Front And Center (sequel to Behind the Scenes)

Laser Tag

“Alright, now go away and we’ll get dressed,” Niall said, but before they could leave he said quickly, “Leave the food Harry!”

Harry grinned, set down what he’d brought and left, Louis in tow.

“Quite the wake up call.” I commented as I picked up the biggest chunks of the alarm clock and threw it in the garbage.

“Hopefully it never happens again.” Niall said and I nodded as I laughed with him.

We took a quick shower, and Niall insisted it should be together to save water of course, and then got dressed for the day. Since it was quite warm, I settled for sandals, a quick French braid, blue high-waisted shorts and a white peasant top while Niall threw on a pair of kaki shorts and a navy Jack Wills shirt.

When we got to the living room, the rest of the guys were all sitting and waiting, but it was the two girls by the kitchen counter that caught my eye.

“Hannah!” they both shrieked when they saw me and I was pulled into a massive hug by the pair of them.

“Hey Danielle, hey Eleanor.” I said with a smile; I’d missed these girls!

“I can’t believe you got in! This is amazing! We’re going to have so much fun!” Eleanor squealed

“You and you’re boyfriend both seem to think she’s your girlfriend.” Niall mused with a smile adorning his face.

“She is!” they two of them said at the same time. They turned to each other, smiling and said ‘JINX!’ at the same time as well.

My god those two are perfect for each other; they’re both big kids!

“So what are we doing today?” Zayn said all of a sudden.

“We’re going to have the best day ever!” Harry said speaking up.

“Laser tag again?” Liam questioned and Harry nodded smiling like a madman, “I knew we shouldn’t have let you plan the day.”

“You’re just upset because you always lose!” Harry mocked and Liam glowered at him.

“I do not!” he protested.

“Do too!”

“Do not!”

“Well, there’s only one way to settle this,” I said interrupting their debate, “Let’s go play some laser tag!”

---------------------------

“Ok, so Hannah, you go left, Danielle, you go right, Louis you go up and I’ll go down.” Harry said, laying out our plan of attack. We’d been split into two teams, the four of us against Niall, Zayn, Liam and Eleanor.

“And remember, when you hear someone whistle, that means they need help, and when you hear someone chirp like a bird that means they’ve found someone, go in that direction to help. If you hear a dog bark, that means the other team are trying to use our signals against us, so ignore them, it’s a trap.” Louis recited and we all nodded. When the teams had been made, we’d gone to a corner and come up with these rules because we were definitely in it to win it today!

“You lot ready yet?” Liam called from the other side of the room. Their team had just finished ‘gearing-up’ as Harry had put it, and we were about to start the game, for which we had a full hour to play.

“So for anyone who isn’t aware,” The worker said to us all, “When the lights on your vest are flashing, you’re active, so you can shoot others or be shot. If your lights go out, you’ve been hit, so you must wait for a minute for your life to come back. If you hit someone from your own team, nothing happens, if you hit someone from the other team you gain 100 points, shown here,” he pointed to a spot on the vest, “if you’re hit, you lose 50 points. Team with the most points at the end of one hour wins, so work together; got it?”

We all nodded enthusiastically, and he opened the door for us all to go in.

The lights were off, so only the faint glow from the few small glow-in-the-dark objects around the maze and the vests we were wearing gave off any light; just enough to see where you were going.

A voice suddenly boomed around us from what must have been speakers in the walls.

“Contestants, the game has just begun, you have thirty seconds to get away from the rest of the players! Let the fun begin!”

The lights on our vests went out suddenly, and we all looked at each other before sprinting off in our designated areas. I headed left, and realised quickly I was the only one going the way, as the man kept counting (27, 26, 25).

I took a right, a left and another right, and I was suddenly faced with the choice to climb up or walk down (15, 14, 13, 12).

I chose up and climbed a rope ladder and pulled myself through a trap door. I still had yet to come upon anyone and my heart was racing; this must be the best maze ever!

I decided to use some strategy, and reached, up, noting I wasn’t as high as you could go, so I felt around until I found one more ladder which I climbed up and found myself in a small, hidden cubby which would be absolutely perfect! I wiggled into it backwards so my face was out and I waited as the last few seconds ticked by (2, 1, GO!)

I noticed the lights on my vest suddenly begin to glow green and I pressed my stomach to the ground to hide them. After about a minute, I saw my first action. Another green vest was coming slowly towards my area, and lit up the area slightly so I could see that below me were the option to go left, right or down, or up into my cubby, but the rope was very hidden so you’d have to be looking for it to find it.

All of a sudden, a yellow vest, the other team, came around the corner, and I saw whoever it was raise their gun, but I shot them before they could get my team mate who had their back to them.

The confused yellow player looked around for the culprit as their light went out and I hid my face.

After a few minutes, I looked back out and saw nobody around, but since I was so high, I could see two yellow players not too far from me, but out of range of my gun.

I got down from my perch quickly and quietly, and headed in their direction, my back to the wall, checking my back routinely.

I turned a corner suddenly and saw the two of them, coming in my direction. They hadn’t seen me so I quickly shot the pair of them and ran in the other direction. My vest now read 300 as I put as much space between me and them as I could.

I suddenly heard someone whistle, and remembering that meant help, i took off in that direction and rounded two corners. Suddenly, Louis came running at me and knocked me to the ground, just as Zayn and Eleanor rounded the corner opposite us. Louis and i both took aim, as did Eleanor, but Zayn seemed to be caught off guard at the presence of two of us. I shot one of them and Louis shot the other, while Eleanor simultaneously shot Louis, so I was the only non-dead one.

I watched their lights go out, and Louis drop to 50 points as I rose to 400.

“Crap, run Zayn!” Eleanor said and they ran away, leaving Louis and I to get up and him thank me before we split up.

I guess they’re travelling in packs; I thought to myself, and kept walking stealthily. I turned one last corner and got tackled. Now, last time I checked, this wasn’t a contact sport, and I looked up to tell off whoever had jumped me, only to see a man I’d never met before on top of me, and I let out the loudest scream I could muster.