The Deep End.

As I walked back through the waiting room, I half hoped that Megan would have been there. I wanted to thank her again for letting me go ahead of her. It was such a sweet thing to do. But she wasn’t there. I’m sure her scary grandpa made sure she got in quickly after they took me back. He seemed like the kind of man who could make that happen.
I exited the hospital and found the camera crew waiting for me outside. “Well, done Louis! Are you feeling better?” One of them asked. I nodded my head and smiled. “Alright, sit right there, and we’ll film a segment to put in the show.”
I had to admit, it could get a bit annoying always having to ‘sit right there’ for the bits they wanted to capture. But I supposed that was one of the parts of being a contestant on the X Factor. A part I hoped I would need to get used to.
“Can you take me to Simon’s house?” I asked. “I’ve got to get there quick.” We piled into the van and raced to the man who was in charge of every single one of us. Nobody wanted to be late. So everyone cooperated.
As soon as we got out of the van, I saw my four band mates rush over to me. “Louis!” They all exclaimed, happy to have me back.
“Nice to see ya.” I said.
“Are you alright?” Asked Harry, a curly haired cheeky chap.
“Of course I am. It was just a sea urchin. No big deal.” I huffed.
“And you’re good to sing?” Liam, questioned, my friend who was concerned with everybody all of the time.
“I sure am.” I replied. Even though I didn’t need it, the boys picked me up and carried me inside.
“How’d it go at the hospital?” Zayn, the dark skinned boy, asked.
“Can we talk about this later?” Liam asked. “I’m sorry, but we’ve got to get ready for this.” He explained patting my head.
“Yeah, come on Lou. Let’s warm up.” Niall, the only blonde and only Irish lad, suggested.
“I’m glad your back.” I heard Harry say. “We wouldn’t have sounded the same without you.”
“You guys are acting like I’ve been gone for weeks from some serious accident. I stung on my foot for Pete’s sake!” I laughed.
“We were just worried is all.” Niall explained.
“We have to focus, boys. We have to make this one count. It’s critical.” Liam said, quickly. Looking over the lyrics to our song yet again.
“Boys, all we’re doing is singing ‘Torn’, a song we’ve heard a million times in our life. Just pretend like we’re back at Holmes Chapel, at Harry’s. Niall’s on guitar. We’re all around the fire. It’s for fun, really.” I said, trying to calm the boys’ nerves.
The truth is, that two minutes of singing in front of Simon Cowell were extremely crucial to anyone in the X Factor business. It decides who goes on to the live shows and who goes home. None of us wanted to be the group that Simon sent home. Not when we were a group that was this good. One Direction was going phenomenal. I knew we were. We couldn’t be anything less with members like Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik. There was no way. I was the lucky boy who got mixed up in all of it, and I was glad that I was.
“Guys, Simon’s ready for you.” We heard a stage manager say through the doorway.
“Alright, let’s go back to Holmes Chapel boys.” Harry said, leading the way.

Now that I look back on it, it was all a blur really. Standing there in front of Simon. Answering questions about my foot. Singing. It was a blur, but it was still one of the best things that could have happened to us.
“I think he liked it.” Niall said, still bouncing from the performance.
“I think so.” Liam said. Not being able to believe we had made it this far in the competition.
“I’m just glad that I made it back in time for that!” I said, falling back onto the couch in our hotel.
“Me too!” Harry exclaimed, falling back next to me. “What did the doctor say anyway?”
“Well, I couldn’t understand what he was saying, but I think it was good news.” I laughed. They all looked at me like I was crazy. “The swelling’s gone down, so I take that as a good sign.” I said, examining my foot.
“It’s a good thing you got in and out quickly.” Liam said, taking a look at my foot himself. “I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t of. We just didn’t sound right.”
“I almost didn’t! Do you remember the girl from the sea who got hurt in the water?” I asked. They nodded their heads, not sure where I was going with the story. “Well, she was still in the waiting room when I got there because she was waiting to get stitches. I sat down next to her and started telling her about being down here with the X Factor, and whenever they called ‘next’ she let me go before her. Even though it was clearly her turn, and she was bleeding profusely from the back of her leg.”
“You’re kidding?” Zayn said.
“No! She was really nice. Her name was Megan and she’s from the states.” I explained.
“Did you tell her thank you?” Liam asked. “That was an awfully nice thing to do. Especially for a boy she didn’t know.”
“Of course I did! I told her whenever we won, I’d be sure to thank her.” I stated.
“Too bad you’ll never see again.” Niall said, popping a chip into his mouth.
“Well, I’m going to make a shout out to her either way when we win. Plus, her mum said she was coming to London to study abroad for a couple of months, so maybe I’ll go look for her one day.”
“You’ll forget about her by tomorrow.” Liam laughed.
“Will not! I owe this day to her. I’ll see to it that I see her again. You just wait.” I said.