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.