"I called dibs on the apron!" I race through the house, trying to get away from Aiden.

We both want to wear the same apron tonight. We are helping all of the chefs cook dinner tonight. Zoey, one of the main chefs, said that anyone could wear the 'Kiss the Chef' apron. I called dibs on it first and then Aiden tried to steal it from me. So, I grabbed it and attempted to run away with it.

"But I want to wear it!" Aiden shouts at me.

"I don't care what you want!" I yell at him. "I'm the crippled one. I should have the cool apron!"

"You're not crippled!" Aiden chases me through the kitchen. "You are running through the house without yelling out in pain."

I pretend to fall on the ground. I grab my left ankle as if it was hurting me. A fake yelp escapes from my mouth. Aiden rushes to my side quickly. Is he really believing this? If I don't become a singer I should try being an actress. They get paid some pretty good money.

My ankle has actually stopped hurting. The show sent a doctor to come check up on it yesterday. He said that my ankle was a lot better and I could walk on it normally again. Apparently, all of the resting and having the boys carry me made it heal faster than normal. The doctor said I should still take it easy, but considering that I just ran through the house, I won't be taking it easy.

"Are you okay?" Aiden crouches down on the floor next to me.

"No." I clutch my ankle in my hands. "I think running through the house made it hurt again."

"I don't think that's possible." Aiden balances on his toes while remaining in a crouched position.

My eyebrows wrinkle together in confusion. "Why not?"

"Because you sprained your right ankle. You're holding your left ankle." Aiden stands up and snatches the apron up from the ground. "Nice try, though."

"Dang it!" I slam my hands on the ground.

Aiden smirks at me while putting on the 'Kiss the Chef' apron. He ties the strings around his back. How could I forget that it was my right ankle? I bet if I grabbed my right ankle Aiden would have believed me.

"Can you at least help me up?" I hold my hand out for him to grab.

"I guess so." Aiden grabs my hand and pulls me up.

"That apron will be mine." I tell him before heading to the living room.

"Don't count on it." Aiden smirks.

"How much do you want to bet?" I cross my arms and stop walking.

"Ten euros."

I stick my hand out in front of me. "Deal."

Aiden shakes hands with me. "Whatever you are planning, it won't work. This apron is mine."

"We'll see about that." I walk past him.

Aiden follows me as I walk into the living room. Okay. I have to make this believable. I stop right before I walk in the living room. Think sad thoughts, Carter. Hurt puppies. Losing Louis as a best friend. That one worked. Tears gather up in my eyes.

"You're going to cry? Really? That's not fair." Aiden complains.

I ignore him and step in the kitchen. Liam, Zayn, and Louis are goofing around. Zoey is talking to Craig and Pajie. Matt is washing his hands in the sink. Belle Amie is chatting to each other. I lower my head to the ground and purposely walk into Matt.

"Oops. Sorry Matt." I apologize quietly.

"Are you crying?" Matt dries off his hands and grabs my shoulders gently.

"No, I think I have something in my eye like a twig or something." I wipe my eyes.

"Carter, what's wrong?" Matt looks in my eyes.

"Carter?" Louis stands next to Matt, looking concerned.

"Hi, Louis." I smile at him, weakly.

"What's wrong, love?" Louis steps closer.

"It's nothing. Someone just said something and it kind of struck a nerve." I explain to them.

Aiden strolls in the kitchen and sees everyone gathered around me. He narrows his eyes at me. I hope he knows that he will be losing the bet. I'll be getting ten euros and the apron.

"Who?" Everyone asks at the same time.

I lock eyes with Aiden. "Aiden."

Louis and Matt spin around to see Aiden standing there. "What did you say?" They say, simultaneously.

"Uh?" Aiden scratches the back of his neck, nervously.

"It's nothing." I shake my head.

Louis turns back to face me. "It's not nothing! Carter, you're crying!"

"I'm fine."

"What did you say?" Liam asks Aiden in a calmer voice.

Aiden shrugs his shoulder. "I don't remember."

"Carter, what did he say?" Liam faces me.

"We both called dibs on the kiss the chef apron." I start explaining. "Aiden said he should get to wear it because he was older. I told him that I really wanted to wear the apron to see how many people would kiss my cheek. Then Aiden said that the apron wouldn't fit me because I was too fat. He didn't mean it, but I'm already a little insecure. His comment made me think that it was true."

"I didn't say that!" Aiden yells.

"You never say anything about a girl's weight unless you are saying that it looked like she lost weight." Sophia scolds him.

"You're not fat, Carter." Esther hugs me.

"You look like a toothpick!" Craig joins in on the hug.

