I hung up. My stomach turned twice. With trembling hands I dropped the iPhone on the couch. I had to process the message Gemma had just told me. How could I explain it to Louis? Should I tell him straight to his face or send him a text message? Or would I let him know through Gemma? My thousands of questions buzzed back and forth, completely overwhelming me. The whole day had been killing me, but now there was this. I just wanted to sleep. But I wanted to let it all out, to let it all out, to let out everything that was weighing on my heart.

Just ten seconds ago, Gemma and I were on the phone talking. And that's exactly what Gemma had said to me: "I'm so glad you called, Grace. Five minutes ago the police informed me about Eleanor Calder's case - the disappearance was a misunderstanding. She's in California, with a bunch of friends, like every summer - and because she's already stored her own things there, she had simply left them at the hotel. Mobile phone, clothes, toothbrushes - according to her, they were all available at where she was staying and she would have thought that the boys would take her things with them. And when the police called her, she was pretty scared at first, thinking something terrible had happened. She had no idea that it was just a misunderstanding. And then she laughed. Don't ask me how the police had found her, but the whole incident seems a little odd to me. By the way, Eleanor is on her way to you, to Crete, to visit Louis and figure out how One Direction could forget about her trip to America." And for me, that meant I actually had to reveal my secret now. Eleanor would be here in a couple of hours. Now I had to tell Louis. I hoped he would forgive me for those three days I had genuinely and truly enjoyed. But to him, I would just be a fraud.

Slowly I approached Louis, tormented by his headache, sitting in his chair. As I came closer, he looked at me hesitantly. I didn't seem to be very comfortable, my hands were playing with the little stones on the seam of the shirt and I was trembling all over my body. I forgot the notes and all the other stuff I had prepared. For tomorrow evening. Or any other time. But not now! Then I sat down opposite him and looked him straight in the eyes, which reflected both anger and trust. Anger at Perrie. Trustfulness towards m... Eleanor. Soon there would be nothing there but anger. And hate. The two emotions that led to enmity, like trust and affection for friendship.

"Louis, I have to tell you something"m I raised my mumble and looked at my nails. "What?" I heard Louis' worried voice. "I don't know if you can ever forgive me. But I'm asking you to, otherwise I'll leave first thing tomorrow," I continued. "Get to the point." I swallowed. I hated being tortured myself and if I were in his position I would not feel any different. But now, having reached that stage myself, coming clean with the truth and never regaining trust from that person again, made it a big overcoming.

"Promise me that you''ll forgive me", I whispered and held back my tears convulsively. "I promise." "Okay", I hesitated for a while and knew that I made it all the more difficult for myself by babbling a lot more before continuing with the secret. His promise didn't do me any good either way. He would never forgive me. No matter how many times he claimed he would...

"I am..." I moved my right hand to the top of the wig. "So you are pregnant?!" Louis asked, stunned, his eyes wide open. "No, I' m not," I clarified, "It's something.....much worse....," I said in a sad voice. And this time Louis also understood how serious the situation was. And even before he could say anything back, I told him: "I am Grace."

At the same moment my fingers clawed and tore my hair so strongly that the wig came off completely. Then I grabbed the whole bundle with both hands and pulled it down. Tips of blonde hair sprouted out, then I unravelled my bun and the blonde hair fell just over my shoulders. At first I tried to stay tough, but then I cried anyway.

"Eleanor?", I heard Louis' insecure voice across from me, "What does this mean?" "I'm not Eleanor. I never was Eleanor. And I never will be," I told him briefly and concisely, expecting to get a slap on the wrist and be interrogated. "What do you mean by that? That you' re not Eleanor?!" He still didn't seem to get it right. "I'm Grace, a normal girl who met Gemma at a concert. We exchanged numbers and the next day she contacted me and told me Eleanor had disappeared and that I should replace her for a certain period of time. And then I just... did it." My voice sounded very hoarse, but I was convinced that Louis would stay calm for a while. Once again I was wrong.

The next moment he hit the tabletop with both his palms and yelled at me. Yeah, he yelled... My world was about to end. "HOW LONG HAS THIS BEEN GOING ON?!" Without looking up I answered "Since 1DDaySince the day your album was released." "AND WHERE IS ELEANOR?!" I told him about the phone call I had just had with Gemma and heard the door suddenly open. At first I expected to see the shocked Eleanor Calder, but it was only Perrie. She stared at me undaunted. I stared at her undaunted. As if we had never known each other. "What are you yelling about? We can hear you all the way over there..." she asked insecurely. She probably thought she was about to be yelled at as well. "And who is that?" I flinched briefly at this question. "I am... I am... Grace." "And what are you doing here, and where is Eleanor?" "Perrie - first of all, you are the last person who should be interfering with anything here right now. Secondly, please just go and get your own life under control"m Louis said to her. I don't know what had gotten into him. I had never expected things to escalate like this. And the next moment Perrie had disappeared just as quickly as she had come.

"SO NOW YOU'RE GOING TO TELL ME EVERYTHING ALL OVER AGAIN." With a torn heart, I repeated the whole story. From the concert to the phone call. From the first meeting to the present moment. "I almost stopped everything on the first day. I thought it would be better to wait until Eleanor was back", I finished my "story".

Louis had calmed down somewhat when he realized that I had had nothing but good intentions and that Eleanor was well and would soon be with him again.
"Please let me sleep here one more night", I begged him, "tomorrow I'll be gone. I promise, forever." "I don't know." "Don't forget that I've been by your side for the last three or four days too," I countered. "Okay", Louis replied, annoyed. I looked at him gratefully and wondered if he was blaming himself for not recognizing having only a lookalike in front of him?

Desperately I let myself fall on the couch. How could so many things happen in one single day? So much that changed one' s life. And ruined it? Louis was still sitting in his chair, watching me the whole time. I didn't look back at him.

All evening I expected Eleanor to come any moment and accuse me of trying to steal Louis away from her. But she never showed. Even two hours later than expected, there was still no sign of her. Finally I fell asleep. With a feeling of fear. With nervousness. With the thought that I had screwed up everything. And the more I thought about it, the stranger Gemma's words seemed to me. But she would never lie to me. I mean, we were friends. Well, at least we had been. But we had liked each other before that... Just as my inner voices were arguing about what would happen to our friendship, I fell into a dream.
And I dreamt of the vision that I had seen that very morning. Gemma turning against me. And me against the rest of the world.