Adlewood Academy

All Mia was able to think about between her and Zayn’s practices was what Cassidy had said about Zayn. Her thoughts were all jumbled, and even though she thought everything sounded so perfect, she couldn’t help but think that she might be ruining her reputation, and in the music industry, reputation is all that you have.

She tried not to think about all the rumors that could be spreading about her music as she walked into the rehearsal room, her guitar in hand. Zayn smiled at her immediately, and attempted to smile back, but she knew that it was forced and so did he.

Zayn tried to ignore the unhappy look on Mia’s face, because he felt it wasn’t hit place to ask, and walked over to the stool she was now sitting at.

“What do you wanna work on today?” Zayn asked, standing a few feet away from her.
She looked up at him and shrugged. “Whatever you want is fine.”

The tone in Mia’s voice was hard to ignore, and Zayn knew that he had to say something or they’d never get anywhere, and he hated to see Mia looking like so upset.

“What’s wrong?” Zayn asked, getting straight to the point without beating around the bush. In the time he and Mia had been working together, he knew he had to get straight to things or they’d spend ours tiptoeing around the problem.

Mia shook her head, looking up at him with the fakest smile she could manage. “Nothing’s wrong.”

“Don’t lie to me, Mia,” Zayn said immediately, giving her a reassuring smile. “I know something’s up.”

Mia took a deep breath, and Zayn knew it was only a matter of time before she spilled her guts. All he had to do was look at her and she’d begin to unravel.

“It’s just –” She took another breath, shaking her head. “Cassidy just said some stuff.”

“What kind of stuff?”

“It’s nothing,” Mia said, getting up from her seat while clutching onto her guitar. Everything was beginning to get to her and she wasn’t sure she could deal with all the criticism anymore. “I just don’t think we can work together.”

A lump caught in Zayn’s throat the moment Mia spoke, and he could feel his blood running cold. He thought they were working so well together, and he couldn’t think of anything he had done to make Mia change her mind so quickly.

“What? Why?”

“What we’re doing isn’t music, Zayn,” Mia said, sighing as she spoke. “It’s just a bunch of racket.”

“That’s not true,” Zayn said quickly, taking a step forward so he was standing right in front of her. He looked down at her blue eyes, which looked so scared, and forced her to look back at him. “It’s not true and you know it.”

“Everyone’s going to hate it. There’s no way we’re going to win.”

“Don’t listen to them, Mia.” Zayn sighed, shaking his head. “Do the song that you wanna do, whether it includes me or not. At the end of the day, if you walk out on that stage and sing anything but what you really wanna sing, the judges will see it and they’ll know.”

Zayn’s eyes were looking straight at Mia, and it became too much for her. She had to look away, across the room or at the ceiling, because she couldn’t look at him.

“But what if –”

“Don’t do that, Mia,” Zayn said, placing his hand on her chin. Her head tilted up and their eyes met again. “Don’t doubt yourself. You’re better than that.”

With Zayn’s eyes on hers, all Mia could think about was him. She knew that he was right, and she loved the music they were making together. Most of all, she loved being around him and the smile that he always brought to her face. It didn’t matter what Cassidy or anyone else thought, because she was finally happy with herself.

“Just go with your gut,” Zayn said, his finger now rubbing against her skin, and as Mia looked into his eyes, it all finally made sense. They were looking at each other, right through to the other side, and at the same time their eyes closed.

Zayn was the first to move, his hand on her chin gently tilting her head up, while he moved closer to her. His breath was the first thing she felt on her lips, and she almost sighed when his skin finally met hers.

Everything she had felt during her rehearsals with Zayn had led up to that moment, and it was like all the music and all the madness just finally made sense.