Chapter 27

                                    

                                          
            
                          
"Y/N, you're fired."
                          
"What?" I asked incredulously. My mind was digging through my memories for what I did wrong. But I came up empty and now I'm panicking because Janelle was biting her lip like she's just about to condemn me to motherfucking hell.
                          
"Well, not exactly fired. But more like transferred," she said.
                          
Oh thank god.
                          
No, wait.
                          
"Transferred?" I asked. "I don't understand."
                          
"You're going to be guarding someone else for a while."
                          
My eyes widened at her words. "What? No!" I cried out. I didn't even know why this was happening right now. I didn't want to leave the girls—I couldn't. Lauren and I just became closer than ever before. Leaving her would be the death of me.
                          
"I have a contract," I told Janelle.
                          
"I know. But this order didn't come from me. It came from someone higher than me."
                          
"Higher how?"
                          
She sighed and I swore I saw pity in her eyes. "Higher like Simon Cowell high."
                          
"Are you kidding me? He doesn't even know me!"
                          
"He doesn't," she told me with a firm shake of her head. "It's the person who you're going to guard that asked for you."
                          
I stared at Janelle as all the air in my lungs left me in one swift huff. I tried to convince myself she wouldn't do it—that she wouldn't stoop that low to try and talk to me. But I've seen first-hand her determination to get something she wants. All this time I thought about why she didn't try to reach out to me but turns out, she was already one step ahead of me.
                          
"Who is it? Who am I guarding?" I already knew the answer but I had to hear it from her mouth.
                          
"Ariana Grande."
                          
I could only close my eyes at the mention of her name. It was like the moment we reunited, there was no escape from her. Memories of her played in my dreams and plagued my mind when I was awake. And that needed to stop—I had to make it stop.
                          
"No. I'm not doing it," I told her.
                          
"Y/N, you don't have a choice."
                          
"I fucking do, okay? And I'm choosing not to."
                          
"Then do it for Fifth Harmony."
                          
"What?" I asked. What the hell did the girls have to do with any of this?
                          
Janelle sighed and ran her hands through her hair. She looked straight at me as she leaned forward. "Look, Simon told me not to tell you but I think you deserve to know. Ariana told Simon that if he'd transfer you, she'd do a collaboration with the girls."
                          
"Fuck that! The girls don't need her!"
                          
"Let's be realistic here, Y/N. Ariana's big right now. She's recognized worldwide and has a huge fan base. Fifth Harmony doesn't. They're a rising girl group, don't get me wrong. But a collaboration with Ariana would rocket them to the top of the music industry." I opened my mouth to defend myself but Janelle raised her hand to stop me. "You know it's true. You know—in your heart—that what I'm saying is true. Don't be stubborn, Y/N."
                          
And she was right. I knew she was right. But I didn't want to admit it because I would do anything to see the girls succeed. That meant agreeing to Ariana's terms and flying to where she was to guard her. I hated being helpless like this.
                          
"How long?" I asked.
                          
"A week."
                          
My eyebrows shot up at her words. "A week? Are you serious? The tour would be over by then!"