Chapter 4:

As the car went up, Greyson's eyes grew wider and wider. I smiled when I saw the expression on his face, and anyone could tell that this was the first time seeing this view. I remembered my first time going up on the London Eye, as just a little girl, holding Mommy's hand, as I had been afraid that if I let go I would fall. I had hated it so much then, but now this is one of my favorite places to go when I've got the free time and the money.

Slowly, we rose higher and higher in the air. It really was quite a sight. "This is only your first time coming here, but I come here at least once a month," I laughed a little. Greyson didn't peel his eyes away from the sight in front of him.

"Last time I came here, I didn't get to go on the London Eye," Greyson said. "The fans, the line, the amount of time I could spend here, I don't know what it was, but it was something that said that I couldn't go. I saw it, and I really wanted to check it out, but I never got the chance. This is really an experience of a lifetime."

Just then, a young girl came up from the other side of the car and tugged on Greyson's jacket. He looked down at her. "You're Greyson Chance, right?" she asked. She had a heavy British accent from such a little girl.

Greyson smiled and kneeled down so that they were eye level and smiled. "Yes I am, and who might you be?"

"I'm Anna," she replied, smiling back. "I'm a big fan of yours! I can't wait to see you perform tomorrow!" Her gaze traveled over to me for a second, and a look of jealousy clouded over her gaze. "Is this your girlfriend?" she sounded almost hostile.

Greyson blushed a bright red. "Wha – no, no, we're just friends! I only just met her yesterday!"

Anna smiled. "Whatever you say, Greyson, but it's written all over your face that you obviously like her." Greyson blushed even redder, and Anna smiled even more. "Oooh, Greyson's got a crush!" She turned to me. "I'm so jealous of you, and I'm sure every other fan of Greyson is! You're being crushed on by him! I'd take him!" Anna walked away back to what I guessed was her father, leaving both Greyson and I blushing scarlet red and not being able to say anything to each other while looking at the scene in front of us, although each other was obviously on our minds.

"Truly, you're the first friend I've ever had here in London that's my age," I said, looking down. I wasn't afraid of heights, so I didn't get scared to see that we were about the heights of most of the rooftops in the city, right over the river below us. I could tell that Greyson had looked over at me. "I did say that I was a part of the group of tomboys in school, but I'm not actually friends with any of them. We acknowledge each other when we pass each other in the hallway or in class, but other than that, I'm not really friends with them. I don't have the chance to tell anyone what's on my mind or my life story to anyone, or anything like that."

"What about Hope and all the people at Starbucks?" Greyson asked me.

"Hope was the first person that I've ever told about my arm," I said. "We've been friends for that long. When I started going to school, everyone stared at it, and even some people bullied me for it. Ever since then I had been going to school with long sleeves, but today I didn't because I wanted to show you."

"You shouldn't be ashamed that you're missing an arm," Greyson insisted. "And you shouldn't be bullied for it, either. I wish that people could just accept people for the way they are, not for their appearances."

I looked over at Greyson and smiled. "You're such a nice person," I said. "You always talk about standing up to bullies. You agree that bulling should be stopped. I'm jealous, you wanna stop bullying and everything, yet you're all famous and everyone loves you."

"Haha, not everyone," Greyson said. "I have haters, just so y'know."

"I get that," I replied. "But you're strong enough to deal with it. There are people like me that are too scared of bullies, that can't handle it, that are being tortured every day. I'm jealous that you have enough people that love you that can help you through your tough times. Me, I only have Hope and the people at Starbucks."

"You've got me, too," Greyson reminded me.

"You won't be here for me when I'll need it, though," I sighed, looking down at my feet. "You've got a career that makes you have to travel around a lot and you'll always be busy, so I won't be able to talk to you very much."

Greyson was quiet for a moment. "Give me your phone," he said. I stared at him questioningly for a moment, and then handed him my phone from my pocket. He pushed some buttons around, and then handed it back to me. "There. If you're in need of comfort, or you just wanna talk, just text me." He smiled. I couldn't help but give him a hug, and for a second he seemed startled, and then he hugged me back tightly. I almost needed to cry.

I don't know how long we stood there like that. It seemed like forever, but I felt like I could stay there for even longer than forever. Soon, I was feeling a little self-conscious, thinking people were looking at us weird, maybe that fan girl or two that gave jealous glares. I pulled away and sighed, looking down at the water that flowed peacefully far beneath us, blushing.

I was too embarrassed to say anything else to Greyson for a while. When we were pulling up towards the top, I looked over at him. "You better not be scared of heights," I said, smiling.

