Skylar

Oh shoot. Did I just say that? I looked at everyone’s surprised expressions before looking at my sister’s red-hot face. Not only was she clutching her bags in a death-grip, but she was clenching her jaw in a way that made me very scared.
“Why the hell do you need to bring him up?” shouted Reagan, throwing her arms up.
“She didn’t mean it, Reagan,” piped Lucy. Cute, quiet Lucy, who was the best person at calming anyone down. I shot her a grateful look.
“I don’t care if she ‘didn’t mean it’, I want to know why she even brought it up!” screamed Reagan. People were starting to zone in on our conversation, and I noticed a few people getting out their phones and recording our conversation.
“Calm down, Reagan, before you attract unwanted attention,” snapped Piper, checking her phone. She looked more than a little annoyed, and I knew all of us were going to get a stern talking-to later tonight.
Reagan scowled and looked away. She was probably still mad at me. I mean, I would be mad at me if I mentioned my stupid on-again, off-again boyfriend who cares more about fame than he does about me. I remember Ethan being cute, buff, and a jerk from what I can recall. He would come over to the house to make out with Reagan on our couch while I tried to do my homework. Suffice to say, I had a hard time concentrating.
“Let’s just go, we need to be at the studio in thirty minutes,” said Lucy, patting Reagan on the shoulder. Reagan jerked away and brushed us all aside, walking ahead of us.
We followed her all the way to the studio – fourteen block is a lot – and by the time we got there we were all out of breath.
Erick was waiting in the lobby for us – we were fifteen minutes late because no one bothered to ask Reagan if we could take a taxi – and he was fuming.
“I ask you girls to be here by five, and you guys take you own sweet time to get here! You’re not pop stars yet, loves!” he said angrily, his British accent making it hard for me to understand him. Erick loves to talk about how spoiled we are, but we know he loves us, somewhere deep down in his heart. We see it sometimes when he says things like, “You girls have done me good,” or “I’m proud of you all.” Then again, this could all be linked to his 20% paycheck her receives, but who knows. Maybe he does really love us.
We follow him into the conference room and sit down. When we’re all sitting, he shuts the door and stands at the head of the conference table.
“One Direction,” he says, “is the biggest boy band of the century, they say. They’re huge at the moment. Their world tour sold out in under twenty minutes. Not only are you all going to be touring with them, you’re going to be living with them.”
He stopped and glared at us.
“But I don’t just want you guys living with them,” he said slyly. “I want you to become a part of their lives. I want you to become friends with them, maybe even date them, who knows.” Erick had an evil glint in his eye. “Who knows.”
Scarlett shot up immediately.
“No way are we going to be dating them! You can’t make us!” she cried. I know for a fact that Scarlett hates being told what to do, but what she hates more is falling in love. Back in high school, she was dumped by her boyfriend so he could go out with a “hotter version of Megan Fox”. The experience has left her cynical about love ever since.
Erick pushed her back down.
“Not you specifically, darling, but some of you. Do you know how cute the viewers will find it if two of you were going out with two members of One Direction? ‘Best friends!’” he exclaimed, putting on a fake girl voice.
“Wait…” said Lucy. “You’re not going to tell us who we have to date. Like, we’re just going to let it happen?” She looked suspicious, and I felt her. Erick loved telling us what to do, and it wasn’t him to just “let things happen”.
Erick scowled at Lucy for a moment. He hated it when people revealed his plans.
“Okay, well, we might have plans for some of you…I mean, Lucy. You and Zayn would look adorbs together!” squealed Erick, acting like a teenage girl.
Lucy and I shared a look.
“Isn’t he dating Perrie Edwards?” I asked. I liked Perrie. We’d met her once during the X-Factor, and she was super sweet. I could see why Zayn had fallen for her.
Erick waved his hand as if shooing off a bug.
“We’ll take care of that. Anyways, Skylar. You and Harry would be per-fect for each other,” he said, moving along.
