Summary: Ryleigh Hudson has an opportunity to win a trip to London with her school and fulfill her dream. Going to a Coldplay concert and exploring London. Unbeknownst to her, she may get that and much more. Concept is sort of like the Lizzie Maguire movie, but without becoming a pop star/singer and getting with her guy friend.

Things to understand before reading: Chris Martin is going to be 27 instead of 37 so this story doesn't amount to a 20 year age gap. Ryleigh is going to be barely 18, so either way, she's barely legal, but legal. This is just for pure fan purposes. Research isn't totally up to par, but it's fan fiction. Have fun with it. It's not easy trying to find Coldplay fanfiction that is fan/Chris Martin or any other band member. As adorable as Buckin is, I wanted to do something different. I apologize if this doesn't reach expectations, this is my first Fanfiction.

Another's Arms

Chapter 1 - Something's Gotta Give

"Ry! Ry! Ry!" Upon hearing my name shrieked worse than a banshee, I cringed, not wanting my bad mood disturbed as I came in one minute before the bell.

The banshee persisted and my friend Ben grabbed my arm. I flinched and tore my arm from his grasp, "What the fuck," I grit out through my teeth. He knows better than to just abruptly grab me.

"Sorry," he said realizing and calming a bit. "I'm just so happy you decided to come in today because there's going to be a huge announcement on the announcements this morning, that you're going to lose your shit over."

"Oh gee, a day off from school?" I said unperturbed. A huge smile donned his face as he shook his head.

"You'll see, you were warned," Ben said mischievously.

We continued on to our respective homerooms, when the "Good morning everyone" prompted from the speakers. After the morning prayers and yadda, yadda, yadda, my religion teacher's voice sounded through the intercom system with too much cheer for a miserable Monday morning.

"Students, I am so elated to announce that Father McCarthy has donated to the Spring London trip fund, meaning, one lucky student will have a chance to win and come along this Spring break.."

I shrieked in absolute excitement. Whose the Banshee now? Tears sprung to my eyes at the absolute opportunity of this. Nothing would be more amazing than this.

"Now, I said win, so there will be a contest.." There was a collective groan among my peers in my homeroom, myself included. I didn't stand a chance when it came to contests.

"You must write a one page paper on why you think you deserve to be chosen for this opportunity." Okay, this seemed easy enough. I do not think I could fit it all on one page, but I just can't write because there's a Coldplay concert and I have to see Chris Martin's eyes in person before I die..

As superficial as that reason sounds, that was just the first thing that came to mind, as Coldplay is always in the forefront of all of my thoughts. I've always had a sense of wanderlust and London has always been the number one place of my fantasies. The dreariness, the old beauty, the magnificence..

London is commonly a mainstream wish for many teenage girls. Most of their aspirations were chasing One Direction, cliches, British Television stars, Tom Hiddleston, just a myriad of shallow reasons. While, seeing Coldplay is a shallow reason, I couldn't seem to care about my hypocritical thinking. Seeing a Coldplay concert has always been a dream of mine since I was a young girl, and the concert being in London is even better. Killing two birds with one stone, by just fulfilling both my tourist whims and fan girl desires. I'm only human, and a teenage girl, I want this as badly as any fan girl would. The question would be though, do I even deserve it? Probably not, seeing as my reason is pathetic.

Insert whiny rant here. Nothing would grant me as much happiness as this would. I am a poverty stricken senior at a private school in Buffalo, New York. Now as contradictory as that sounds, it's just luck and being fortunate enough to have a mother who would sacrifice everything for a private school education for her unmotivated teenage daughter, who lacks a zest for life and initiative. Maybe this could change my outlook on life, maybe I could get my shit together and decide what I want to do with my life.

My thinking is that maybe, I'd have such an amazing experience, that something would open my eyes and decide life is worth living and not merely existing..

"The kicker is that this paper needs to be in by the end of the day by 3:00." Panic seized my thoughts. Oh god, is this even possible? It's right there in my fucking grasp! As my resolve began to crumble, I realized I was giving up before I even started. I mentally kicked myself in my metaphorical balls. Why was I such a damn pessimist? Something began to overtake my pathetic lack of initiative, something foreign, strong, a force that overtook any thoughts of doubt in my mind. I'm going to do this and I am going to win. I cannot be defeated. Not this. Not something that can be such a defining moment in my life. I had to do this for myself, my mother, because damn I gotta start getting a move on before there's nothing left for me or her.