"Give the apron to Carter, Aiden!" Zoey tells him.

Aiden glares at me before untying the strings. I wink at Aiden when nobody is looking at me. Aiden hands the apron to me. I smile at him, innocently. Esther helps me tie the strings around my back after I pull the apron on over my head.

"Don't just stand there. Apologise to her!" Craig says to him.

"I'm sorry that you took what I said the wrong way. You're not fat at all. You are beautiful." Aiden hugs me.

"Thanks Aiden." I hug him back.

"You are very devious." Aiden whispers in my ear.

"Just make sure you pay me." I lower my voice.

"I can't believe you said that to Carter." Louis glares at Aiden.

I step away from Aiden. "That's because he didn't."

"What are you talking about? You were just crying over it." Sophia asks.

I smile over at Aiden. "Do you want to explain it or shall I?"

"Explain what?" Craig looks at the two of us confused.

"This whole thing was a bet." I explain to them. "Aiden bet me ten euros that I couldn't get the apron from him. So, I started fake crying and everything I just said was a lie. Aiden never called me fat."

No one says anything for a few minutes. They just stare at the two of us in shock. I hope they aren't mad at me. I know I lied to them, but at least I told them right after. I would understand if they were mad at me for not telling them.

"Damn! You should be an actress!" Sophia exclaims with a huge smile on her face.

"Those were fake tears?" Louis frowns.

"Yeah." I laugh. "It was just a joke."

Louis shakes his head and walks away. Everyone in the kitchen quiets down. Is Louis mad at me now? I glance at Aiden. He shrugs at me. I quickly walk out of the kitchen. Louis is standing by the window with his arms crossed.

I approach him, cautiously. "Are you mad?"

Louis turns to face me. "I thought you were really upset. You were crying. I hate to see you cry."

Oh my gosh. Louis is really upset about this. He's not being his usual crazy, goofy self. I am such an idiot. I shouldn't have done that. Now Louis is mad at me. I don't want him to be mad at me. Louis is my best friend.

"It was just a joke. I didn't think anyone would be upset about it. I was just joking." I feel my throat tighten up.

Great. I'm about to cry. I just hate the thought of Louis being upset with me.

"So am I." Louis grins.

"What?" I frown at him.

"I'm joking." Louis tells me with a smile on his face.

"What?" I repeat still confused.

Louis grabs my shoulders in his hands. "I was joking about being mad at you. It was a joke. You played a prank on all of us and so did I."

I push him away gently. "Jerk! I thought you hated me now."

Louis pulls me into his arms. "I could never hate you."

I relax in his arms. This is nice. I lay my head on Louis's chest as we lay there.

"Come on, lovebirds!" Matt strolls in the room that we're in. "Carter, you are supposed to help Aiden and I cook." Matt takes me out of Louis's arms and throws me over his shoulder.

"Matt!" I scream. I wrap arms around his waist, scared to fall off.

Matt and Louis both laugh at me. Matt carries me back into the kitchen where everyone is starting to cook. Louis walks over to where Liam and Zayn are standing. Matt sets me down next to Aiden. They both grab my arm when I start to lose my balance. I have the worst balance in the world.

"What are we making?" I rub my hands together.

"Here we are with half of One Direction." I hear Louis say from the other side of the kitchen to the camera crew. "Myself, Zayn, and Liam. With three very lovely ladies. We've got Kathy-"

"Kathy Burns." Zayn interrupts him.

"Come on, Zayn. You can introduce them." Louis leans up against Zayn while Zayn has his arm around him.

"Alison Sampson and we've got Arlene Thompson." Zayn introduces them.

"Stop staring at your boyfriend." Aiden nudges me.

"He's not my boyfriend." I tell them, gathering my hair up in a messy ponytail.

"You wish he was, though." Matt grins down at me.

I peek over my shoulder to see Louis fake fighting with Zayn. "Yeah, I do." I admit.

"Awh!" They chorus together.

"Shh!" I hold my finger to my lips. "I don't want him to know."

"Why not? You both like each other. You should date." Matt whispers so only us can hear him.

"Woman up and ask him out." Aiden pulls on a white apron.

I shake my head. "No! I don't want to ask him out. I'm still a little unsure if he even likes me still. I know I heard him tell Cher, but I'm scared he was only saying that."

Matt and Aiden look at each other. "He likes you." They say simultaneously.

How do they keep doing that?

"I don't want to ruin our friendship either." I smile at Louis when we make eye contact. It's a good thing we are far enough away that he can't hear us.

"Girls are complicated." Aiden states.

I nod, agreeing with him. "Very much so."

