(Ali's POV)

"Ali, wake up! You need to get ready; they'll be here in two hours." 

Like I care. 

"Now, Ali." Briell was using her stern voice now.

"Fine." I rolled over and looked into the ceiling and laid for a moment letting myself adjust to the sunlight streaming through the cracks in my curtains.

Once I was good and ready, I sat up stretching my back and neck, and began to pull off my pajamas. Grabbing the nearest pair of jeans and a random shirt of somewhat coordinating color, I got dressed and walked into the hallway bathroom to finish getting ready. 

I didn't do much as I wasn't really expecting much from today's visit. Most adoptive parents end up choosing the younger kids with less mental and emotional baggage. As for foster parents, most of them are already prepped on which kid to meet by a social worker and since mine hadn't talked to me in about a month, I'm positive there's no foster parents coming to meet me. 

(Liam's POV)

It is currently five in the morning. Simon called and asked if the boys and I could come for a meeting at six and since his office is a good half hour's drive away, I get the wonderful job of waking the boys up after a late night at the studio.

"Liam! Why did you get us up at ...... five in the f***ing morning?" Zayn yelled in my ear, clearly not a morning person as though none of us knew that prior. 

"Simon called us to meet him at six and he did not sound happy. I'm just the messenger so stop shouting in my bloody ear, mate," I said with the annoyance evident in my voice.

As though I want to be awake right now.

***

It is now 5:40 and Zayn is the only one who isn't here. Isn't he a helpful chap?

"Zayn! Your hair is fine, get down here!" Harry yelled sounding very tired.

"Shove it, Styles! Not all of us can roll out of bed and call it a look." 

Zayn was still shaping his quiff upright as I pulled him out of his hotel room. Even with our driver speeding on the highway, I knew we were going to be late. And while I wasn't that big of a stickler when it came to being on time, Simon was. Especially when he's angry. 

Just as I suspected, the lads and I didn't pull into the lot of Simon's building until a quarter passed six. We walked into Simon's office and the irritation was more than evident on his face.

"Not only are you late again, but just look at today's cover of Teen Weekly!" Simon spat out like the words tasted funny. 

I causiously took the magazine and on it was Lou, Niall and I hoisting up Zayn and Harry with a headline saying "Teen heartthrobs party a little too hardy". Looking at it again, I can easily see how the two lads look completely sloshed and the bright neon club sign in the background doesn't help us any. 

"Simon, it was taken out of context!" All five of us exclaimed. 

"We went out after our concert, we all had one drink, nothing more. Some wanker at the bar recognized us and start talking sh*t and when we got up to leave, he tripped over himself and landed on Zayn and Harry. This guy was twice our size, they got a little hurt. But that's it." I know explaining is useless but I had to try and help things. 

"Lads, I know it was out of context. I know you five. But everyone else... Not so much." Simon ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath. "You need to look more responsible. The tabloids are already having a field day over how bad of an influencer you lot are to impressionable minds. I've made a few calls and management and I have decided it might be a good idea for you lot to take in a foster kid. It's up to you all in the end but it'll look good and give someone less fortunate a nicer life at least until there's someone out there who can take the kid in permanently." 

"Simon, you've got to be joking. How are we supposed to take on a kid with our schedules?" This time it's Louis who speaks up and I'm glad he does because I'm thinking the same thing. 

"You guys have a break coming up between touring and recording. If you decide to do this - which I personally think you should - then we can extend the break to be longer if need be. I wish we could talk more about this but I've got another meeting in fifteen. I've arranged a car to take you five to a group home near by. Just go in and talk with some of the kids. Nothing has to be decided today. Give me a call later and tell me how it goes." Simon gives up a small smile before heading out to his next meeting. 

We all go outside and get into the car not even arguing like always on who gets shotgun. We went home, ate breakfast and got in the car. Still no words. It was the most silent the lads and I have been in a long time. We'd all silently agreed to at least going to this group home, granted, it didn't feel like much of a choice. 

Niall is the one to finally break the extremely awkward silence, "How are we going to take care of a child when Liam takes care of us? I mean, I'm excited, I love kids and pretty much all of us have at least one sibling. But this is big. How do you lads feel about it all? I think it might be a good thing."

"One, I don't know. Two, I'm too shocked to know what to feel. We aren't exactly the best candidates for parenting... anyone." Lou shuts his eyes tight before rubbing his hands over his face.

