Prologue

Change Your Ticket

So, you should probably stay here with me a couple more days;
Come on let me change your ticket.

THE FIRST TIME I hear One Direction I'm fourteen, sitting with my boyfriend at the back of the bus, talking about the Himalayas.

"What's that?" I ask, distracted for a moment by the music.

He has his phone in his jeans pocket, with the earbuds split between us. It's a new song and he can't remember the title, so he eases the phone out of his jeans to look. I'm mesmerized by that pocket. I can't take my eyes off those rivets and seams...

"'Gotta Be You'", he says, checking the screen. "This new band. Yeah, it's okay."

It doesn't move him the way it moved me. But if he doesn't like it, then I don't care either. It was only background music anyway.

"In Nepal there's this sacred mountain they call the Fish Tail," I continue. "No one's allowed to climb it, but you can watch it from the nearby trails. You should see what it looks like with the sun setting on the snow."

He gives me the sideways look I love. His name is Zachery Bryant and he's the best-looking boy in our year by miles. He's funny and clever, and captain of the football team. I think he's teasing me, and it's delicious.

"And there's the Chitwan National Park. You can see black rhino."

"Rhino? Mmm hmmm?" Sideways glance at me again.

"It's got tigers and dolphins. Can you imagine?"

"Tigers and dolphins?"

"Stop it!" I dig him in the ribs. "Aunt Olivia told me all about it. She wants to photograph the wildlife there. It sounds incredible."

He grins, flashing perfect white teeth. "You're getting in such a state, Amelia! It's not as if you're going to go there anyway. Nepal's in Asia. You live in Croydon. You've still got GCSEs. Don't fuss about it. You'd only get malaria anyway, or mugged, or something..."

He puts his hand gently on my neck, and his thumb rests on my collarbone. It's on the tip of my tongue to point out that the risk of malaria in Nepal's high mountain districts is very low, but he's looking into my eyes now, and his lips are getting closer, and the 'okay' music makes me want to wrap my arms around his neck and pull him in tight.

When his lips reach mine, I know I won the boy lottery, first time I tried. We are perfect together.

For ever, starts now, and it is beautiful.

And that's how it was.

For a while.

In the year that followed, I had Zachary, and he had me, and our love dipped and soared, and I was happy. Meanwhile, One Direction's third single, 'Kiss  You', went to number one in America and from then on there was no stopping them.

Their new song, 'Little Things', was the song of the summer as our first anniversary approached. I had a surprise to show Zachary, and all the plans in the world. I'd even spent a month writing a poem to encapsulate my love. Dare I share it with him? Probably not. He'd laugh at me, but then, Zachary laughed easily. His laugh was one of the things I loved most about him.

I was still working on the final lines when I heard Mum screaming.