Chapter 39
Niall’s P.O.V.
“I did! I did!” Kora yelled, falling into my lap as she laughed. Her camera was gripped in her left hand, but her right one grabbed onto my arm when I wrapped it around her to keep us both from falling to the ground. My stomach cramped from how hard I was laughing, causing me to lean back and gasp for air.
Red’s body stilled a moment later, her whole frame frozen in place. I looked down at her then followed her gaze to the girl at the front of the line, immediately understanding her sudden change. Right there in front of us was her stepsister, Clara, staring at us with a smirk on her face.
“Get up,” I told Kora, tapping her shoulder to gain her attention.
She snapped her head in my direction, her eyes wide. “What? What are you going to do?”
“I’m getting security to escort her out.”
Kora sat up, but still refused to completely get off me. “No. Let her come up here. Let’s see what she wants.” She turned away from me and tapped Louis, telling him to get the boys to huddle around us for a minute. “Listen guys, see the girl at the front of the line?” She waited for them all to look behind them and nod. “She’s my stepsister, if you don’t remember. Don’t say anything, just let her come down the line until she gets to me. There’s no way she’s just here to get a picture and autograph. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” everyone except me chimed.
Kora gave me a pointed look then climbed off my lap and stood up, brushing herself off. She situated her camera and flashed a grin at the lens. “Alright, guys! Let’s see a couple of the fans get their autographs!”
Paul announced that the fans could come up to us then and took down the velvet rope that separated us, a roar of screams following. Clara walked up to us, flipping her hair back and forth over her shoulders like she couldn’t decide which she liked best. Liam signed the CD she handed him, but didn’t say a word to her, just smiled and waved her on down the line. Kora shook her head at him, but when the next girl stepped up he acted completely normal and chatted with her. By the time Clara got to me, none of the boys had spoken to her aside from a remark Louis made under his breath about how she was dressed. Clara narrowed her eyes when she looked between me and Kora.
“Is something wrong?” I asked, cocking a brow at her.
She looked at Kora, who had slightly lowered her camera so she could see. “Is it true you two are engaged?”
“Of course it is. I asked Kora yesterday and announced it onstage last night.” I signed the CD she held out to me, then gave a casual smile as I handed it back.
“You’re lying. She’s underage, so how can the two of you get married?”
“I don’t believe that’s any of your business,” Kora remarked. I noticed how white her knuckles had gone from how tight she held onto the camera.
Clara put both her hands on her hips and turned toward Kora, her face contorted into an ugly combination of hatred and disgust. “Don’t talk to me.”
I stood up. “Don’t talk to her that way.”
Kora held a hand out at me. “It’s okay, Ni. Clara, don’t you think you should move on? You’re holding up the line.”
The blonde haired girl glanced over her shoulder at the tons of other fans then looked back at us. “No. Not until you give me an answer.”
Kora placed her camera on the edge of our table before placing both her hands on her hips. “We’re not getting married right now, therefore I don’t need parental consent. The wedding will be after I’m eighteen so whatever you say won’t be valid.”
Clara huffed, crossing her arms over her chest and popping out her hip. “Don’t you realize how stupid you’re being? You gave up a spot at Joffrey just to go off with this idiotic boy band!”
As soon as those words left her mouth, a collective gasp filled the room. Kora met my gaze, her eyes showing she was thinking the same thing as me, as the crowd burst into a roar of protests and shoving. They pushed over the barrier and flooded around our table, grabbing Clara and making her disappeared into the crowd. I grabbed Kora’s hand before she was hidden by the mass of bodies and pulled her to my side as she picked up her camera and wrapped her arms around my torso.
Paul, Andy, and five other security guards came rushing forward to escort us away from the chaos that broke out while the rest of the mall security tried to get a handle on the raging fans.
I found Kora’s hand again and pulled her close to me as we were ushered into a back storage room of the nearest store, which was thankfully spacious enough for all six of us to sit comfortably while the body guards went back to help control the crowd.
“What just happened….?” Liam wondered, glancing around at us.
Kora chuckled. “That, my friends, is how some of your Directioners react when someone insults their boys in front of them. They take it personally.”
“Did they… so basically… Is Clara… dead?” Harry asked while shaking out his curls.
I covered Kora’s mouth before she could speak. “Don’t say what you were about to. I can bet it wasn’t nice.”
She rolled her gorgeous green eyes and put her hands on my wrist, trying to pry my hand off her mouth, but I wouldn’t let it budge.
“Promise you’ll be nice,” I said, giving her a pointed look.
Her eyes narrowed at me for a second before a mischievous look entered them. Before I could ask what she was doing, she stuck her tongue out and licked my palm.
