Living a Pseudonym

I never thought that I would get plastic surgery, I had never felt self-conscious about my body, until now. Was there something wrong with my nose? Did it stick out too much, was it too big? I nervously ran my finger over the bride to my forehead. I suddenly felt awful about myself, I mean who was I to be in the presence of national celebrities if my nose couldn't even be dealt with. We were in private SUV, driving to the plastic surgeon. I felt tears well up in my eyes. I didn't want plastic surgery, I wouldn't care if my psychotic parents discovered me. At least I wouldn't have to suffer.

“You know, this is ridiculous. You shouldn't have to do this if you obviously don't want to.” Harry huffed from the seat next to me. I glanced at him with red, teary eyes. I saw his facial expression darken, he mumbled something to his bandmate before grimly plopping back in his seat. I pulled myself in a tighter ball and tried to shrink into the crack in the seats. I silently cried until I accidentally let a muffled sob escape my lips. Avery gave me a protective hug as I cried my eyes out.

“This is bullshit. Stop the car.” Harry shouted at the driver with anger dripping off of his words. I looked up and forgot about the mascara running down my cheeks. The driver reluctantly pulled the car over on the side of the road. We were in the outskirts of Atlanta, just about to enter the city. Harry lifted me from the backseat and onto the road, “Hide your face.” He whispered into my ear as he hoisted me into the soft sea breeze.

“Wait, Avery. Avery!” I cried into his shoulder as he carried me away as if I weighed nothing. I clung onto the back of his neck and inhaled the smell of his shampoo. He hailed a cab and gently dropped me into the backseat. He slid in beside me and pulled a beanie over his head to hide his face.

“Take us to a quiet restaurant, please.” He informed the cab driver who nodded and focused on the road not paying attention to the celebrity in his backseat. Harry shut the window that enabled the man from hearing us.

“Sorry if I scared you, I could tell that you didn't want to do that and well, plastic surgery is a big deal and it's permanent. They can't just tell you what to do, I mean they’ve already changed your hair an forced you to live with us and pretty much changed your life. They don't have the right to your face.” He trailed off and drummed his fingers on the ripped, leather seat cushion.
“I wanted to save you from one last piece of hell.”

It hit me. Harry Styles saved me, he was probably going to get in serious trouble for disobeying his management. I could hear his phone buzz with constant messages. He got annoyed and shut it down completely. I could trust Harry, he risked it all for me, a depressed girl who was insignificant in a cruel world. He could of let me get my face transformed and not cared at all. But he did, he cared. For the first time I opened my mouth and spoke to him.

“Thank you Harry.”

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He blinked at me registering the fact that I had spoken to him. He smiled and fixed his hair while I went back to my usual silence. I stared out of the window at the city that was passing by, in the distance I could see the ocean. I had never been to a beach before and behind my solemn frown I was grinning from ear to ear. The cab driver stopped in front of a sea front restaurant, Harry paid him and ran to my side of the car to help me exit. I took his hand and pulled myself into his arms. He lead me inside the swinging doors to a quaint, local place called Shorie's. Two men drank beers at a bar while they watched a game of American Football. A waitress tucked a strand of hair behind her ear while she squinted through her glasses at a map of the restaurant. “Party for two?” She asked, bending down to grab two menus. She stood back up and typed into a computer, “What should I put the name under?”

“Styles, and could we sit in a private area outside?” Harry replied calmly.
“Alright, Styles.” The waitress finally turned to look at us, recognition popped into her face but she didn't say anything. “Uhh, you can follow me.” We followed behind her as she maneuvered tables and chairs until we reached a secluded table that overlooked the ocean.

“Thank you.” Harry charmingly smiled and pulled my chair out for me to sit in. I lowered myself onto the floral cushion across from Harry. I stared at the blue waves that danced across miles of powdery, white sand. When a wave would crash upon the shore, its foam tips would blend into the sand making it seem as if the ocean went on forever. I think I heard the waitress ask for our drink orders but I was so immersed in the view that I had toned her out, I believe that Harry ordered for me. Good, I didn't want to speak anyways.

“So, Kara.” Harry called my pseudonym which surprised me, he always called me Angelina.
“Sorry Angie, but there could be damn paps here and, you know, I want to keep you safe and all.” He took a sip of water. I nodded, it was time to put my game face on.
“You know a lot about my life, tell me about yours.” I surprised myself as the words flew out of my mouth. I hadn't spoken that much to anyone other than Avery. Harry looked equally as shocked but his expression faded into amusement.

