chapter five

I was halfway through my shift when I got a message. 

ANONYMOUS: "Hey love, how are you?".

Who is this person? Is he him? NO, it's not possible. Last time I saw him he was going to jail and was in a court, his hands in handcuffs. 

Is he back? I get goosebumps thinking about him. I get this urge to itch my skin , like there are a million ants crawling all over my body It cannot be possible. I am just hallucinating or this is some poor prank by some horny teenager in desperate need of attention or something. I look around me for any cameras , or any sign of him but do not find any . I find some courage to write a message back with my heart racing. 

ME: 

Who are you? 

ANONYMOUS: 

You don't remember me?

Oh my god! This is not possible. It can't be. My breath hitches. I repeat my message once again with shaky hands. 

ME: 

If you don't want to be reported, I ask again WHO. ARE. YOU.?  

ANONYMOUS: 

WOAH! Calm down Claire , it's me , Harry . I was just joking , sorry if I scared you. 

Thank God. I sigh because it's only Harry. I saved this number in Harry's name. 

ME: 

Hey, how did you get my number, Harry? 

HARRY:

Rose found it for me. 

ME: 

HEY! That's a serious invasion of privacy!! 

HARRY: 

Normally, I would say I am sorry, but I am not. So , what do you say about what I told you last night? 

ME: 

WHAT?

My mind runs through a flashback and then it hits me.

HARRY: 

You know about the audition thing? The auditions are today, so you need to think, like, really quickly. 

ME: 

Oh my god, are you kidding me? 

HARRY: 

So, does this mean you are saying yes? 

ME: 

No, but even if I did, there is no way I could be ready to audition without practising and then there's my job. How do you expect me to get out in the middle of my shift? No way is my boss letting me do that. He will skin me alive without even blinking. 

HARRY:

I know what, I am coming to pick you up, so you had better be ready. 

ME: 

What? I didn't even say yes. 

HARRY: 

Bye Claire! See you soon. ​​​​

ME: 

Wait!!

He didn't reply to that, so I realised that he was not going to back down now. I went towards my boss and tried to charm him with some small talk. " Hey boss, how is everything?" 

He says agitatedly, "What do you want, Claire?" 

"What! Nothing......alright,so you know my grandma. She is way too ill and my family is not with her now, so I need to go to the hospital. Would it be alright if I left early?" 

"Didn't you say that your grandma died last week?" 

Oh shit! I don't usually lie but drastic times call for drastic measures.

"No! No I mean that this is another grandma." Forgive me .God.

"Claire, enough with your excuses. Why don't you do your work properly and deliver those flyers?"

"Yeah , I am sorry . I will get to it." 

"Wait! Take your costume with you." 

"What costume? Last time there weren't any?" 

He points to the banana shake costume and I stand there shocked. There is no way I am wearing that hedious thing. If I would have seen it earlier, I would have burned it and worse , Justin would've wreaked havoc on the person who made it.  

He gives me the costume and ushers me into the bathroom stall. 

Finding no other way, I changed into that monstrosity of a costume and changed without wasting another minute, grabbed the flyers and headed out to distribute them to basically any living thing I saw. 

*_* 

After what feels like a lifetime, I am about to head inside when I see a black SUV parked next to me. 

Harry comes out of the car and I realise that I am still in the costume and the only thing I can think about is that I don't want him to see me like that. I turn and start walking the other way. I am too late. Harry is catching up with me. He comes up and says"Hey!,what are you doing?" 

I am suddenly flushed thinking of him seeing me in my hedious costume. "I was distributing flyers because I may or may not have lied to my boss to leave early for the audition, but who am I kidding?! . He caught me and told me off. 

"Come inside, let me talk to him." Harry runs before me.

"No need, he will snap at you too and you don't wanna go through it. Trust me" I try to catch his wrist to stop him but i am helpless because Harry is quite taller than me and faster too.

He is already opening the door before I can stop him. I follow after him like a pouting child, I am feeling like . He goes towards the Voldemort (my boss) and says " Hey , I am Harry . And you are ?" 

"Winston " He grumbles.

