Dream Catcher

Chapter 1: Happy 1M!

"Thank you guys so much for watching and make sure to like and subscribe!" You cringe at how cheerful you sounded as you finish editing your video. As you watch through the edited video multiple times to make sure everything is neat and appropriate, you hear your phone rapidly dinging behind you. You sigh as you drag yourself out of your chair and pick up your phone, falling onto your bed. Your eyes widen at the dozen text messages from friends announcing you've reached half a million on YouTube. Just a day ago, you were at 100k. You grin stupidly at your screen as you try and process how fast your channel has been growing.

You add a clip thanking your viewers for 500k and everything they've done for you. You publish the video and close your computer, stretching in your chair. You stumble to your bathroom and get ready for bed, scrolling through your phone before going to bed, your thoughts focused on your upcoming channel. You slowly fall asleep, a smile resting peacefully on your face.

You jolt out of bed at the sound of your alarm, blindly slamming your bedside table, hoping the jarring sound will stop. After finally turning it off, you pull yourself out of bed, getting dizzy at the sudden change of position. You curse under your breath as you run into your furniture that you somehow fit into your small dorm. You don't have a class until 12, so you decide to shower and eat before hopping onto your computer to check how your recent upload did. You gasp slightly at the thousands of views that literally appeared overnight. You spin in your chair, dancing around your room at your current success. But your smile quickly fades as you mentally prepare yourself to read the comments

You don't usually receive a lot of hate comments, but you'll occasionally get some feedback that hit hard. You consider yourself someone who can handle criticism well and typically do not get offended easily. As you scroll through the comments, you take notes on suggestions or possible improvements. You take a break and scroll through Instagram as you wait for your class to start. At 11:30, you scramble to finish any homework you had left and begin to walk towards class. It's your second year at college, and you surprisingly found it more manageable than you expected. The dorm hallways are sprinkled with chattering students, and the smell of alcohol and weed surrounds you. You speed up and scamper down the stairs. Right before you get the chance to open the classroom door, someone steps in front of you and opens it.

"Here you go," Liam grins, ushering you into class. He's been your only college friend, and you two spend any spare time together. You poke his side as you strut into class. "Hey Y/N! Save me a seat next to you. I'll be right back," he shouts, speed walking out the door. You plop down on a seat, organizing your notes in front of you, placing a sweatshirt on the seat next to you for him. Liam comes back in a couple minutes later, grinning from ear to ear as he offers you a box of chocolate milk. You take it, smiling at the fact he remembers your favorite drink. He puts his arm around your seat, fiddling with a hair that fell out of your bun. You have never looked at him romantically, but every time you thought of how close you were with him, you felt warm inside.

The professor dismisses class, and you and Liam head to the cafeteria, chattering about your YouTube channel. A couple guys high-five Liam and girls giggle as he passes. You look up at Liam, taking in his face. He's tall, about 6 feet, with sandy hair that nearly covers his dark brown eyes. His faint muscles are covered by a long sleeve black shirt, matched with blue jeans. He's attractive. No, that's an understatement. He's really hot. Like model hot. When he doesn't have a girlfriend, he has about three girls he sleeps with. But he's a good person. Just not when it comes to relationships. He catches you looking at him and pinches your cheek. "Can't get enough of me, can you Y/N?"

You playfully push him away and go through your twitter as you and him sit down outside with sandwiches. The wind starts to pick up, and you shiver in the October air. You inhale your lunch and stand up. "I think I'm going to head back to my dorm. I'll text you later?" You say, but he isn't paying attention to you. You roll your eyes at the three girls surrounding him, pushing each other to get closer to him. You see him talk with them at ease before turning around to walk back to your dorm.

Music fills your room as you prance around, doing anything to avoid your homework. You had two more classes today, and you're completely drained, but you know you can't sleep. Starting up your computer, you decide to watch YouTube. Scrolling through your recommended, you come across a video from GeorgeNotFound. You curiously check his account. You've heard a lot of great things about him and his friends, and before you know it, you've watched half of his videos. You move on to his friend, DreamWasTaken, and find yourself mesmerized by his plays. You immediately follow their Twitters and Instagrams, stalking through their accounts. You find yourself smiling at your screen the whole time. Pushing yourself off your bed, you come to the conclusion you can't avoid your homework anymore. Willing yourself to get focused, you sit at your desk and do everything you can to stay focused. After 2 straight hours of typing and studying, you push back from your desk and shut off your laptop, exhaling. You spin around to find your phone and pick it up to check twitter.

Your breath catches at the sight of your notifications.

Happy 1M! A text from Liam.

DreamWasTaken followed you back.