Page 87 of One Last Time

“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 weresupposedto 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 abadtime. 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 Noahchat?”

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…

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