Everywhere || N.H

Backstabber / Chapter 40

~ Athena's eyes

How did I get in this fucking situation in the first place? My Instagram comments are filled with snake emojis, the media hates me, and I'm losing supporters faster than I can say 'sorry'.

-7 hours before-

Turns out Richard is way smarter than I thought he was in the first place. Because of the whole PR stunt thing going on I am being forced to go on a 'shopping spree' with Daisy, in which pictures will be taken of us, and that way the rumors of my relationship with Niall will vanish since people will think Daisy and I are friends and, of course, since we are friends and girl codes exist, it's 'obvious' that I can't have anything with Niall.

The worst part is that I carry this guilt within me, of hating Daisy without even knowing her, and of knowing that I'm wrong, because I don't know her story or why she was chosen to be Niall's stunt.

I was driven to the nearest mall as soon as I was dressed up and the paparazzi confirmed that they were already there waiting for us. Pictures of me were taken when I got out of the car and entered the building. I walked towards the clothing store I was told to wait for Daisy in and patiently waited for her to walk in. I wouldn't confuse her with anyone, it's easy to spot a tall blue-eyed-blondie with perfect hair and slim body.

While waiting for her to arrive I tried to keep my mind busy, playing games on my phone, erasing pictures from my phone, writing stuff that came to my head, until I received an unexpected text from an unknown number.

Unknown

Unknown: Hey Athena! It's Taylor Swift here. I have a proposal for you. As you may or may not know, my version of my 4th studio album 'Red' is coming out in November, and there's this track called 'Nothing New', and I wanted you to be in it along with me! I'll send you what the song is like and the lyrics. Please don't show this message to anyone that's not part of your team. I'll wait for your response! Kisses!

My whole system shut down. My brain stopped working, my heart stopped pumping, my stomach stopped digesting. Everything in my body was shut down. I think I dropped my phone.

"Oh, uh, you dropped your phone" Someone confirmed

"Talk later. Non-verbal now" I managed to utter

"Athena?" The woman asked

I shook my head and looked at the person in front of me.

"Daisy" I breathed out "I'm so sorry, I just got some amazing news and I'm still kind of shocked by them. I'm so sorry, how are you?"

She chuckled. "It's okay, don't worry, I congratulate you on whatever news you got."

I looked up at her. I looked into her blue eyes and my heart was heavy with guilt, sadness, and disgrace towards myself. How could I be so blinded by prejudice? How could I be so selfish? Daisy didn't choose to be here, Daisy was forced, Daisy was going through the same thing as I was. And I was egoistical enough to think I was a victim.

I smiled at her. "Wanna go grab a bite?"

She agreed and we started walking towards the nearest Starbucks. We ordered our drinks and sat down. Soon enough we started talking about ourselves and the things we liked. Turns out we had a lot of things in common, and we were both really enjoying this hang out, even if it was arranged. After laughing over something I told, awkward silence took over the table and Daisy was the first one to break the silence.

"Look Ath," She started talking "I know that this whole thing is really weird, me having to be with Niall while you are both in love with each other, I know it's awkward and I know it's weird but I really want to make it clear that I didn't want to put myself in this position, I didn't ask for this."