“Wait, wait, wait,” said Reagan. “Are we basing this off of personality or looks?”
Erick looked at her as if she were stupid.
“Looks, obviously. Why would you ask a silly question like that?” asked Erick.
I exchanged a look with Piper this time. She made a face, as if to say, “Just go with it.” I shrugged, and she gave me another look that said, “It’s not so bad. C’mon.”
“So, girls. Here I have is what I expect to happen in the next eight months,” said Erick, taking a sheet off of a poster. On it was a timeline, with our pictures and pictures of the boys pasted on it.
Erick pointed at the far left of the poster.
“Here is when we begin shooting. Skylar, you and Harry are going to have a ‘complicated’ relationship going by then. Scarlett, you and Zayn are going to be good friends, but he’s interested in Lucy, to your dismay.” I saw Scarlett’s jaw clench when Erick said that. “The rest of you will be just friends at the moment.”
Erick pointed to the next point.
“Here is when Skylar and Harry officially become a couple. Lucy, you and Zayn are going to go on a date, which makes Scarlett get mad at you. Reagan, you’re going to be pursued by Liam.”
Reagan interjected at that point.
“Why Liam? He’s so boring,” she whined. She crossed her arms and scowled.
Erick ignored her.
“Piper, you and Louis will become good friends, but at the moment, that’s all there is.”
Erick pointed to the middle of the poster.
“Skylar, you break up with Harry because you’re not sure what you want, and Zayn asks Lucy out in front of Scarlett. Scarlett runs off crying, and Niall comforts you. That’s when you start to think that maybe pursuing Zayn wasn’t what you were supposed to be doing.
“Reagan, you finally agree to go on a date with Liam, but you don’t really like him. Piper, you console with Scarlett about her love life.”
I noticed Piper had a funny look on her face. I realized then she was the only one who wasn’t being featured with a love interest at the moment.
Erick moved on.
“Here, Harry asks you to take him back, but you refuse, saying you’re not ready.”
“Why am I not ready?” I asked, confused. “I mean, is there a legitimate reason?”
“Harry flirts too much,” responded Erick. “With the fans, I mean.
“Lucy, you and Zayn have your first kiss, and Scarlett sees you guys and cries again…”
“Why am I always crying? I don’t cry,” said Scarlett with some fury. “I don’t like being portrayed as the weakling!”
I noticed we were slowly starting to get more and more upset about this. When we agreed to do this, we didn’t know it was going to be mapped out.
“Anyways…Reagan, Liam tries to kiss you, but you run away, and Piper, you start to have feelings for Louis, but you pretend that you don’t because he’s taken.”
“Taken by who?” asked Piper.
“Eleanor, obviously. She has such a huge fan-base that we’d thought she’d be a good addition to the first season,” replied Erick, annoyed.
“Oh, sorry. My bad,” said Piper quietly.
“And in the finale, we’re going to have Harry serenade Skylar and tell her he loves her, and Zayn and Lucy break up because Lucy wants to be fair to Scarlett. Niall reveals his feelings for Scarlett, and Reagan, you admit that you do like Liam.”
Erick smiled triumphantly and put his hands on his hips.
Piper coughed. We turned to look at her.
“What about me?” she asked, her voice timid. “What happens to me in the finale?”
Erick waved her away.
“You sort of grin and bear it as Louis kisses Eleanor when she flies in for a visit. You don’t really have much to contribute,” he said.
Piper smiled, but I could tell she was hurting.
Scarlett stood up.
“No way am I going to go around crying the entire time. You’re out of your minds!” she exclaimed.
Reagan stood up too.
“I am not going to go along with this. This is so stupid!” she said angrily.
I was going to say that maybe we should try to negotiate when there was a knock on the door.
“What?” snapped Erick, opening the door.
Veronica, the secretary, stood there, mildly frightened.
“One Direction is here, sir,” she said.