Clary's POV
I woke up and got ready, the boys were coming over at 4 to work on some homework. Which I already finished. But they didn't quite understand some of the problems...which was fine I suppose. I was always taught to be one step ahead of the game...the royal training still somewhat stuck I suppose.

Nicole isn't telling me what she said the Niall last night. I want to know. Usually I can get secrets out of her, but this one she refuses to tell me. I suppose I have no room to talk. I'm the one that is hiding the biggest secret. It's not my fault though...I promised him that I wouldn't tell...that I wouldn't let my past harm my future. He wanted a normal life for me more than anything after the raid. I snap myself out of going down that road. It only hurt to think about those days.

I get out of the shower and put on a pair of yoga pants and then I grabbed one of my many Packers shirts. I braid my hair then go and attempt to wake up Nicole. She was by far the worst person to wake up. She will kick and basically be a bitch about it. But it was almost 2 and I know it takes her forever to get ready. "Hey Niko…its time to wake up." I was literally poking her with a broom I got from downstairs. She groaned and rolled over. I poked her again. No movement. Fine time for plan B. I got onto the bed and started jumping on it. "Its time to waaake uppp Coley!"

"Okay I am up see I am out of bed!" I give a victory smile and she just glares at me.

"Okay great, now go get ready, the boys will be over in 2 hours. And we all know you take so fucking long to get ready."

"Beauty is an art that takes time." She goes to my bathroom and gets ready. I head downstairs and pop a frozen pizza in the oven. Half an hour later the pizza was done and Nicole came thundering down the stairs. "I SMELL PIZZA!"

We devour the whole thing. People say the swimmers have endless appetites, well they would be wrong. I am constantly hungry. It is a rarity if I am not. If I don't eat my mom automatically assumes something is wrong. I didn't eat much for a week straight when my dad left. "Well I hope your mom wasn’t planning on coming back home for lunch…" We both looked at the empty pizza pan and just smiled. I put it by the sink to wash later. Nicole went back upstairs to put on makeup. I just put on concealer and mascara. Why bother with makeup it was the weekend.

I went into my studio and played on the piano. Nicole came in a whistled. "You know it is shocking that more guys back home didn't want a piece of you. You're like a goddess."

"Ha. That's funny."

"I'm serious. You are so gifted in art and music and soccer. And you got the smarts as well."

"Eh. There are better people. Come on the boys should be--" Then a knock sounded. We got up to go get the door. Harry came in with Liam. "Hello! What a lovely home."

"Uh thanks? Where's Niall?" I watched Liam look around after his compliment.

"I think I saw him running over--and here he is!" Liam goes to point over his shoulder and almost jabs Niall with his thumb.

"Great everyone is here!" They followed me to the living room. I helped Liam and Harry with math while Nicole sat next to Niall attempting to figure out Bio.

"See none of this stuff makes sense to me. If you had English homework that I could be useful with."

"Yea you usually just copied my homework for science." I finished explaining math then helped both Harry and Niall with Bio homework. "Okay see you just--"

"Wait how'd you get that…" Harry was pointing at my sheet. Nicole was laughing at me.

"You see I did--"

"OH I think I figured it out! Is that right?" Niall grabbed my sheet before I could help Harry. "I DID IT!"

Niall got up and did a victory dance. Liam was still working on math and just laughed at us. Nicole was dying. She knew how much I hated explaining how I did things. I just did it. I was to short-tempered to do this. "Can I have my sheet now?" Niall handed it back to me and I helped Harry. He still seemed confused.

"No Harry! You have to do this first!" He helped him and then he finally understood it. Liam tapped me on my shoulder.

"I am stuck on 10…" I turned my attention back on to him and helped as best as I could.

"But that doesn’t make any sense! How'd ya get from that to that?" I groaned and slammed my head against the table.

"Liam I am going to tell you one more time…" I quickly explained what I did again.

"OHHH I got it! I understand now thank you love!" I rolled my eyes. Its about time he got it. I heard my mom come in.

