Chapter 5

When Poppy and I sit down in the bleachers, still dressed in our uniforms to watch the guys during tryouts, I’m still in shock.

First of all, because she’s fucking Niall fucking Harrison, and second of all, because she told me that his dick is big and he’s really good in bed.

I can’t wrap my head around the situation, and I’m going insane because of how much I want to tell Jake or Jasper or Sophia. Which, by the way, where is she?

I text her, asking her where she is, and she replies within seconds, telling me that she’ll be in the bleachers in a few minutes. I don’t bother asking her what she’s doing, and instead I concentrate on anything else but the fact that Poppy and Niall had sex. Wait, no. The fact that Poppy and Niall are having sex.

The football players come out on the field a few minutes later, just as Sophia sits down next to me with a smile on her face.

"Why are you so smiley about?" I ask her when I see the giant grin on her face.

"Nothing important. But Kyle Payne just said hi to me as I was walking towards you and we chatted about tryouts a bit. He’s so fit Nicki, I swear."

She takes one look at me, before she frowns. She knows I’m not being myself right now.

"What are you so grumpy about?" she asks, mocking my question earlier.

"Well, I just got some terrible news."

Her face falls, and I know she’s probably thinking that something happened to someone in my family.

"What is it? Oh my God, it’s serious."

"Yeah, it is." I say in a grave voice. "You should sit down."

Sophia looks at me weirdly. "I am."

"Okay. Well, Poppy just told me that she’s been having sex with Niall ever since summer started. And I just can’t-" I stop, trying to stop myself from throwing up all over her.

Sophia visibly relaxes. "Are you fuckin’ mental? I honestly thought something tragic happened."

"It is fucking tragic! Sophia, a friend of my had Niall Harrison insert his dick-"

"Ew, no. Stop. Look, it’s their problem, not yours. Honestly, why are you so bothered? Are you jealous or something?" she asks, crossing her arms over her chest.

"What? No! How can you possibly think that?" I gasp, placing a hand over my chest. I’ve never felt so betrayed in my entire life.

"Then why are you so bothered about it?"

"Because…it’s Niall Harrison. I mean…I expected Poppy to have higher standards and all." I trail off, looking back to the football field. "Nevermind. Let’s just drop the subject."

She nods in agreement, and then we watch the senior football players (aka Niall, Jasper, Louis, and Kyle), tell the new guys what to do while their coach is watching.

I’m excited that Jason wants to tryout for the team, as well as Jake, because my brother has always loved playing and he’s never been able to, because the last school he’s been to only had lacrosse as an option.

"Your brother is honestly so good." Sophia tells me when Jason scores his fourth goal during the penalty kicks exercise. "And the goalkeeper is really good."

"I kno-"

I don’t get to finish, because a ball hits me right in the face, and sends me backwards so I hit my back against the bench behind me.

I loudly swear, before I stand up to look who kicked the ball. Of course, Niall looks quite pleased mixed with worried.

"Are you fucking crazy?!" I yell as I grab the wall, and then step over the benches in front of me, jump over the railing, and proceed to stomp towards him on the field. I throw the ball back at his face, but he catches it quickly.

"I think you’re mental." He retaliates. "It was an accident you idiot."

"You’re the fucking idiot!" I yell, pushing him. "You just hit me in the face!"

"Oh, I’m sorry. Did your foundation come off or something?" he mocks, and I want to slap him, but Jasper pulls me back.

"Stop it babe. It was an accident."

I feel betrayed for the hundredth time today. "Why are you taking his side? He just hit me in the face with the ball!"

"Harrison! Palmer! Cut it out!" their coach yells at me as he comes jogging towards us. "Do you want me to sign you both up for a week of detention?" he asks.

I shake my head, because God no. Spending two hours after school in the same room as Niall for a week would be hell on earth.

"Alright then. Ms. Palmer, please go back to your seat. Harrison, get your head in the game."

I turn around, not even sparing another glance to Jasper, and walk over to Sophia.

***

"That’s a nice bruise you have there." Jake says the next day as I get out of my car and grab my light pink Michael Kors bag from the backseat.

"Shut up." I mumble and lock the car, before we begin to walk towards school.

"Stop biting your nails." Sophia tells Jason, who looks more nervous than he’s ever been.

"The list of those who made the team is already up, and I don’t know whether I’m getting in." Jason says.

I spot Jasper waiting for me at my locker, and I instantly smile. I kiss his lips as a greeting, and he assures Jason that the guys only said good things about him in the locker room, but he hasn’t seen the list either.

We walk over to the giant bulletin board and I look for the list. Jake points it out, and then shrieks when he sees that he’s made the team.

"What? I didn’t make it." Jason says and places his finger on his name, that’s the first under the ‘rejected’ column.

"That’s impossible. You were really good. Way better than this Tom guy." I say, appalled.

Jasper approves me.

I turn my head to him. "Who is in charge of selecting the team?"

"The team captain. Coach let him choose this year-"

"Who is it?" I ask, and I see Jasper’s eyes flicker with realization.

"Niall." He answers, and that’s about all it takes for me to snap.

I look around until I see him at the end of the hallway, chatting Poppy up by his locker.

"Niall Harrison!" I yell, making some heads turn towards me, including his annoyed face.

I march over to him, ready to make the biggest scene of my life.

"Are you really that petty and stupid?!" I yell, waving my hands all over the face.

