Let's Pretend [Niall Horan]

Chapter 11

-Shannon Chin-
••January 21, 2013••

I walked into the small London recording studio with my violin, taking off my heavy, full-length coat and hanging it on the coatrack.  It was exciting to know that I had won the violin competition I competed in every year – not that I thought I wasn’t going to.  I was clearly the best, it was just good that the judges could see that this time.

Last time I was here in London, the stupid blonde judge thought Kathy Anne was better than me.  We were one point separated in the scoring.  ONE POINT.  That was just ridiculous - I was so much better than that Kathy Anne girl.  Thank God the blonde judge dropped out after last competition and let a new judge take her seat.  Maybe she read all the kind letters my parents, Faith's mother and I sent her… 

Anyways, whatever.  What really matters is that, for the first time, I am the 18-21 age group national champion, and with that came a pretty sweet recording contract.  I finally held the champion spot that Kathy Anne had stolen from me for the past six years, and today was the first day of recording.

I had to admit it - I was a little nervous.

I let out a deep sigh, perching on the uncomfortable mini-couch in the recording studio lobby with my violin case resting on my lap.  All I was to do left was to wait for my manager.  Where was she?

I rolled my eyes, pulling out my iPhone out of my pocket.  Some people are just so inconsiderate.  Clicking the phone's on button, I was suddenly spammed with millions of texts, emails, and calls from Mrs. Gray. 

My immediate thought was, “What the heck does Mrs. Gray want?!” I was on break, after all!  But when I clicked on one of her texts, I panicked a bit.

Okay, so I'm going to get one thing straight.  I wasn’t one to call Faith Gray my friend.  Nope.  Definitely not my friend.  That would be so weird.  She was so boring and unlike me; everyone knew that.  Faith and her mum moved to my neighborhood a few years ago, right after some surgery that Faith had.  One day, as I stood outside my family's mansion, Mrs. Gray walked over to my yard and told me about her daughter.  She insisted that I would become Faith's best friend.  I was skeptical at first, but when she showed me how much she would pay me every hour I was definitely up for it.  

Working for Mrs. Gray was nice and simple.  All I did with Faith was study or talk about my hobbies.  It was actually pretty nice to have someone to just sit there and listen to me ramble for hours and hours.  Anything that would keep Faith calm was all Mrs. Gray wanted – so that’s what I did.  I didn’t know why.  I just needed money to buy the newest trends, and if I had to babysit with this dull girl for my shopping money, whatever.  Mrs. Gray would get mad at me whenever Faith and I would fight, though.  It was just obvious that she wasn’t a likable person - unlike me, of course.

So when I turned on my phone, I got many messages from Mrs. Gray saying that Faith had run away!  She was in London now.  I took a few seconds, debating whether I should reply or not.  After all, it was my break. 

But Mrs. Gray was going to pay me so much when she found out I was already in London...

I opened the most recent text from Mrs. Gray, who was completely a wreck, insisting that I needed to answer.  So I did, quickly typing a single sentence.

I’ll find her.

I smiled to myself, grabbing a water bottle from the table next to me and helping myself without asking. 

##

"Shannon, let's try that again," my manager said to me after I finished my whole number, resting my arms in pain.  It was my favorite - Allegro, from Mendelssohn's violin concerto in E minor.