Love in Music

I stared at the scenery as they began to blur in front of me. I blinked a couple of times before forcing my eyes open wishing the tiredness away. 28 hours sitting on a plane left you feeling tired and exhausted and the time difference in London to Australia definitely didn’t help.

I sighed and rested my head against the cold window barely seeing the white blanket cover the city. I was trying not to think about the place this car was taking me. I was beyond nervous and I had a feeling I was about ready to throw up in the back of this cab. To take my mind off my impending meeting I began to think back to three months ago. If it wasn’t for that phone call I probably wouldn’t be here today.

A representative of Simon Cowell had called me. Well my parents to be exact seeing as I was only 17 at the time and technically not a legal adult. Someone had shown Simon Cowell my YouTube channel of myself singing and he had liked it. He wanted me to come to London and join a girl group he was making from four other girls he found on YouTube.

My parents weren’t exactly excited. They always saw my singing as a mere hobby, not something that would contain a future for me. So for me to drop everything to fly all the way to London was definitely not in their plans for me.

However after much persuasion from Simon Cowell and much whining and pleading from me, we struck a bargain. After I turned 18 I was allowed to go.

Two days ago on November 19th I turned 18. My stuff was packed and I left Australia without one look back. I was ready for this; I was ready to show my parents exactly what I could do.

The taxi stopped which snapped me out of my trance. I glanced up at the large and expensive looking hotel with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. The place was massive and looked extremely expensive. My door was pulled open immediately by a young man. I nervously stepped out of the car into the freezing cold weather. I shivered and instantly pulled my red trench coat tighter around myself, wishing that I was wearing a thousand more layers over top.

I turned to grab my bags but instead saw they were already being taken inside and my taxi driver had already disappeared. Confused, I hurried inside after my bags. Not wanting them to leave my sight. I stopped in my tracks the moment my feet entered the lobby. The placed looked like it was made of gold.

I gaped without shame at everything within sight. What on earth was I doing here? I walked up to the counter near where my bags had been put to be met with a smiling girl. I stuttered awkwardly in front of her as she asked for my name.

“Annabelle Blake.” I replied hoping to God my name was actually registered. She typed into the computer briefly before smiling at me and handing me my room key before continuing with what seemed a well rehearsed speech about the hotel. I listened barely as my eyes wandered around the lobby getting distracted by the brightness of it all.

“If you have any further questions don’t be afraid to ask. Terri here will take your bags to the room.” She gestured to the young man who brought my bags inside. He smiled at me politely before taking my bags and leading the way towards the elevator. I followed behind him, still ogling everything. We stepped onto the elevator and Terri instantly pressed for the highest floor. My eyes widened slightly before a silence fell through the elevator.

“I believe the other young ladies are inside awaiting your arrival.” Terri announced to me before he opened my door with his own key and stepped inside. Nervously, I followed behind him and glanced around the suite. My jaw almost hit the floor at the size of the room. It was enormous.

I walked down the hallway and saw that to the right was a kitchen that was painfully clean which connected to a dining room that looked like it had been hardly used. The living room sat in front of me with couches that looked comfortable enough to sleep on. It was connected to a large balcony showing off a very cold looking London. There was a large TV and an impressive sound system.

I glanced nervously at the ornaments adorning the suite. I didn’t think I could afford to break anything. A glance to the left showed me another hallway which I assumed had the bedrooms. This hallway now held four girls that were walking towards me all smiling nervously.

I smiled back nervously, fiddling my thumbs together. I knew I was the last one of the group to get here and I was slightly worried that they wouldn’t want me or I wouldn’t fit in. Those worries were pushed aside however after a few moment of an awkward staring contest before all four broke out into grins and rushed towards me. Before I knew what was happening I had been smacked into four times. I almost fell backwards by the amount of unexpected wait thrown on me.

We managed to stay upright as I hugged them back eagerly. I could hear each of our small giggles filling the room around us.

“You’re finally here.” I recognised the talking girl from her youtube channel. I had of course looked up each girl I was going to be in a band with. I’m assuming they had all done the same. This girls name was Francesca Lavarda. She was 19 and had the blondest hair I had ever seen that reached halfway down her back with bring pink tips. She was skinny and extremely tall with dark skin, from what I remember she was from California. I grinned at her in response.

“It feels like it has taken forever to get here.” I commented back.

“That’s what a 28 hour flight would do to you.” Another girl laughed. That was Kate Hernahm. She was 18 and had dark curly brown hair that just passed her shoulder. She was my height, which was pretty short, and from here in London. I laughed with her.

“Oh sorry, we forgot to tip.” A voice said with a slight accent to it announced. We all turned to see Terri still standing there. He accepted the money from the accented girl and bowed slightly before leaving.

“Thank you.” I instantly said to Lucinda Garcia Ramirez. She was from somewhere in Spain, I wasn’t sure where, with fiery red hair that reached mid waist. She was 19 and just as tall as Frankie and very tanned.

