I didn’t even get the door closed before Kiley began attacking me with questions.

“That looked serious!” she exclaimed, eyes wide. “What happened? What’d you do? Did you do anything besides eat and walk around?”

It was hard to get her to stop rambling questions my way, but I laughed and started answering them. “Look, Kiley, breathe. He’s almost twice my age. Not that kinda date. We’re just friends hanging out.” I scowled at Noah. “Apparently he likes my butt.”

Noah smirked. “You’re welcome.”

My eyes widened. “Welcome? For what? He probably had to say that to be polite.”

“Oh come on,” Madi groaned. “With your ass, he didn’t have to say anything. It would’ve been understood that he thought your ass was nice.”

“Okay, let’s avert the conversation away from my butt and back to what happened,” I suggested, and of course, I pulled a strawberry lemonade out of the fridge before going on. “We went to LA Café. It’s really good, and their strawberry banana smoothies are amazing. It’s open twenty-four seven, so my vote is that we go after Monday and eat at, like, one in the morning.”

“Sounds good to me,” Kiley agreed. “So what then?”

“We walked some, got to know each other, and went ice skating,” I shrugged. “We just had fun as two friends, you know? Ice skating, by the way, is awesome. I thought I would fall on my butt a lot, but the only time I fell was when I started trying to do tricks and lost my balance.”

Niall actually put some input into the conversation when he laughed. “You’re not supposed to do tricks your first time ice skating, Everit.”

I smiled sheepishly. “I got it down, so I thought it’d be fun.”

“Why does he call you Ritty?” Demi asked out of genuine curiosity. Even though she was just trying to be friendly, my happy mood started slipping away much quicker than I thought it would.

Still, I appeared pleasant and even laughed a little. “He just messed up when saying Everit, just said rit, so he calls me Ritty.”

“Can I call you Ritty?” Noah asked, cocking an eyebrow at me as he smirked. “Or is that just him?”

“It’s just him,” I said with a shrug. “I mean, it makes no sense for you to call me Ritty. It’d just be odd.”

When my phone began ringing in my pocket, I was surprised. My plan was to ignore it, but they were eyeing me skeptically when I did, so I pulled it out to see who texted me.

It was Chris, followed shortly by Max.

Max: How did it go?? Is it still going?? Why haven’t you told me yet?!

Chris: Ritty, I’m just gonna be straight with you. Niall is just as in love with you as you are him.

I took a deep breath and set my phone down on the counter. “I think I’m gonna go up to my room and make sure I’m actually awake and in reality. This is all hard to grasp. Still not sure this isn’t one huge dream.”

Something flashed across Niall’s bright blue eyes, but it was gone before I could really see what it was. I could, however, see him biting back a grin, so I figured it had something to do with the other night . . . which only made my cheeks burn while my hormones started raging.

That’s why I picked up my strawberry lemonade and began walking slowly away. “When am I needed again? Isn’t it four?”

“Four,” Niall confirmed. “Sleep, maybe? You look tired.”

I nodded, and as if on cue, I yawned. “Restless last night.” Because I was thinking about how much I wanted you to be beside me.

“You’re probably too stressed about everything,” Demi informed me. “Maybe try focusing now? You’re kinda in a singing competition, not a competition to see who can go out with the most Hollywood bachelors.”

My teeth snapped together as I turned to her with a tight smile. Her comment actually shocked everyone else beyond words, including Niall, whose eyes were wide—especially when he saw my expression.

“It is a singing competition, but people have different ways of dealing with stress,” I informed her. “Mine happens to be taking myself away from the stressful situation and having some fun. Whether it be dancing. Hanging out with Chris Evans. It doesn’t matter. I feel a lot more relaxed and ready to get to work now, so forgive me if I don’t take stress advice from someone who knows nothing about me or how I work.”

Her eyes were dark as she glared at me a little, but I didn’t bask in the glare long. I turned and headed up the stairs with Harley following quickly behind me.

My eyes were wide as I scurried into my bedroom, closing the door very quickly behind myself after Harley was in here. Holy crap! Did I just do that?!

It was one thing to stand up to Brinley. Standing up to Demi Lovato, our performance mentor for the week, was something else entirely.

Rehearsals would be interesting . . . .

---

After I managed to calm down, I got in a pretty good nap, too. That left me in pajamas for rehearsals, but since there were no cameras until closer to the end of the week, I wasn’t too worried.

Besides, a black cami with white short shorts with black and pink plaid weren’t a big deal. It’s not like anything was hanging out or anything. My ponytail was messed up, since I slept on it, so I took it out and put my fuzzy panda hat on my head. With these things on, I slipped into some panda socks and began my descent downstairs, off towards the practice room.

I really didn’t care what she thought. Honestly, I wanted her to make another comment about me. Let’s see what I said then.

When I opened the door and stepped inside, I was surprised to find Niall sitting on the piano bench by himself. He was looking at something on his phone until he heard me come in, but the thing that got me was the fact that he was alone.

