Chapter 2:
It's a beautiful day for a hike. Haley pulled up to the trailhead and parked. This was one of my favorite trails in town. It's a beautiful 8 mile hike next to a creek. It's fairly flat, but has plenty o rocks and roots to make it fun. Liam and his friends hadn't showed up yet, so we leaned against the car talked. Haley is beautiful. She's about 5'6", 4 inches taller than me. She has a lean, athletic body. She wears her black hair short in a pixie cut, which frames her face and accents her big dark brown eyes. As we talked and laughed, it was hard for me to believe that this girl was two years older than me, considering how close we are. She was my section leader 2 years ago, and we've been the best of friends ever since. I heard a car approaching quickly. There was no way that was Liam driving. He drives like an old man. The car came around the corner. Some boy with curly brown hair was driving. Haley giggled next to me. "You have the weirdest friends," she said. "Hey," I replied, "I don't claim them. Not yet anyways." Liam and his friends walked up to us. "Hey, you're wearing a shirt today!" "Hardy har," I replied. His friends gave each other some looks. Thanks Liam, I appreciate it. I'm an extremely fit girl. It comes with being an athlete. I've got abs and the whole nine yards. So, to keep cooler, when me and Liam go hiking, I usually just wear a sports bra or something. I've got some that match my Nike shorts. But since we're meeting people I didn't know, I wore a t-shirt. Liam smiled at me. "I'm just kidding, love." I gave him a hug. "Oh! How rude of me!" Liam exclaimed. "These are my friends. Niall, Louis, Harry, and Zayn." So it was Harry that was driving the car. "Hey guys, this is Haley," I said, gesturing towards her. "Liam, I think you've met her before." "Yeah," he said. "A party some time or another." "Shall we?" I asked. "Of course!" We set out on the trail. Haley walked next to me. We talked about some sales at Urban Outfitter's last week (she's my shopping buddy) and some of the current drum corps scores. We both follow drum corps during the summer. We're both trying out for one together next summer. If only we could agree on one. Liam came up behind us. "How's the nerd conversation, girls?" "Oh, you know you still follow DCI," I said, teasingly. "Yeah..." he said. I walked off laughing with Haley. Liam and I had been friends forever. Since about 2006. I met him at a DCI event in Atlanta while I was there with a couple of my brothers. We talked, and the rest was history. He's like another brother now. Except he doesn't live with me, so he's less annoying. About 3 miles into the loop, my favorite part comes up. There's a group of rocks in the water that I always climb out to and sit on. We took this time to sit around and get to know the others better. They were all really nice. I was happy to call them my friends. We left there after about 30 minutes. Haley was up talking to the curly haired one, Harry. She so obviously liked him. Good thing too. It's been awhile since she's had a good crush. And she's so funny to talk to while she likes someone. I chuckled to myself at the thought of those conversations. "What?" came a voice behind me. I turned. It was the blonde boy. He came up and walked next to me. "Nothing," I said. Better to keep my assumptions to myself. "What's your name again? I didn't catch it earlier." "Niall," he replied with a smile. "My name is Niall."