"Hi,winston . I am taking Claire with me and you will not snap at her or cut her pay . Is that understood?" He says in a non - negotiable tone ,which would frighten others but definttely not voldemort.

"Yeah, and I am the president of America. Look boy , I don't know who you think you are, but you can not take my waitstaff with you like that." He says glaring at Harry.

"Well, I can take her with me, considering her shift is about to end and it is an emergency, so you can not force her to stay."  harry stays with utter calm.

" And you think you can stop me?" 

'OH , I can do more than just stop you", Harry said with a dangerous glint in his eyes . His hands rolling the cuffs of his shirt so that his muscular forearm can be seen . I am sure things are going to get nasty if any of them choose this exact moment to say something , so this is my cue to take things over . 

"Hey guys, no need to get angry , why not we talk things over, right harry , Winston?" I step in between both of them ,my hands on harry's chest . I might've let my hands wander on the muscular planes of his rick-hard chest . I feel Harry's heartbeat quicken underneath my palm, so i let my hand falter by my side . I see harry smirking and eyeing me from my periphery and red hot heat gathers on my neck.

"hmm hmm" Harry just hums, not removing his eyes from me. 

"If I may , can I suggest something , Winston?"  I ask ,smiling sheepishly.

"First of, do not call me Winston , I am your boss. Second, I don't need your suggestions ,you are not going anywhere."

"Sorry boss, I will not make that mistake again" I say. 

"You don't need to apologise to him Claire ,stop apologising" says Harry . 

I glare at him to stop him from making decisions in haste which will result in me being jobless, but clearly he vhooses to ignore my glare and says,"Now, you will either let her go without consequences or you are going to be hearing from my lawyer soon, which will make you regret this decision of yours . So what do you say, Winston?" Harry slightly tilts his neck and since he is taller than winston ,he towers over him.

Winston must really hate lawyers since he lets me go in the end, even though it was with a grunt and a stink eye, I am happy. 

"Now , you look beautiful either way, but don't you think you could change?" Harry said, pointing to my banana outfit. 

"Naah, I am going to go like this. " I nod.

" Are you serious?" He says eyeing my costume.

"Of course not. I definitely want to change. I don't want my first impression to be like this. Just wait here." 

I say and go to a restroom to change into my old clothes. 

"Now better?" I asked Harry after i return . 

"Best"he says, and we both leave for the auditions. 

*_*

Harry takes me to a theatre or an auditorium of sorts , where I think the auditions will be happening . Harry leaves for some work, so I take time to wander alone.

I saw five to six people sitting in the lounge. One of them looked like a 12 yr old, so I sat on the couch near her .

It was after 10 mins when I realised that I need to start a conversation.

I turned my face towards the kid and said,"hey sweetie , what's your name?"

She smiled and said," Hey, I am Sara and you?"

I replied,"I am Claire , so what are you gonna sing?"

She replied,"teardrops on my guitar by Taylor swift". She was gonna say something more when a lady with long brown hair who looked like she was  in her 30s came and scolded the child and said,"I told you not to speak with strangers. she is a stranger , do you seriously want to mess up your competition?"

She frowned and said," But mom, she looks sweet and kind."

The lady,(who I know now as her mom) said"no buts, Sara, you better come to me right now!!"

The child obviously got scared at her mom's high voice and gave me a smile and ran towards the lady.

It's strange how some mothers can be so heartless to their kids!! 

Phew!! That was when I realised it's better not to talk to anyone here. Otherwise I would be in a big big mess .

I was sitting there when I saw a familiar silhouette coming towards me along with a few men surrounding him. I turned around to see a curly-haired boy and knew it was him.

It was Harry. 

I say, "hey, are you leaving?"

"No, I am one of the judges." His words leave my mouth agape.

"What? Are you shitting me?"

"I wanted to give you a surprise." He shrugs and i smack his shoulder.

"More of a shock". 

"Would you want to see the auditorium up close?"

"I wouldn't mind it."

Harry leads the way to the auditorium and I get seated in the back trying to be inconspicuous and he gets seated in front with 2 more judges.

