Another World [ON HOLD] (in editing)

Payback for the Payback

Hello, sorry for the long wait! Here is chapter 12!!!

Annie's POV

Harry had just left our house when Claire came downstairs. She smiled like a crazy person, her hazel eyes shining with excitement. "Hey Annie, Harry and I were wondering if you wanted to go to the beach tomorrow." I raised an eyebrow at her. "You're acting suspicious... Do I want to?"

She laughed. "Yes of course you do! It'll be fun. I'll just tell Harry you'll come." She looked down at her phone, fingers flying across the keyboard, and strutted back upstairs as she continued to smile. Something was up.

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The next day was a beautiful sunny Saturday in May, almost 100 degrees. We were all piled up in the car headed to the beach. All of us but Niall. I didn't particularly want to see him yet anyway. I jumped out of the car and ran through the hot grains of sand.

"Annie, I think it's time we have a rematch for that volleyball game!" shouted Liam.

"Ok, let's go! But just so you know, you'll still lose," I teased. The guys were really helping me get in a much better mood. We formed into our previous teams of me, Harry, and Louis against Zayn, Liam, and Claire. Minus Niall.

Like the awesome people we are, we beat them again. "Sorry, boys- and girl. You just don't have what it takes," taunted Louis.

Liam laughed. "Oh, Louis, we always go easy on you. We know you like to win." I laughed at the bickering boys. Suddenly someone picked me up from behind. I recognized the voice as Zayn's when he said, "That's enough laughing! You don't have to make fun of us every time! Payback time!" He carried me to the water. "No Zayn! Stop!" I laughed.

"You're going in!" he said.

"No!" I squirmed to try to free myself of his grip. Too late- he threw me in as I screamed, splashing into a few feet of water. At least I was wearing my suit under my clothes. I got up and start splashing him back, kicking water at his face. "Payback for the payback!" I laughed.

I looked up when a familiar red convertible caught my eye. Niall was here. Great. And... a girl? A girl with a noticeable resemblance to me. She had long dark hair and was about my height. My eyes flickered to Claire and Harry, who stood there with shock on their faces. I ran out of the water and quickly walked away from them down the beach. Harry began to follow after me, but Zayn stopped him as Claire ran after me. "Annie, come back!" she said quietly, as not to attract the attention of Niall.

I found a spot not too far away with huge boulders and slumped down between. Claire found me shortly after, her face a mixture of shock and sympathy.

"Annie, don't run away. Come back okay? Don't ruin the day for yourself. I didn't know he was gonna bring a girl..." She trailed off.

"You knew he was coming?" My eyes widened. I thought this was going to be a day to help me forget about everything. A guilty look spread across her face. She mumbled, avoiding my eyes. "I uh, I mean we, me and Harry, we... kind of... invited him." I raised my eyebrows in surprise. Just as I was about to start raising my voice in protest of her decision to bring Niall, Zayn, Louis, and Liam appeared. Liam walked over and said, "Aw Annie. Don't be sad."

Zayn's big brown eyes looked softly at me, a slight pout on his lips. His smooth Bradford accent met my ears. "Come on, love."

He helped me up and Louis gave me a big hug. I started to feel better and actually quite embarrassed for running away so quickly. "Sorry. I guess I run off too much," I say with a shrug and a light laugh.

"It's alright, Anniebear," said Louis, his muscular arm swinging over my shoulder.

We walked back to our spot where Harry, Niall, and that girl were awkwardly waiting. I made eye contact with Niall. He cleared his throat. "Uh, Harry you didn't tell me she was..."

"Well hi to you too," I scoffed. "Who's your friend?" I asked with a nasty edge to my voice.

"Guys, this is um... Sh... Uh, Shannon," he said looking at his feet.

