Living a Pseudonym

I awoke in my bed which was weird because I knew for a fact that I had fallen asleep on the couch. I rubbed my eyes and pulled the curtains that secluded my bunk open to reveal Harry standing in the middle of the hallway fiddling with his phone.
“Okay Niall!!” He yelled and held his phone up. I watched as the person who I assumed was Niall raced by on a pink scooter. He kept going until he purposefully ran into a wall. Smooth. I rolled my eyes and pulled the fuzzy, pink blanket tighter on my petite body. I didn't feel like getting up, in fact I didn't even feel like breathing. It took too much effort that I wasn't willing to use. I would rather curl up and waste away to nothing in my grief.


A hour later I was desperately craving coffee, a warm aroma wafted into my bunk from the kitchen. I assumed that Avery was up because, like me, she adored coffee. I gave into the appetizing smell and I slowly slung my feet on the cold floor. I threw my hair into a quick ponytail with a few strands of hair framing the sides of my face. I hadn't bothered to put on makeup or even change out of the clothes I slept in. I figured a baggy sweatshirt and cropped leggins were somewhat presentable but I didn't care what everyone thought of me.

I padded into the kitchen area but my gaze never left the cracked, pink toenail polish on my feet. I heard a couple of voices that tentatively mumbled a good morning but their greetings went unnoticed as I took a deep breath and looked at my surroundings. It was a relatively simple kitchen with cream cabinets on one side that were topped with dark brown and white speckled granite. A small refrigerator, microwave, and oven were located in the corner. Across from the cooking area there was a bar with three stools and a booth that sat ten.

Avery was sitting by the window of the booth with her knees touching her rosy cheeks. A man sat across from her wearily sipping tea from a plain, red mug. Every minute or so, Avery would pick up her mug of coffee and stare at it before setting back on the table. She was just as sad as I was but she wouldn't let anyone know but I could tell, I always could.

I tried very hard to avoid everyone as I dragged my body to the coffee pot, when I reached it I stood in front of the machine awkwardly. I had no idea where the mugs were. I was about to start randomly searching through the cupboards but a heavily tattooed arm handed me one. I assumed it was Harry but when the figure walked away I noticed that he looked different. I heard someone call his name, Zayn.

One and half spoonfuls of sugar, and a half cup of milk. I made my coffee as I always did, just like my mother. We had the same taste buds. I bent over the counter and blew on the hot steam arising from the creamy liquid. The smell reminded me of Sunday mornings back a home. My mom would serve a complete country breakfast and her signature coffee while dad flipped through the morning paper and noted the latest sports news. I felt my eyes begin to water, fearing that I would cry in front of these strangers I pretended to yawn and blamed the wetness near my eyes on my morning grogginess. Hiding sadness was something I would have to get used to.

I plopped next to Avery in the booth. She slowly looked over her shoulder and her solemn face slightly lightened at the sight of me. I gave her a reassuring look and stared at the ripples in my coffee. The bus had fallen in a comfortable silence, Avery continued to look out the window. She was clearly lost in her racing thoughts. Most of the boys had retreated to the sitting room, except two, Harry and Louis. They were sitting at the bar immersed in their Iphones. They kept nudging each other and their phones would vibrate constantly. I assumed that they were texting each other to avoid words being heard aloud.

I felt a tap on my shoulder, I turned around to see Avery smiling sadly at me. “On this day in history Henry Ford's company made the first Model-T car, and it's ALF's birthday.”
I almost lost it, every day our mom would give us random tidbits of history. Her favorites were 'This Day In History'. She would always talk about how one day she waned to be on one of the websites, she wanted to be remembered in history. I smiled sadly as memories flooded into my head of all the historical debates our family would have when my mom mentioned some weird fact. I missed that.

“Remeber ALF? We used to like that show as kids.” I smiled at the memory of the creepy alien-lifeform character.

“Yeah, I remember you liked it! I would always get scared and hide in the closet.” Avery replied with a huff. I had to admit, Alf was pretty creepy but I used to love him as a child.