"Good luck." With that being said, the bell rung and students filled into the not-wide-enough hallway.

My friends Ben and Leah immediately caught up with me. Leah incessantly chattered about how much she deserved to go to London and as much as I would have agreed with her, had there been more than one opportunity to go to London, I was getting very annoyed and fast as my selfish desire surfaced. Ben gave me a look of understanding as we continued our way to our first period class.

As riveting as American Government is, I couldn't concentrate on anything. My notes consisted of pathetic excuses on why I should go to London. As soon as I started writing down actual good reasons, a crumbled piece of paper landed perfectly where my pen met my notebook.

"I'd rather you come than Leah," was scrawled manically on a triangular piece of notebook paper. I looked up at Ben and smiled gratefully at him. As guilty and vain as I felt, I couldn't help but feel gratitude towards Ben's admittance and his support. I knew it was only because he could tolerate Leah is very moderate doses. We were a weird trio of friends, but when it came down to it, Ben and I meshed better. While Leah was the spirit of our group, Ben and I shared more in common with our personalities and our views on things.

Leah tended to be over-spirited, while there was definitely nothing wrong with that, someone could only take so much of it. She always had to be the president of something, involved in everything and over achieve. She reminded me of Hermione from Harry Potter in a lot of ways, but I adored her and I will to my dying day. How's that for dramatic? Think I filled my teenage quota for the day.

The bell sounded and everybody scrambled for the door, while I decided to scramble to the library, foregoing my upcoming classes - they were study halls anyways. I immediately went for a computer, put my headphones and iPod on and poured my everything into this one page paper. After two class periods went by, deleting and re-typing, along with many sighs of frustration, I was finally finished and felt mentally drained. I don't think I ever poured this amount of energy into an assignment. I deemed it good enough to turn in, along with way too much hope I was comfortable feeling.

Taking in my surroundings, I noticed many students frantically throwing their papers together. I gulped nervously, my hope dwindling with the amount of students who were challenging this as well.

The Scientist popped into my head with their popular lyric of "Nobody said it was easy, no one ever said it would be so hard." How cliche, I thought I got all of that out earlier this morning. I shook my head and speed walked down the hall to get this paper out of my hands. The sooner this all goes, the sooner I could potentially be in the same room with my favorite person in the world. How far fetched I was. I barely even stood a chance winning this trip, but scoring Coldplay tickets too? To a concert conveniently enough during the trip and near the hotel location? Oh god fucking hyperventilation. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.

How am I going to feel if I don't win this? I didn't even want to fathom this yet, not being able to bear the heart break this could bring. Why am I doing this to myself? I am setting myself up for the biggest disappointment since my father left.

I placed my fate, I mean, paper in my Religion teacher's hands, avoiding her gaze in fear of her seeing tears in my eyes. Damn tears of anger and frustration, how inconvenient.

I went to the bathroom to collect myself and my varying emotions. Hopeless green eyes stared back at me as I frowned at myself in the mirror. My hair was a mess of brown, auburn and black at the tips. Damn, my hair can't even decide shit for itself. Why was I so indecisive and difficult? Yay self-loathing time. I gave myself one last once-over and scoffed at myself. I left the bathroom heading towards my Acrylic painting class. At least I could put my mind to something else for a little while.

I let all thought melt away from me as I painted. I stared at this shade of perplexing blue that reminded me of Chris's eyes. The color took me to him. I could just imagine his presence. It would feel like coming home. The utmost comfort one could possibly ever receive. His voice soft, caressing my neck as shivers ran down my spine by his close proximity. His smell would send pheromones frantic. There's no way I wouldn't be instantly attracted if I ever met him. I would fancy myself in love with him if I were dreaming. No. I would fancy him returning love for me if I were dreaming and he has, I was lucky enough to have dreamed it a few times. I would then meet Guy Berryman, Will Champion, Jonny Buckland and even Phil Harvey. I'd spend hours admiring their music and just thanking them. They have filled a void in my life, that if it weren't filled, I honestly don't think I'd be here.

Of course I have the mainstream, "I'd be dead without your music" mantra. It's always put down, so it stays only with me. Depression was my diagnosis when I was twelve. Since then, it's become a fad to be depressed. Every teenager was, I mean life is so hard! Ha. I can understand some, but being dumped at 14 or just being a moody, temperamental teenager is not a factor of depression, but then again, who was I to judge?