“I suppose you know the basics, I was born in Cheshire and I have a cheeky sister Gemma but I'm the cooler sibling.” Harry paused to take a sip of water from a fancy glass before continuing.
“I met the boys at X-factor and since then we've been brothers. Have I had quite the laughs with them!” He grinned to himself while I listened intently. Harry got the signal that I didn't want to speak so he went with his life story.
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“So then they put lemons in Niall's shoes expecting him to be surprised at the fact that fruits were in his shoes but the lemons somehow stained them! He was so mad!” Harry laughed while pushing the remaining pasta on his plate with a fork. I rolled my eyes but turned the corners of my mouth into a grin. The waitress came with the check, I pulled out my Vera Bradley wallet and started to pull out a crisp, twenty dollar bill but by the time I had looked up Harry had already paid and was standing up to leave.
“Come, you've been staring at the beach this entire time. Lets go.” He held his hand out to help me up. I didn't want to depend on him to pay for me but I wasn't in the mood to put up a proper fight so I trailed behind him until we made our way to the sand. I wasn't really dressed for the beach but that didn't stop me from kicking my fringe sandals off and running towards the ocean. The light sea breeze ruffled my hair as it billowed down my back like a red waterfall. The salty smell of the ocean wafted into my nose and the crying of seagulls echoed down from the sky. I dipped my toes in the shallow water and tensed up as coldness struck my veins. I could hear Harry laughing at me so I whipped my head around only to have the wind blow strands of hair over my face. This made Harry laugh even more before pulling the hair away from my face.
“You're nuts-so, lets walk we can get to the hotel from here.” Harry knocked his own shoes off before bending down to get mine.
“Do you reckon that these will fit?” He thought aloud while examining my girly sandals.
“Yeah, I think they will.” He strapped my shoes to his feet, they were a little too small but he still wore them. He pulled his black iPhone out of his pocket and snapped a picture of his new style. He began tapping on his phone so I assumed he was posting the picture to Instagram. I turned my head and stared at the ocean that was sparkling in the dim sunlight.

I heard the click of a camera, I turned around to see Harry pointing his phone at me while smiling. “You look beautiful!” He showed me the screen, it was a picture of half of my face staring at the ocean, the other half was covered with wisps of hair.
“Yeah, no.” I stared at my reflection in the tumbling water, I could feel Harry's eyes burning holes into my back. “it's getting dark, lets get to the hotel. I'm sure everyone is worried.” I said as a clever way to avoid an argument. Harry agreed and walked next to me in silence.
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“Why the hell would you do that? Do you know how many pictures could be out there of you holding some girl?!” A voice yelled through Harry's phone. It was management, in lack of other words, they were pissed. I felt my mood drop when the man referred to me as some girl as if I wasn't already unimportant in my eyes, now I was pathetic in other's eyes as well.
“She is not some girl.” Harry seethed. “She didn't want plastic surgery. You can't force her to change her face.”
Since we had arrived at the hotel Harry had been yelled at for defending me. I felt awful listening to him take the blame for me being so miserable. Everyone was in the other room, I was curled up on the window sill away from everyone. I watched the dark ocean crash upon the shore almost swallowing a beach chair. It felt good to disappear without anybody noticing, I could slip away and run into the ocean and never return, no one would notice, or care for that matter. I felt a tear run down my cheek, I missed my old life and parents. They had made no effort to contact me and my sister thereby adding to my worries. What if they were dead?

“Lads? Where is Angie?” I heard Harry ask from the other room. He was the first to even notice my absence. I heard shuffling and muffled footsteps, my name was called several times. I ignored everyone's desperate pleas and let the tears freefall from my eyes.

“She wouldn't run away.. Would she?” I heard a voice come to the room that I was in through the connecting door. I could tell that Avery was crying by the way her voice cracked when she called for me.
“I'm going to the lobby! Call the cops!” Another person shouted and then a door slammed shut. Heavy footsteps stomped to the window and pulled the curtain back slightly, enough for them to fit through but not enough to reveal me. I looked at the figure who was staring out the window at the ocean. It was Harry and based on his red eyes, he was crying and he didn't want anyone to see. He placed his forehead on the glass with a thud and he nervously ran his hands through his dark curls. I assumed he was trying to compose himself and seeing him like that, so scared, made me feel even more awful. I caused this. I was wrecking everything. I sniffled a little too loudly, his head shot up and his eyes met mine.

“Ang-Angelina?” His voice cracked at the end, it sounded more like he was choking my name out. I drifted my gaze from him to my knees, I began to cry even harder as the entire curtain was pulled back. Avery looked up from Louis' chest, those two had gotten close. She immediately ran and engulfed me in a tight hug.

“Don't do that.” She whispered through wet sobs.

Liam being the responsible one called Zayn and Niall and told them to not call the cops. After a minute Avery let me go, before everyone could question me I briskly walked to the bathroom and shut the door behind me. I sat on the toilet and didn't move, I just sat there until I noticed a phone on the wall across from me. It was in case someone fell and needed help, I had other uses for it. I shakily grabbed the handle and punched in my home phone number, it rang a few times before a hoarse voice answered.

“Hello?” They greeted with mock enthusiasm. The man on the other end was not my father, his voice was too grizzly.

“Uh, may I speak to Mr or Mrs. Mensong?” I wearily asked. Who was this man?

“Babe, who the hell are you talkin-” A woman's voice was shouting in the background before the man quieted her with a SHH. “Okay, okay no need to get so damned bitchy. They won't talk so unless we get some answers-” The woman replied but was cut off again by the person on the phone. He cleared his throat before replying.

“You know, the Mensongs had two daughters, who else would be dumb enough to call them?” The man evilly chuckled through the phone. I gasped, this man was confusing. Why was he at my house. Thousands of questions ran through my mind before I asked the most obvious one.

“What have you done with my parents?”

Notes

I felt like this chapter was longer but yeah I had a lot to write :)

I know, y'all hate the whole iPhone as the phone but being realistic, they all have iPhones and I'm team Apple so.... sorry?

Ooh but drama!!! :D