Drama
Chapter 6: Secrets
Leila's P.O.V.
Max, Alexa, Niall and I walk through the city to a nice restaurant, making sure to keep Niall’s hood up and his identity secret. As we stroll along the sidewalks, we engage in a friendly chat about the show and ask what Niall’s opinion is. He thinks it’s going to be a huge hit and he really likes it. He also noted that Mr. Conners put together an amazing cast of talented actors, perfect for a type of show like this. Niall believes we’re going to go far.
We reach our destination and I enter the restaurant first, my friends following behind me. The waitress at the front leads us to our table by the window and I slide in first, Alexa sitting next to me. Max and Niall seat themselves across from us and the waitress hands out 4 menus to each of us. We order our drinks and pick out our main dish. I’m trying not to make it too expensive because I fear that I’m running out of money. We don’t get paid on the show until it airs, so the only money I have is from my job working at a grocery store back home for 2 years and whatever my mom will give me (which isn’t much). I quickly pull out my phone and check my bank account, which is in good standing. I don’t even know why I freaked out about it. I haven’t even spent that much.
Anyways, as we wait for our food, Alexa and I get to know Niall a little better. We ask him simple questions about his life and what he hopes for the future, and Niall, in turn, does the same to us. We get on the subject of the show again and our topic suddenly moves to Spencer. I don’t like to gossip much, but this is what happens when you’re in the limelight.
“Don’t even get me started on Spencer,” Niall interjects. Max shakes his head in agreement.
“What? Why?” I ask, looking at the 2 boys in front of me.
“Just don’t get too close to her, all right?” Max warns.
“Can you guys please explain?” Alexa questions. Max looks at Niall.
“I think we should tell them. It’s best if they know,” Max pleads.
“Alright, fine,” Niall sighs, giving in. He’s about to speak again when the waitress arrives with our food. He pauses and waits for all of us to get our food and the waitress to leave before going into a long story about Spencer.
“I’ve known Spencer since I was about 10, when I first started coming to the studio. It was my second time at the studio and this little curly haired brunette, Spencer, saw me from the set. She was working on another show, I believe. She saw me and on her break, walked up to me and basically asked me in a demanding voice, ‘Who are you?’ and I was taken aback. I replied, ‘I’m Niall,’ and she said, ‘What are you doing here?’ and I told her, ‘My uncle owns this place so I can come here whenever I want.’ She replied, ‘Well, my daddy is one of the managers here so I can have you kicked out if you’re in my way.’”
“No way,” I breathe through a mouthful of pasta.
“Yeah, her dad is one of our managers,” Max says in an annoying tone. Niall takes a bite of his food and continues.
“Almost every single time I’m there, she’s there because of how many shows she was in. And so up until we were about 13, she always just gave me death glares and bossed me around like I was her assistant and if I didn’t do what she said, she was going to have me kicked out. Then when we were around 13 years old, she began calling me names, like ugly, stupid, worthless, and that’s why I was being her ‘assistant.’ According to her, I was too dumb and ugly to be anything else.”
“Oh, my God,” Alexa responds.
“And then about a year ago, I was getting tired of her shit, so I finally told her I was done. She still threatened to kick me out, but I stopped coming to the studio because of the X-Factor, which you guys all know about now. I think she believes that I was too scared to return to the studio, but now I’m back, and I’m surprised at how nice she’s being to me. I don’t get it,” Niall finishes, shoving food in his mouth before it gets cold.
An invisible light bulb appears over my head. I glance at Alexa and she has the same look as I do. We both understand why Spencer’s acting all nice to Niall. But do we dare tell him?
“I’m so sorry, Niall,” I apologize, taking a break from eating.
“It’s alright. She’s a messed up kid,” Niall replies, finishing up his food.
“And her dad is our manager?” Alexa repeats.
“Yeah, that’s why she gets in so many TV shows and movies,” Max answers. “I’m not trying to be mean, but that girl has no talent.”
“Tell me about it. I’ve had to watch her stupid little ass up there for almost 8 years,” Niall adds.
“Can we move on to a different subject now?” I ask, awkwardly sipping my drink.
We begin talking about something else and we’re all laughing by the time we finish and pay. We exit the restaurant and head back to the studio, keeping Niall in disguise. We make it back with no problem and enter in the back way, the screaming girls still outside, but not as many as there originally was. We walk through the hallway and Max disappears in his dressing room. Alexa and I are about to head into the girls’ dressing room but Spencer appears in front of the 3 of us.
“Have a good lunch?” she asks. I can tell she’s not happy with us for some reason. I exchange glances with Alexa and Niall.
“Uh, yeah,” I reply, confused.
“Ah,” Spencer responds, nodding. “Leila, can I talk to you? Alone?”
“Uh, sure,” I say, and follow Spencer down the hallway. She leads me to the open set and pulls me aside behind a fake tree.
