Bentley's Branch

Cori peeked through the curtain. Nerves were entangling her neck like they were trying to choke her. The strawberry blonde had sung for large crowds before, heck she’d sung at a state fair before, but she’d never sung in front of celebrities.

The Texas summer was evident as the chatter was growing louder and louder. Sleeves were rolled up on almost every single crew member backstage. Cori desperately wanted to throw her curls in a messy ponytail, but somehow refrained.

She started to spin around on her heel, deciding that trying to find One Direction somewhere in the crowd was ridiculously pointless. Just as she happened to pull her face from the crack in the curtains, a large amount of body collided with her small frame.

The two fell to the floor. Cori winced at the sudden pain, but decided she’d felt much worse in her time. She opened her blue eyes to see a hat the body must’ve been wearing. She picked the hat up, pushing herself into a sitting position.

A hand extended in front of her and pulled her from the makeshift stage. “Thanks,” she muttered – she was quite the shy girl when it came to interacting with strangers. How she ever expected to make it in the glamorous music industry was beyond her.

“No problem, love. I believe you have my hat.” Cori froze for a second after the familiar British accent eased effortlessly in and out of her ears.

She slowly raised her head from dusting off her shirt to the one and only, Harry Styles’ face. ‘Just my luck,’ she thought, ‘I just have to run into one fifth of the biggest boy-band in the world. My friends will have a field day with this.’

“My hat?” Harry pointed to the beige colored, overly large hat in the nineteen year olds hand.

She quickly handed him the hat, which he placed flawlessly over his curls, “Right, sorry.”

“Not a problem. Are you a singer?” He asked politely.

Cori swallowed whatever lump was stuck in her throat, and nodded. She didn’t even like One Direction that much, but Harry Styles was one seemingly perfect being. God probably looks at him like ‘Yeah, let me see Picasso beat that.’

“Are you shy or something?” He chuckled, waving a hand in front of her face.

“Yeah, just a little.” The strawberry blonde could practically hear his every thought. ‘That’s really going to help you in this profession’ ‘What a freak’ ‘She’s probably just a freak’

“Where ya from?” He went on trying to break into some sort of casual rhythm. Honestly, though, how normal is it to crash into a girl you hardly know, that can hardly speak to you, that you’ll be judging in like five minutes?

“Bentley’s Branch. It’s small, you’ve probably never heard of it.” She waved it off, like the town was horrid.

Truth is her name was Cori Bentley. She’d inherit the deed to the entire town before she died. She wasn’t lying though; it was a small town – which was why one family owned the entire place. Don’t get it wrong though, her parents were nice, down to earth people who never tried to make it hard to live in Bentley’s Branch.

Harry nodded, “Well, I have to go.” He drew his lips into a thin line.

“That’s a little rude.” She dismissed his attitude.

“Excuse me?”

“You’ve basically wrote me off as some freak without a clue. It’s written all of your face.”

“Guess you’ll have to prove me wrong then, Bentley’s Branch.” He waved as a stage hand literally drug him to his seat.

Cori cracked the curtain just a little, seeing Harry taking his seat beside of Liam. The performances were about to begin, and the guest judges were chatting among themselves. Harry was probably telling them how he totally bumped into some chick backstage and what a joke she was. She was definitely determined to prove him wrong.

The blonde closed the curtains again; the stage manager yelled over the hustle and bustle of backstage prep, “Everyone move out from behind the curtains. Get to a place where you won’t be seen. Performer one, you’re up.”

Cori hurried over to a sideline; she was performer twelve – the last one. She stood from side stage, watching as each singer went on before her. She never really paid attention to the performers; she was more interested in the reactions of One Direction.

The eleventh singer was almost finished, meaning she was up next. So far, the boys hadn’t looked real impressed. Sure, they seemed to like most of the singers, but they hadn’t really had a ‘wow that’s the winner’ expression. Cori was hoping to change that.

“Our final performer is Cori. Cori Bentley!” As the nineteen year old girl flipped her hair over her shoulders, she caught Harry’s surprised face at the crowd’s reaction.

Cori had always been shy, for as long as she could remember. She had also been a performer since she could talk. That was the only time she wasn’t shy. She knew she had a talent, not to be conceited or anything. She knew she had a talent that God had given her, and she intended to share it with the world. After all, singing had come as naturally to her as riding a horse had come naturally to everyone in Texas. Every competition Texas had, Cori’s parents made sure she was in it. She was a state sweetheart.

“Hey ya’ll,” Cori brought the microphone up to her glossed lips, her Southern drawl taking over, “Thank ya for the warm welcome. I can’t wait to perform Brave by Sara Bareilles, but before I do so, I owe one of our famous guest judges an apology.”

The crowd turned to look towards the table behind them, “I’m so sorry for not paying attention when I bumped into you, Harry. My mistake, but your mistake was judging a book before you even read the cover.” She smiled sweetly, but that kind of sweet that made you think a woman was capable of stabbing you with her heel.
The music started playing and the crowd picked up the beat, clapping and tapping their feet. That smile her father had always had when he would speak publicly crept over her lips as she began to sing. The words poured effortlessly out of her mouth. She moved around the stage, entertaining as gracefully as her mother would. Her country accent that her parents practically cursed her with snuck into the song too.

Cori would glance back at the boys, each and every one of their faces held a broad grin and they all looked genuinely impressed. In that moment, she felt content and happy. She felt like she being who she was meant to be.

The song finished, and the crowd broke – going off and enjoying the fair before the winner was announced in two hours. Everyone was hugging each other, complimenting each other’s performances. It was weird to Cori. They complement each other, but they’re hoping for each other’s failure. It was a part of the whole thing that she never liked.

“Hey, Cori!” She felt a hand rest on her shoulder. She turned her head to see all five members of One Direction.

“Hi!” She waved back.

“That was an excellent performance,” Liam gushed.

“You’re really unique.” Louis offered.

“I love your style, too.” Zayn pointed.

“I think you’re catching our drift,” Niall winked.

The four of them walked away to other contestants after practically telling her that she had won. She giggled quietly, but felt hot breath on her neck.

Cori slowly turned to see Harry Styles not even two inches away from her body. He was much taller than her, even in her silver ankle boots. She peered up at her, while he looked down on her. At first she thought he was mad because he face stayed firm. But she saw his jaw loosen and he smirked at her.

“Way to prove me wrong, Bentley’s Branch.” He winked.

He kissed her on the cheek, and joined the rest of his band. Cori’s eyes were twinkling, and a blush covered her body like hives, and she knew it didn’t matter if she won. She’d won a lot already.