Say Goodnight and Go Chapter Three

Chapter Three - Shark in the Water

It had been nearly three months since Eloise had last seen One Direction and she was starting to feel lonely. She'd gone back to Providence and reunited with her best friend, Piper, and that had cheered her up a little bit. She'd come to realize, however, that nothing made her as happy as being with One Direction had.

"El. El, wake up. You're going to be late to Jones's class and you know how he hates that," Piper said quietly, shoving Eloise lightly. Eloise turned over and buried her face into her pillow, grumbling about how early it was. Piper rolled her eyes and ran a hand through her pastel pink hair. It fell gently around her shoulders in soft waves. Eloise looked up at her, her eyes half lidded with sleep.

She groaned. "Can't you just tell him that I'm sick, or something?"

Piper scoffed. "No, Eloise. Besides, you love chemistry. I don't know why, but you do. And we have a test today. You can't miss that," she said, sitting down across from Eloise on her bed. She fished around underneath it and pulled out a worn, clover green colored Van and pulled it on her right foot. She searched around for the other one before finding it wedged between her mattress and the wall. She shoved her left foot into it and began to tie the laces.

Eloise buried her head underneath her pillow. She rolled from side to side and gripped her sheets angrily before sitting up. Piper let out a snort and stood up.

"You better hurry up and tame that lion's mane, El. Your hair's going to be considered a fire hazard," she prodded. Eloise glared at her before standing up and walking to the bathroom. She winced at her hair; Piper was right. She did look like a lion.

She dragged a brush through her unruly brown hair until it was straight again. Piper glared at her, frustrated with the fact that Eloise could easily brush her hair straight when Piper had to fight for control of hers every morning. Although it was still messy, it was straight enough to look presentable for the day. She combed a rats nest out at the front ends and forced herself to put the brush down. She didn't have time for this.

"El, get your clothes on! We're not Zoey and Nicole! We don't have little scooters to get us across campus in 5 seconds!" Piper shouted. Eloise ran back into the room and pulled the oversized t-shirt that had served as her pajamas the night before over her head. She tossed it to the side and it landed on a picture frame on her dresser, threatening to tip it over. Eloise ignored it, ran into her closet, and pulled out a short teal colored tank top dress that fell just above her knees. She threw it over her head, straightening it out quickly. Accompanying it with an oversized cream colored cardigan and a pair of off white Doc Martens and knee socks, Eloise ran a hand through her frazzled hair.

"We ready?" Piper asked, tapping her foot impatiently. Eloise looked at herself in the mirror; she'd slept in her make up last night after getting home late with her friends (Piper always found the time to wash hers off) and most of it was still there. Deciding she looked like a less glamorous Effy Stonem, she shrugged, grabbed her bag, and followed Piper from their dorm and down to the classroom.

The clock ticked to 8:02 and Piper and Eloise stormed into class in a huff. Their tall, bald chemistry teacher looked over at them from the whiteboard disapprovingly. "Sit down, ladies. Tests are out," he said sternly, motioning to their seat. They both went and sat next to their other friend, Faline, and waited for Mr. Jones to slip them a test.

Faline looked over to them, her brown eyes desperate as she looked down at her test. "I've checked out. Only the chemistry gods can help me now," she whispered desperately. Eloise cracked her a smile before a test was slapped down on the cold black table in front of her. She fished a pencil and her calculator out of her bag and gave Jones a thumbs up. He rolled his eyes, gave Piper the second version of the test, and went back to his desk at the front corner of the room.

Eloise went to town on her chemistry test, her fingers punching numbers into her scientific calculator and copying them down onto the paper. She flipped to the last page and looked up to the clock; perfect timing. There were only 5 minutes left in class and she only had one problem left. Faline looked over to her. She'd turned her test in early, unable to complete anymore.

Nearly burning a hole in the paper, Eloise worked furiously through the problem until she smiled triumphantly and closed her test. She'd always had a knack for chemistry. She went and set the test on the corner of Jones's desk right before the bell rang. She gathered her stuff and waited for Piper, who turned her test in with a frown.