“So, you guys went to lunch with Niall?” she begins.
“Yeah, but he just wanted to-”
“Why didn’t you invite me?” Spencer demands.
“W-what?” I stutter.
“Never mind, don’t answer that. Just…get out of my face,” she orders me.
Without another second, I brush past her and scurry down the hallway to the girls’ dressing room. Alexa sees my concerned face and approaches me.
“What did she want?” Alexa asks.
“Nothing,” I reply, not really knowing what to say. Alexa gives me a look to say that she knows something’s up, but she doesn’t push me to tell. We finish getting ready in silence and Spencer enters as soon as we’re done, so Alexa and I hurry out of the dressing room and down the hallway to the sets.
The second half of today runs smoothly. We finish filming everything we need for the first episode, including some funny bloopers to be shown on DVD and exclusive copies. Spencer kept giving me death glares this entire time, and thankfully it’s over so I don’t have to see her face for 2 days.
I’m also surprised to see Niall’s still here. He didn’t leave at all, unlike yesterday. We are released from set and I head for the dressing room, but Niall pulls me aside.
“Hey, what did Spencer want after lunch?” he asks. Oh, we’re going back to this subject.
“Nothing,” I repeat, looking down.
“Leila,” he warns.
“Alright, alright, she began the conversation by stating the obvious, that we went out to lunch with you, and then asked me why we didn’t invite her,” I reply.
“And what did you say back to her?”
“She cut me off. I tried explaining that you just wanted to tag along and Max, Alexa and I always go out to lunch with each other, but she interrupted me and told me to get out of her face,” I relay.
Niall sighs and I can tell his anger level is increasing. He pulls out his phone and taps into it a few times.
“Here, put in your number. If Spencer does anything to you, even if it’s just as simple as that, just call or text and I’ll come. I don’t want to see you go through what happened to me,” Niall explains, holding his phone out.
I plug in my number, enter my name, hit ‘Save’, and hand it back to him.
“Thanks,” I shyly speak.
“You’re welcome,” he responds, smiling. I grin back at him and my stomach gives a loud growl.
“Well, I better get going,” I say. “It’s late and I’m tired.”
“Alright, goodbye, Leila,” Niall replies, waving.
“Bye, Niall,” I repeat, waving back at him. I exit down the hallway and make sure I stop in the dressing room to grab my stuff, then head out back to my apartment.
I reach my apartment in no time, the sun just beginning to set. Madison’s back already and she’s prepared what smells like fish as I walk in the apartment.
“Hey,” Madison calls from the kitchen.
“Hey,” I greet as I put my stuff back in my room. I enter the kitchen to see her finishing up dinner.
“Smoked salmon, I believe I did it right,” she informs, pulling a pan out of the oven.
“Looks good,” I tell her, grabbing a plate and taking a piece out of the pan. I sit down at the table and begin eating it.
“This is really good!” I express, downing the fish.
“Phew, I did it right!” she exclaims, also taking a plate and filling it up. She sits next to me at the table and eats it up.
After dinner, we clean up and relax in the living room, telling each other about our days like usual. My day has been crazy, and Madison’s really into it. Well, who wouldn’t be when you’re explaining that you met a famous person?
We turn on the TV after storytelling and I pull out my phone. I haven’t been on some social media sites in a while, so I log on to Twitter and see my follower count rise from the last time I’ve checked it. I originally made a Twitter because I was interested in it, as any other teenager is about a new social media site, but last year, once I started auditioning like crazy, my agent took over my Twitter to connect with other casting directors and agents. Now that I’m 18, I got my Twitter back under my control and it feels great.
For some reason, my fingers click on Niall’s profile. I’m already following him, but I see that he tweeted an hour ago.
Had a crazy, wicked day today ! Some people need t mind their own business !
I smile as I actually know what he’s talking about. I retweet his tweet and reply back to him:
@NiallOfficial Yeah, if only she could mind her own business, but we all know that’s not going to happen
I click out of the app and find out I have a message from my mom telling me to call her because she misses me. Aw, mom!
I call her back and chat with her for a while until my phone won’t stop going off with notifications. I tell her I’ll call her tomorrow and I see what’s going on.
Niall replied back to me on Twitter and he followed me, and so many people are congratulating me and freaking out about Niall following and tweeting me.
@LeilaTesley I wish ! She irritates me every day !
I chuckle at his response and another notification comes up saying he texted me.
Hey Leila ! Found u on Twitter if you haven’t realized, lol. And if you haven’t guessed, it’s Niall :)
I text him back but the conversation ends soon because I’m tired. I wish him goodnight as he does the same and I get ready for bed, eager to sleep in tomorrow.
