One Direction: Dare to Dream: Life as One Direction (9 page)

I ended up going back to Hall Cross and starting A-levels all over again there. I had been studying Psychology, English Lit, PE and IT, but I later dropped English Lit because it was all a bit too much. It was a blow to me, but thankfully I was 17 and happy to make new friends. Even though I felt a bit of an idiot because I was a year older than everyone else, I soon felt like I fit in. Also I was the only one in my year who could drive, which was quite a nice position to be in as it meant I could ferry people around.

I passed my driving test first time. I didn’t pass the theory test first time, because I didn’t study for it, which wasn’t very sensible, but I got through the second time, scoring 43—right on the pass mark. It was great being able to drive everyone around in my 1.2 Clio. It had alloy wheels and central locking and it was my pride and joy. It was really my nan’s car, but it kind of ended up being mine because she never used it.

One of the highlights of secondary school for me was when I landed the lead role in
Grease
. It was the first musical I’d ever auditioned for, and that was on the same day that I had an interview for a Christmas job at Toys R Us. My mom picked me up from my interview to make sure I went to the audition, because she knew I was in two minds about it. Luckily it went well and I was so happy when I was told I’d got the role of Danny. I still get emotional when I watch the video back, because it was such a special time for me. I felt so proud of landing the lead and I put everything into it. I just want to take this moment to thank everyone involved in that production. It was a fantastic part of my life and I will never forget it.

I was out all the time in that first year and had such a good time. That summer was the best I’d ever had. I went to France with Stan, then to Jersey to see Stacey, a girl I met on holiday, and to Leeds Festival, which was an incredible experience. I remember there were loads of house parties and garden parties. I also had a party myself when my parents went away, and that was phenomenal.

My whole family went away for two weeks, and they wouldn’t let me stay at home, or even leave me the keys, because they thought I’d have a party. But I’d had a new key cut, and within an hour of them going away I was back in our house in Doncaster. I invited everyone on Facebook and Stan brought along a massive amp. We plugged iPods into it, and we had it on on full blast—with the patio doors open—so it was only a matter of time before the police came around and asked us to turn the music down.

I wanted my mom to find out about the party while she was still on holiday, to give her time to get over it, so I put the photos up on Facebook, where I knew she’d see them. Thankfully there was no damage and we cleared everything up, so it wasn’t too bad and I didn’t get into too much trouble.

When I turned 18 I started going out even more and I used to go to this indie bar called Priory. That got me into new types of music and I started listening to a lot more genres of music at home. The memories I have of that club are incredible; it used to be all I’d look forward to every week.

I am very lucky to have been blessed with a lot of very good friends; however for the last five years Stan has been my very best friend. The amount of hilarious memories we have had together is ridiculous but to name a few, screaming “Tony” at the top of our voices just because that was my neighbor’s name, pretending we knew the words to all the “Indie” songs that come on in Priory and just singing gibberish, the time we said something mildly offensive to a woman we thought was French in France (it turned out however she was English) and of
course the time Stan was so drunk he tried to take a wee in my sister’s room. We have had so many funny memories together, not everyone has the pleasure of having a friend this close to them and for that I am very grateful.

I always got on well with girls at school and I had a couple of little relationships in Years Seven and Eight. Then towards the end of Year Eight I used to hang out at my friend Dan’s house a lot and I got friendly with a friend of his called Arianna. I ended up seeing her for about eight months and she was my first proper girlfriend.

I won’t lie, I was a bit of a flirt at school and I always liked girls’ company. I really liked this girl called Beth, and we were friends for about six months, then we started seeing each other when I was about 15. We stayed together for two years and two months and we got on so well it was really nice. Later on it all started to get a bit too intense for that age, so we split up. After that I was single for a year and then I got together with Hannah, who I was with during the show.

All in all I didn’t have loads of girlfriends, but I was generally with someone and I do like being in relationships. I wasn’t one to play the field when I was younger, and I can’t imagine being like that now.

TAKING CHANCES

In 2009 I applied for
The X Factor
but didn’t get through the first round. For the rest of that year I had my heart set on auditioning again and at least getting through the first round. When I tried out the second time I was more driven than ever. There was a lot more pressure because I was desperate to get through. I didn’t tell that many people I was going because it was more about proving
to myself that I could do it. I lined up at two in the morning and there were already about 100 people there. I was with my mate Stan and we were literally in sleeping bags in the line. We kept napping and every now and again we’d end up being moved along.

The actual audition was absolutely terrifying, I sang “Elvis Ain’t Dead” by Scouting for Girls and then “Hey There Delilah” by Plain White T’s. It was such a relief when I finally got through. The thought of going to Bootcamp was amazing, especially as before that I’d only been to London a couple of times. Now I know it like the back of my hand!

The week before Bootcamp my granddad took me shopping to get some new clothes, and that’s when I bought my first pair of Toms shoes—which, as many people seem to have noticed, I’m in love with! I probably own about 11 pairs in different colors now.

When I got to Bootcamp I could tell that some people were already trying to play the game, but I don’t actually remember that many of the finalists apart from Zayn and Aiden, because I was friends with them. There was a massive hype about Cher even then, and even though I didn’t speak to them much I remembered Harry and Liam well, because I saw them and thought, “You are definitely getting through.” I had a photo taken with Harry because I knew he was going to be famous. I even gave him a hug and told him not to worry because I knew he’d be fine.

That was why I was so shocked when, after we’d been waiting for what seemed like ages, the last of the male soloists names were read out and neither Harry nor Liam were called. I was honestly more shocked about them not getting picked than me. After I did “Make You Feel My Love” at Bootcamp I didn’t think I’d done enough to get through and I felt really upset. Dermot came over to speak to me off camera and gave me a hug, which was so nice as there
were a lot of people there and he didn’t need to do that. I was still very worried about my performance and at that point I never expected in a million years to go through.

After we were put in the band Harry said straight away that his stepdad Robin had a place in Cheshire where we could hang out. It was so cool because we all stayed in this bungalow in the back garden and there was a swimming pool and loads of room to play soccer. I used to drive us around everywhere and it was like being on a freshers’ week or something because we were all getting to know each other.

The bungalow itself was lovely and we had blow-up mattresses everywhere so people would just fall asleep wherever. Everyone got on pretty well and they’re all great guys, but Harry and I bonded immediately and he’s now my best mate in the band. He’s such a cool guy and very laid-back and easy to talk to. I feel like I’ve known him for so much longer than I have. I guess we’ve got a bit of a bromance going on.

There was never a quiet moment in the bungalow and we talked about anything and everything, from past memories to the future. We used to make a campfire every night and Niall would play his guitar and we’d sing along. They were really good times. I think it is incredible how we’d met so recently and within a week we felt like best friends. It wasn’t forced in any way, it just happened naturally.