Stand Up » 1D

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Zaylin Matthews

"Oh my gosh," I sighed, laying on my back on the couch. "I'm so bored. This is your fault," I directed at Louis, who was sitting next to me.

He frowned. "How is this my fault?" he demanded.

"You're part of a huge boy band. I should be freaking out, but I'm not. You're boring."

Louis rolled his eyes. "You haven't freaked out about us being in a boy band since you've first met us," he reminded me. "You hate our music, remember?"

"Oh, yeah," I smirked. He flicked my forehead. I scowled at him.

Abby and Zayn entered the room. Abby was holding a carton of eggs, and Zayn a bat. "What are you guys doing?" I asked.

Abby sighed, as if annoyed. "Since Harry forced me to write a song with him I wasn't able to play eggball with Zayn," she explained. "We're going out now."

I didn't bother pointing out how wrong that last sentence came out. But maybe it was a code; were Zayn and Abby together? Whoo, Zabby!

"Can we join you?" I asked, gesturing to Louis. Abby shrugged. "Sure," she said. "The more players the better." They left.

"Come on," I said to Louis. "Let's get the others."

"What's eggball?" he asked. I winked. "You'll find out soon," I replied, grinning.

I ran to Niall and Mara's room and knocked. "Anybody home?" I shouted.

"Yeah!" Mara's voice replied. "What's up?"

"Zayn, Abby, Louis, and I were about to go play eggball. Care to join?"

"I'll pass, but I think Niall wants to play...."

"Then let's go!" I knew Mara would join sooner or later. Nobody can watch and not play. That's just wrong.

We retrieved Liam, Jasmine, Harry, and Zach next. We made our teams. Abby and I were team captains again. It just always worked out like that.

On Abby's team was Abby, Harry, Jasmine, Zayn, and Mara. Told you Mara would join.

On my team was me, Zach, Louis, Niall, and Liam. I was pretty bummed about my team, but I didn't let it show. I had to have faith.

My team was out in the field, and Abby's team was up to bat. I gathered my team in a huddle.

"Okay, so here's the game plan--" I started to say, but Niall cut me off. "Can I be pitcher?" he pleaded. I hesitated for only a second before nodding.

"I'm first baseman," I said. "Louis' second, and Zach's third. Liam, you'll just run around and try to catch the egg." He rolled his eyes. "Can I be the ref instead?" he asked in a complaining tone, but I ignored him.

"These are the rules of eggball," I began. "It's rather simple, really: it's the same exact thing as baseball, just with an egg instead of a ball. Same bat, same plates, same pitcher, just different ball. Got it?"

"Sort of...." Niall said slowly. "I only have a slight idea of what baseball is, though. So, um, what is it?"

I face-palmed. "The pitcher," I said. "Which is you, throws the egg. The batter, which is Abby, hits it. Liam tries to catch it so the batter is out. If the other team gets three outs, we're up to bat and they're in the field. If they get back to the plate they started at, that means they have a run and they're beating us. Make sense?"

Niall was still hesitant. "Let's just say yes and get on with it," Louis sighed.

"Go team!" I shouted, and we split up. I stood by the first base, which was a tree. Second base was a cone, and third base was a flat piece of rubber. Home plate was an actual plastic plate. The pitcher's mound was directly in the middle.