Summer Delinquent

Chapter 17

"Did you see me hit that home run while tipsy at that party? Yeah, I think I'm still the sporty one."

"So then why are you upset?" He moves to stand next to me.

I look up at him, "I'm not upset, I'm pissed off at the attention."

"Oh yes, a pretty girl getting attention, the horror," he laughs, giving me a teasing grin.

"Bite me," I retort, rolling my eyes. His laugh is so spontaneous that it makes me crack a small smile.

"If you insist," he shrugs leaning forward to bite my arm and I push his face away.

He laughs and looks back at the waves and I find myself watching him for a few seconds. "You know, you're my best friend."

He looks over at me with a small smile on his face, "Me? What would Alyssa say?" he pretends to be shocked.

"Her and Kendall are best friends, I know that." I sit down on a rock, holding one leg against my chest and letting the other dip in a tide pool. "I've never had a best friend. People think I'm too intense." He sits down next to me. "Hard to get along with or control, I guess."

"Control?" He asks, tilting his head to the side.

"Peer pressure doesn't affect me, never has, never will. People don't like that."

"I think it's cool. You're not a pushover, if someone does something wrong, you tell them straight. It's refreshing," he smiles at me.

"That's why you're my best friend," we make eye contact and his smile grows wider.

"Well I'm honored," he claps his hands and stands up, "Now come on best friend, the waves wait for no one." He holds his hand out for me to grab and I feel him pull me up. "Since we're best friends do you think we should have like a theme song or something?"

"Don't push it."

*End of Flashback*

"Don't you think, Tessy?" Charlotte's voice interrupts my thoughts but I don't make it obvious that I did not hear a word before her sentence.

I shrug, folding my arms across my chest, "Eh, I guess."

Isaac furrows his eyebrows, "You guess?"

"So you want Drew and you to be on the same team for volleyball or to be captains?" Jesse asks for clarification, helping me catch up in what I had missed.

"I rate we just do girls versus boys, Drew and I don't need to be in charge of anything. In fact, I nominate Olivia and Sebastian as team leaders," I decide, looking around the circle to all the girls.

Olivia claps her hands and moves to stand next to me, "Oh it is so fucking on."

"Okay then, girls versus boys," Liam, Kendall's boyfriend ends the conversation as he moves over to one side of the public volleyball net.

"I wanna play," a voice comes from behind us. Maddie is standing there staring up at us with her arms behind her back.

"Sorry Munchkin," I say to Maddie, patting her on the head, "You're a little small for this game."

She scowls, shoving my hand off her head, "At least I'm not a skyscraper," she rudely replies twisting on her heel in the sand and walking back up to my parents. I widen my eyes and look at my sisters who are staring back just as confused.

"Okay then," I say, breaking the silence.

"Yo Harold, let's go it's boys versus girls, volleyball!" Sebastian shouts to where he's lying in the sun next to Natalie. He looks over at her and says a couple words and she shakes her head in reply but he puts a hand on her shoulder and says something else to which she nods her head. They both get up and come over to us.