He smiled, and when he saw my confused expression, he nodded. “Expecting someone else?”

“I thought Demi would be here,” I admitted, and I began biting my bottom lip. “Sorry about that.”

He shrugged, giving me a smirk. “She kinda started it. At any rate, it’s over and done with, so it doesn’t matter anymore. What does matter is that we have very little time, and you, my dear, have to be awesome.”

“No pressure or anything, right?” I teased, and I walked over to the piano bench with a sigh. “Still using the recording for today?”

He nodded. “The band haven’t gotten yours down just yet. Yours and someone from Adam’s team, I think they said. Anyways, before we start . . . .” He handed me my phone and quirked his lips to the side. “You left this on the counter.”

I smiled and took it. “Thanks. Mind if I text them back really quickly?”

He shook his head and stood up. “How does he know, Evie? I didn’t snoop. It was pulled up when I picked it up off the counter.”

My eyes widened. “What? Did anyone else see it?”

“No,” he assured me, letting out a gentle laugh. “Just me.”

I shrugged. “He figured it out, I guess. He was asking me about double dating one day, and my love life got brought up. I couldn’t hide the fact that I’m in love, so . . . he figured it out. After asking a few questions. How he figured it out about you, I’m not sure.”

“Guess it’s not hard to tell I was jealous,” he murmured, and to my surprise, he actually grabbed my face in his hands and placed a firm kiss on my lips. “Evie, I can’t do this whole ‘staying away from you completely’ thing. It’s the reason I didn’t get any sleep last night either. I wanted to be beside you, to just hold you.”

I was smiling brightly now, unable to text for a few seconds because I had to get my thoughts together. “That’s why I couldn’t, honestly.” And I quickly texted back so that we could get started.

To Chris, Sorry it took so long to respond! Of course I got interrogated, then drama ensued, and then I slept. :3 Well, I wouldn’t say THAT, per say. Besides, I don’t even think he has feelings for me at all. Wouldn’t that be unprofessional?

To Max, YES. I’m back. BREATHE. I was back right after you texted, but I got interrogated by the people here, and then drama . . . which I’ll tell you about later . . . and anyways. It was a lot of fun, but I can’t talk much right now. I’ll tell you all about it when I call tonight, okay?

Then, I put my phone on silent and set it in the corner while he sat down beside me on the piano bench. “We need to figure out what we’re gonna do, Niall. If we have a set plan, it’ll be easier to not get caught.”

He nodded. “I know. This week, however, we’re not gonna be able to do anything, really. With everything that’s going on . . . .”

I smiled sheepishly. “You mean because Demi’s here, don’t you?”

“Didn’t wanna say it, but yeah,” he said, giving me a tiny smile. “I know you don’t like her, but she’s my friend, and she would notice if something was going on.”

“She doesn’t,” I pointed out.

“Because I’m doing whatever I can to hide it,” he informed me. “I’m trying really hard, and it’s tiring. So when it’s just you and me, or just anyone who knows . . . I can’t do it. It’s stressing me out having to try so hard.”

I actually nestled myself to where he had no choice but to put his arm around me, and that made him laugh a little, despite how happy it made him. Sitting here, all the shutters closed, the shades pulled over the window on the door . . . it was easy to put us in a place where we could be together. Where nothing else mattered but that.

That’s why I hated it when he softly kissed the top of my head and stood up from the bench.
“Alright, Evie. We made a backup plan for if you don’t win, but I’d hate to see that happen. Not saying I’m gonna make the wrong choices so it doesn’t happen, but if we practice like we need to, I think there’ll be nothing to worry about. This song you picked . . . why’d you do it?”

“Well, I mean, this song . . . it kinda describes a lot of situations in my life,” I reminded him, giving him a coy smile. “Mutant freak, remember? There was a lot of stuff that went on at that place that kinda fits with the song. I mean, I’m not really sure if I can be considered a human, can I?”

“I think so,” he disagreed. “But I get your point. You went through so much to get where you are.”

“Precisely,” I nodded. “So, I’m singing about my life story . . . which I plan to put into my performance.”

He cocked an eyebrow at me. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t mean I plan to be like, ‘Hey, Prepot, I’m here!’” I assured him. “I just mean, like, I wanna do something more than stand up there and sing passionately, you know? I want it to be entertaining.”

“Well, it already is entertaining,” he informed me with a smile. “But you do what you wanna do. As much as you’re gonna hate hearing this, too, that’s what Demi’s here for. To help you perform big, to be unforgettable.”

I made a face. “Yeah. I know, and I’m actually looking forward to it.”

As long as she doesn’t try and change me . . . .

Notes

The lyrics are from Prove You Wrong by He Is We. Love that band. :)

Anyways, D: I'm horrible. I promised an update last night, but then crashed. And then I didn't post it earlier today. Sorry! xP Here's the next chapter, though. :3

Hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!