"I don't think I am…" he said nervously. "But I really haven't been so high up before in my life…"

I laughed. "Just don't look down, then. Just look out, at the beautiful scene in front of you, other than the river that's beneath you."

"I'm just thinking of what would happen if this car would happen to break off, or if the bottom won't be able to hold out or anything bad like that," Greyson admitted.

I laughed again. "You're looking at the negative. Look at the positive." I lifted his chin with my hand and showed him the view that was ahead of us; all of the tops of the buildings, the London Bridge in the distance, and the beautiful sunset that stretched far out, blanketing the city in the colors of fire, but there was no fear in that, only beauty. Greyson widened his eyes and smiled a wide smile. I pulled back my hand and his head stayed in place. I had to smile just at his face.

I don't know how long we just stood there like that, but soon we were going down again. Eventually, it was time to get off. There were a couple of police-looking people waiting outside the car. "What were you thinking, going off on your own?" One of the people questioned Greyson. All the surrounding people looked over, and I felt self-conscious just for standing next to Greyson. "And who is this girl?"

"This is my friend," Greyson said, and then bowed his head in shame. "I'm sorry. But I had promised I would spend the day with her, and I don't break promises."

"You could've been hurt!" the other one yelled at Greyson.

"But he wasn't, and that's all that really matters, right?" I butted in. The three of them just stared at me, then they ushered Greyson away. He waved a bye to me and I just stood there, not knowing what to do. In a few moments, a few girls walked up to me. They all were blondes and wore tons of make-up.

"Hey, is it true that was Greyson Chance?" one of them asked me. I nodded, and the group squealed in excitement.

"We love him to DEATH!" another one of them said.

"Are you one of his friends?" a third pestered, and all of them leaned closer to hear.

"Yeah, I guess so," I replied, shrugging. Once again, the girls squealed.

"You are sooo lucky!" a fourth one said, and the others nodded in agreement.

"But why would he hang out with someone like you?" the second asked, her nose twitched up snottily. "I mean, you're just some normal girl. Don't you think he would hang out with more popular girls, like us?" The rest of them nodded in agreement.

"Hey, wait a minute, I know you!" a fifth one exclaimed. "You go to the same school as me! You're the one with the arm, right?"

"Well, last I checked everyone's got an arm…" I shrugged.

"No, I mean you have the mechanical arm, right?" she said. The other girls twitched their noses up snottily as I nodded.

"EW!" they all said at the same time.

"Get lost, kid," the first one said, pushing me into a puddle of slush. "We don't need your oil-smelling arm all over my Greyson. He probably thinks you're some loser or some special-needs kid and took pity on you by hanging out with you. You're nothing but a cripple. No one wants you. That's why your family deserted you." She kicked some slush all over my legs and the girls walked away, laughing.

For a second I just sat there, staring down miserably. Maybe they were right, and Greyson actually didn't wanna hang out with me. I wonder if Greyson had seen me being bullied and just left me there – no, he isn't that cruel. He would've done something, even if he didn't know me. But maybe he couldn't do anything because his guards wouldn't let him. I just sat there, not knowing what to do, for who knows how long, before I heard footsteps approaching from behind me.

"Hey, you okay?" I heard a young male's voice behind me, and I looked behind me to see that it was a boy, probably about my age, with long brown hair – well, long for a guy – with a few blonde streaks in it. He seemed to really care about his hair. "You can't just sit in the middle of a puddle and cry."

"Sorry," I sniffled and put my face back into my knees. Out the corner of my eye I saw that he had extended his hand out for me to take to help myself up, but I just stood there.

"Those girls don't know what they were talking about," I heard the boy's voice right next to my ear. I could imagine him bent down, his face right next to my ear. "They just don't have a life outside of making other people with a lower status them feel so miserable."

"How would you know them?" I asked.

"Four of them are going out with my brothers," the boy replied. "The fifth one is trying to go out with me, but I keep rejecting her. I don't deserve her." I smirked. "But they really hate your guts for some reason. You're the first target on their most-wanted list. And I think hanging out with that one kid is making them hate you even more."

"Well, that's something for me to look forward to when I go back to school," I rolled my eyes.

He pulled back and stood up, then extended his hand for me to take again. This time I took it, and he helped me up. "You should get heading home," he said. The streetlights were on by now, and it had started snowing again. "You're gonna catch a cold."

I nodded, sniffling. "Thanks," I replied, and we walked in opposite directions. I took a bus back home, not caring that I was still dripping wet and sneezing. By the time I got home, it was about ten at night, and I still had to do homework, take a shower, clean my clothes, all that fun stuff. After I had taken a shower and put on warm pajamas, I realized I had never gotten that boy's name.