A/N Hey everyone! So, I finished the chapter today during class, and I decided to upload today instead of tomorrow. But I thought I should really quickly tell you something awesome!

So, I'm in History class, and we're waiting for class to start. I'm sitting at my desk, my notebook out, writing this story, when my teacher plays the song of the day. He always plays a song, sometimes since it kind of relates to what we're learning, and other times just because he can.

Anyway, I'm sitting there, and then the song plays. It was LIVE WHILE WE'RE YOUNG! I was singing every lyric, and I was so happy! Maybe that's why I decided to upload today...eh, I don't know.

Anyway, here's chapter nine! Enjoy!

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Lizzie’s POV

As I fell asleep that night, after a tiring day working in Courtney’s house, I was thinking about how happy Courtney seemed. She looked much happier than usual, which was strange, because she usually was active and fun-loving.

My eyes finally shut and I began to dream about what the next day could bring.

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My eyelids fluttered open the next day to sunlight streaming through a crack in the window. I rubbed my eyes and stretched out my arms towards the sky, yawning.

I was planning on Skyping my older brother, Michael, today, because I really needed his advice. I need to ask him about Louis. I don’t know what to do. Of course, I like him, but I don’t know what to do. That’s where Michael comes in.

Michael has always given me great advice in the past, so maybe he can help me out with this too. He’s the one who told me what to do when there was drama at school between my friends there and I. He also helped me with homework from time to time before he went into the military last year, specifically the Air Force.

I pushed back the blankets and got out of bed, still thinking about what to do. I put my robe on over my tank top and pajama shorts, also known as my summer PJs. Slipping on my slippers (such a horrible joke, maybe we really are learning from Mr. Reynolds…kill me now), I strolled out of my room and walked down the stairs to the kitchen for breakfast.

“Good morning!” I greeted my mom, smiling at her. She was at the counter, making coffee.

“Good morning, Elizabeth,” she responded. I rolled my eyes out of her view, hoping she wouldn’t see. I didn’t like my full name, so I hated when she called me that. “What would you like for breakfast?”

“Hash browns,” I answered her, taking a seat at the table. I saw the newspaper on the table next to me. I guess that she had been reading before she got her coffee.

“Could you pour yourself some orange juice and feed Lemonade?” My mom asked me, preparing the hash browns.

I rolled my eyes. “And I just sat down,” I mumbled, standing up and walking over to where we keep Lemonade’s cat food. I turned back to my mom as I scooped a cupful of the food for her. “Hey, do we have a set time for the Skype with Michael?” I asked her.

“Yes, it’s around lunchtime,” she answered as I dumped the cat food in Lemonade’s bowl.

“That sounds good to me. I’m going to go change while I wait for the meal. By the way, where’s the sprinkler?”

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“Why did you have to find the flower sprinkler?” Simone whined as she ran through the water.

“It’s the only one I could find!” I exclaimed, leaning against the wall to take a break. “My mom is going to look for the big waterslide later, so you don’t have to run through the flower sprinkler again.”

Simone cheered. “YES!” she exclaimed, going to the back of the line. Everyone else was in line, except for Zayn, who was also taking a break, although I don’t remember seeing him run through it in the first place. My mind wandered back to Great Wolf, and I wondered if he had gone down the slide or not. I wouldn’t know, since I was on a tube with Louis, Harry, and Ana.

I snapped out of it and went back to reality. My mind wandered again, but instead of to the past, it went towards the future. Only one hour left until I Skype Michael, I thought as I watched Kelly run through the sprinkler.

Louis walked over to me, leaving the line before he could make it to the front. His hair was dripping water slightly, and he was soaked. “Hey, Liz, why aren’t you over there?” he asked me, pointing at the sprinklers, where Ana was now running through it.

“I think I’m going to take a break for a little while and dry off, Lou. I have something I need to do in an hour,” I responded, strolling over to a table where I had stacked a few towels. I took one as Louis followed me over.

“Are you sure?” Louis inquired. “It’s really fun,” he smiled at me.

