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—”