Max, Alexa, Niall and I walk through the city to a nice restaurant, making sure to keep Niall’s hood up and his identity secret. As we stroll along the sidewalks, we engage in a friendly chat about the show and ask what Niall’s opinion is. He thinks it’s going to be a huge hit and he really likes it. He also noted that Mr. Conners put together an amazing cast of talented actors, perfect for a type of show like this. Niall believes we’re going to go far.
We reach our destination and I enter the restaurant first, my friends following behind me. The waitress at the front leads us to our table by the window and I slide in first, Alexa sitting next to me. Max and Niall seat themselves across from us and the waitress hands out 4 menus to each of us. We order our drinks and pick out our main dish. I’m trying not to make it too expensive because I fear that I’m running out of money. We don’t get paid on the show until it airs, so the only money I have is from my job working at a grocery store back home for 2 years and whatever my mom will give me (which isn’t much). I quickly pull out my phone and check my bank account, which is in good standing. I don’t even know why I freaked out about it. I haven’t even spent that much.
Anyways, as we wait for our food, Alexa and I get to know Niall a little better. We ask him simple questions about his life and what he hopes for the future, and Niall, in turn, does the same to us. We get on the subject of the show again and our topic suddenly moves to Spencer. I don’t like to gossip much, but this is what happens when you’re in the limelight.
“Don’t even get me started on Spencer,” Niall interjects. Max shakes his head in agreement.
“What? Why?” I ask, looking at the 2 boys in front of me.
“Just don’t get too close to her, all right?” Max warns.
“Can you guys please explain?” Alexa questions. Max looks at Niall.
“I think we should tell them. It’s best if they know,” Max pleads.
“Alright, fine,” Niall sighs, giving in. He’s about to speak again when the waitress arrives with our food. He pauses and waits for all of us to get our food and the waitress to leave before going into a long story about Spencer.
“I’ve known Spencer since I was about 10, when I first started coming to the studio. It was my second time at the studio and this little curly haired brunette, Spencer, saw me from the set. She was working on another show, I believe. She saw me and on her break, walked up to me and basically asked me in a demanding voice, ‘Who are you?’ and I was taken aback. I replied, ‘I’m Niall,’ and she said, ‘What are you doing here?’ and I told her, ‘My uncle owns this place so I can come here whenever I want.’ She replied, ‘Well, my daddy is one of the managers here so I can have you kicked out if you’re in my way.’”
“No way,” I breathe through a mouthful of pasta.
“Yeah, her dad is one of our managers,” Max says in an annoying tone. Niall takes a bite of his food and continues.
“Almost every single time I’m there, she’s there because of how many shows she was in. And so up until we were about 13, she always just gave me death glares and bossed me around like I was her assistant and if I didn’t do what she said, she was going to have me kicked out. Then when we were around 13 years old, she began calling me names, like ugly, stupid, worthless, and that’s why I was being her ‘assistant.’ According to her, I was too dumb and ugly to be anything else.”
“Oh, my God,” Alexa responds.
“And then about a year ago, I was getting tired of her shit, so I finally told her I was done. She still threatened to kick me out, but I stopped coming to the studio because of the X-Factor, which you guys all know about now. I think she believes that I was too scared to return to the studio, but now I’m back, and I’m surprised at how nice she’s being to me. I don’t get it,” Niall finishes, shoving food in his mouth before it gets cold.
An invisible light bulb appears over my head. I glance at Alexa and she has the same look as I do. We both understand why Spencer’s acting all nice to Niall. But do we dare tell him?
“I’m so sorry, Niall,” I apologize, taking a break from eating.
“It’s alright. She’s a messed up kid,” Niall replies, finishing up his food.
“And her dad is our manager?” Alexa repeats.
“Yeah, that’s why she gets in so many TV shows and movies,” Max answers. “I’m not trying to be mean, but that girl has no talent.”
“Tell me about it. I’ve had to watch her stupid little ass up there for almost 8 years,” Niall adds.
“Can we move on to a different subject now?” I ask, awkwardly sipping my drink.
We begin talking about something else and we’re all laughing by the time we finish and pay. We exit the restaurant and head back to the studio, keeping Niall in disguise. We make it back with no problem and enter in the back way, the screaming girls still outside, but not as many as there originally was. We walk through the hallway and Max disappears in his dressing room. Alexa and I are about to head into the girls’ dressing room but Spencer appears in front of the 3 of us.
“Have a good lunch?” she asks. I can tell she’s not happy with us for some reason. I exchange glances with Alexa and Niall.
“Uh, yeah,” I reply, confused.
“Ah,” Spencer responds, nodding. “Leila, can I talk to you? Alone?”
“Uh, sure,” I say, and follow Spencer down the hallway. She leads me to the open set and pulls me aside behind a fake tree.
“So, you guys went to lunch with Niall?” she begins.
“Yeah, but he just wanted to-”
“Why didn’t you invite me?” Spencer demands.
