sweet, Elena,” I muttered.