by Beth Reekles
“I promised Lee I’d help set up the volleyball net, but I just wanted to check you’re okay. Are you?”
“Just dandy.”
“And not at all jealous that Lee’s made a new friend?”
I sighed, rolling my eyes. “I’m fine. Just…It’s weird. It’ll take some getting used to, that’s all. Ashton seems great. He does,” I enthused, not sure whether I was trying to convince Noah or myself. “I’m glad they’re getting on so well.”
“Let’s hope they’re not too much of a team, huh?”
“What?”
“They put together the volleyball teams,” Noah said, folding his arms and jerking his head in their direction. “They’re on the same team, so let’s hope they’re not too great together.”
“They…” I swallowed the lump that had suddenly appeared in my throat. “Ashton and Lee made the teams up?”
“Yeah. And”—he dropped his arms and laced one of his hands through mine, smirking—“I happen to know that you’re on my team. So don’t worry, we’ll win. Show them who’s boss.”
My mouth was still dry, the lump still in my throat. Lee and I were supposed to put the volleyball teams together. And we were supposed to be on the same team. I was awful at the game (at most sports, generally), but Lee and I were always on the same team for things. We’d obviously planned to put together the best team for ourselves, just so Noah would be on the losing team. We’d discussed all of this.
So why had the plan changed?
Noah didn’t seem to notice how bothered I was over the volleyball thing and excused himself to go set up the net—at which point I noticed Lee and Ashton had gone, too.
I stood for a couple of minutes, looking around at everybody. The sun was still high and blazing bright, the sky a clear, brilliant blue, smattered with a few cotton-soft clouds. Music played from the speaker system Noah had set up earlier, muted by the busy, enthusiastic chatter that spilled from the house and across the patio. There were smiling faces and laughter everywhere as people splashed about in the pool or sat on the edge with their feet dangling in while they ate or sipped drinks.
Everybody looked like they were having a great time.
I caught Amanda’s eye as she talked to June and Rachel and hastily put on a smile. It wasn’t like I was having a bad time. The volleyball thing had just thrown me, was all.
It wasn’t much longer before Lee was back up by the beach house, cupping his hands around his mouth to holler, “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we are proud to announce the first and final annual Flynn volleyball game. Players—to your positions!”
Most everybody poured down onto the beach. Levi fell into step beside me, grinning.
“Annual volleyball game, huh?”
“First and final,” I said. We’d usually play a couple of games, and the boys would always end up tossing a ball around, whether it was a football, baseball, volleyball, whatever. I’d usually sit it out. But not this year. Not when Lee wanted it to be such an event.
(And not when “host a kickass volleyball game” was on the bucket list.)
“So, uh, Noah and I had an interesting chat earlier,” Levi said.
I let out a sharp laugh. “Since when do you and Noah chat?”
I never got to hear the answer, though, because Rachel dragged him away and everyone was getting in place for the volleyball game.
Dixon and Olly were on my team, as were Lisa and Amanda. On the other side of the net, playing with Lee and Ashton, were Rachel, Tyrone, Levi, and Jon Fletcher.
“Hope you’re ready for this,” Lee called, tossing the ball lightly from hand to hand and wriggling his toes in the sand. “You guys are toast.”
“Please,” Noah scoffed. “You’re going down.”
I glanced around at our team. Lisa and Dixon were enthusiastic, but not…Well, I wouldn’t have put them in the “talented” category when it came to sports, but they were better than me. I wasn’t so sure about Amanda. And while Olly wasn’t too bad, I didn’t think we stood much of a chance against the others.
I tried to catch Lee’s eye before the match started, but he was too busy muttering some game plan to Levi and Ashton and giving Noah the stink eye over his shoulder. He didn’t even seem to notice me there.
Part of the idea behind the volleyball game being on the bucket list was that we were supposed to beat Noah. (How else would it be so kickass?) But maybe this was turning into Lee’s list—especially after the trip to Berkeley and me missing out on eighties mini golf….
As far as putting Noah on the losing team went, it was looking up within the first minute or so, when Levi spiked the ball hard into the sand near Dixon’s and Noah’s feet, sending up a spray of sand and a chorus of cheers from the crowd. Levi whooped, arms in the air as he ran a victory lap on their side of the net, high-fiving everyone on his team.
I heard Noah muttering under his breath. He shook his head, one hand ruffling his hair as he lined up and waited for the next serve.
This time the game went on a little while longer before anyone scored: Lisa got in a couple of decent hits, the ball saved by Amanda and Noah and sent soaring back over the net; Dixon and I fumbled, hitting the ball back and forth between us, to everyone’s amusement, before he managed to knock it in Amanda’s direction. She proved herself a much better player than most of us; Olly even almost scored, but the ball was saved at the last minute by Levi, who dived forward to knock it back up into the air and Jon Fletcher sent it our way.
As the ball sailed toward me, I leaped into the air, arm swinging to hit it, and my fingertips barely grazed the ball. Amanda was standing just behind me, though, and grunted as she hit the ball in a tall, graceful arc over the net.
