Lose Yourself (Narry)

Chapter Two

Only an hour and a half ago, Louis had torn his ACL. It was devastating, really. Louis was one of the best midfielders on the team, besides myself. Without a replace, what were we going to do?

"How long will he have to rest before he can get out and play again?" Coach had asked the doctor.

"Mr. Dumas, I know Louis is one of the most important players on your team, but there's no way he'll be able to play in this season," the doctor had said. "I'm sorry, really, but this is a pretty common sports injury, especially in football. You've got subs, have you not?"

"Dr. Landon," Coach started, "you know the position of midfielder is a big position to fill, don't you? I mean, you did play for my dad back years ago."

"Yes, yes, I know. But a team has to have a sub to fulfill the position," Dr. Landon told him. "If you've no replacement, I suggest scouting. Run a little football camp for the next couple of weeks. Your first game isn't for another month, right? See if you can find players who were maybe turned down by other teams or something. You never know, they might've made a mistake." Coach agreed and scouting began two days later.

The entire team was there for the scouting, even Louis. Coach had found around ten boys who had tried for different teams but ended up failing. Failing isn't a good sign, though. These guys may not even be any good. I mean, they weren't picked for any other team, what makes him think we could give them a shot. We were the best of the best. Winning every season without one defeat.

"Name?" Coach asked the first boy who came up.

"Danny," he said lowly. "Danny Sterling."

"Alright, it says here you're nineteen, correct?" The boy nodded. "And you tried out for Derby. Ha that was your first mistake lad. Derby thinks they're better than anyone even though we've beat them every season for the last nine years. Oh, anyway, show me how good you are." Coach looked around at us and called Liam.

"Payne!" He said. "Get up to the goal and defend and really try. Remember, we're going for the strong ones." Liam nodded and put on his gloves them stood in the goal. Danny gave one powerful kick, but Liam caught it no problem.

"Hm...I'm not too impressed," Coach told him, "but you may have some potential. Stand on the line over there and I'll get back to ya." Danny went and stood on the sidelines of the field, fidgeting nervously.

The next few boys to try and get a fast ball past Liam did much worse that Danny. I'm not saying Danny was bad but he wasn't necessarily good either.

Three of the boys after Danny did worse than horrible. How do you even describe how they did? Well, those boys didn't even get the ball anywhere near the goal. Sad, really. One of the others didn't even kick it strong enough to get to Liam. Wow.

After a while, I got tired of watching. It was boring and it appeared the only boy even close enough to getting the position was Danny. I threw my head back and closed my eyes and listened to the rest. I was on the verge of falling asleep when Coach said:

"Alright, boy. Looks like you're the last one."

I looked at the last boy up and I could help but laugh. This boy was nothing like you would think a football player looked. He was short, much shorter than the other guys and scrawny as could be. His eyes were nice along with his hair, but other then that, he was a big train wreck about to happen.

"So you're, Neil, yeah?" He asked the boy. The boy looked at him and sighed then mumbled, "It's Niall."

"Okay well Niall, go ahead when you're ready." I watched the Niall boy as I was ready to laugh my ass off. Niall made a pretty powerful kick, better than any of the other guys and to my utter disbelief, he made the goal. Liam stood there staring at him, jaw dropped and frozen in his spot.

Coach stood up and gave Niall and standing ovation and the rest of the team followed.

"Wow Niall," he said, "That was absolutely amazing." Niall blushed and thanked him.

After Coach's little moment with the Niall guy, he stood before the line of boys and said, "Alright, there are ten of you before me at this moment. As you all know, only seven of you will be moving on to the next part of the scouting. If you don't make it, please wait and cry until you're at home because your tears aren't going to make me change my mind. Now, here we go."

I watched as most of the boys tensed up, holding their breath and bowing their heads.

"The seven boys going to the second scouting session will be: Nathaniel Oakland, Danny Sterling, Richy Hancock, Callum Wood, Alex Albright, Hayden Vaughn, and....Niall Horan."

The other three boys immediately left, not caring to hear anything Coach might have to say to them. The seven boys moving on cheered and hugged one another. I had a feeling the Horan boy would be the one to make the team. He wasn't what we needed, though. He looked like a child. It's hard to believe the boy is a year older than me. He looks like he should still be in secondary school. No facial hair, no muscle, nothing.

"So what do you think of Horan?" Liam asked me as we were dismissed to go home.

"Psh, that boy couldn't handle the big leagues," I answered.

"I don't know, mate," Liam said. "He may be scrawny but he's bloody good. Plus he's quite the looker." I laughed.

"Liam, your gay is showing," I told him, patting his back. "The boy looks like a secondary schooler."

"Oh come on, Styles, that's bullshit. He's a lovely looking man, just needs to bulk up a bit."

"A bit?" I asked, laughing. "He needs to gain at least a hundred pounds, mate."

"Look, he's good, whether you like it or not," Liam said, suddenly being really serious. "I'm not sure why you're throwing the boy under the bus, but he's good and you know it."

"Please, my grandma could do better," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Harry..."

"Look Li, I'm going home. We've got practice tomorrow and I need rest." Liam sighed and nodded, heading off to his car while I went to mine.

When I got back home I ate a couple slices of leftover pizza, took a shower, then headed to bed.

I couldn't stop thinking about this Horan kid. Don't misunderstand me though. What I mean is I don't want him outshining me. I'm the star player. He's just some random Irish kid that happens to be a good kicker. Tomorrow we find out if he's any good at offense, and I'm going to make sure he doesn't get chosen.

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Wow this is so so so so bad I'm so sorry. I just wanted to get a chapter up because I feel like I'm disappointing you guys. My other fan fiction is way better. I might just delete this one and forget I ever started it. Opinions?

Love you guys.

~Taylor :*