"Are you three ready?" Alison makes her way over to us. "You will be making korma. It's very simple to make." She starts to go into detail about how we need to make it.

Auden pulls his hood up when the camera crew come over. Matt and I stand off to the side to let him talk.

"We're making korma and in here are cardamom, clones-"

"Cloves." Alison corrects him.

I start laughing and Matt walks away laughing. "We're cooking with clones, are we?" I continue laughing.

Alison walks away after that to go help someone else cook. I stir everything together with Matt and Aiden watching.

"It's not red enough. Should we put some more Tabasco sauce in?" Aiden whispers.

"It's not." Matt takes the spoon from me.

"A little bit more." I tell Aiden.

"Bit more?" Aiden grins.

"Just a little bit." Matt says.

We look over our shoulders to make sure no one is watching. Matt looks to his right while I look to my left. No one is paying attention to us. I pour a bunch of hot sauce in the korma. We laugh along with each other.

"Hide it. Hide it." Matt stirs in the hot sauce.

"Where's the chilis at?" Aiden asks the camera.

I search for the chili's and find them on the counter. I slyly hand them over to Aiden without being seen. He grabs a spoon and scoops some out. He holds it over the pan just as Alison walks back over. Matt hits the chilis into pan.

"That was Matt. That was all Matt." Aiden tells her.

"That was not me." Matt stirs the korma with the Chili's.

Alison should not have left us alone to cook the vegetable korma. I don't even want to eat it now. I put a lot of hot sauce in it. To make it even hotter, Aiden added a spoonful of Chili's in it. Maybe I should warn Louis not to eat it.

When everyone starts to get their plates, I stand on my tiptoes to whisper in Louis's ear. "Don't eat the vegetable korma."

His eyebrows wrinkle in confusion. "Why?"

"Aiden, Matt, and I made it. Trust me. Don't eat it. Make sure you tell Niall. I don't think he could handle it." I tell him before adding more food to my plate.

I sit down next to Aiden and Matt at the table. "Did anyone try it yet?"

"Rebecca is right now." Matt points to her.

Rebecca lifts her fork to her mouth and starts to chew it. After a few seconds, her eyes start to water. She grabs her glass of water and chugs it down. I cover my mouth to stop myself from laughing out loud. I hide my face in Matt's chest to help. If I start laughing then someone will realize that we did it.

"This tastes amazing." Matt tells the camera.

"So good!" I say once I calm down.

"I haven't had any. I didn't have any time to get that vegetable korma." Aiden smiles. "But Rebecca just has some and said it was really nice."

I look away from the two of them to stop laughing. This has been so much fun. I don't think that many people like the korma. It must be really spicy. Louis and Zayn are standing in front of the camera, starting to say goodnight. I stand up from the table and sneak over there. I stand behind the two of them and start dancing. They are trying to be serious and I'm just ruining the mood for them.

They say goodbye. Louis turns around first to see me doing the running man. I stop immediately and wave at them innocently. I should have stopped when they said goodnight.

"We're you doing that the entire time?" Louis smirks at me.

"Possibly." I shrug with a smile on my face.

Louis looks over at Zayn and nods. What are they planning? I start backing away from them slowly. They grin at me, mischievously. This isn't good. I spin on my heel and run back to the table. The closest ones are Liam, Harry, and Niall.

I jump on Harry's lap and wrap my arms around his neck. "Save me!"

"What are you doing?" Harry sets his right hand on my back.

Louis and Zayn run into the room. Louis strolls over to me still smirking. "We'll just get you back later."

I shake my head. "No, you won't. You're my best friend. You wouldn't hurt me."

"You're right. I won't hurt you, but I will get you back." Louis promises.

Harry looks at them confused. "What did you do?"

"Just a harmless prank." I smile. "But, I'm staying by one of you for the rest of the night. Except for Niall."

"Why not me?" Niall continues shovelling food into his mouth.

I set my hand on his shoulder. "Face it, Niall. You're as scary as a baby penguin. The only way I would feel safe was if I was covered in food."

•••••••••

Author's Note:

Did you like it? Hate it?

Sorry for not uploading as much. I've had quite a bit of homework and there is still somethings going on at my house. It's only my first week of school and I had to write two essays, one research essay about my name origin, study Spanish speaking countries, learn the capitals, make a ton of index cards for my English 4 class. All of that is done except for the research essay and an essay of where I'll be in five years. I'll be doing that tomorrow, though.

Question...How did your first day of school go? (If you had school) Any cute guys?

My first day was pretty good. I have one teacher that is twenty one and let's just say that he is really cute. I would never date my teacher, though. Too weird. I actually kind of like somebody. He doesn't go to my school, though.

So, yeah.

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