Second Chances || n.h au

1. And The Winner Is....

~ Chapter 1 ~

Grace's POV

"And your new senior class president is...."

I shut my eyes tight, crossed my fingers, and prayed that the next two words that came out of Principal Johnson's mouth were my name.

"Niall Horan!"

I slowly opened my eyes, uncrossed my fingers, and even pinched myself to see if this was a dream.... Ouch. Sadly this was my reality.

The entire student body erupted in a wave of cheers as Niall's fist rose proud and high in the air.

"And let's get a round of applause for our other candidate, Grace Matthews!" Principal Johnson said clapping loudly.

My classmates clapped quietly and stood completely expressionless. Everything had been turned down about 50 notches. They were probably wondering why Principal Johnson even bothered to acknowledge me. I just wasn't as popular as Niall was.

It wasn't long before a jock in the crowd started chanting "HORAN! HORAN!" Only to be joined by the rest of the auditorium.

There was only one word to describe my current emotional state: Humiliated.

Niall began acting barbaric as he took off his Letterman Jacket and began swinging it around like a lasso. "YEAH!" he shouted, his voice echoing throughout the entire room.

And then he looked at me. His crystal-like baby blue eyes stared deep into mine. I couldn't bare the eye contact any longer. I ran off the stage and hurried out of that auditorium as fast as my little legs would carry me. I didn't know where I was running too, but I had to just escape it all. I had to escape him.

I couldn't accept the fact that I lost no matter how hard I tried. Being class president meant everything to me. But just like that it was gone, and it belonged to.. Him. Niall Horan stole the title I've always dreamed of having. If it were anyone else I would have acted like a good sport and pretended to be happy for them. Losing to anyone else wouldn't have hurt this bad. But I lost to Niall fucking Horan. Just thinking about him makes my blood boil.

I stopped in front of the nearest trash can and tore the Grace Matthews 4 Prez button off my sweater and tossed it in. I grabbed the posters I spent hours making off the walls and ripped them into shreds. I could feel the hot tears pour down my cheeks as I watched the tiny, little shreds dance their way into the trash can.

"Grace?" A familiar voice called. A familiar voice that belonged to him. "Grace are you alright?" He called.

I kept silent. I didn't want to talk to him for I had nothing to say to him. I didn't want to look at him either. What I didn't understand was why he even cared.

"Just leave me alone." I said abruptly.

"Look Grace, I understand that you wanted to win too but-"

"No." I cut him off. "You don't understand. You'll never understand." I said coldly.

I regretted saying what I had said after the words came out of my mouth. He should understand. When Niall gave a shit about me, we always talked about how I was going to carry on my family tradition and be senior class president. The best part? He always said, "I'll be there to help you win, Grace!" Sick bastard. This was not a topic I wanted to get into with him. Not here. Not now. Not ever. But I had a sick feeling I was about to open up.

"I bet I'll understand. Try me." He smirked.

That damn smirk... I hated that adorable little smirk of his.