He can mess with me, and he can make fun of me as much as he wants, but everything stops when it comes to my brother.

"Calm down, Jesus Christ." He says, looking around to see that I’ve already caused a crowd forming.

"I will not calm down! You didn’t pick my brother for the team because you have a problem with me, not with him."

He snorts, but we both know I’m right, judging by his face.

"So what if I did? Him playing would mean you have to come along as well."

"I’m a fucking cheerleader!" I scream, getting closer and closer to actually slapping the shit out of him.

"Jasper, please keep your girlfriend in check. She’s embarrassing." Niall says, looking over my shoulder, and that’s it.

My hand swings back, before it collides with his face making a loud sound that echoes through the silence.

"You little bitch!" he says, but then our principal, Mr. Brooks, steps between us.

"Mr. Harrison and Ms. Palmer! What seems to be the problem?"

"She fuckin’ slapped me!" Niall says, making our principal frown because of his language.

"Yeah! Because he didn’t choose my brother to play on the team due to personal problems!"

"Alright. I’ll talk to the football coach. Meanwhile, you both have detention after school for the rest of the week."

And then I lose it completely.

***

"I’m going to kill myself." I say at the end of last period, when I’m with Jasper at my locker.

"You’re not going to do that. It’s two days, Nicki. You’ll be fine."

I sigh. "Well, if this means Jase can play on the team, then I’m going to try." I roll my eyes, and he pulls me closer. "Can you drive Jake, Sophia, and Jason home though? Because if I’m late to detention the teacher will flip and I’m not in the mood to argue with anybody right now."

"Of course I can babe. Just make sure you and Niall don’t argue please. I don’t like you getting angry."

I nod, trying not to say anything about the situation. It’s way too tiring by now, and I am not in the mood.

So I watch Jasper as he walks away, before I look down at my detention slip, and sigh when I see it’s on the third floor. Why can’t my school have an elevator? It would be so much easier…

I find room 58 on the third floor, and enter without even bothering to knock.

There are five people in the room; a girl dressed in the black in the back right corner, a guy I know is in drama club but always causes trouble because he’s way too loud in classes, another guy who sells weed to Zayn and Jasper, and of course, Niall Harrison. Mr. Grey is sitting at the teacher’s desk, and he doesn’t even bother to look up at me as an acknowledgement.

I pick the furthest seat away from him on the other side of the room, and sit down, placing my bag on the desk.

The room is awfully silent, so I pull my phone out, but that’s when Mr. Grey finally decides to speak up.

"Ms. Palmer please come here and put your phone in the basket. You can have it back at five."

I roll my eyes and stand up to walk over to him.

When I sit back down, I have no idea what to do with myself. I can’t even make conversation with the weed guy because I know detention is a place were there’s a zero tolerance policy for speaking.

I look at my nails for about thirty minutes, and then check the time on my watch, just to see that only five minutes have passed.

Well, looks like I’ll have to do the homework we got in English then.

I pull out ‘Great Expectations’ from my bag and start reading it. At the fifth page I realize that it’s one of the most boring books I’ve ever read, right after ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’. But there’s nothing better to do and there are still 90 minutes left, so it’ll have to do.

***

It’s 4:35pm and I’ve already read about a hundred pages, when there’s a loud screeching sound coming from the front of the room as Mr. Grey pushes his chair back.

"I have something to do, but I’ll be back in fifteen minutes and you can leave early." He says.

"Ten minutes early, oh how riveting." Niall mumbles, which causes everyone, including me, to laugh.

"Well then, I’ll guess you’ll leave at five pm sharp." Mr. Grey retorts, and now I’m back to not being able to stand Niall Harrison.

There are a few moments of silence as Mr. Grey’s footsteps fade away, and then Niall turns to the weed guy.

"Hi Trev, can you score me three g’s for this Friday?" he asks, and weed guy (Trevor, apparently), looks up.

He nods. "Sure. Birthday party?"

"Yeah. I hope it’ll be better that this birthday right now." Niall laughs, and I frown.

"You’re in detention on your birthday?" I ask him.

Niall turns to look at me. "Yeah. Thanks, by the way. It’s the best present someone could’ve given me." He sarcastically says.

"Well, I was about to apologize because it’s your birthday, but now I’ve changed my mind." I say.

"Oh, I don’t need your half-arsed apologies. Thanks."

I’m about to say something but Trevor intervenes. "Wow, you two really hate each other, don’t you?"

"Yeah." Niall and I answer at the same time.

No one says anything after that, so I return to my book, because it’s way better than having to argue with Niall and lose one neuron at a time.

Ten minutes later, Mr. Grey comes back and tells us we can leave. I’m the first one to stand up with inhuman speed as I grab my bag in the process, throwing the book in there.

"Goodbye." I say to Mr. Grey as he signs my detention slip, before I’m out the door.

As I look for the keys to my car in my purse, someone taps me on my shoulder. I turn around, and I’m surprised when I see the goth girl looking up at me.

"Hi." I say, confused.

"Hey. Sorry for bothering you, but I think you and Niall should get together." She says.

I pull my head back, and I’m sure I just revealed my double chin, but I’m way too surprised to care. "What? How is that possible?"

She shrugs. "I just think you’d be good together."

"Weren’t you in detention just now?"

But she turns around and walks away, without saying anything else. Her words haunt me for the rest of the day though.