“W-what?” I stutter.
“Never mind, don’t answer that. Just…get out of my face,” she orders me.
Without another second, I brush past her and scurry down the hallway to the girls’ dressing room. Alexa sees my concerned face and approaches me.
“What did she want?” Alexa asks.
“Nothing,” I reply, not really knowing what to say. Alexa gives me a look to say that she knows something’s up, but she doesn’t push me to tell. We finish getting ready in silence and Spencer enters as soon as we’re done, so Alexa and I hurry out of the dressing room and down the hallway to the sets.
The second half of today runs smoothly. We finish filming everything we need for the first episode, including some funny bloopers to be shown on DVD and exclusive copies. Spencer kept giving me death glares this entire time, and thankfully it’s over so I don’t have to see her face for 2 days.
I’m also surprised to see Niall’s still here. He didn’t leave at all, unlike yesterday. We are released from set and I head for the dressing room, but Niall pulls me aside.
“Hey, what did Spencer want after lunch?” he asks. Oh, we’re going back to this subject.
“Nothing,” I repeat, looking down.
“Leila,” he warns.
“Alright, alright, she began the conversation by stating the obvious, that we went out to lunch with you, and then asked me why we didn’t invite her,” I reply.
“And what did you say back to her?”
“She cut me off. I tried explaining that you just wanted to tag along and Max, Alexa and I always go out to lunch with each other, but she interrupted me and told me to get out of her face,” I relay.
Niall sighs and I can tell his anger level is increasing. He pulls out his phone and taps into it a few times.
“Here, put in your number. If Spencer does anything to you, even if it’s just as simple as that, just call or text and I’ll come. I don’t want to see you go through what happened to me,” Niall explains, holding his phone out.
I plug in my number, enter my name, hit ‘Save’, and hand it back to him.
“Thanks,” I shyly speak.
“You’re welcome,” he responds, smiling. I grin back at him and my stomach gives a loud growl.
“Well, I better get going,” I say. “It’s late and I’m tired.”
“Alright, goodbye, Leila,” Niall replies, waving.
“Bye, Niall,” I repeat, waving back at him. I exit down the hallway and make sure I stop in the dressing room to grab my stuff, then head out back to my apartment.
I reach my apartment in no time, the sun just beginning to set. Madison’s back already and she’s prepared what smells like fish as I walk in the apartment.
“Hey,” Madison calls from the kitchen.
“Hey,” I greet as I put my stuff back in my room. I enter the kitchen to see her finishing up dinner.
“Smoked salmon, I believe I did it right,” she informs, pulling a pan out of the oven.
“Looks good,” I tell her, grabbing a plate and taking a piece out of the pan. I sit down at the table and begin eating it.
“This is really good!” I express, downing the fish.
“Phew, I did it right!” she exclaims, also taking a plate and filling it up. She sits next to me at the table and eats it up.
After dinner, we clean up and relax in the living room, telling each other about our days like usual. My day has been crazy, and Madison’s really into it. Well, who wouldn’t be when you’re explaining that you met a famous person?
We turn on the TV after storytelling and I pull out my phone. I haven’t been on some social media sites in a while, so I log on to Twitter and see my follower count rise from the last time I’ve checked it. I originally made a Twitter because I was interested in it, as any other teenager is about a new social media site, but last year, once I started auditioning like crazy, my agent took over my Twitter to connect with other casting directors and agents. Now that I’m 18, I got my Twitter back under my control and it feels great.
For some reason, my fingers click on Niall’s profile. I’m already following him, but I see that he tweeted an hour ago.
Had a crazy, wicked day today ! Some people need t mind their own business !
I smile as I actually know what he’s talking about. I retweet his tweet and reply back to him:
@NiallOfficial Yeah, if only she could mind her own business, but we all know that’s not going to happen
I click out of the app and find out I have a message from my mom telling me to call her because she misses me. Aw, mom!
I call her back and chat with her for a while until my phone won’t stop going off with notifications. I tell her I’ll call her tomorrow and I see what’s going on.
Niall replied back to me on Twitter and he followed me, and so many people are congratulating me and freaking out about Niall following and tweeting me.
@LeilaTesley I wish ! She irritates me every day !
I chuckle at his response and another notification comes up saying he texted me.
Hey Leila ! Found u on Twitter if you haven’t realized, lol. And if you haven’t guessed, it’s Niall :)
I text him back but the conversation ends soon because I’m tired. I wish him goodnight as he does the same and I get ready for bed, eager to sleep in tomorrow.
Notes
Hey everyone, I hope you're enjoying the story so far and please keep voting and sharing!I can't wait for the next chapter! It's got a lot of action in it and that's all I'm going to say otherwise I might spoil it for you...
Rachel :)
Make a Sequel please.
9/13/14