After a few minutes, a girl with blonde hair and a slim body enters the auditorium with a pink guitar and starts to give her introduction. She started to sing a song. I could tell from her posture only that she was gonna be tough competition. I made my way out of the auditorium when I thought it was gonna be my turn soon.

As I made my way out, I saw the same girl who was singing in the auditorium. She comes up and says"Are you following me?"

"No, I am here for auditions."

"Well, has someone not taught you manners then? GET OUT OF MY WAY already."

"WAIT , What? YOU are the one who doesn't have manners and you have the audacity to question MY manners?" I raise my eyes at her..

"ugh!! Never mind, it's too early for me to go through this shit so I better go since you have already spoilt my mood!" And she huffed and ran out.

"Yeah! Feelings are mutual. Do I look like I give two fucks about it?". I scoff but then feel a hand on my shoulder. I turned around to see a tall guy.

He says"well, you should be thankful that she is jealous of you and considers you her competition even when you have not auditioned."

I felt surprised, since I could not recognise the man, so I said," umm, thank you. But who are you?"

The man is so taken aback that I could tell by his face that he was someone I should have known about. 

"Well, that's different, most girls drool over me and you don't know me , I am hurt," he dramatically gasped.

I say nothing.

"You take me to places that tear up my reputation, manipulate my decisions, baby, there's nothing holding me back", he starts singing a song.

Even though he had a beautiful voice, I kept quiet and maintained a serious look on my face.

"You seriously don't know me?".

"Sorry! I have a feeling I should know you but I don't."

He said while shaking my hand ," Hi, I am Shawn Allen and you are?"

I gave a pleasing smile and shook his hand and said," Hey, I am Claire Stewart and nice to meet you ,Shawn!"

He muttered under his breath, "Well, you are different than other girls.."

Then suddenly I hear a lot of shouting and screaming from girls beside us and all of them are screaming his name.

I turn to Shawn and say,"well, now I see, you are pretty famous! ". 

"I should go before they start murdering the guards , later shawty!" 

"I am not that short , I am-" before I could complete my sentence ,he was gone. 

Wow. I just got stood up by a celebrity. That's something. 

I stood there alone and saw him sign autographs and clicking pictures with his fans . 

*_*

My name is announced and that is my cue to leave for the auditorium . I enter and see three judges talking  . I could only recognise Harry in them. I see a beautiful women with long hair and a man who is grumbling . 

I might have seemed a little nervous because Harry passes me a smile and mouthed,'you can do it'.

I smile back as I step on stage and introduce myself . The female judge says," Hi! I am Cheryl  and I am gonna be the judge this year and best of luck!"  

"Thanks" 

I turn to the another man waiting for him to introduce himself," I am Simon and let's  not waste any more time. You may start singing whatever you wanna sing".

" I am going to sing 'kill'em with kindness' by Selena Gomez"

I adjust the mic and start singing . 

When I am done, I look at the faces of the judges and only see Harry and Cheryl smiling. Simon has a straight face but Harry says"Well, thanks for your time and, wait in the lounge. We will let you know the results after an hour when all auditions are done."

I left the corridor  and waited in the waiting room  expecting the result.

After a good half an hour , there was an announcement to announce the candidates who had been selected.

The announcement had already announced 19 names and only one name was left. I was very nervous that I could hear my heartbeat getting faster.The announcement ended with my name and i squeal internally. Harry comes and tackles me in bear hug. I can't help but relax and lean into him . He release me after a minute . "Congratulations!" He says .

"Thankyou , harry. I should probably leave since justin is alone at home with a massive hangover . See you ,tomorrow?" I say and harry nods.

I ask andrew to get my car to my home and book myself a cab.

I enter my  house not trusting myself not to explode and  see Justin watching reruns of The Vampire Diaries. I hug him and give him a recap about everything happened to me in last few years.

We talked for a bit and then he left claiming he had some work to do .

While leaving, he said," Don't forget about my party, you got selected and I'm leaving tomorrow night, so we should totally celebrate."

I nod and then tried sleeping .

I have a feeling tomorrow is gonna be so tiresome because of the second round and Justin leaving. 

*_*