"How'd it g—"

"I don't want to talk about it," Piper cut her off with a sneer. Eloise shot her a thumbs up and wrapped a hand around the strap of her bag.

Piper ran a hand through her pastel pink hair. "Heard from Liam recently?" she asked, looking over to Eloise with a hopeful smile.

Eloise shook her head with a frown. Liam had kept in contact with her for the first month, but his calls had started to dwindle, and his texts became less frequent as time went on. She occasionally got a text from him now, but it had been at least three weeks since the last one. She'd text him and get no reply, call him and get no answer. She missed him, but she'd figured this would happen in the first place.

"Sorry, bud," Piper frowned, patting her best friend on the shoulder. Eloise rolled her eyes with a smile.

"Sorry I couldn't hook you up with Niall," Eloise apologized. Piper crossed her arms over her chest with a huff.

"Yeah. Thanks a lot," she said, sticking her tongue out at Eloise. Eloise rolled her eyes and shoved Piper lightly, who proceeded to trip over her own feet and crash into the wall. Eloise snorted and kept walking as Piper gathered herself and caught up easily.

Eloise stopped as she heard her name being called from behind her. She turned around to see Lily, a One Direction super fan, running towards her. She was donned in her usual outfit: a badly made One Direction t-shirt that was three sizes too big, a pair of blue jeans with "1D" bedazzled on nearly every inch of denim, and a pair of red converse that had the boys' names written on them in sharpie. Her hair was a curly mess, like every day, and hidden underneath a One Direction baseball cap. She held her One Direction folders close to her chest as she reached Eloise and Piper, who stared at her expectantly.

Lily always knew what was going on with One Direction the moment it happened. Eloise and Piper didn't know how she did it, but they always knew she'd come and tell them if there was big news. She was one of the sweetest girls at Mount Rose, but she was a tad obsessed.

"One Direction…coming to Providence for two weeks!" she panted, doubling over. Eloise rose an eyebrow at her.

"Lily, where did you hear that? Why would the boys come to Providence?" she asked, bending down to get closer to Lily. After catching her breath a bit, Lily stood up and Eloise followed suit.

She beamed at them. "They're here on a layover! I just got a tweet like, ten seconds ago! They're going to be here! Here!" she shouted excitedly. Other students stared at her with smiles on their faces, shaking their heads. Everyone knew of Lily's obsession with the British pop stars, but her personality was too endearing to find it annoying.

Eloise shook her head. "Until they get here, I won't believe it," she said, turning on her heel. Lily watched her leave, her eyebrows furrowed.

"Why would I lie?" she asked Piper quietly. Piper sighed.

"Eloise is a little stubborn when it comes to stuff like this. We'll go to the airport with you when they're supposed to—"

"GOING TO," Lily reminded.

"—supposed to arrive, okay?" Piper finished. Lily shot her a thumbs up and Piper smiled, turning away from the Directioner and walking quickly after her best friend. She caught up with her just as Eloise began to rant.

"Like One Direction would ever come to Providence. Rhode Island? Why would they come to Rhode Island? It's like them going to Oklahoma. Never gonna happen!" she said, throwing her hands in the air. Piper simply smiled and nodded her head in agreement, knowing it was no use to argue with Eloise over something like this.

The next few classes passed quickly, and soon enough it was lunch time. There were only two classes after lunch, so the day was nearly over. Eloise swerved through the dozens of girls trying to get to the lunchroom and caught sight of Piper's pink hair. She latched onto her arm and they reached the lunchroom together, meeting up with Faline.

Waiting patiently in the lunch line, Eloise stood on her tip toes to see what all was being served for lunch. The deep tin of thick french fries was going fast, and Eloise crossed her fingers, hoping to get to them before they were all gone.

They passed the various food bins and Piper already had a plate on her tray. She looked to Eloise's empty tray and squinted. "Please don't be anorexic," she said, narrowing her gaze. Eloise snorted, shaking her head.

"No, I just don't want any of that," she said, motioning to the food they'd passed. Finally, they came to the french fries and Eloise beamed; there was enough left for just one plate.

