Grade 8

Having just landed in Florida Lena was hopelessly lost. She was told a car would be waiting to take her to the arena where the show would take place, but she had yet to find said car. This was a big deal for her and being lost on her first day was not what she had in mind.

Six months prior on a boring Monday morning Lena had been in her step dad's shop trying to convince him to tattoo her again when her phone had rang. On the other end she had been asked to join One Direction as their opener on the American leg of the Take Me Home tour. She had said yes without even hesitating even if One Direction wasn't in her list of bands she willingly would listen to, you don't just pass up an opportunity like that.

In the six months since Lena had gotten that life changing phone call she had been hard at work. Ten songs were now perfected for a set list that only allowed for six songs, there were four on reserve songs in case she needed them.

A sign with Gold written on it in black marker caught her eye. The man holding it looked bored a he scanned the crowed for whoever this Gold person was. As she made her way over she tried to squash the uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Uh, hi, I'm Lena Gold?" She mentally slapped herself for sounding so unsure.

"Follow me." Was all the man said his body turning away from her. His longer legs easily moved through the crowed as Lena tried to keep up with heavy bag in tow.

The black car he lead her too was nicer then she had expected, then again she was working with some pretty important people now. There was already another man sitting in the drivers seat, the man that had waited with the sign taking the passenger seat after hauling her bag into the back. Sitting in the backseat she watched in awe at the passing scenery. She had never been to Florida before so everything was new and bright to her.

They passed though countless streets full of interesting people, shops with strange names, and all kinds of restaurants. The sun was out making everything that much more new interesting. She was used to the heat growing up in Arizona had its benefits. Pulling into the arena there were already people lining the streets something g Lena hadn't expected. In the back parking lot there were buses and cars that's where her car stopped.

Following the same man from the airport into the arena she was surprised to find it eerily quiet. With the amount of cars outside she had assumed there would be people running all over the place. Instead the room she walked into held less then thirty people all of them stopped what they were doing to look at her. She was left alone as her guide walked back out the door they had come through.

"Lena Gold!" A loud Irish voice exclaimed a boy with blonde hair came running toward her the infectious smile of his causing Lena to smile uncertainly. "Ya made it!"

He hugged her tightly the embrace coming as a surprise. She patted his back uncomfortably until he finally let go.

"I'm a huge fan!" He was still talking entirely too loud for her liking. "I'm Niall by the way!"

Lena knew who he was of course. When she had gotten the call from the one and only One Direction's management team she had done some research. She could name each member and even spent some time looking through facts about them. She kept her research short not wanting to know everything about them before she even properly met them.

"Nice to meet you, Niall." Lena said her smile now shy. "Isn't there supposed to be four more of you?"

As if on cue the other four members appeared behind him. There was a round of greetings each boy taking a turn to introduce themselves, it was a lot like some of the videos she had watched when she was trying to get to know them. She knew Liam was the one who had recently shaved all of his hair off, Louis was the one with an attitude but at the moment he was friendly enough, Zayn was the dark mysterious one with some pretty amazing tattoos, and Harry was the one with the infamous curly hair and dimpled smile. They were all gorgeous naturally something that intimidate her slightly. It was strange to be in a room full of hot guys, even some of their band and crew were gorgeous and from the looks of it she was about the only girl around the same age as them.

"Uh, so what now?" Lena asked looking at Niall since he had been the friendliest thus far.

"We were about to start rehearsals if you want to wait in here or come with is to the stage." Liam said. "After we run through a few songs would you mind playing a few for us?"

"I'd love to." Lena tried to smile confidently but the fear that was gripping her insides didn't make it very believable. The room emptied out then, she was introduced to more people as they passed mostly crew and as she followed the group of people she felt overwhelmed. picking to sit in the chairs on the floor where a few other people had taken seats she sat down in an unoccupied chair next to a girl with red hair who was watching the boys with a smile.

"I'm Sam." She introduced holding a hand out.

"Lena." Lena said shaking her hand.

"Oh I know." Sam said with a loud laugh. "Niall was so excited to meet you. If I wasn't so trusting I might have been a little jealous."