"Oh hello Harry, Niall, and whose that other lad?" My mom had picked up her Irish accent again. Great. "This is Liam mom."

"Nice to meet you ma'am."

"Pleasure is all mine, glad t' see my darlin' makin' new friends." Nicole looked at my mom like she was on drugs then looked back at me.

"I swear to god Clary if I skype you and you're talking like that I am forcing you to move back to America." Everyone laughed at Nicole.

Eventually the boys left and so it was just my mom, Nicole and I. "I see you girls devoured another pizza."

"Oh uh I…yea."

"Hey Clary is there a park or something? Lets go play one on one!" My mom said we could go. So we ran upstairs and got ready.

We made it to the park. Which had lights so I flipped them on. "Damn this is nice Clars"

"I know! Now are you ready to be destroyed?"

"OH you wish leprechaun!" Then we both went for the ball. We have been playing for about an hour when we went to go get a drink. We were laughing and talking, not really noticing who was around.

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Niall's POV
After I got back from Clary's I did some English and Algebra homework. Then I decided to go for a run. I was just getting to park when I spotted Clary's red hair on the football field. She was playing with Nicole. I stopped and watched. Nicole just pushed Clary to the ground and scored.

"YOU PLAY SO DIRTY WATERS!" They reset the ball and this time Clary tripped Nicole over.
They were laughing and shouting at each other. I've never seen her this happy. She's lived here for 3 weeks and she seemed to like it, but I have never seen her act like she does around Nicole. They were sitting down and laughing about something. I just stood there watching, I wanted her to act like this around me. I remembered what Nicole told me, protect her. I would do that with my life. I started to run back home.

When I got there my mum was making dinner. "Smells lovely mum."

"Thanks darlin' now go clean up." I smiled at her. My parents split last year, it was really rough but I visited my dad during the summer. Greg was off at university so he was closer to dad than I was. I liked my mum, she was always so kind and considerate. I never understood how my dad could've cheated on her. I came back down and ate dinner with my mum. I helped her clean up the plates. I heard Clary and Nicole outside.

So I went out to see what the commotion was, Clary spotted me and waved "Hey Niall! Come on over!" Nicole started to sing "Down to the corner, my sisters and my brothers." I jogged over. "Whats up?"

"Nothing really we just saw you peeping at us so figured you might as well join."

"I wasn't--"

"You were sooo peeping!" I looked at Nicole who was laughing so hard she was snorting. Clary was laughing as well. She smiled at me and patted the spot next to her. So I sat down. "So Niall, how was the rest of your afternoon?"

"It was alright…did some English and math homework…then I went for a run." She nodded at me. My phone started to ring and I noticed it was Greg.

"I um I have to get this…I'll see you guys tomorrow for school." I got up and answered the phone.

"Okay Niall! See ya tomorrow!" Clary was grinning and waving...god I am so screwed...how am I supposed to just be friends?! Ugh...I had to find a way though...I did promise Nicole.
I went back to my house. "Yea Greg?"

"I can't take this anymore. Dad is breathing down my neck all the time. I think I am going to move out."

"Where would you go Greg? Huh?"

"Denise's flat. I'll just live with her." I groaned into the phone. This was not happening right now.

"Greg just come and stay here next weekend. You just need a break don't be stupid."

"Fine. I'll call mum tomorrow. So what's this about a new girl from America?"

"She moved here…she plays football. Where'd ya here about her?"

"Mum told me that you fancy her."

"WHAT! I do not!"

"Alright bro, I got to go, see you in a week." He hung up. I flopped down on my bed. Was it really that obvious that I liked her? This was really becoming a problem. My mom called me for dinner so I headed on down.

After helping clear the table and do the dishes, I climbed the stairs back to my room and dorked around with my guitar. I thought about what Nicole said over and over again. I had to find a way to not make my feeling so obvious...I don't want Clary catching on. I had to control myself...I don't know how but I had to. Otherwise I could ruin my friendship with Harry as well as Clary...and I don't want that what so ever.

Notes