You Know What They Do To Girls Like Us

Eliza, Sara, April, the five boys, and I stand outside in front of the mansion. No one talks as we wait for the bus to arrive and take us on the 2 hour drive to Los Angeles.

I link arms with Eliza as the bus finally pulls up. Out of the four of us, she was the closest to Amelia. Her heavy blow to the heart was still healing.

Not surprisingly, the guard on the bus put blindfolds on us. Sara took my hand and nudged me to take April’s sitting next to me. I could only assume that we were all holding hands. And I hope that everyone in the bus could see that.

The lack of sight made the trip seem like 24 hours instead of two, but we made it unscathed. I briefly thought I heard someone humming My Favourite Things, but it was probably my imagination.

Our blindfolds were taken off as soon as the bus came to a halt.

Paula was standing before us in a very white pantsuit. No one else was in the bus.

“Hello, girls,” she almost seems excited to see us. “So first we have to lay down some rules about how we are going to go about all of this.”

We groaned in unison.

“This is serious,” her face suddenly drops causing a sinking feeling in my stomach. I have a feeling this isn’t going to be good. “If you thought where you were living was bad, then this place is going to be hell. You are now going to actually be going into the outside world as one of the boys’ girlfriend, friend, etc - they get to choose. You are constantly under the eye of the paparazzi and general public. You must act accordingly or you will be forced out of the program.”

Forced. I would have preferred if she had just been direct about murder rather than avoiding what we all know happened.

“So the minute you walk out of this bus, you must do what your masters tell you,” Paula emphasizes every other word. “Where you were was just a dollhouse to get you assimilated. This is the real world.”

I feel sick. Really sick. I don’t want to think about how this could get any worse.

We exit out of the bus in a single file line. As I walk, all I can see are the blinding flashes of cameras. I’m constantly jostled and bumped around as I try to keep my eyes on Eliza who is my only source of direction at the moment.

Finally we step through doors and I can breathe again. But in an only a few seconds it is taken away once again.

The arched ceiling is so high that I have to slightly lean back to look at the top. Frescos are painted all across the heavens, delicately framed with a flourishing gold rim that runs along the perimeter. The floors are marble, like the mansion we were at, but these floors shine and have no marks or scratches. Portraits of what I assume are royalty cover almost all of the wall space with their larger than life figures. My feet come in contact with lush carpet that is decorated with all kinds of flowers and swirls. I catch the reflection of a giant crystal chandelier hanging prominently above the center. In the center of the hall there is a large arrangement of flowers ranging from roses to tropical varieties.

“Welcome to the House,” a very chipper butler greet us. “I have been instructed to tell you girls that you are to follow your masters to your assigned room. Your room will be located right next to theirs, so you will never be far from them.”

I roll my eyes in disgust when he winks.

“Come on, love,” Harry takes my arm. I glare, but reluctantly follow him up the giant set of stairs.
Louis walks with Sara in front of us. I watch him as he makes polite conversation with her. She laughs and I can’t help but feel a small pang of jealousy, even though I know Sara would never do anything.

“God, you’re practically burning holes into him,” Harry interrupts my thoughts.

“Excuse me?” I turn to him.

“Oh come now,” he leans his head back and gives a short laugh. “I know you’ve made secret little trips to his room more than once. I thought I warned you.”

“You don’t have control ov-”

“Ah, but actually I do,” he silences me harshly. “You are my property. When are you going to understand that you don’t have a choice to disobey me?”

His grip tightens as we turn into a hallway away from everyone else. I whimper out of weakness. We eventually reach a door. Across the hall is another door with a plaque reading: Harry Styles.

“Look at me,” he growls and jerks my arm. I glare straight into his eyes. “You do as I say. So if I say stay away from Louis, what does that mean?”

“Stay away from Louis,” I clench my jaw.

“Good girl,” he lets go of my arm. “I’ll be expecting you later.”

He disappears into his room and I open the door to mine. I shut the door behind me and turn around in utter shock. The walls are almost completely bookshelves. The only part of the wall that isn’t bookshelves is where the doors to the bathroom and closet are located. A fireplace is already burning at the far side of the room. An extremely luscious looking bed is at the opposite end with fancy wooden posts at each corner holding up velvet curtains.

I wonder if everyone’s rooms look like this.

I plop onto the king sized bed and sink into it pulling the fluffy sheets on top of me. Definitely luscious.

I sigh. I have a feeling I’m going to need all the sleep I can get.

Notes

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! I'm finally done with midterms! Wooooooo. So anyway, make sure to comment what you're thinking and subscribe if you want to read more! Updates are going to be more often now that I'm on break. :) Thank you for reading and keep staying awesome, gems.
~christie ellie