The Summer to Remember

The Summer to Remember ch.16

"Um, so the room, you set it up right?" I whispered nervously to Liam as we waited for Rachel to finish getting ready so we could go lazer taging.

"Yes, the boys and I set it up, along with some other people. Ed helped out a bit, but it looks really good, Rachel will love it," Liam said with a bright smile. I laughed.

"Okay, good, I just wasn't sure, because I didn't check out the room this morning and I don't want it to be a disaster!" I exclaimed, picturing in my head a gloriously decorated room. I hope Rachel liked it. She is my best friend, and I want her 18th birthday to be the best one she's ever had. She's always thrown me the best parties, so I just want to throw her this party to thank her for all she has done for me, being my best friend and all.

"Alright guys! Get your lazy butts in the car, or you're not coming with us!" Rachel shouted, breezing by us as she grabbed the keys and walked outside. I chuckled and followed her outside, the boys trailing behind me as I locked the door.

We piled into the car, and after an hour of dancing to the radio, we arrived at Jon's LAZER Tag. It was lit up by a light green sign, and when we pulled up, Zayn bounced up and down in his seat in excitement.

"This is going to be AWESOME!" He quickly unbuckled his seat belt and raced in. Our eyes followed him inside before quickly following his enthusiastic example.

"Reservation for.....what's the name again?" Zayn said, eagerly looking at us, while leaning over the counter like a little kid on Christmas morning.

"Um, 1D." I said, stifling laughter. Zayn looked over the counter again, expectantly at the gobsmacked girl.

"You heard her right?" He asked, containing some of his excitement in his voice. I'm presuming that Zayn enjoys Lazer tag; huh. Who would've thought? The girl composed her face, making it a mask and nodded, typing in 1D on the iPad she was using to find our reservations.

I had arranged for a private game, with just the 8 of us, unfortunately(okay I'm just being nice, nobody wanted them there anyway) Chantelle and Matt were "Pre-occupied." Aka, they are either a) sucking each others faces, or b) doing something worse. Oh god, Hannah, think nice thoughts, nice thoughts.

"You coming? They're getting us set up. Apparently, we're VIP!" Louis said cheerfully, as well as loudly in my ear. I came back to reality and flashed him a smile.

"Definitely! I wouldn't miss this for the world!" We followed the others into a closed, blackened and private room. There were neon lights on the ceiling, as they are at every Lazer tag center, that turned white clothing purple, and paint splatters on the wall of white paint, creating a really amazing effect.

"Alright, we're going to go through the rules then." The lady from the counter paused. She was a blond with familiar icy, hard, cold, blue eyes, and I wondered why they were familiar. "My name is Sh-Shally. So, are any of you pregnant, um, have any head trauma, or anything serious like that?" We shook our heads while I silently laughed. "Alright, good. I will help you guys into your outfits, and then the games will begin. You're playing three rounds, is that correct?" I spoke up.

"Yes, and are you operating it while we are in there?" 

"Well, yes. My co-worker Jasmine and I will be operating it," she said with an evil smile. Wait..... "Alright! Hurry up! Your first session begins in 5 minutes." We hurriedly put on our vests and Shally explained where we would hit each other with the lazers to collect points. She then let us into the room where we would be playing. It was dark with strobe lights and several objects such as large rocks to hide behind. "AND, GO!" Her voice echoed throughout the room, and I shrank down in fear as the lights went out, and we ran through the pitch black,which was quite scary.

I hid behind a large rock, and waited for the lights to turn on again. Knowing me, if I didn't I would end up tripping on air. Yes, yo heard me right. AIR. When the lights didn't turn on for five minutes, I decided to think. Who really was 'Shally' because that definitely wasn't her real name. Wait, didn't she slip up at the beginning? And didn't she say her co-worker's name was Jasmine? The same as Niall's old girlfriend, who was working for Shayla? Wait. Shayla! That's who she is!

"Guys!" I called, my voice echoing off the black walls, as I searched for the others. "It's Shayla! That's who it is! We have to get out of here!" I tripped on a piece of cardboard, and got back up, my palms and knees stinging. "Niall?" I ventured, hoping he'd respond.

"Yeah?" I breathed out in a sigh of relief as I recognized Niall's famous Irish accent.

"Where are the others?"

"I have no idea! I saw JJ go the opposite way that I did, but I don't know where any of the rest of them are!" Niall whispered, his voice quivering in fear. "What did you mean, 'It's Shayla!'? I mean, we haven't seen her here have we?" 

"Shayla is Shally. She is trying to screw up the party!" I whispered back. He breathed out, and I could tell, even without seeing his face, he was shocked.

"Wow. She's got some nerve. Trying to ruin...everything. I can't fucking believe Harry has such bad taste!" I nodded in agreement, but then realizing he couldn't see me, I spoke.

"Let's just find the others." I felt around the wall for a light switch, and instead found a microphone. "handy, it's on!" My voice echoed through the room.

"Attention, all people in this room better get their asses out of here. It's a set up, and I want my fucking money back," I shouted into the microphone, and I heard several pairs of feet shuffle towards us. "Is everyone here?"

"I'm Harry!"

"JJ is here!"

"Birthday girl isn't happy,"

"Lou says BOO!"

"Liam is present!"

"Zayn is really scared."

"Niall and I are also here, so lets get out of here," I suggested, laying down the microphone, and feeling along the wall for a door. 

"I've got it!" Rachel exclaimed, yanking on something and pushing it forward, which resulted in a lot of light being let in. We all ran out, and up to the desk.

"Well, if it isn't Shayla." I said, with false enthusiasm in my voice, as she picked up her head, and jumped back at the venom in my voice.