It was looking like we might score, until Lee hopped up on Ashton’s back to hit the ball right to the corner by Lisa—and despite her best efforts, she missed it completely. Lee gave a delighted cry and jumped back down, high-fiving Ashton with both hands.
That should be me.
Not that I’d have been much help just then, but…
Noah managed to score a point. The next time, I hit the ball right into the middle of the net. Tyrone almost scored with some fancy trick shot, until the ball hit Dixon on the head and bounced right back over, so unexpectedly that none of them noticed until it was too late.
I was starting to enjoy myself, much to my surprise. Even with Lee and Ashton looking so buddy-buddy over there. I was still recovering from the stitch in my side after laughing so hard at Dixon getting hit by the ball, grinning and giggling, when the game restarted. Amanda caught my eye briefly and mimicked the startled look on Dixon’s face, making me snort all over again.
I had barely stopped laughing when I heard Lee yelling, “Yes, Levi! Nice one!”
They’d scored again. Levi did another victory lap, jumping into the air and punching his fists up.
Noah scoffed, picking up the ball. He muttered something—the only word of which I got was arrogant.
I caught his arm.
“Is he always this bad?” Noah said.
“He’s just having fun.”
“Yeah, and he was just having fun on the go-kart track, too?” Noah shook his head. “This isn’t a game, Elle.”
“What are you—”
“Hey, lovebirds!” Ashton called over.
“Yeah, throw us the ball so we can serve already!” Jon shouted.
I stepped back, wondering what the hell Noah had meant by it not being a game. And wondering what the hell was with the glare he was giving Levi, and…
And why the hell was Levi glaring right back at him?
I stared between them in utter confusion. What had I missed? What had happened?
This was like race day all over again.
Levi had said something about a chat with Noah. Had Noah said something
to him? Something…
I was still trying to figure out what the weird tension between them was all about when I realized that Tyrone had served and Noah had already scored, winning us the first set.
As the game continued, it was dominated by Noah and Levi, both of them darting around trying to get another hit in to score the next point. Amanda actually jumped onto Noah’s back at one point to intercept an increasingly vicious volley between him and Levi, redirecting the ball to Rachel. I was pretty sure I wasn’t the only one to breathe a sigh of relief—and I definitely wasn’t the only one confused about what the deal was with Levi and Noah, judging by the looks everyone kept shooting them.
Lee’s team won the second set, but as the third and final one drew to a close, we were neck and neck. Amanda stepped up to serve for the game. Jon smacked the ball back over the net and it came my way. Olly intervened, knocking it toward Noah, who jumped up to spike it hard, and Levi charged forward to block it—
The ball made a sickening smack! as it collided with Levi’s face.
I let out a shriek, hands flying to cover my own face, and I wasn’t the only one.
But Levi was still standing, and my team was celebrating. Lee flung himself backward into the sand with a melodramatic howl of despair over losing the game. A few people from the crowd looked concerned, but mostly people were just celebrating the end of the game and our win.
It had definitely looked like an accident—but Noah didn’t seem overly sorry about it.
I shot him a look while he was celebrating the win with our team, then ducked under the net to check on Levi. His nose was bloody but seemed to have already stopped bleeding. He wiped the back of his hand across his face, apparently oblivious to me as he glowered at Noah.
“Nice shot, asshole,” he called.
Noah turned, smirking—gloating—and stepped forward. “Now who’s the sore loser?”
“I’m just here for a good time.”
The laugh Noah gave in response was blunt and mirthless. His mouth twisted, tongue sticking out over his teeth as he shook his head. “A good time? Is that what you’re calling it?”
“I’m not the one out to hurt somebody. Just like on race day. You know, everyone told me what kind of guy you are, but I guess I really had to see it for myself.”
Everybody had fallen quiet to listen to their argument—not that it was exactly difficult, with both of them raising their voices. Levi barged forward, ducking under the net to face off with Noah. He was shorter, skinnier, but that didn’t seem to bother him right now.
I did try to reach for his arm and hold him back, but he was too quick.
I’d never seen Levi so riled up like this. I definitely hadn’t ever seen him look so pissed off—it stunned me into silence. I felt Lee drifting closer, his arm brushing against mine.
“Oh shit,” he whispered.
“What?”
But he only shook his head with a look that said, I knew this would happen sooner or later.
Amanda was standing with her arms crossed, looking warily between the two of them. She caught my eye and gave a small shrug, the look on her face not too dissimilar to Lee’s.
What the hell had I missed?
“Watch your mouth, kid,” Noah was growling.
“Ha. There he is. The infamous Flynn, the school badass.”
“And what about you? You think this act is fooling anybody? This whole ‘innocent friend’ thing you’ve got going on—it isn’t fooling anybody. Everyone knows why you’re here, why you’re still hanging around.”
He was invited, I almost said.
And why shouldn’t he be here? He was our friend—of course he was here.
What was Noah talking about, with the “innocent friend” thing?
“And I’m sure you’re gonna tell me why,” Levi snapped.
“Because you’re still pining after Elle!”
The words felt like a punch in the gut. My mouth fell open and I stared at them both.