I would love nothing more than to just get into my sob story. My dad left my mother, brother and I high and dry. I was the catalyst of the divorce, by voicing my affections for my mom's boyfriend she left behind, to get back with my father again. My dad overheard, and he was gone the next day, to his twenty something girlfriend's apartment. Go figure. Life became more vivid that day in it's intensity that it just basically sucks. My mom drowned herself in pain meds and her bed everyday after that, while my brother chased a high everyday, while I just dwindled in the background with the knowledge that it was all my fault. As I became older, more screwed up family secrets came up, bullying ensued in middle school and reality became a harsh reminder with each breath I took. No one was happy. Girls were downright catty towards me, so there was no finding a friend. Guys only showed interest in my developing breasts, while putting down every other feature, so no comfort there either. Sorry, I just cannot not sound pathetic here. While, having no one and seeing how fucked up everyone was, I sought a release from all the pain. Coldplay found me. I didn't find them, they found me with "Fix You" and that alone was enough to sustain my of their songs became a hand that held mine when times were so tough, I couldn't even swallow without a throbbing lump in my throat.

High school was a bit more uplifting where I met a few people who struggled as much as I did. I mean that's all we could do, right? Band together through the undignified hardships of life. Still, Coldplay lulled me through it all. I simply cannot get through a day without them.

Their upcoming release of their new album Ghost Stories was enough to raise my spirits as high as Leah's, but with this new London possibility, I could be a whole fucking Cheerleading team.

"Ryyy," Ben whined.

"Hmm," I replied still not really acknowledging him.

"Ry, you have been staring at your canvas for ten minutes now. Are you that far gone?"

"Ben, I'm so beyond that," I said.

"Did you hand in the paper yet?"

"Yup, right along with my tears," I pipped.

"You think you got this?" He asked.

"I really want to," and with that, the bell rang. "But, not as much right now when there's government food awaiting me!" I admonished as I ran down a flight of stairs to the cafeteria.

The rest of the day dragged on agonizingly slow as I tried to keep all of myself together, but alas, the moment came and my heart skipped several beats as the afternoon announcements came on. Prayers. Bake Sales. NHS. Softball. SAT Prep courses, blah. I'm about to scream in shear frustration when my religion teacher finally took over. I gripped the desk until my knuckles were white, as if to anchor myself.

"As the deadline was 10 minutes ago and we're still reviewing papers, please come to room 202 to await who the winner will be. I expect no later than 3:30, thank you and have a great day!"

A breath was harshly released that I didn't even know I was holding.

"If this wasn't so vital for you, I would probably be laughing at you," Ben joked.

"Ha, Ha, Ha," I responded bitterly and stomped towards room 202, Ben's chuckles following me. Ben didn't have to worry because he was able to afford the London trip, so his ticket was assured, lucky bastard.

I sat there staring at the blinding white marker board trying to drown everything out as my religion teacher seemed to be taking time going through people's papers. My jaw clenched. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

"I will rip your balls off and use them for stress balls if you don't stop that incessant tapping," I threatened.

"You would just love to squeeze my balls, wouldn't you," Ben said suggestively. As much as I would usually be thoroughly amused with his comment, I couldn't stand it right now. I couldn't stand anything and I just couldn't take this anticipation anymore.

"Do you think Benedict Cumberbatch will sign my Tardis lunchbox?" Leah asked mindlessly, whilst walking in the room. I rolled my eyes, of all the things to sign, she'd pick a piece of painted aluminum. That question alone made me more irate. How could she be so nonchalant about this?

Maybe she's smarter than you and is not letting herself get so worked up. Thank you subconscious.

"Okay, sorry guys, had way too many last minute submissions," Mrs Canton announced.

Okay, hear we go again, I can do this. I anchored myself to the desk as I did before.

"With much consideration, and so many outstanding papers, it was very difficult to reach a verdict..."

Remember to breathe, inhale, exhale, inhale-

"The winner of the trip to London for Spring Break is...Leah Burnham."

Applause. Shrieks of happiness. My heart breaking. Those were the sounds that filled the room, the ladder overtaking my being.

To Be Continued, or not. Your choice! Like Ryleigh, I lack motivation, so encouragement will be much appreciated. I cannot promise timely updates. Thank you for reading.