Chapter 7

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"What the hell is happening?" I burst.

"Hel?" Daniel turned to look at me, squinting his eyes. I shook my head in disbelief. This was not the guy I loved.

"Pull yourselves together, guys! Our gig's coming up!" Liam raved.

"Alright I'm sober. I'm sober." Louis blinked and lifted his hands up. "I can play. Didn't drink as much as him." He pointed to Daniel.

"I drink 'cos I'm legal. And the more drunk I am, the better I play. Beer is power juice." Daniel laughed, falling on the couch. The things he said made no sense at all.

"Daniel! Pull yourself together." I told him.

"Helena... you're so pretty." He replied.

I couldn't believe what was happening. White Eskimo was up right after The Pink Minx and what were they doing backstage? Getting drunk. What will my father think when he's up on stage? I wanted to go home.

"Helena!" Lindsey called as I ran outside.

And then bam. I'd bumped into somebody. "I'm sorr- Harry?" It was Harry. Niall was right behind him.

"Are they really mad at me for being late?" Harry asked.

"What? I don't know. I just arrived." I rubbed my forehead. "They look pretty chilled out to me." I rolled my eyes.

"I sense that something's wrong." He raised an eyebrow.

"Go check it out yourself." I told him.

While he and Niall went backstage, I returned to my father who was already eating the cheese sausages.

"You're supposed to leave some for me." I told him, sitting down on the picnic mat.

"I wanted to, but couldn't." He laughed. "What were you doing back there for so long?"

"Oh... um... I was just... motivating the band members." I lied.

The Pink Minx, my favourite indie band was performing their song 'Freefall'. They weren't very well known since they're relatively new but their tunes were just so amazing. I tried not to stress so much about Daniel by relaxing and bobbing my head to their song.

Right after their performance, the host of the night came up on stage. "The Pink Minx ladies and gentleman!" He said through his microphone. "The next act is by an up and coming band with their own unique cover of a popular song that will surely rock your taste. Prepare yourselves for White Eskimo!" He announced and everyone cheered.

I crossed my fingers, hoping to see Daniel sober and normal for the performance. But there was obviously a very low chance.

The lights were shone upon the stage and I could see that Harry, Louis and Liam were in position. But Daniel was nowhere to be seen. Harry kept looking back to see where he was.

I figured that he wasn't going to play anymore. But that's actually better than having to see him drunk and wild on stage at an indie Music Festival where children were allowed to come too.

Then, very suddenly, Daniel jumped out onto the stage. His hair was all messed up and he strummed on his electric guitar ferociously. Dear god, how much did he drink?

"Which one's yours? I hope it's not George of the Jungle." My father pointed a finger at Daniel and chuckled.

I didn't reply and just hoped that nothing will turn out worse.

They started playing their cover of 'Use Somebody' and the crowd went wild. Daniel was still being wild and hyper, overly strumming on his guitar and jumping about while the other boys stayed in place.

"I cannot stand this wild man." My father complained. I gave myself a huge imaginary face palm. What's wrong with you, Daniel?
"The singer's very impressive though. Now when will you tell me which one you're dating?" He bugged.

I still didn't reply, pretending to be completely consumed in the performance that I couldn't hear anything else. I just didn't want to tell him that Daniel was my boyfriend... yet. I didn't know what to do. My father will surely make me break up with him. But this wasn't Daniel! I wanted my father to see the real him.

'You know that I could use somebody...' Harry sang, looking at me. I was close enough to the stage to notice that Harry's eyes were deeply green under the stage lights. 'Yeah...'

Stop looking at me, don't look at me, I thought to myself. Why are you looking at me?

Then he pointed at me. 'Someone like you...' He sang, smiling.

I instantly felt goosebumps all over. It was so weird.
I reminded myself that I hated Harry.

"Ah, so it's the lead singer?" My father grinned. "Then I approve of him."

I pinched the bridge of my nose in distress as the cheering of the people filled my ears.

What was I supposed to do?

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