~Hey There Delilah~

My first day back at Bradford wasn't bad. My dad greeted me at the airport, and took the day off his work so we could spend some time together. It was nice being back home in his arms after months away. He looked a bit more older and more tired it seemed. But I thought it just because I hadn't seen him for very long. I realised that no matter how much I wanted to live on my own away from Bradford, I'll always find my way back home. Even though we were never close, we did share the same passion for writing. He used to write short poems for me to read out when I was little, and his poems were always so beautifully crafted. His use of words was magical. After my mom died, he had stopped writing. But it had inspired me to become a writer. I wasn't good in words, but my creativity flows out in my writing. That was why I decided to take up Literature for further studies. And I wanted my dad to guide me through because I could think of no other better person to help me in fulfilling my dream.

I was to start my new term in another week so I've been busy getting all my supplies, and straightening up my house before school officially begins. Truthfully, I was just trying to keep myself from thinking about Zayn and Pixie. I knew that once I stopped having any work to do, my mind would wander to them. You couldn't blame me. I've spend my entire life in Bradford with those two. Being here without them felt empty and it really felt like something was missing in my life. What made it worse was that, I had originally planned to take up Literature with Zayn. We already planned our future together, that he's going to be an English teacher, and I would become a famous writer. So having to go through this course alone without Zayn by my side scared me.

We talked on the phone every two nights because I was just so nervous about continuing my studies again. I complained to him how I had to find new friends to hang out with since he wasn't here with me, and he would always laugh at me for being so socially awkward. I wasn't kidding; the fact that I have to start socialising and making people like me all over again frightened me. I considered myself lucky to have Zayn and Pixie find me interesting enough to have me as a friend because it took me a long time before I finally opened myself up to them. Usually people just assumed I was always quiet and boring.

"Lila, I'm telling you this again: you're not boring! In fact, you're so far from boring. You're like the best girl I've ever hang out with, there's nothing to worry about," he rebutted whenever I kept bringing myself down on the phone.

I couldn't help feel insecure about myself though. Being alone all the time can do wonders to your mind. My last day before school officially began, and I spent the whole day chatting with Niall. He had set aside the whole day for me (how sweet of him!) and we basically talked on the phone, then Skype-d, then tweeted to each other. I missed him so much, and not being to touch him pains me. Sometimes I wondered if I was doing the right thing, if this decision of mine might in the long run stir up some trouble in paradise. He assured me that it wouldn't, but truthfully, no one knew what might happen to us.

The next day, I kissed my dad goodbye before I left for school for good luck. I stepped into the hallway of the school, already zoning out at how huge the school was. I took a deep breath and proceed on to my first class. 'Creative Writing'. Well, that sounded interesting. I stepped into the class, which was already half full of people. Apparently most of them already know each other because I was already seeing cliques of people having a conversation. I found an empty seat, and walked towards it. But somehow I couldn't shake off the feeling that the class was staring at me. I was really uncomfortable, but didn't want to make it obvious, so I just politely smiled at everyone as I passed them. I sat myself down, and looked up and saw that some of them were whispering to each other, obviously about me because they didn't even try to hide their pointing fingers and expressions towards me. But they didn't have the disgusted face; they had an intrigued face, like as if I was a very interesting subject to talk about.

The professor walked in, and everyone immediately rushed to be seated properly. We were asked to do introductions about ourselves, and when it came to my turn, everyone immediately turned their attention towards me. That was weird. So I blabbered on about myself, and why I wanted this course and other boring stuff. I was about to sit back down, when one of the girls asked out loud.

"Aren't you Niall Horan's girlfriend?"

I honestly was not expecting anyone to realise that, and was taken aback at the question. I gulped and answered,"Erm..yes?"

Suddenly the room was filled with excited whispering and murmuring. I was sure the professor didn't understand what had just happened.

"Oh my god! I love him!"

"You gotta sit with us during lunch and tell us about it!"

"So jealous!"

I turned my head back and forth at all the girls excitedly talking to me and I'm like 'Huh?' All I could do was smile to them. The next few hours went on like that, with girls walking up to me asking me how it's like being Niall's girlfriend. I had no idea that Bradford girls knew so much about Niall and his personal life. I mean, I would understand better if I was Zayn's girlfriend because we came from here. And speaking of that, no one seemed to remember that Zayn and I are best friends. Personally, I found that way cooler. But if it gets me some friends, then why not just entertain them?

I told the story to Niall and Zayn, and they both laughed out loud. It was kinda funny actually. But when I told it to Pixie, she had a different reaction.

"Babe, you have to be careful. Some of these girls might just want to get you. Think about it, they can ear loads by the stories you told them. Just be careful not to share too much around them, alright?"

It seemed weird of her at first, but then she explained that she did the mistake of sharing too much to someone she thought was her friend and suffered the hate afterwards. I thanked her for the advice, knowing full well I would have done exactly that if she hadn't warned me. But it still was nice to have people around you, so I figured I would still hang around them.

After a few weeks had passed, some of the girls stopped bothering me. Among all those girls, I made a close friend with a girl called Anne. She was the only one who didn't pester me with questions about Niall or Zayn or any of the boys. I came up to her one day and she said she didn't much care about my 'status'. So I sat beside her throughout the day and we became close friends ever since. She was a sweet brown-eyed girl with hazel-brown hair. She too had a boyfriend who lived very far from here, so we always talked about that. Hers went on to Oxford while she was stuck here, because her grades weren't good enough. They were together for 4 years already and they were still going strong. So it kept my hopes up for Niall and I, that it was possible for us too.

That week, I was too busy with school work so I didn't have time to call up Niall at all. He did ring in sometimes, but it was always a 5 minutes conversation between us because I'll be busy running around to classes. Then one Saturday night, I was dead tired and lying on my bed, staring up at the ceiling. And it hit me how long I hadn't talk to him. I grabbed my phone and dialed his number, but no one picked up. I tried again, and when he didn't picked it up again, I figured he was just busy with work. So I tweeted: Staring at my ceiling, just missing you x.

It had been a while since I checked my twitter, so I went on to my mentions. It was the normal tweets and from Pixie and Zayn, saying they missed me. I was looking out for a specific tweet from Niall though. But I couldn't find it. Then I went on to my DMs. And there, I found myself looking at 7 tweets from Niall, each with the same link. I clicked on it, and got a very wonderful surprise.

Hey there Delilah, what's it like in Bradford city?
I'm a thousand miles away but girl tonight you look so pretty yes you do..

I laughed when I saw him, strumming his guitar and singing the song to me. Then as he continued singing, I was just grinning so wide, my cheeks hurt and tears were forming in my eyes.

Hey there Delilah, you be good and don't you miss me
Two more years and you'll be done with school and I'll be making history
Like I do..

I grabbed my phone again, and texted him: Hey there Niall, I LOVE YOU SO MUCH XOXO and then I kept replaying the video over and over again, till I fell asleep. The next morning, I woke up to a ringing phone and lit up immediately thinking it was a morning call from Niall. I looked at the screen, and saw an unknown number. I answered it cheerfully but instantaneously dropped the phone after I heard what's been said.

"Ms Simmons? I'm calling about your father Mr George Simmons. I'm sorry but I'm afraid it's bad news. He's suffered a stroke at work, and now he's in the hospital. He's doing fine right now but would you come down here to see him?"