It seemed to hit Levi pretty hard, too: he fell back half a step. “Shut up.”
“It’s so obvious,” Noah carried on ruthlessly. He took a step closer to Levi, his hands balling into fists. “Everyone can see it! You’re spending all this time acting like her friend, acting like that’s enough for you, but we can all see it.”
“Shut up!”
“She doesn’t want you,” Noah barked at him, their faces only inches away, both of them scowling and glaring. Levi was shaking. “She didn’t want you then and she doesn’t want you now. And the sooner you get that through your thick head, the better for everyone.”
Noah punctuated it with a final smirk.
Levi’s fist went swinging.
I gasped as he punched Noah in the jaw—pretty hard, actually. Way harder than I would’ve expected from Levi.
(Although considering it was Levi, any kind of punch was unexpected.)
My eyes flew to Noah and I braced myself, waiting for the familiar sight of his shoulders squaring, his feet planting firmly against the ground, his hands curling into fists at his sides….
His jaw clenched, the muscle there jumping.
Amanda hesitated, not sure if she should intervene or not. Rachel was tugging on Lee’s other arm, saying, “Do something!”
Noah’s eyes slid across to mine.
I’d seen Noah get into fights before. Any second now, he’d launch himself forward, tackle Levi to the ground, lay into him….
Only…
When he turned back to Levi, his hands were limp at his sides and his jaw unclenched.
“You’re not worth it.”
He turned sharply on his heel, marching past the crowd of onlookers and back up toward the beach house in long strides.
I stared after him. Lee made a strangled, startled sort of noise beside me. Our friends whispered, looking between Noah’s retreating back and Levi, who stood trembling and breathing hard, fingers still bunched into fists.
Levi turned around, catching my eye.
“Elle—”
But I was already moving, already running after Noah. Amanda started to follow but I gave her a quick look and she hung back. Even with all that time I’d spent on the track team, I still had a hard time catching up to Noah and his long legs. I kicked through the soft sand and up to the beach house. There was no sign of him, but I heard the front door and chased after him.
Noah had snatched up his T-shirt from a seat on the patio where he’d left it earlier, and right now he was climbing onto his motorcycle. He seemed determined to ignore me.
“Noah!”
He gritted his teeth but kept on not looking at me. I caught his arm, pulling myself around in front of him.
“Noah, what…”
I trailed off, not even sure what to say. What had he been doing? What had he been talking about when he’d said all that stuff to Levi?
What made him walk away from a fight for maybe the first time ever?
“I…I thought we talked about this. I thought whatever you think about Levi, this…this stuff about him having a crush on me…Noah—”
“That’s what you wanted me to do, right? Be the bigger person.”
He was right.
So why did it feel so wrong?
Chapter Twenty-Nine
I did want Noah to be the bigger person. On race day, that was all I’d wanted him to do. I’d been so mad at him, so annoyed he couldn’t just see sense, that he was still so caught up over this whole thing with Levi, that he still held on to the ridiculous idea that Levi had a crush on me.
They’d had a talk earlier.
Was it about me?
This isn’t a game, Elle.
And Amanda, Lee…none of them had seemed too surprised to see things really start to kick off.
I faltered,
stepping back just a little, my hand slackening around Noah’s arm.
I did want him to be the bigger person.
But maybe not like this.
Noah turned on the engine and I took another step back. I didn’t even know what to say to him right now, and I was still trying to process what had just happened. Noah obviously needed a little space, so that was exactly what I’d give him.
He gave me a fleeting smile before pulling the bike around, easing it between all the cars that clogged up the driveway.
I let him go.
Besides, there was someone else I needed to deal with right now.
As I stepped through the double doors leading outside, I was met by Levi, who stopped in his tracks just at the other end of the patio.
For a second, we both just stood there.
Levi’s face crumpled. There was sand in his brown hair and smeared up his leg and on his T-shirt. There was some dried blood under his nose. His hair stuck up on end and he dragged his hand through it, lurching forward toward me.
“Elle, I’m so sorry.”
I stormed toward him, jabbing a finger at his chest once I was close enough. “I cannot believe you just did that.”
“He was pushing me.”
“You punched him! You…you started it!”
“He hit me in the face with the volleyball! You saw! He…he was playing rough. Like on race day.”
“I saw,” I argued. “And it was an accident. You tried to block. Everyone saw. I know he was…The stuff he was saying was…But you didn’t have to hit him.” I sighed, pressing my hands to my face. “What…Levi, what did Noah say to you earlier? You said you guys had a talk.”
Levi shook his head. “Nothing. It’s nothing.”
“Come on. This is me.” Softening, I searched his face. “Levi, tell me. What’s going on? What’s all this about?”
“It’s not an act,” he told me instead, so earnest that I could see his eyes shining with tears. “I’m not just pretending to be your friend, Elle. And it is enough. This wasn’t…this isn’t…I don’t just hang out with you because I like you. I mean, I…I do like you, obviously, but I mean I don’t just hang out with you because I like you, like you. You’re one of my best friends.”