"Are you together?" Lena asked realizing she hadn't bothered to look at who was single or not.

"Yeah we are." Sam said with a wide grin. "Is that a tattoo?"

Lena looked down at her arm where her sweater had fallen slightly revealing the end of her tattoo. "Yeah I have a full arm piece and half of my other arm done."

That got the girls on the topic of tattoos, Sam had a few herself which got them into showing off each one. They were interrupted by the first song the boys were doing a run though for. It was one Lena hadn't heard before so she watched amazed as they moved around in front of them. They sounded great she wasn't sure she would match up well with them when it was her turn.

"Are you fan?" Sam asked tearing her eyes away from Niall.

"Not really." Lena admitted. "I've heard a few songs but not enough to fall in love with them."

"That's how I was too when I first met them." Sam told her with a grin. "But I was incredibly starstruck anyway."

"How did you meet?" Lena asked. She was always a sucker for a romantic story.

"I look after Lou's daughter from time to time." She pointed to a woman not too far from them who was chatting with someone. "She does their hair and all that stuff for shows and any appearances. Harry used to pick Lux up from daycare which started us off as friends, I guess. Niall came with him to the zoo once when we took Lux and my son Olly. After that he wouldn't leave me alone."

Lena gave her a shocked look one Sam had been anticipating. "You have a son?"

"Yep." Sam said looking very proud. "He's two and half and a hand full. And now you are wondering how old I am to have a two year old, yeah?"

"Only a little." Lena admitted. "Not that I care! My mom's a young mom too."

"Well I'm nineteen." Sam said with a laugh. Lena was learning quickly that Sam liked to laugh a lot.

Lena and Sam continued to talk while the boys went through a few more songs. It was nice to already have made a friend, Lena just hoped everyone else would be as easy.

Sooner then expected Lena was being ushered to sing one of her songs. Going to her guitar case she got out her pride and joy, Lucy. Lucy had been her grandmothers when she was young it was the guitar she later taught Lena to play on. She had never owned another guitar and never planed on needing another one. The guitar looked as old a it was the wood was fading in places and there were doodles and stickers all over it. Without saying anything she went right into the first song. She had never played in front of a live audience before but it was like she had been doing it her whole life.

"You got new jeans the hoody's not gone, I'm in a new dress that I've never worn. And I could have sworn you didn't bat an eye when I walked into the room."



Lena logged onto Skype waiting patiently for her mom to be online as well. It had been a long day and now all she needed was to talk to her best friend. Soon enough she was online a second later she was receiving a call.

Answering the call quickly an unstoppable smile forming as her mom's face appeared on the screen. "Hi mom!" She squealed.

"Hello sweetheart!" Her mom was smiling just as wide. "How's your first day going?"

"Good everyone is really nice here." Lena told her.

"And the boys?" There was a change in her tone. "Are their accents sexier in person?"

"Mom!" Lena laughed.

"Come on! Tell me everything!"

"Yes they are even sexier in person." Lena relented. "And really talented I know we made fun of them before but they sound amazing live."

"Good, I'm glad they don't suck. That would be horrible for your first tour."

"And I met this really awesome girl." Lena went on. "Sam, she's dating Niall he's the blonde one, I wish she was going to stay on the tour permanently."

"She isn't?"

"No she has a son at home in London." Lean explain and once she noticed the look her mother gave we she continued he explanation. "He isn't Niall's son."

"I wasn't going to ask." Her mom said with a laugh. "I miss you."

"I miss you way more." Lena countered. "How's Rich? Did you get many clients in today?"

"Good he's still at the shop closing up." She answered. "I had a slow day at the salon but tomorrow I'm going to be swamped."

"That's good." Lena looked at the time. "It's late I should probably head to sleep."

"More rehearsals tomorrow?"

"Unfortunately," Lena groaned. "I love you."

"I love you so much more."

They said their goodbyes after that both getting a bit teary eyed before they logged off. It was only her first day away and she wasn't sure how she's survive without her mom for the next few months.