“Remeber when I got that Alf toy and iZ chased you around the house with it until you locked yourself in a closet?”

Avery flinched at the horrifying memory. “I was so scared when Dad couldn't find the key!”

“We had to call the cops.” at that point I was quietly laughing at the ridiculous moment and soon Avery joined me. It felt good to smile but it felt unnatural. I had been putting on a ake one for so long that actually laughing was foreign to me. As quickly as our joy happened it ended and we went back to being silent and depressed.

After breakfast I went and sat in the sitting room with Avery. Apparently we had another on tour meeting to attend. I rolled my eyes and Avery had the same annoyed expression on her face. We clearly didn't want to be put in this dreary position. A lady with blonde hair smiled warmly at us before offering her hand for Avery and I to shake. “Hello, I'm Lou. I get to mess with the boys' hair and apparently I'm supposed to mess with yours as well.”
I nervously picked at a strand of golden hair before glancing up at the lady. Simon had mentioned changing our looks before we were publicized just to make sure we weren't noticed. I nodded slowly, deep in thought. I had never pictured myself with different hair, in fact I couldn't picture myself as anybody other than me, Maybe this was a chance to change my image and the rest of me.

“So, I guess you can pick any color and style. It's a wide open door. The choice is yours.” Lou gave me a magazine to look through. I flipped through pages of models supporting colorful layers to chic, glossy bobs. I wanted something that was somewhat natural, I didn't want to look like a crayon. I rapidly flipped through the pages letting the small gusts of air brush across my face. I stopped at a picture of a lady with glossy, red hair. It was definatly a statement but the color was natural in a weird way. I loved it. Lou sensed my amusement and began to arrange the tools needed to recreate the style. I felt her lower my head into a sink of warm water. As soon as my head entered the water I closed my eyes. I knew that the next time I opened them, I would look completely different.

After Lou finished my hair I couldn't stop touching and obsessing over it. She had added more layers and the bold, red color actually worked for me. I was surprised, it made the blue of my eyes stick out. I listened to Lou talk to Avery about her job and how Avery was going to be an Assistant Stylist. As a way to cover us up farther we had been given false jobs so that we'd have a reason to be on tour with them. I was going to be a hired songwriter, someone had told the management about my love for songwriting. I was going to be meeting with One Direction's main songwriter in a minute.
“Hello? Kara?” He referred to me by my pseudonym, it would take me awhile to adjust to being called that.
“I'm just kidding, you're Angelina.” His voice has caked with a Texas accent. He sat across from me on the couch.
“My name is, Savan Kotecha. It's a pleasure to meet you under these harsh conditions.” He shuffled his hands and adjusted the fedora on his head. He began to inform me of my “job” and how if a song popped into my head, I should jot it down. I nodded, it was pretty simple. He handed me a brown, leather notebook and excused himself to a meeting. I slipped the book into a storage pocket next to my bed. I stood back up and I was face to face with Avery. She had her hair cut into brown to blonde ombre. It looked fantastic on her.
“You look so different!” She beamed at me while eyeing my hair.
“Ditto.” I replied while admiring hers. I felt a pair of eyes burning a hole in my back, I turned around to see Harry staring at me. When I caught him he made no effort to look away, he simply raised his eyebrows and walked away to talk to Lou.

“They still look alike.” I heard a voice in the other room.
“Sir, they are twins, they are going to look alike.” Another person answered. The voices were coming from the kitchen. All of the boys were in the sitting room.

“Well, what options do we have?” The two men lowered their voices until I couldn't hear their hushed whispers. Suddenly Simon Cowell entered the hallway. He smiled at me and twisted his hands nervously.“So, Angelina. How do you feel about plastic surgery?”

Notes

Been awhile since I uploaded. Sorry about that! :) BTW if you think this is just your typical love story, it isn't. It actually is really at all. Ha, sorry about that once again. I have major plans for this series so I hope you enjoy. I already have the sequel planned out :D

If you don't know who/what ALF is its this creepy TV show from the 1980s and 1990s.