"Well, we should at least give it some thought. Maybe we need to look at this all more positively?" Harry suggests. "At least think of an age range assuming we do actually go through with it."

"You can't be serious," Zayn speaks up. When all he gets is blank stares, he decides to play along. "Thirteen or up. They need to be able to take care of themselves to an extent." We all agree to that statement and, though I can see the boys trying to hide it, I can sense a small tingle of excitement growing in the car. I think part of us all miss having someone to take care of whether it's Lou and Zayn with their little sisters or Harry and his mum. 

(Ali's POV)

As the door opened all the girls went stir crazy; whispering, giggling, one of them screamed, I think I even saw one girl faint. I was hiding in the back so I couldn't really see what all the fuss was about until the door shut and five very attractive men stood awkwardly with Briell and her mom. The men looked familiar but I couldn't place it, all I could think was that they may have been cute but not enough to warrant the reaction of the other girls. 

After they were down speaking with Briell and Mrs. Baillie, the five guys turned to the rest of us. "Hey, I'm Harry. This is Louis, Niall, Liam, and Zayn." That's what Curly, or as he said 'Harry' said.

"Alright you guys, you know how this all works. Introduce yourselves first and then there will be a bit of time for these gentlemen to talk one on one with some of you." Briell turned her attention to the men again and gestured for them to step forward.

They went down the line as we all introduced ourselves. One girl, Ashley, tried to speak louder then all the rest of us clearly trying to get their attention more. "I'm Ashley Garner. I'm 14 and I've been here for over a year now. I love you guys and I'm so excited to meet you." I didn't really know why Ashley was being so over the top with introductions but then again Ashley was over the top with just about everything she did. 

"And what's you name?" Curly asked me.

"Ali. Ali Mason. I'm 14 and I guess I like to play piano and guitar. Nothing mush else about me."

"How long have you been here?" the one named Niall questioned. He was the only Irish one and it was evident in his accent.

"Four years this June..." I hated admitting how long I'd been at the group home. Most kids had been placed with other foster families after 18 months at the latest but none of the arrangements my social worker found for me ever stuck. 

None of the guys said anything after that and I wasn't shocked by it; it's hard to say anything to brighten the mood after that. They smiled at me before starting to walk around and talk more with some of the other kids in the living area. I was about to go back up to my room since we aren't required to stay downstairs after introductions but Ashley stood in the way. 

"I don't even know why you try. No one wants you. That's why you've been here so long, nobody wants a deranged, ugly kid to take care of. Waking up screaming all the time, 'Please don't. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.' It's pathetic." Ashley mocked me and crossed her arms like she did something so cool.

"What, and you're so much better? A slutty b***h? Wait, that's an insult to slutty b****es." I said with a smirk before shouldering passed her and up the stairs.

"Well, at least I wasn't abused by my parents! I guess I'm just lovable unlike you." She said after me. 

I ran to my room with tears coming down my face. The tears weren't from sadness but anger. A piercing anger that threatened to overcome my whole body. I slammed the door, and started singing to myself trying not to let myself fall into another panic attack. 

(Niall's POV)

As we went down the line I saw Ali run up the stairs crying. I instantly ran after her, the lads close behind. When we got there we heard beautiful singing coming from what we all assumed must be her room. 

"Let's take Ali." I said. 

It was out of my mouth before I even knew what I was thinking. She was great. She knew music which all five of us could relate to and she looked pretty miserable with the others and had been here longer than anyone else. I couldn't imagine being stuck in a place with no friends. If anyone needed a little good fortune, It was Ali. The boys seemed to think for a moment about everything that was happening which made a small bubble of worry rise in my stomach.

"You know, I agree. She needs someone to take her in." Zayn stepped in looking straight at me making me realize the worry was evident on my face. 

"Are you sure? That lady, Briell, was saying she's had it pretty rough. Do you think we're up to the challenge?" Liam is always playing devils advocate But Zayn and I held our ground. 

"She's been here longer than anyone else, she was isolating herself from all the other kids downstairs. She said she was into music so we can relate to her on that front. And she's 14 so she's definitely old enough to take care of herself here and there if need be," I defended.

"Nialler's got a lot of points there," Louis admitted.

"Alright, then we're doing this, lads? There's no going back after this," Liam was just trying to give us one last chance to think about it all. 