I sighed. “Okay, fine, you win,” I said. “I’ll just talk to my brother with wet hair.”

“Oh, you’re going to talk to your brother?” Louis asked as the two of us walked back to the group. “Where’s he?”

“Stationed in the Air Force somewhere,” I answered, continuing to walk.

“Oh,” Louis said quietly. We continued towards the group. “Why don’t you run through first,” he offered, motioning to the sprinkler.

“Um, alright,” I said quietly, getting in the back of the line. When I was in the front, I got ready to run through. I sprinted at the flower and jumped through the wall of water. I grinned widely, laughing and running back to the end of the line.

Before I could reach the front again, however, Niall ran and picked up the sprinkler. “What the heck are you doing, Niall?” Lucy yelled at him. But it was too late. Niall began to chase us around with the sprinkler.

All of us fanned out around the lawn, running as fast as we could away from Niall with our bare feet. I saw Niall pass the sprinkler off to Harry, who took Niall’s place chasing us around, spraying us with the sprinkler.

I ran and hid behind the shed in the backyard, hoping to avoid them entirely, and maybe dry off before seeing Michael during the video chat.

“No! Harry!” Ana yelled from the other side of the shed, giggling.

“It’s too late!” Harry chuckled. I heard Ana laugh again, which led me to believe she’d been sprayed. “Liam! It’s your turn!” He yelled out, and there was a bit of silence.

I heard Courtney squeal slightly, laughing as Liam did so as well. “No! Don’t Liam!” she exclaimed.

There was silence for a little while. I crossed my arms to preserve heat and leaned back against the wall, continuing to listen.

“Hey, where’s Lizzie?” I heard Kelly ask the group after the laughing had died down.

“Well, she said that she was going to video chat her brother at lunchtime,” I heard Louis answer her.

“Wait, she’s going to talk to Michael?” Simone asked. “And she didn’t tell me?”

“What? Have you got a crush on my brother?” I asked, speaking up and blowing my cover. I peered around the corner, and saw them crowded around the sprinkler. Their attention now was on me, since I had spoken.

“What? No!” Simone exclaimed. “I don’t have a crush on anyone!”

“Not even Keaton Stromberg?” Lucy asked, a knowing smile on her face. She raised her eyebrows curiously.

Simone’s cheeks turned a rosy pink. “Maybe,” she began, and the rest of us burst out laughing. “I’ll get back to you on that.” We all laughed again, smiling at each other.

“Okay then,” I said before my mother came out on the back porch. I looked over toward her. “What do you need, Mom?” I asked her quietly.

“Michael’s calling, Elizabeth,” she answered me. “Dry off and come in.”

“It’s Lizzie,” I mumbled before starting off towards the door. “Bye you guys. See you in a little bit,” I told the rest of the group.

“See you later, Liz,” Louis waved to me, giving me a smile.

“You can stay back there with the sprinkler, if you want,” my mom offered the group. “I’ll bring out the waterslide in a little bit, if you still want it.”

“Yes please. Thank you so much, Mrs. Nelson,” Liam told her as I slipped past my mom and walked inside.

I dried off a bit and slipped a t-shirt from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter on over my swimsuit, as well as a pair of jean shorts. “Is he ready, or do I have a minute?” I called down to my mom.

“He’s ready,” my mom answered me, and I walked back downstairs. “The laptop is in here.”

I followed her voice into the family room and took a seat on the couch. My mom carried the laptop in and set it down on my lap. There, right in front of me, was my brother’s smiling face. “Hey, little sis!” he exclaimed.

“Michael!” I grinned at the screen. He was wearing his Air Force uniform, and his signature smile never failed. His hair was cut much shorter than I remembered, but it made sense, considering where he was, and the last time I saw him. “I haven’t seen you since last summer!”

He and Kyle had been good friends, although Kyle was a year younger than he was. Last summer had been his last one here before enlisting, so he hadn’t seen Kyle in a while either.

“Yeah, I guess we haven’t,” Michael responded. “How’s my little sister doing? What’s new with you?”

“Nice rhyme,” I joked, and the two of us shared a laugh, just like old times. “Anyway, school ended a couple weeks ago.”

