All I Want

Lindsay’s POV

It was another beautiful morning in California. Summer had just begun, and even though my friends were stoked to have graduated and move on to the next chapter of their lives that is college, I wasn’t quite sure where I wanted to go from here. I applied to a few colleges here, the University of Berkeley and the University of San Francisco; however, I didn’t have a clue what I was going to do when I got there. That is, IF I got accepted. I decided I wasn’t going to worry about it now. I’d cross that bridge when I came to it. I was just ready to have an amazing summer with my friends. It was an amazing feeling knowing I didn’t have to go back to high school ever again. It wasn’t like I didn’t like it. I loved it actually. It was just nice knowing all of those late nights in the library studying for AP class after AP class paid off, and I graduated as a valedictorian of my class. Being valedictorian of my class, you would think I would have my life all planned out from what college I was going to, to what my major was going to be. However, I wasn’t that type of person who had every step of their lives planned out. I felt it wasn’t necessary. If something came along that knocked that plan out of order, I’d find a different way to go around it instead of worrying that the plan failed in the first place.

I was currently sitting in my bed, the covers draped loosely around me, scrolling through my email. My best friend, Kara, was sitting beside me. We decided to have the typical paint your nails, stuff your face with every kind of sweet food imaginable, movie-watching sleep over. It was nice to finally have fun without having to worry about the stress of school.

“If you’re not checking your email on your laptop, you’re checking your email on your phone. I think you have an obsession,” Kara said. I looked over at her, her long blonde hair looking perfect as ever even if we had just woken up. She was the type of person who looked good in anything. If she wore a trash bag to school, she would still be able to pull it off. To say I wasn’t jealous of her beauty would be a lie. That’s not to say I was self-conscious about myself either. She just didn’t even have to try.

“It’s not like I’ve been checking it for no reason Kara. I’ve been anxiously awaiting this email. That is, if I receive it. I may not even win.” She gave me a quizzical look as if to say she had no idea what I was talking about. I kept this a secret from my friends for a reason. I was afraid they were only going to make fun of me for it, but I guess I had to tell her now. “I’ll tell you if you promise not to laugh, okay?” She smiled back at me, nodding her head. “I entered in to this One Direction photo contest. It was kind of a test to see who has taken the best photos at one of their shows before. You had to choose one photo that you took that you thought was the best concert photo of the boys. It could either be a group photo or an individual shot of one of the guys. Each week, for a month, fans would go to the site we had to upload them on and vote for their favorite photo until it’s down to just one. The last photo that is left at the end wins,” I explained, looking over at her to see if she understood.

“So if your photo is the only one left, that means you win?” I nodded my head, not being able to hide the smile that was forming on my face. “So, what’s the prize if you win?”

“You get a photo pass at the concert of your choosing and get to shoot photos of the boys!” I exclaimed. “And if the boys really like your photos, you get the opportunity to take photos for them at one of their photo shoots! Isn’t that exciting?!” I gleamed, hardly being able to hide my excitement. She just laughed at me.

“You sure are crazy about those boys, aren’t you?” she asked me.

“I’m not that crazy-obsessed fan like some people are, but you know how much I love taking pictures, especially at shows. It’s a really neat thing to look back on. It’s like your capturing that moment and freezing it in time. It’s memories that you can always look back on and reminisce about. That’s what I love about it.”

“No, I get it. It’s nice to be so passionate about something. So what picture did you choose?” she asked as I was refreshing the page to see if had received any new emails. Noticing I had one new email, I didn’t answer her right away. The subject line instantly gave away what the email was about, and my hands were shaking as I clicked on it. All I had to read was the first four words in big bold capital letters before screaming and jumping on Kara, as she toppled on the floor, me going down with her. “Could you please get off of me and explain to me why you acting like there was a spider on your bed?” she mumbled beneath me. I slowly rolled off of her, laughing to the point of tears. When she realized that I wasn’t going to answer her anytime soon, too caught up in my own excitement, she decided to read the email herself and soon started freaking out with me. “OH MY GOSH LINDSAY YOU WON. YOU WON.”

“I KNOW!” I all but screamed, instantly regretting it, forgetting my parents were downstairs probably wondering why her daughter and her best friend were acting like we were dying. “I just can’t believe it. As each week passed, and my photo was still up there, my hopes for winning were getting higher and higher but I seriously didn’t expect to win.” I sat down on my bed, re-reading the email to make sure that it was true. That I was going to be shooting pictures at a One Direction show. Was I dreaming?

“You never answered my question you know.” I turned around to look at Kara, who was now sitting next to me. “You know, what picture you ended up using,” she said.

“Right,” I scrolled through the many folders I had saved all my pictures in, getting to the one I had chosen. I pulled it up, letting Kara take a look at it.

“So you went with the individual shot. I’m surprised. I would have thought you would have gone with a group picture. So, who is that?” I just laughed at her question.

“You really don’t know his name?” She shook her head, waiting for me to answer her question. “That is Niall. He’s the only Irish one in the band; the rest are British.” I couldn’t stop myself from blushing when looking at the picture, hoping Kara didn’t notice.

“I’m guessing he’s your favorite?” she asked, smiling at me. I nodded my head, worried that if I spoke, the fan girl side of me would come out. That would be embarrassing.

“How’d you guess?” I asked out of curiosity.

“Well, it wasn’t hard to figure out based on the color of your cheeks. You like him, don’t you?” she teased, playfully pushing me on the shoulder. I hid my face in my hands, smiling like an idiot.

“Would you stop embarrassing me, please?” I asked nicely, hoping she would get the memo.

“So you do like him. Gosh Lindsay. You are too easy to read,” she laughed again. I glared at her at first, but soon joined in on the laughter.

“It’s just a crush. It’s not like I’m ever going to have a chance with him seeing as he is one-fifth of the biggest boy band on the planet right now,” I shrugged my shoulders, sighing at that disappointing fact.

“Hey, don’t be so hard on yourself. Now that you’ve won this contest, you never know. Things could work out in your favor,” she said, reassuring me that all hope was not lost. I guess she did have a point, but even though I was getting the chance to meet him, why would he be interested in me, boring old Lindsay. I guess I would find out on July 1st, the day I would be officially meeting One Direction.