"Maybe this won't be as bad as we thought. We could really help this girl," Harry finally started to agree.

"Alright, Lou, you're the eldest so you'll have to be the one to handle the paperwork and such," Liam directed. 

"Technically I don't have to but fine." With that, Louis made his way downstairs. 

(Louis' POV)

As I walked down the stairs I heard horrible comments about Ali. Some were, 'Who does she think she is. No one likes her, let alone loves her', and 'What a slut. I bet she did this to get some from the guys. She is such a screw up', It took all of my self-control not to turn around and tell those kids to shove it. When I got to Briell, I had no idea how to start off so I ended up just blurting it out. 

"We'd like to house Ali with us." 

Briell took a breath, "As I said before, Ali has a rough past so it could take awhile to get her trust you lot. When you do, don't lose it or you may never get it back. It took months for her to even let me in her room. Are you sure you can take her in? I know you five have a... hectic lifestyle."

Briell made some good points but I could feel it in my gut that we needed to do something to help Ali. "We're up for it. I promise. What's next?"

Briell smiled softly and lead me into an office like room next to the kitchen. In there, Briell, Mrs. Baillie, and I went over the paperwork for housing a foster kid. They explained to me that usually there's a processing time but given the circumstances things would be fast tracked. They then went over the rules and guidelines which there were a lot of including unscheduled visits from her social worker, limited social media exposure regarding the housing and fostering of Ali, the lads and I would need to be deemed qualified for temporary fostering, and a bunch of other rules. Luckily, an exception had been made with the qualification process and we can do whatever testing while Ali gets settled the next couple weeks. 

Once it was all settled and a boatload of paperwork had been gone through, I went back upstairs to get the lads to sign a few documents themselves. I was left outside Ali's door and I figured I should tell her one on one before all us lads were together and risk overwhelming her. I knocked softly on her door and waited for a moment. I heard the click of the knob and the wooden door cracked ever so slightly open. 

"What are you doing up here?" Ali asked as she opened the door further. 

"We're going to foster you, Ali!" Ali flinched slightly at my raised voice. "Sorry, didn't mean to spook you." 

(Ali's POV)

They what? 

"Oh, okay?" I wasn't sure what else to say and I could see the disappointment on this Louis guy's face at my subpar reaction. 

Louis raised his hand to scratch the back of his head but the motion triggered another short flashback.

*FLASHBACK*

"Stop! Why are you doing this? Please, I'm sorry. I don't know what I did wrong," I sobbed as my yelled at me. 

"Because, you ruined my damn life," he screamed at me as he threw a glass down on the ground next to me. I felt a shard of glass ricochet and cut my leg. I flinch at the pain but my dad only got angrier. 

*END OF FLASHBACK*

(Harry's POV)

When we got back upstairs to Lou and Ali, it looked like Ali was in some sort of trance and a tear started to slide down her cheek. I reached out my hand to rub her back like my mum used to do to me when I was overwhelmed. I figured Lou had given her the news and she was having a tough time processing. She blinked her eyes a couple times as though coming back to reality and looked around at us. I felt her shoulders tense at my touch and started to move my hand away. 

"Hey! Get off me!" Ali jumped back from my touch. 

"Sorry, you looked upset. I was just trying to-"

"Don't. Just... Don't touch me without my permission. Ok?" Ali eyed me carefully as though she didn't trust what I'd do next.

"Oh.. O-Okay. Um, well we're gonna head downstairs. Just come down when you've gotten your stuff together, yeah?" Ali nodded at me and the rest of the boys and I went to head downstairs. 

After ten minutes or so, she came down and sat on the last step. Louis finished talking with Briell and Mrs. Baillie about a few more things; crossing t's and dotting i's or whatnot. "Ready to go, Ali?" he asked her.

Ali looked up at Briell who smiled and handed her a piece of paper. "Ready as I'll ever be."

Guess it was time to try out this next adventure. Liam walked over to her, grabbed her bag, and left to the car. Ali stood up and looked at the rest of us before following Liam outside, the four us us following behind her. I could tell Ali was nervous because of the way her hands shook and how lightly her steps fell. What in the hell could have happened to make her this nervous? Then again, being scooped up to live with five guys probably wasn't very reassuring in the responsibility level area and probably felt a bit strange.