"Here's 'What Makes You Beautiful' by One Direction!" I turn to my favorite radio station just in time to hear my favorite band, One Direction.
"EEE!" I squeal. I absolutely love One Direction, and I have since their debut on "The X Factor" in 2010. They are all so cute and amazing, but one certain blonde haired, blue eyed, Irish boy named Niall Timothy Horan stole my heart.
I turn up the radio in my old Ford truck until it's vibrating from the music. I sing along to every single word. Most of my friends think I'm a freak, except for my best friend Mackenzie Knight. She fangirls with me all the time. She's "in love" with Harry Styles, a curly-haired and charming boy from the band. We like to fantasize about what our lives would be like if we knew the boys. At lunch, we gawk at pictures of them on our phones. We spend every chance we get listening to their debut album "Up All Night". Everyone thinks we're obsessed, but we're not. We're dedicated.
As I pull into the driveway, my 11-year-old younger sister, Avery, comes running out of the house with her headphones in her ears, signing along to Justin Bieber's new single 'Boyfriend'. I used to be pretty 'in love' with Justin Bieber myself (before One Direction came around).
"Yay! You're finally home! Mom! Bethany's home!" Avery screamed as I slammed the door to my truck.
"What's up with you? You're never this excited when I come home," I say.
"Oh, nothing. Just a super extra- special amazingly wonderful surprise for you that only me and mom know about," she says enthusiastically. The last 'super extra-special amazingly wonderful' surprise she had for me was a free ice cream cone at Dairy Queen, so I wasn't in a hurry to get in the house.
When I walk through the front door, the aroma of my favorite dinner, tacos, wafts from the kitchen. I walk in the find my mom finishing up some homemade guacamole.
"How was your last day of school?" she asks.
"Good," I replied. "Just glad I don't have to worry about homework and projects anymore." Today was the last day of school for the summer. I was so happy to get away from the high-school drama, mean teachers, stressful exams, and piles of homework. Graduation would be tomorrow night; the last time I ever have to step foot in that dreadful place ever again (or at least until Avery starts high school). I could focus all my time on sleeping in, doing nothing all day, and just being a normal, average, American 17-year-old teenage girl. Because that's all I will ever be: Average. My shoulder-length dark brown hair, light brown eyes, and normal build wouldn't make me stand out in any crowd.
"What's this 'surprise' Avery is talking about?" I ask.
"AVERY! I told you to keep your mouth SHUT!" Mom yelled to Avery's room upstairs.
"So there is a surprise," I say with some excitement.
"Yes there is, but I'm not going to tell you now," She replied, her words tinged with disappointment. Then, the biggest, stupidest grin crawled on my face as I gave a squeal and ran upstairs to my bedroom. I slammed my bedroom door, grabbed my iPhone 4S out of my pocket, docked it on my speaker bar, and blasted One Direction's CD on full volume.
I was singing along to "Tell Me a Lie" and picking out my dress for tomorrow night, when the music stopped and my phone rang. I picked it up from the dock and looked to see who texted me. Mackenzie was blowing up my phone, telling me to call her. I clicked on her number and after one ring she answered.
"Macken-"
"OH. MY. GOSH." Mack gasped into the phone. "Guess who's coming to Portland tomorrow night?"
"NO WAY!" I yelled, knowing exactly what was going on. One Direction is coming to Oregon! We live in Eugene, which is about an hour away from Portland. My family visits there every few months, so we know the area pretty well. "Where in Portland?"
"The Rose Quarter! EEEH!" She squealed. My eyes were about as big as golf balls. "Hey Beth, I gotta go. Talk to you later!" She hung up. My heart was pounding out of my chest. One Direction was coming to Portland…TOMORROW!
"Bethany! Dinner!" Mom shouted from downstairs. I practically floated down the stairs.
"What are you so happy about?" Mom questioned.
"Mack called and told me that One Direction is coming to Portland tomorrow!" I said excitedly jumping up and down.
"Calm down Bethany. Just because they're coming to our state, doesn't mean that we can just drop what we are doing and drive up there. Besides, your graduation ceremony in tomorrow night. And the concert is probably sold out. I'm sorry, honey." She said with a solemn look on her face. I stopped jumping. I put my hand at my sides, turned around with tears forming in my eyes, and walked back upstairs. I didn't run. I didn't scream a my mother. I simply walked up each step, opened my door, and closed it quietly. Once inside my poster-plastered room, I let my emotions go wild. I belly flopped onto my bed and started sobbing into my pillow. How could she do this to me? I know I have my graduation tomorrow, but can't we just quickly drive up before or after? Had she even checked for tickets? People sell tickets outside concerts all the time. Why? This was my only chance to see them live. With each thought that crept into my mind, I cried harder.
I was up in my room, bawling my eyes out when I heard a knock at my bedroom door.
"Go away mom!" I yelled. Instead of the knock ceasing, the door slowly opened. I looked up from my tear-dampened pillow to see Mackenzie standing in the doorway with red puffy eyes. Without thinking, I jumped up from my bed and wrapped Mackenzie in a hug. She put her arms around my shoulders in return and started to cry.
"Sh-she told me n-no," Mackenzie stammered into my ear.
"Me too," I say stroking her hair and resuming my sobs. We were still crying when mom came to the door.
"Would you girls like to join us for dinner?" she asked. Mack looked to me for approval. I nodded my head and Mackenzie and I followed my mom out the door and down the stairs. When we reached the foot of the stairs, Avery, mom, dad, and Mackenzie's parents were gathered in the living room.
"SURPRISE!" they shouted in unison. A big banner that said Congrats Grads was hung on the wall along with blue and yellow streamers hung in various places. Our mouths were wide open. When we saw this, we broke down crying. We couldn't handle it. This graduation was the reason why we were missing One Direction. Yes, we were ecstatic that we were graduating high school and moving on to college, but this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet our idols; our five husbands.
"What's wrong girls?" Mackenzie's dad, Paul, walks over to us. We can't utter a single word, but we don't have to. Mom replies for us. "They're just upset that they don't get to see their boy band in concert." I couldn't stand it any longer. The anger had built up inside me and was now now starting to boil.
"BOY BAND?" I yell. "They are SO much more than just a boy band to us. They are our world, our light, our everything. The fact that we have been given this opportunity and forced to turn it down upsets us!" Every person in the room is staring at me, speechless with mouths wide open, even Mackenzie. I was even surprised by my outburst. I have never yelled at my mom like that. I didn't know what else to do, so I walked quietly to the dinner table where a taco buffet was set up and sat down. I grabbed a tortilla and began to serve myself. After a few moments, I was joined by Mackenzie, then everybody else. We all sat in silence as we ate, until Avery spoke up. "I would be angry too if Justin Bieber came to Portland and you guys wouldn't let me go." That comment meant almost nothing to me considering the fact that Justin Bieber did come to Portland last year and mom and dad did take her.
I was almost finished with my second taco when mom spoke up. "Bethany, Mackenzie, the four of us know that you two absolutely love One Direction." Avery put her taco down and began to grin like an idiot. Mack and I raised our heads to look right at our parents. "We also know that you would give anything to go see them in concert." Mackenzie grabbed my hand. "So tomorrow night after graduation," I squeezed her hand and bit my lip, knowing what was coming. "You two are going to see them in concert!"