I yanked my hand away and wiped it on my pants. “Ya weirdo! You just licked me!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Kora claimed, her eyes going wide and making her look like an innocent little puppy. “Anyway, Harry, as far as I’m concerned, Clara could have gotten trampled out there and I wouldn’t care.”
“That’s a little harsh,” Liam scolded her with a shake of his head.
Zayn nodded in agreement. “Yeah, did you two ever get along?”
Kora sighed as she sat down on the floor, her back against a stack of boxes. “At first we did. My mom remarried when I was thirteen and Clara was only nine. I’m not gonna lie, back then she was an incredible dancer for her age and could have really gone places. She used to always tag along to my rehearsals and classes to try and learn more advanced technique and it really helped her. Then she started letting it all go to her head. By the time she was eleven she had this massive ego that developed into her attitude that she has now. She thinks she’s better than everyone, but in reality her dancing ability has really taken a hit because she’s such a little snob. She won’t listen to her instructors anymore or take advice from any other dancers. She thinks she’s perfect as she is and that’s what annoys me so much about her. Nobody can be perfect, there’s always something you can do better or something you can change. She needs to realize that.”
It made so much more sense now why Kora didn’t like her sister. It wasn’t just because her mom loved Clara’s dancing ability, it was because Clara took that ability for granted. She didn’t realize that there are people who would kill to have the opportunities she was given, who would give anything for just one class at a professional dance school. Kora understood how lucky she was to be in the position she is and she hated that Clara was to self-centered to see how fortunate she was.
“I think I understand now,” I said as I sat down next to Kor,
She smiled up at me then leaned her head over on my shoulder.
“How long do we have to be in here?” Louis whined before kicking at a box.
“However long it takes for Pauly to control the riot,” Liam explained.
Louis groaned and collapsed onto a pile of t-shirts next to Harry, who was typing away on his phone. Probably tweeting out what was going on. Or something that made no sense whatsoever. His tweets depended on his mood of the day.
Liam and Zayn both grabbed boxes and joined everyone else in the circle, knowing it could be hours before we got out of this room. I settled for twisted Red’s hair around my finger to pass the time.
“Why don’t we sing or something?” Kora suggested, lifting her emerald green eyes up to look at me.
“Look who’s a genius!” Louis shouted, pointing a finger in Kor’s direction.
“What should we sing?” Zayn wondered as he looked to each person for a suggestion.
Kora opened her mouth to speak but I stopped her. “No Sleeping With Sirens or Imagine Dragons. We don’t know all those lyrics.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and huffed which made her look like a little kid pouting over getting a toy taken away. I chuckled at how adorable she looked.
“What about Swedish House Mafia’s Don’t You Worry Child?” Liam recommended, looking around.
“Perfect!” Kora chirped, a smile overtaking her face.
Liam started tapping the tune on the side of his cardboard box and pointed at Zayn to start the song.
Zayn nodded his head to the beat then sang, “There was a time, I used to look into my father’s eyes. In a happy home, I was a king I had a gold throne.” He pointed to Louis.
“Those days are gone,” Louis continued. “Now the memories are on the wall. I hear the sounds from places where I was born.” He nodded toward Kora and me to sing the chorus.
“Up on the hill across the blue lake,” I sang, smiling down at Red.
She grinned back up at me. “That’s where I had my first heartbreak…”
Hey guys!
So yeah, there's really no point in me typing a long list of reasons why I haven't uploaded in however long it's been. Basically, I'm one of the worst time managers in the world. Anyway....
Got good news for y'all! There's definitely going to be a third installment of this series and it's going to be called Dare to Dance!
Which brings me to question number 1 for this chapter....
Have you guys noticed that all of my titles for this series have a double meaning? If you have and you think you have the meaning right, leave it in a comment below! Remember, all the titles are Dancing in One Direction, Dancing Alone, and Dare to Dance.
Also, second question just for writers! Is there anything weird you do before you can write? I have to clean my room if it's messy. I don't know why, but if there's even one thing that's out of place in my room I absolutely have to fix it before I can write. It doesn't even matter if I'll be writing in my room, I have to clean it or I can't write.
One more thing! Is anyone else having issues with getting emails about when someone comments on your story? I haven't been getting them lately and then will log on and see I have new comments. It's really weird.
Okay enough of boring y'all. Hope y'all liked this chapter!
Love you, my Seashells! Peaceskies! xx Shel
P.S. Thank you all SOOOOOOO much for 500 fans! It seriously means so much to me that there are that many of you that like my work and read what I write. And thank you for over 100,000 reads on both Di1D and DA! Love you all so much!!