“Oh, it did? How’s your summer going? Are you still spending it with the girls?” Michael questioned.

I nodded. “Of course I am. I have to, anyway,” I joked, and we laughed again. I loved cracking jokes around my brother, although they weren’t always that good. “But we’ve been spending it with a couple of guys too.”

“Oh, so you’ve been spending the summer with Kyle, then? And you wrote me about Courtney’s boyfriend…oh, what was his name?” He rubbed his chin in thought.

“Are you thinking of Braeden?” I supplied.

“Yeah, that guy. Is that who’s there?”

“Well, we’ve seen Kyle a few times. He’s going to be doing a college road trip later this summer, if I remember correctly. We probably won’t see him that much the rest of the summer because of it. And Braeden and Courtney broke up a week before school ended, so we haven’t seen him,” I informed him.

“Ah, okay. Then who are the guys?” Michael looked curious to hear this.

“Well, there are five of them. They’re from the U.K. You’ve never met them, but you may have heard of them,” I told him.

“Okay. But what are their names?” Michael laughed at how I didn’t even mention their names.

“What are their names? Oh, their names are-.” I was about to say it, but then Louis slipped through the sliding door. I turned my head to look at him. “What do you need, Lou? And can you make it quick?”

“I need a couple towels. Zayn, Kelly, Ana, and Harry all want to take a break, and they can’t find their towels.” Louis had a small grin on his face, which led me to believe he was up to something.

“Did you take them?” I asked, trying not to laugh. I took a quick glance at my brother, and saw that he looked kind of confused.

“What? No! Of course I didn’t, Liz. Why would you even think that?” Louis exclaimed. I raised my eyebrows at him, and he sighed. “Yeah…”

“I knew it. Now, go give them their towels back,” I told him, doing a motion with my hands to shoo him away.

“Fine, I’m going,” Louis said, sighing and turning to leave. Sometimes it still surprised me that he was still the oldest of the group.

“Good for you, Lou!” I laughed a bit, and watched him walk out the door. I turned back to face the laptop screen, where Michael was staring at me with a confused look in his eyes. I laughed at his surprise. “What?” I asked.

“Who was that?” Michael asked me in response.

“That’s Louis. He and his four friends, Harry, Liam, Zayn, and Niall, make up One Direction,” I informed him. “Don’t you remember? I told you about them in my last letter!”

Michael nodded. “They’re celebrities, then?”

It was now my turn to nod. “Yeah, they are. By the way, could you give me some advice?”

“What is it about?” Michael inquired, running a hand through his dark hair.

“The guy that came in, Louis, I…uh…kind of like him…” I glanced at my feet, my dark hair covering my eyes and face.

“Oh, so he’s your favorite member?” Michael asked me in response.

“Well, yes, but I like him more than that, and he seems to like me, so I just want to know if I should-.”

Michael interrupted me. “Don’t. Celebrities are all the same. He won’t stay anyway.”

My heart sank. “But, Michael!” I exclaimed. He had always given me good advice, so now to hear him say that I shouldn’t go with Louis made me have second thoughts.

“I’m telling the truth. If he said he’d stay for the summer, he will, and then he and his friends will leave. He’ll forget all about you, sis. If you were to see him on the street next year, he wouldn’t even remember your name.”

“But, Michael!” I sighed quietly.

“You know it’s the truth, little sis,” he told me with a serious look in his eyes. “I’m not saying you can’t hang out with them, but keep yourself and your friends out of their ‘love lives’ or anything like that. I don’t want them to be hurt either.”

I nodded solemnly. “I hear you loud and clear, Michael.” But it’s not like I have to listen, do I?

“Good. Now, I have to go. It’s already been too long a call, so I need to,” Michael told me with a sigh.

“Aw…okay then. I love you, big bro,” I told him, giving him a small smile.

“Love you too, little sis. Bye,” he said as the call was disconnected.

“Bye,” I heard myself say. It wasn’t just to Michael, though. It was goodbye to the advice I actually liked.