She grinned at the lunch lady. "Chips, please!" she said with a smile. The lunch lady cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Hun, we have no potato chips in the lunch line…you get those at the end."

Eloise looked down at her shoes. Sometimes she forgot she wasn't British and "chips" didn't mean "fries". "Sorry," she apologized, pointing to the french fries. "French fries?"

The lunch lady nodded in understanding. She spooned them onto a styrofoam plate and handed them to Eloise, who took them happily. "Thank you!"

She handed her lunch card to the woman at the cash register, paying for her food. Piper eyed her tray again. "Only fries, El?" she asked, handing the woman her own lunch card.

"I'm getting bread to make a chip butty. Calm yourself," Eloise said, sticking her tongue out. Piper rolled her eyes.

"You're not British, Eloise. Your name might be, but you aren't," she reminded her, accompanying her friend to the short sandwich bar on the other side of the lunch room. Eloise shrugged, picking up four slices of white bread and five individual pats of butter.

"A girl can dream, right?"

The two scanned the lunch room and found Faline sitting at a table with Lily, talking excitedly. They sat down and were immediately overcome by Faline's squeals.

"One Direction is here!" she exclaimed, holding her shiny white iPhone 4 out for Eloise to see. Eloise grabbed her wrist, steadying her friend's hand as she squinted at the picture of the boys at the T F Green International airport in Warwick.

"No way," she muttered, snatching Faline's phone and zooming in to the picture to make sure it was actually the boys and not a fake photo. Her eyes caught sight of a white JW on a purple hoodie before her eyes travelled up to Harry's unforgettable curls. "It's actually them!" she said happily before giving Faline her phone back.

Lily squealed. "I'm going to meet One Direction!"

"I thought they weren't supposed to get here for another few days, though," Piper said, stabbing her fork into the baked ziti on her tray. She took a large bite and looked to Lily for an answer.

"Me either, but here they are!" she said happily, taking a large drink from her water bottle.

Eloise assembled her sandwich and took a bite, looking down to her phone. There had been no text, call, or anything to tell her of One Direction's arrival in her town. Had Liam forgotten she lived there, or did he simply just not think to text her at all?

She pushed her thoughts away and took another bite of her sandwich, chewing silently. The others conversed excitedly about One Direction and the upcoming weekend that held the opportunity to meet them. Eloise stole the unopened Dr. Pepper can on Piper's tray and took a sip.

"But, but, but," Piper protested, grabbing at the crimson colored can. Eloise shook her head and took another sip.

"You know you really got this for me," she said, setting the can down on her own tray. Piper bowed her head and shrugged, mumbling "I guess" under her breath. Eloise took another drink and finally put the half empty can down on her tray.

"When did you guys want to go see One Direction?" Lily asked, shaking in her seat. She'd gotten a large plate of food, but she'd hardly touched any of it. Too excited, Eloise guessed.

Piper shrugged. "It is the weekend. We could go tomorrow?"

"We don't even know where they're staying, guys," Eloise said, shaking her head. Normally, she was the optimist, but in this situation, she wasn't. It was her turn to be the realist.

"Everyone always stays at the Hilton at the heart of town. I'm sure they won't be any different!" Lily said, getting up from her seat. The others followed and Eloise took one last bite of her sandwich before throwing it away. She held the Dr. Pepper can in her hands, tapping her fingernails on it thoughtfully.

Piper beamed at her best friend. "Come on, El. We'll go—"

"Now. We have to go now," Faline said happily.

"Faline, we can't go now. We still have two classes left today," Eloise reminded her, rolling her eyes at her friend's excitement.

Faline shrugged. "Well, then why don't we go tonight? We don't have anything to do."

Lily nodded enthusiastically and Piper joined in. All three of them looked to Eloise, their hands clasped together and their lower lips folded in a pouty face. Eloise scoffed and looked away from their pathetic faces, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"We have to give the headmistress more notice than that if we're going to leave," she said. The others looked crestfallen, but Lily spoke up first.

"So…let's sneak out."