Everyone said "Hi..." in a non-enthusiastic way. A girly, high-pitched voice with a typical valley girl accent came from the girl as she gushed. "Oh my God, I, like, can't believe this! I'm here with One Direction! Oh my God, this is great! Louis, I didn't bring you any carrots! Omg I have to tweet this right away." She pulled out her phone and began to type furiously. We just stood there staring at her in disbelief. Louis chuckled to himself. Does she really think that Louis likes carrots just because he might have mentioned them once before? I couldn't believe this chick. Claire mouthed the word "wow" to Zayn, a small fit of laughter erupting from both of them as they tried to contain themselves.

"Well ok then," said Harry. He shook his head as he flashed me his signature crooked grin complete with dimples.

A few hours later the sun began to set. Liam's perky voice called, "Who's up for a bonfire?" We scoured the beach for driftwood and piled it up and lit it. Niall and Shannon sat down on the cool grainy sand next to each other across from me. I could tell from Niall's body language that he was uncomfortable. He sat so that he wasn't even touching Shannon. He looked tense and slightly nervous. The bright orange flames flickered and danced as I stared at the fire that heated my face. I felt Niall's gaze on me. I broke my stare at the fire to glance at him. I met his eyes. Despite how much he hurt me, I couldn't fight the urge to look away. His sorrowful blue eyes glued to my unreadable brown ones. I averted my gaze back to the fire, hypnotized by the flames.

I snapped out of the trance when an obnoxious voice belonging to Shannon said, "Look at the sunset. It's beautiful." My head snapped up to look straight at Niall, who looked at me at that same moment. I know he knew what I had just thought of. My mind flashed back to a memory of him gazing into my eyes as he softy tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. His voice replayed in my head. "You're beautiful." Those words he said to me that made my heart skip a beat. Then he kissed me. And at that time, everything was absolutely perfect. I left my thoughts to look at him once more. I could tell he was remembering that day we came here. He looked back to me, a small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, but disappeared as quickly as it had arrived.

After a while it got cold and dark. I'm hit with a sudden cold breeze. I snuggled up to Harry. He tensed up, but slowly relaxed again and put his arm around me. I sighed as I thought to myself that Harry would never hurt me the way Niall did. He would always be there for me. The campfire circle disbanded as we kind of split into little groups. Zayn and Claire scooted closer together and chatted with Liam and Louis. Shannon seemed to be having her own conversation with Niall as she blabbed in his ear, but he was totally uninterested. I could tell he wasn't paying attention because he kept watching me. I was in a conversation with Harry who was talking, but I keep looking at Niall. I zoned out and met his gaze. My initial reaction was to look away, but I didn't- we stared at each other for a long time. Unspoken words rushed through my head as I wished I could just tell him that I want him back. From the sad way his eyes appeared when he looked at me, I sensed he was truly sorry. I suddenly snapped out of it when Harry pulled me up away from the others.

"What?" I asked. He just shrugged and led me away. We walked next to each other quietly until we were far away enough from them to talk without being heard.

"So what's with that Shannon chick?" he asked.

"I know, right. What does he see in her? She's constantly fangirling, which I know he hates..." I trailed off.

He shook his head. "Yeah, but... let's not talk about him. Let's talk about us."

"Us?" I knew where this was going, and honestly, I think I might like it. But I don't want to mess things up between us.

"You can't tell me you don't feel something... Between us." He slightly cocked his head to the side as he peered into my eyes with his green ones.

I searched his face for a long time, trying to figure out what to say. "Well honestly, Harry... I don't know. I don't know how I feel about you that way. And I don't know if I'm over Niall." I noticed him slowly move closer to me. He stared into my eyes not seeming to hear anything I said, so I continued, not even realizing that I began to rant hysterically.

"Actually I know I'm not over him cause him bringing that girl really upsets me and it makes me insanely jealous, and I'm still sad over not being with him, and I miss him, but I'm so confused, and I just wish that-" I froze as I felt a pair of lips slam themselves against mine.

Ooooooohhh!!! Sorry if there were any typos. Lemme know whatcha think! :)