Buried (Niall Horan Fanfic) (AU)

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

N.P.O.V.

Sweat drips off my face as I focus on dribbling the ball between the cones. My lungs ache for a long breath of air but instead they're rewarded with the short pants that I'm forced to take as i make my way down the field. When I get to the end I look up quickly to see if I'm clear for a shot. Right there. Ed is standing too far to the right. I breathe in a gasp of air before kicking the ball hard with my left foot. Grinning as I watch the ball fly perfectly past the goalie and into the top left corner of the net. Sadly, my victory is cut short when I lose my balance from over kicking. I brace myself as both of my legs come out from underneath me and I fall hard on my right side.

"Shit" I grunt as I lay there a bit catching my breath. I hear a few cheers from the random by-standers in the stands.

"Good job Horan!" I hear Peterson praise as I push myself off the ground. I quickly wipe the sweat off my forehead before jogging to the back of the line.

"Ed! Stop those kicks!! Don't let the ball past your hands!! You're the goalie for Christ sakes!!" Coach Peterson shouts as Ed gets up off the floor after diving for the ball.

"Got it coach!" Ed yells as he sends me a glare.

"Nice kick, dude!" I hear someone enthusiastically shout behind me.

When I turn around I see a tall guy with curly brown hair pushed back into a headband, with dark green eyes and a wide smile.

"Thanks" I say holding out my hand. " I'm Niall.. I don't think I caught your name?"

"Harry" he says as he firmly shakes my hand. "You're obviously not from here?.. Is that British?"

"Irish, actually" I laugh as the coach blows his whistle to get our attention.

"Sick! What made you come here?" Harry asks as we go to huddle up around Peterson.

"Uh.. I just wanted a change of scenery" I lie "Just turned 18 so I thought I'd come visit my uncle for a year before heading off to college" he seems to buy it as he shakes his head and turns to face the coach.

"We're gonna practice passing! So I need Ed in the goal and two defenders and the rest of you dribbling the ball back and forth, then when you get close enough shoot it. Ed and the defenders dint let that ball past you" he shouts as we split off into groups. I look around for a partner and see Harry waving me over.

"You're with me today" he smiles and kicks the ball to me.

"On my whistle!!"

Harry nods at me to go when the whistle has blown and I pass the ball to him. Quickly stopping it with his foot he takes off and I follow beside him, weaving in and out of the cones.

"Horan!" he shouts before passing the ball over to me.

I catch the ball with the sidebar my foot and look between me and the defenders. Shit, I'm not open. I make eye contact with Harry before quickly giving him the ball back just as a guy with reddish brown hair charges up to me to steal the ball. The ball leaves my possession just as I collide with the defender. I quickly regain my balance as the defender falls to the floor, rolling in front of me. I catch myself before I could fall on my ass again.

"Sorry dude" the guy I collided with says taking my hand "Thought I had it" he laughs.

"Irwin! Get back to your position!"

"Good play" I say as he jogs off to his spot.

By the time practice is over im exhausted and I feel like every inch of me is about to melt off. With in the two hour conditioning Coach Peterson had us do warm ups, run 5 miles around the field and these crazy ass excersis drills. The practice itself went well, except for the cold shoulder I was getting from Ed. At one point Coach moved him to defender and I had to keep from getting tripped on my ass. Occasionally when he'd make a good move he'd have some smart ass remark about why I didn't block him.