two different worlds || niall horan [completed]

~Chapter 1~

Chapter 1

I pumped my fist in the air, and patted Talia’s neck, after I realized that I had come in 1st place… again. Talia and I were unbeatable. Most of you are probably like “uh, it’s the horse that’s unbeatable, not you.” But nawh, Talia and I are a team, and we work perfectly together. Even when my friend Nathan tried riding her, he couldn’t produce the times as fast as mine.

“And that was Ashley Carter riding Too Close For Comfort, with a time of 16.275” the announcer said over the loud speaker. I leaned down to give Talia a hug, before walking her back to the trailer. I heard running footsteps coming up from behind and I knew that it was Kelsey, Nathan, Ella, and Kathleen.

“Nice one Ash!” Nathan said grinning, and slapped Talia on the butt, which resulted in her stalling and backing up. I glared at Nathan before taking my foot out of the stirrup and kicking him in the arm, while Kathleen yelled at him. Talia was a …special horse. Ya we’ll go with that. Most barrel horses run faster when the get hit on the butt, but after buying Talia, we figured out that that was defiantly not the case, she pretty much moved towards the pain. Idiot.

We quickly arrived at the trailer, and I un-tacked her before loading her up. Nathan, Kelsey, Ella, and Kathleen’s horses were already in there because I just happened to be the last number in the draw. Then, we all had to jog back to the arena to collect our money and awards, before heading home. This show was about 7 hours away from the barn, so we had to leave early.

I looked at the results board:

1D

Ashley Carter: 1st, $300, 16.275

Nathan Johnson: 2nd, $217, 16.996

2D

Kathleen Johnson: 3rd, $114, 17.225

Ella Johnson: 5th, $52, 17.578

3D

Kelsey Smith: 4th, $30, 18.002

Those were the only results I cared about. We raked in the money, Cha-Ching! We collected our checks, and walked back to the truck, switched our clothing, and begun our long journey home…

*4 hours later*

I awoke to the sounds of shouting.

“ASHLEEYYY!!!!” I heard Nathan scream in my face. Damn guy may be 20 but he has a heart of a kid. I’ll admit, I used to have a crush on him, but then we got really close, and he has become like one my brothers. I cracked open my eyes to see him right in my face. I pulled my head back, and at the same time I smacked him right across the face. I turned to Ella who was recording it on her iPhone. Kathleen and Kelsey immediately burst into laughter, and I soon realized that we were parked.

“OH MY GOSH ARE WE HOME?!” I practically screamed. “No sweetie, just stopping at Tim Horton’s for a snack.” Kathleen told me. I loved her; she was like my second mom. Hell, she was pretty much my mom, considering that mine didn’t care about what I did with my life. I was kicked out of my house when I turned 18 because they couldn’t handle the fact that I always smelt like barn and I was out late drinking with my friends. Gosh, that wasn’t even bad compared to the other kids my age. So now I live with Kathleen, Nathan, and Ella.

We all scrambled out of the car, walking into the ‘En-Route’. It was always a race on who would make it in line first. It has been like that since I started going to shows when I was 15. I loved this so much.