Hey Angel || narry storan

Chapter 6

"Niall, you coming?" Harry asked in an obnoxiously annoyed voice. He was leaning against the nearest locker, his arms crossed over his chest.

I rolled my eyes. I was in the middle of having a conversation with Liam about our science project. "I guess I have to go, we'll talk later tonight, okay?" I said, starting to back away towards Harry.

Liam frowned. "Can't you spare a few more minutes? I had some good news I wanted to tell you."

I heard Harry groan behind me, and I knew that I had to get down to practice. "I'm sorry, Li. Call me tonight, yeah?" I asked, moving so that I was standing next to Harry.

Liam glanced between Harry and I and said, "Sure. Have a good practice, mate. See you." And he turned and started leaving.

A pout appeared on my face as I turned to Harry. "Thanks, I hope you're happy. You couldn't have waited five more minutes?"

Harry rolled his eyes, pushing himself off of the locker. "Calm yourself. Maybe if you're buddy there stops acting like a teenage girl, it wouldn't be such a big deal that you leave for practice."

I felt my defensive side kick in as I said quietly, "Don't talk about Liam like that." Harry didn't say anything. He just raised his eyebrows at me, as if surprised that I stuck up for my friend like that.

Harry and I arrived at the locker room, to see an impatient Louis standing there. "Ugh, took you long enough." Louis groaned, as soon as we walked in.

I rolled my eyes. "Nice to see you too," I mumbled under my breath, heading towards my locker. I changed as quickly as I could, so I could get down to the field. Once I was changed, I slipped my cleats on, and I started leaving the locker room.

"Wait, Niall!" Harry called.

I spun around, raising my eyebrows at him. "Yeah?" I asked.

"After practice are we still on?" I saw a glint appear in Harry's eye. It looked like he was excited. Like he was looking forward to talking to me after practice.

I grinned. "You bet," I said, and I left the locker room. I jogged down onto the field, just in time for Coach to tell us what we were going to be doing for the day.

"We're going to be doing a lot of drills today. I want to start off with working on our crosses. I want my defenders to be on defense, and my offence to be set up in two lines. Each group are going to take turns taking the ball down to the corner there, and crossing it into the center, and your partner in the center is going to be trying to score on net. Defenders, you're going to stop the cross-over, or stop it from going in the net. I want my keepers in for today, trying to block the shots." Coach instructed. I knew the drill, already. We've done this one before. It's one of my favorites. Crosses are fun.

I noticed that Louis and Harry had slipped inside practice, and were grinning at each other. Coach glanced around and said, "Styles and Horan, I want you two to be partners." I glanced at Harry and he gave me a nod of his head. I nodded mine back, and I jogged to the half, and waited for Harry. He soon jogged with the ball, and I saw that everyone else was setting up for the drill.

"Harry, make sure this first pass is ahead of me. I do better with running passes. And also, as soon as I touch the corner, I'm sending a pass inside the sixteen, so make sure you're there. Got it?" I called, bouncing on my toes, getting myself mentally prepared for the drill.

"Understood!" Harry called.

"Alright, go!" Coach screamed, blowing his whistle.

Harry passed the ball towards me, ahead of me like I prefer. I ran to get it, and easily got past the first defender. I sprinted with the ball all the way down to the corner. Once I got close to the line, I kicked the ball behind me, throwing off the defender that was charging me, and set my feet up, sending a strong pass inside the center of the sixteen.

Harry sprinted through the eighteen, and dove head first, trying to get to the ball, but he head-butted Lance, one of our keepers. Lance kept a hold of the ball, but went down, groaning loudly.

Harry stood up, rubbing his head. "Ow, Niall!" He yelled. "I wasn't ready!"

I let out an annoyed groan, my fingers running stressfully through my hair. "I told you! You need to be ready in the sixteen by the time I got to the corner! Football isn't a slow game! You need to stay on your toes!" I yelled back at him.

Harry sent a glare my way. "There's a such thing as looking before you pass the ball! I just needed a little more time!" Harry yelled back.

"There's such a thing called running to the ball. You should try it sometime." I said sassily, walking back to the half. Harry closed his hands into fists, and I could see him set his jaw in anger.

Coach was looking super pissed at Harry and I. "The whole part of having you two talk out of school is to get you talking on the field! Do it again! And talk for God's sake!" Coach screamed.

Harry and I set up the drill again. I looked over at him. "Don't screw up this time." I said snarkily, and Harry kicked the ball.

This time, he kicked it too far ahead of me, and I had to sprint extra hard to get it before the defender. I was set off balance, and the defender almost knocked the ball away from me. I nudged the ball to my right, and sprinted ahead of my defender. I was nearing the corner, and glanced to my left to make sure Harry was there, when I heard Harry screaming, "Here, here, here, here, here! Ball ball ball!"

Without looking, I set my feet and launched the ball towards the general area of the sixteen and I saw Harry use his hip to nudge the ball right into the goal.

"Yes!" I screamed happily, running towards Harry. Harry ran towards me, and we ran into each other's embrace. We spun in a circle, and looked at each other, beaming into each other's faces. "That was brilliant!" I cried.

"Back at you!" Harry yelled, and our eyes locked again.

It was in that moment that I first felt it. That spark. The special connection with someone. The way we were looking into each other's eyes, a genuine smile on Harry's face, and the way we connected during the play, and after the play. The look of joy on his face was enough to melt my insides. It felt like the beginning of something great. And it was.