Dream Catcher

Chapter 4: The Plan

-Around three weeks after the storm-

You skip down the hallway, a grin spreading across your face. You've reached 2 million subscribers on YouTube. 2 million. It was the last thing you expected to wake up to this morning, joined with hundreds of texts from friends congratulating you. When you saw Liam this morning, you had watched his eyes light up as he ran towards you, picking you up to swing you around. George had called you ten times until you picked up, and you were met with him yelling his congratulations and a bunch of tweets you were mentioned in. Classmates that you've never talked to smiled at you or high-fived you.

You were feeling good today. You were attentive during classes, and Liam hadn't ignored your channel for a couple weeks. Not wanting to overthink it, you had decided to push it to the back of your mind. Nothing could change your mood today.

Not even the onslaught of hate comments you've been getting recently. It isn't like you've been scared to upload anything for weeks. It isn't as if you've been telling Liam and George it didn't bother you even though some made you cry yourself. You had walked into the YouTube business, knowing you would receive hate. Especially being a girl. Ever since you started playing Minecraft, there'd always be those groups of boys that wouldn't stop bugging you. But now that "group" was on the internet, but they now have more people and more insults that actually get to you.

You skid to a stop in front of your dorm room and swing the door open, mentally preparing yourself to read the comments of your recent upload. You could easily ignore them altogether, but your need for validation ate away at you every day you went without reading them.

"I got this!" You whisper-shout, encouraging yourself, "Boys have no effect on me at all. Nope."

As you open up your computer, you glance at your phone and see a text from Dream.

happy 2m

You grin, knowing how painful that must have been for him to write.

thanks, im catching up to you, You reply and roll your eyes at his response.

yeah right. im gaining at a faster pace than you, the chances of you catching up anytime soon are low.

Leaving him on read, you log into your YouTube channel and scroll to the comments. The first few are supportive, talking about a place they found funny or cool. As you expected, there were a couple creative comments such as "Women aren't funny," or "She really thought she did something," or "I don't see why people like this girl." You giggle at these, leaning back in your chair as you continue scrolling through the comments. You force yourself to read a few you know aren't supportive and frown at the slew of words used to describe you. You stop yourself from replying to any of them, not wanting to give in. After about 30 minutes of mindless scrolling, you decide to shut the computer off and focus on school work. But before you can even get a pencil out, Liam bursts through your door.

"You're seriously going to get caught one of these days," you say, swiveling around in your seat.

"Guess what?" He says excitedly, ignoring your comment, "Guess who followed me on twitter?"

"Who?" You ask, interested.

"George. You're George. GeorgeNotFound," He says, grinning as he shows you his evidence, "I didn't know you talked about me so much."

You giggle, "I mean, yeah. You're like my only friend here. I told him you were a fan and how supportive you've been."

He gives you a fond smile, and his ears go pink. But you don't realize this, for your attention is on your phone. He stares at you, watching as your lips turn upwards into a small smile. You look up, catching his gaze. For some reason, you feel your heart flutter at his intense stare. Flustered, you stand up, looking around.

"Um- I know you just got here, but do you think you could stop by later? George asked if I could join a call."

You half-expected, half-hoped, Liam would give you a look. But instead, he looks pleased, as if he accomplished something. He nods, standing up and winking at you as he closes the door behind you, murmuring a goodbye. Your heart jerks again, but you shake it off as you join the call.

"Y/N! Guess what?" George said, smiling.

"Liam followed you back?"

"Who's Liam?" Sapnap asked.

"Well, yes, but not that," George said.

"Okay, I give up. Tell me," You say, and you can't help but grin at his excited expression.

"I'm coming to the States! Dream and I are meeting up again. And Sapnap and Alyssa will be there too," He says.

"Really! You should stop by me while you're at it!" You suggest, and Dream scoffs.

"Well, actually, we were wondering if you'd want to meet up with us too. I'm flying over in two days, so we'd all meet in Orlando, Florida. If you can, I'd send you all the important stuff. And if you feel more comfortable, you can invite Liam or someone," George says. You gape at him.

"Wait, so I'd get to meet all of you?" You say, astonished.

"Duh," Dream says matter-of-factly, rolling his green eyes. You glare at him.

"Does he have to come?" You ask, pleading George with your eyes.

"That's the entire reason I'm coming," he chuckles, and Dream has a smug look on his face that makes him so much more punch-able. Doing your best to ignore him, you enthusiastically nod, saying yes a million times. George and Sapnap grin, and you swear you see Dream smile before he says he has to go. You and George chat for a couple minutes after Sapnap heads out before Liam comes in again. You wave him over, introducing him to George. They exchange hellos, and then George lets you go, giving you a stupid grin.

Turning to Liam, you tell him about the plan. He nods, intrigued, as you read out the details that George sent and ask Liam to join you. His jaw falls open before he grins, taking your hand and shaking it wildly.

"Going to Universal Studios with a bunch of Minecraft YouTubers? Do you even have to ask? Oh god, we have to miss school. It's only one day, we'll be fine," he goes off on a hysterical rant, and you bounce up happily.

You get to meet the Dream Team.