The last girl was Gracie Bell; she was from New York and was 19 years old. She was slightly pale like Kate and was just a little taller than I was. Her black hair reached her shoulders, however today it was covered in a beanie and was sticking out in all directions. The messy look suited her.

My own hair wasn’t much better as some brown strands were falling out of the plat I had done loosely in the airport toilets.

“That’s okay.” Lucinda replied to my thank you. “Come on, don’t you want to see your room.”

I let her grab my hand and lead me towards the hallway as I grabbed my stuff along the way. Each girl pointed out their own room to me.

My door was situated between Kate’s and Gracie’s. I entered the room and gasped out loud. My room contained a large double bed with a dark red comforter. The walls were painted in a dark brown. The furniture varied between red and white. The red couch sat in front of a large white TV with an array of devices below it. All that I could mostly recognise was a DVD player and a stereo.

There were beautiful paintings, vases and sculptures around the room. I immediately wanted to bubble wrap everything in the room. I definitely did not want to break anything I could not afford. There was a large walk in wardrobe to one side of the room and on the other side contained my bathroom. The bathroom had its own spa. I could barely believe what I was seeing.

“We’re having a formal dinner with Simon in the restaurant downstairs so we should probably get ready.” Kate informed, I nodded at her still awe struck by the room.

“We’ll leave you to get ready then.” Gracie giggled before all four girls left the room. I spun around a couple of times before a grin split across my face and threw myself onto the large bed and sighed in bliss. It felt the same way I imagined lying on clouds would.

I quickly pushed myself off the bed before I fell asleep and dragged my suitcase into the large walk in closet. I didn’t even have enough clothes to fill this wardrobe. Giggling childishly to myself I started to empty one of my suitcases until I found a formal black dress with a heart cut out on the back. I was horrible at wearing heels so I stuck with a nice pair of ballet flats.

I quickly fixed my make up before pulling my hair out and putting it on a bun on top of my head nicely with a few curls left out. I scanned myself in the mirror before being pleased with what I looked like, I headed out of my room. I heard the girls talking in the lounge room. I headed towards it. Frankie, Kate and Gracie all sat around looking amazing. Lucinda was absent though.

“She takes the longest to get ready.” Kate explained to me as I took a seat next to her.

“So how long have you all been here for?” I asked curiously.

“I’ve been here a week,” Kate responded. “Although I’ve been visiting my family a lot waiting for you all.”

“Grace and I got here two days ago.” Frankie answered.

“And Luce got here the day before us.” Gracie supplied for Lucinda. I nodded wishing that I had been here earlier to get to know them all.

“I’m ready.” Lucinda announced coming out of the hallway. Happily we all stood up and headed out of the room. Lucinda linked her arm with mine as we made our way towards the elevator.

“I love your dress by the way.” She complimented me. I smiled up at her since she was wearing heels and become considerably taller than me.

“Thanks.” I responded happily. “I love yours.”

She beamed back at me before we fell into conversation with the other girls. They told me about the hotel. There was a pool inside and outside, a gym, 24hour room service, three restaurants, a cafe, a small movie room and a games area. As well as a sauna and spa. I listened to them eagerly unbelieving that this had all been paid for by Simon.

“Don’t you feel a little guilty that Simon’s paying for all this?” I asked the girls curiously. Lucinda and Frankie both laughed before shaking their heads. Gracie smiled sympathetically and took the arm Lucinda let go off.

“I do a bit.” She admitted to me making me smile. “But this place is too much of a dream to care about whose paying for it.”

I allowed her to lead me away from the elevator as I continued to admire the hotel around us. The people who stayed here looked absolutely stunning. Their dresses and suits were impeccable and their jewels blatantly expensive. I felt like I was Julia Roberts in pretty woman without the prostitution part.

“There you are girls. We’ve been waiting for you.” A voice announced pulling my attention from the rich people around me. I turned to see Simon Cowell looking at us all. I tried to keep myself from being star struck as much as possible.

“It’s lovely that you’re finally here Annabelle.” He welcomed me, holding out his hand. I smiled politely and shook it before following him inside the restaurant.

“Did he saw ‘we’ have been waiting?” Kate asked us all confused. I shrugged my shoulders and continued walked next to Gracie admiring the whole restaurant.

“Holy...” There was a smack behind me making me turn to see Kate’s hand plastered across Frankie’s mouth as they both stared wide eyed past me. I turned around, confused to what they were looking at. My own mouth dropped open and my eyes grew wide as I stared at the five boys all rising from the table in front of us. One Direction.

“Girls I would like you to meet your mentors during your training period.” Simon announced waving his hands towards the boys. All five boys instantly moved forward greeting us with handshakes and kisses to the cheek. I stared frozen into two beautiful clear blue eyes in front of me.

“What’s your name love?” He asked me politely.

“Annabelle.” I responded automatically.