Page 67 of Faking Forever 1
HEY NICKY
instantly, hooking myself into the game. People from each team scream at the play, waiting for the next smack so they can scream again. A slender, taller guy with a much better reaction time than I smacks it back to our side, shooting it in Josh’s direction.
He was prepared before it even was sent. He lifts his arm above his head, throwing himself into the air, spiking the ball straight at Nick’s feet. Nick hops a few feet back, just in time, barely making it out of the way. The impact sounded harder than the ball when lodged into the sand. Not sure if Josh meant to bitch him out like that, but ithadto be on purpose. He and Beau were quick to begin flexing and bragging, displaying his picturesque biceps and each intricately spaced out a tattoo that ran along them. I watched them as he rolled his shoulders back in a powerful manner. Based on the vein protruding from his neck, plus his balled up, now pale white fists, it wasmorethan on purpose. It was personal.
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can’t stop
JOSHUA
The adrenaline rush was already on a roll, and the high was enough for me to forget that this was supposed to be a friendly volleyball game. Once I saw his dirty ass hands touching her body, all bets were off. I don’t know know the context, and I really don’t give a shit to know—there isn’t a justifiable explanation. To be clear, it’s thewayhe touched her and the science behind it. I know those moves. I’veusedthose moves.
What scares me is that he said something sweet enough to reel her back into his warped little world. I’m probably projecting—no shock there. I’m losing my shame the harder I fall for her, and this giant burst of jealous rage only solidifies it. He looks at her with nothing but lust every time he sees her, and he never seems genuinely interested in anything she has to say. It makes me want to wring his neck. Even more so now that she doesn’t want him back, and I want her to myself.
If I wasn’t allowed to speak my mind, I was definitely 156
CAN’T STOP
going to show my dominance in another way. There’s no cameraman or reporter in this world that could somehow stop me from getting my point across. A heated game of volleyball is the last of my worries. The most they can report on that is that I’m a dedicated player—and who’s going to disagree with that?
“What happened to a fair game?!” Nick yells over the crowd, pointing his finger at me.
“I’m playing the same game as you! I’m just better at it!”
I yell back, stepping back into my designated spot as I shake my shoulders loose.
He sizes me up, smiling, but he clenches his jaw very clearly.
Maybe he detects my generously obnoxious behavior, being anger in disguise. Or he’s an idiot who likes a competition.
Doubt that. But with everyone’s reaction, I was even more fueled to put on a show. So was he.
He grabs the ball, readying himself to serve it while also warning me with squinted eyes. I could bet he was envisioning himself stabbing me with a dull knife, the way the orbs of his eyes darkened. In the corner of my eye, a short, grey-haired woman snaps pictures of us, getting closer to the view. The flash was blinding, but I couldn’t bring myself to blink. I was fixed on his unwavering glare.
“Take it easy, Josh. It’s just a fundraiser, remember?” Beau taunts me, finding his place behind me.
It stopped being about a fundraiser when I felt my territory threatened. Not just now but this entire summer thus far.
I’m boiling over with animosity having to compete with this lowlife. Sure, call it my last straw, but I’m done placing second when it comes to the both of us and who gets to have the 157
FAKING FOREVER
girl in the end. Especially because the girl isn’t justanygirl.
Disrespectfully, he could never do for her what I can, and this would be a lot easier if he would realize that. Andyes, that includes what happens in bed. She’s never had to vocalize it for me to know he got caught with the micro-penis disease.
Not once was she ever glowing after they had sex, and when you ask her about it, she makes up any first-thought excuse to defend him.
My eyes cut to the view behind me, scanning for Pea’s blonde hair, and soon there she was. The game wasn’t her main focus, but the sand was. She had her arms locked around her petite frame, curling her shoulder in from the rest of her surroundings. Whatever the fuck he said has her irrationally overthinking since she only does that when she’s contemplating the nearest escape route. My body is almost manufactured to fix what’s wrong, and it’s burning me at the stake to sit in silence.
The referee in question was Beau’s cousin, Manny, who plays Volleyball upstate. Snatching the whistle from around his neck and popping it into his mouth, he blows into it, immediately putting everyone at a halt. This was our small warning to make sure we were where we needed to be and do it with swiftness. Watching everyone make a last-minute scurry, I prepare my stance, watching Nick mock me and do the same.
Manny blows the whistle again, and Nick doesn’t even think before tossing the ball. His body follows in response, flexing his arms in the air before punting both fists at the ball, shooting it back in my direction. It wasn’t a slick move—
his brain is no bigger than the billions of sand grains below us. He was using my own tactics against me, though, and for 158
