Page 44 of The Secret Of Us

Luke blows the whistle to end the first half, and we all move to the side for a breather and water. I stretch out my legs before dropping down to tighten my laces. A shadow passes over me.

“Hey.”

I look up and Josh is hovering over me. I stand up to face him properly. We’ve only interacted a couple times before, not really talking much because it’s always been when we’re with Izzy and her friends. The confusion as to why he’s talking to me without any of them here must show on my face.

“I’m Josh.”

He holds his hand out, and I hesitantly reach out to take it, shaking it lightly. This feels weirdly formal, considering we’ve been around each other for the past few weeks.

“Noah,” I say, wondering if he hit his head at some point while we were playing.

“You’re pretty quick on your feet,” he says. I still don’t know why he’s talking to me.

“Thanks. Did you need something?” I ask him, wanting to cut to the chase and stop drawing out the awkwardness of this moment.

“I know we’ve met before, but I just wanted to introduce myself properly. Let me know if you ever want to do extra drills or anything.”

I scan his face, trying to find any hint of this being a joke to him. Maybe Izzy and her friends put him up to this. Even worse, maybe his friends did, and they’re watching right now as I embarrass myself. I glance around quickly, but there’s no audience for this. I think he might want to be my friend.

“That would be nice,” I tell him, trying to push down the insecurity in my mind that still can’t quite believe he’s talking to me without being forced to.

The whistle blows again to start the second half, and Josh tips his head at me before running back onto the field. It takes me a second to gather myself again, and then I join the others. I’ll think more about what just happened once I’m alone.

The second half continues much like the first, but this time, Josh makes a pass that ends up right at my feet. However, we’re on different sides and none of his teammates are anywhere near me.

I manoeuvre the ball away from the goal, light on my feet as I kick it to one of the guys on my team, who runs with it to the other half of the field. Josh runs behind me, clapping me once on the back, and I understand immediately that he did it on purpose. He gave me the chance to play for the first time this year.

I take the opportunity while the ball is on the other side of the field to run to the side for some water. I tilt my head back, eyes closed, as I face the bright sky. The cool water runs down my throat, and then I hear my name being called by a voice that I’m starting to enjoy listening to a little too much.

“What are you doing here?” I ask Izzy, capping my water bottle and dropping it to the ground. She walks slowly toward me, and I meet her halfway. She’s squinting, shielding the sun in her eyes with her hand. I stand in front of her to block it.

“We’re meant to show up for each other, right?” She shrugs, and it’s only then I realise she’s wearing my hoodie. My heart starts beating faster, all the effort I made to cool down becoming pointless.

“I think it suits you better than me,” I tell her, gesturing to it and hoping she won’t notice the blush I can feel rushing to my cheeks.

I know this is all meant to be fake, but I’ve never experienced anything like this before. I see it in movies and shows all the time, how the guy will give his clothes to the girl he likes, but I never imagined it would be something I would do.

Not that I like Izzy in that way, of course. I can admit that I have the tiniest of crushes on her, but I also know it’s probably heightened because of what we’re doing. It’ll fade away once we end this and go our separate ways.

She drops her head, her fingers peeking out from the long sleeves as she fiddles with them, but I can see a small grin on her face.

“You’re quite the smooth talker, aren’t you?” She jokes, looking up at me.

My face must be bright red by now. At least I can play it off as a result of running around for the past hour.

“Only with you,” I respond because it’s the simple truth.

It feels natural to talk to Izzy like this. I don’t have to second-guess what I say to her, or even think about it really. I don’t know if I’ve ever been like this with anyone else.

She looks back down at the ground again, shaking her head once before she turns her gaze back on me. I can’t help but smile back. It seems to happen a lot when I’m around her.

Izzy looks around me, glancing at the field behind and I remember I was supposed to be playing. The fact that no one has noticed my absence dampens the good mood that Izzy just put me in. I hate that it’s happening in front of her, too.

I know she’s already well aware that people gossip about me or that I don’t talk to many people, but it feels worse that she’s actually witnessing it. Her plan might be working with most of our class, but now I wonder if it’ll make the football team dislike me even more. They obviously have some kind of loyalty to Ryan by the way they pretend I don’t exist.

Luckily, the whistle blows and practice is over. I can hear Luke giving a pep talk to everyone, but my eyes stay focused on Izzy. She gives one last look at the field before her eyes lock on mine. Even though I’m blocking the sun, there’s still a sparkle in them.

It’s been there since the first day we met, but it dimmed a little last night when she confessed how she felt about hockey. I didn’t want to tell her that she should give it up, even though that seems like the obvious answer. She has to figure it out herself, but I hope she lets me help her along the way.

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