The Bet // Niall Horan

5 - The Party

I scoffed. "And who exactly invited you?"

"No one," Shay said from behind me, "why are you even here?"

"Well, I'm staying in my father's house just a half mile away and I heard about some party you're throwing so I decided to stop by," Hally said, a fake smile plastered on her face. I wanted to slap it off so bad, but Shay talking stopped me. "This party is by invite only, and you weren't invited."

"You wouldn't want to be those people that kicked out the famous Mr. Storres' daughter, would you?" Hally asked, adding a pout after she was done talking. God, I can't stand her! Ever since freshman year in high school we've hated each others guts. I'm not gonna go into detail but basically she stole my boyfriend and spread nasty rumors about me. Let me just add that those rumors were all untrue.

"So, what's it gonna be girls?" Hally asked.

Both Shay and I scoffed, "no."

"Come on guys, you know she's gonna get you back for this some other time. With all the people here you won't even know she's around," Mason said.

"You're kidding right?" I turned so that I was facing him.

"I would listen to him if I were you, Carter. You know what I'm capable of," Hally said, ginning ear to ear looking as if she had just won a million dollars.

Wipe that smirk off your face or I'll wipe it off for you.

"Whatever. But you do anything that pisses anyone off, you're a goner," Shay warned. By this point, I didn't care if she stayed or went. I just wanted her out of my face.

"Great! So where do I go and when does this party actually turn...fun?" Hally asked.

"Just go down to the beach. And do it fast," I sassed back.

"Aw, cheer up would ya! We're having a party!" she said, clearly trying to piss me off.

"No. We're having a party," I said, pointing to Shay, Mason, and I. "You're going down to the beach and waiting for the 'fun' to start."

"Whatever," she said, finally leaving but not failing to run into my shoulder before walking through the back door and down to the beach.

"I can't believe she showed up," Mason finally piped up.

"I can't believe she's living near here. I finally thought I would be able to get away from her. But no! She has to be one bloody neighborhood away!" I ranted. Before anyone could calm me down, the doorbell rang again. This time it was people who I actually enjoyed seeing. By the time everyone arrived, it was around eight. I was surprised that so many people came, considering that the house is over an hour and a half away from where everyone lives. Clearly people have nothing better to do than party. I was the last one to walk down to the beach and I wasn't looking forward to it. I mean, I enjoy spending time with my friends but I just don't enjoy spending time with fifty of them at once. Which is why I hate parties. And when Shay throws them, they're never small.

By ten, I was far from fed up with this party. I've said hi and had conversations with a few of my closer friends, of course. Hally sure wasn't afraid to cut into some of my convos as well. That girl almost got slapped three times. I was about to go back into the house and watch some TV, but when I turned around I saw the football field I was admiring earlier this afternoon. Suddenly, I got an idea.

I ran into the house and grabbed the football that I had brought with me. It had the usual checkered pattern but instead of being black and white, it was black and blue. Mason called it 'the bruiser.' I chuckled at the balls nickname and ran back outside. "Hey Mase, wanna go play a game of football?" I yelled at him, not wanting to be too close to everyone else.

"Uh, yeah sure! Let me run up and get my sneakers and I'll meet you at the field," he said, jogging up to me.

"Kk," I said. Once he ran towards the house, I ran over towards the field. Holy mother of football fields. I swear, the grass on this field was perfectly green and cut. The lines as bright and straight as any professional field. Dang, I'm gonna feel like a pro on this thing. "Aww snap!" Mason exclaimed as he stepped onto the field.

"Right?!" I agreed. "Okay, so how you wanna play?"

"Hmmm. Let'a go one-on-one-on-one," he said after a minute of thinking.

"Go for it." One-on-one-on-one was the way we normally played when there was only two of us. It was the normally one on one, but instead of using two goals, you only used one. This way, it was more competitive and aggressive. My tactic is to wait until my opponent is about to make a goal, then take it and make a goal for myself and it didn't take so much effort. Just let them do all the work then attack at the very last second. It almost never fails.

I set the ball down in the center of the field and moved backwards towards the sideline, Mason being on the opposite side. "At the count of three go. Ready? One...two...three!" We charged at eachother, but as I was almost at the center I slowed down letting Mason take the ball. He knew how I played which made it a little harder to win, but I was always up for a challenge. I fake attempted to kick the ball away from him several times, each time he would do a different fancy move to get away from me. "Show off!" I yelled.

"Maybe you should try harder," he yelled back. As he was advancing on the goal, I kicked my game into high gear. I ran at him full speed, but he kicked it away at the last second. Going in for my second time, he swerved and kicked the ball around me. Damn it. This was my final try before he would make the goal. As I ran at him for the final try, I ran next to him on his left side, shoving his tourso with my elbow. However, he wasn't fazed. Instead of going from the side, I decided to cut in front. As he swerved side to side, showing off by buying me more time, I sprinted up in front of him and kicked to the left. Knowing he would swerve right, I took a wide kick right with my leg. Yes! I took custody of the ball and turned so I was facing the goal. Before Mason could recover, I shot at the goal. The ball shot into the right side, almost hitting the post. "Nailed it," I said casually, as I turned to face Mason.

"Rematch?" He asked.

"Game on."

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A/N

Gif of Mason when he loses to Carter