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After cleaning up and putting the laptop away, I slipped back outside to the group. Hearing the sliding door close, I saw them all look up at me. “Hey Lizzie,” Niall greeted me.

“Hi,” I said quietly, totally not like myself. I walked down towards them.

“How’s Michael doing?” Kelly inquired.

“He’s fine. He was curious about how you girls are doing, and if I was hanging out with anyone else over the summer.”

“So, you told him about us, then?” Liam asked, not rudely.

“It’s hard to avoid not to when somebody comes in during the middle of it asking for towels,” I answered, shooting Louis a fake glare.

“Yeah, nice job, Zayn,” Louis pointed at Zayn, trying to put the blame on him.

“I was the victim! You’re the one who hid the towels!” Zayn pointed at Louis.

“Ladies, ladies, you’re both pretty,” Simone said, stepping up between them to separate them. “Just move on.”

My bottom lip quivered as I struggled to hold in a laugh at Simone’s comment. I noticed some of the girls were doing the same, as well as Liam and Harry. Niall, however, broke it and started laughing his head off. None of us could help it, so we joined in. Soon, we were all lying on the ground, laughing.

My mom decided that was the time to ask, “Who’s ready for lunch?”

“ME!” Niall and Courtney exclaimed. The two of them jumped up from the ground and sprinted towards where my mom was standing, which was in front of the glass door. The nine of us that remained burst out laughing again.

I know what you’re thinking, Courtney likes food? She does. I remember a time when we were younger, maybe about fourth grade or something, where she would go about fifteen minutes and then raid our pantries for food. That has long passed, but she still has her tendencies.

“What did you make?” Lucy asked my mom as we all pushed ourselves off the ground and walked towards her.

“Hot dogs,” she answered, opening up the door again.

“That’s awesome! Pass the ketchup, please!” Ana exclaimed as I walked to the fridge and pulled out some condiments. I laughed, and placed the ketchup bottle in her hands. Ana looked at me, and asked, “What?”

“You put ketchup on your ketchup, Ana,” Simone pointed out, causing us all to laugh. “You saw a shirt at the MOA with that on it, and you almost bought it.”

“If I had time, and I never said I would get it,” Ana retorted, squeezing the ketchup bottle over a hot dog.

“Yes you did,” Simone challenged, as Niall slipped behind her, taking a hot dog.

“Can we just enjoy our lunches without a ketchup debate?” I finally spoke up.

“I agree! I’m hungry!” Niall said, taking a bite of his hot dog.

“Same! I’m starving!” Courtney observed, preparing her own hot dog.

“You’re not starving, Courtney, you’re just hungry,” Kelly told her.

“ANYWAY,” I exclaimed, and everyone went silent. Yup, people listen to me when I’m loud.

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After lunch, riding down the waterslide my mom set up, and an incredible day in general with the group, it was time to head out. We said our goodbyes and the girls walked down the street to their houses. The boys got in the van and drove back to their hotel.

I was getting ready for bed later on that night, and I couldn’t stop thinking about what Michael had told me. But how was I going to take his advice, if I even chose to? It wasn’t fair! Michael didn’t even know them like I did!

But Michael’s always given me great advice, so I didn’t know what to do. Should I follow my head, which tells me to listen to Michael? Or should I follow my heart, and give Louis a chance?

I pulled on my summer PJs and brushed my teeth and hair. Pulling back the blankets, I hopped into bed and stared at the ceiling.

My eyes closed, and I remember before I fell asleep, I thought, Louis or Michael?

Louis or Michael?

Louis or Michael?

The last name I remember hearing was Louis.

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So? What did you think? Vote and comment please! I love feedback!

Video of the chapter: Emblem 3 - Sunset Boulevard - Official Song

Picture of the chapter: Samantha Boscarino as Lizzie

Also, one quick question: What do you think about having a chapter from one of the boys' perspective? It wouldn't be part of the normal rotation, but just a special chapter in the middle. Give me your feedback on that, please! If you're curious, I was planning on doing it after the next chapter, and I haven't decided on which boy it would be yet.

Love you all! See you next week!