CHAPTER 1 – NEWS FLASH

Georgia's P.O.V

I took a sip of my coffee and looked out at the street before me. All kinds of people were out there, separated from me by a flimsy pane of glass. I felt like they were in a fishbowl, and I was watching them swim round and round the same circles. Always rushing, always wanting, always taking. It was exhausting.

Just like your mind, remember I thought, sighing as I swung back to the reality of the dingy cafè I was currently sitting in.

A lot had changed in the past year, and for some reason I wasn't ready to let go of my old life, despite the fact that I was the one who decided to leave it. London was different to Sydney, where I had grown up. For one there were no beaches, no stinking hot summer days, nothing of the summer that I loved so much. England was rainy, cold, and most of the time just plain grey. But that was part of the reason why I had chosen London, really. It was the last place anyone would start looking for me.

"Excuse me, miss? Would you like anything else?" the pestering waitress that had been assigned to my table asked me for the thousandth time that morning. Giving her a tired smile, I told her I was fine and watched her walk half-heartedly back to the serving counter.

Scanning the room, I took in my surroundings properly. There were hardly any people there, and the place was clearly over staffed. It was dark and dingy, but the paintings were cute 60's posters and the coffee was cheap, so I didn't mind. My eyes found the pile of newspapers, and having no one to talk to I made my way over to them. Grabbing the first one I saw, I headed back to my table, taking a sip of coffee as I unfolded the paper. Choking on my mouthful, I stared in disbelief at the face looking back at me from the front page of the paper.

It's him, it's really him!

Looked like moving to London wasn't the smartest thing to do after all, I thought ruefully, still cleaning off the coffee that had escaped my mouth. Allowing myself a little indulgence, I began to read the article.

ONE DIRECTION TAKING THE WORLD MY STORM!

Winners of the X Factor UK, the British boy band One Direction is quickly gaining places on the charts. Their hit single 'What Makes You Beautiful' has made charts across the world, and the boys have quickly built a massive fan base, fondly nick-named 'Directioners'. Band members Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Zayn Malik and Niall Horan are adjusting to the life of the famous, but still keeping in touch with their family lives. Irishman Niall Horan says "I miss my mum dad sometimes, but really its –

She took a sharp breath in, pushing the paper as far from her as possible. Shaking her head, she slammed some money down on the table and ran out of the store into the street. It had started raining, but she didn't care. She just ran, and before she knew it she was in a deserted park, kneeling in the sodding grass and crying. Crying for her parents, crying for leaving, but most of all, crying for being alone.

And it was all her fault.

~ FLASHBACK ~

"Mum, seriously, I don't care what you think, I don't like it. Why does he get the big room? I'm older, therefore I get the big room! Its standard sibling law." I cried stubbornly, not liking this new arrangement one bit.

"Honey, how many times do I have to tell you, you're not even going to be here most of the time anyway, you'll be in Sydney! You've got school, your friends, plus your father, so I can't move you here permanently, no matter how much you and Niall want it." She said, clearly fed up with my nagging.

"But Mum –"

"No. That's final Georgia. I won't here anymore about it" and stalked out of the room.

I stuck out my bottom lip and sighed, flopping down on the bed in the too-small room I had been given. Being 11 years old was tough, didn't she see that? But no, I had to live in boring old Australia instead of being here with Niall. Life sucked, that's what.

A faint tapping came from my door, and I look up to see the little brown head of my step brother, Irish step brother, standing at my door looking like a frightened rabbit.

"Why so scared, huh?" I asked him gently, beckoning him over to lie next to me.

"Mum looked scary" he whispered, as if afraid she'll hear him.

I laughed at that, hugging him tight and messing up his hair. He was the brother I always wanted, and now I had to leave him. Despite only being a year older than him, Niall always seemed like a little kid to me. He always came to me with his problems, and I fixed them for him. I had been living in Ireland with Mum, Niall, and my step dad Bobby for nearly 4 months, but now I had to go back because I was missing too much school. Me and Mum lived in Sydney, but Mum had met Bobby when she was on holiday. They got married really quickly, which I later found out was because of Niall. But they are so happy together, that Grandma always said that it was the perfect thing for them anyway. I was only one at the time, so I really don't remember much at all.

But Niall was my new family now; I didn't need Dad, or my friends, or school, or just Sydney in general. We could just live here, in Ireland, with Bobby and Niall, and everything will be perfect.

Me and Niall lay together for an eternity, it seemed, but all too soon Mum called us for dinner. Our last dinner.

"Come on, you. Let's get some dinner, huh?" I said, and together we walked down the stairs to dinner, holding hands the whole way.

Soaking in the bath, I let the day's events wash over me. On the outside, nothing really happened at all. I woke up, got dressed, went to the cafè down the street, read a newspaper, ran to a park, and broke down crying in the rain. Not too eventful, really. But of course, that wasn't it. It was what was happening on the inside that was the most concerning, and frightening. By running away from home, I thought that I would be able to leave all my mistakes behind. But I wanted to be extra sure, so I moved to the other side of the world just in case. Belatedly, I realised that my step father and brother were living just a hop, skip, and a boat ride away over in Ireland, but I was already living in London, and it was too late to turn back. Now, all my old ghost were coming back to haunt me. How was I to know Niall would win X Factor and become a celebrity with a bunch of other guys? Really, I could never have seen that one coming.

So maybe it was time to face them, the ghost I mean. Was it really so hard to figure out why I really left, not just the fake stories I've been convincing everyone with, and myself? Not like it would change anything, I was never going back, and most importantly never speaking to my mother again, so really it was just so I could finally understand why I did what I did. And there was nothing wrong with that, I guess. It'd just be painful. That's all.