The Quarterback's Girl

Chapter 9

We arrive at the beach just as darkness has set in. The sand is cold but the air is salty and humid as it brushes my cheeks. "Not too much further." Noah tells me.

"Where are we going to exactly?" I ask.

"Wanderer's Cove." Ellis answers.

"Why haven't I heard of it?" I ask.

"It's hidden, we're the only ones who really go there." Stephanie explains.

"Jason you've snuck out like this before?" I ask.

"Done it before!" Jess scoffs. Jason shoots her a look that tells her to cut it out.

"All the time babe, shame you haven't been invited the other times." Morgan says with the most fake smile I think I've ever seen.

"Well, she's here now." Jason says, sticking up for me. A new experience.

"Shame we invited you along, Morgan." Laughs Noah putting his arm round her playfully to show he's only joking. He put his arm round Morgan? He hasn't got his arm round me. He obviously likes her, urgh. How could I have been so stupid as to entertain the idea that Noah could possibly ever like me? I'm definitely overreacting to this.

I swear it's as though Morgan is readying my thoughts because she looks me directly in the eyes and says, "Oh Noah, you're so horrible to me!" Then pushes her body against his as we walk, flirting with him right in front of me.

We walk along the sand for another 10 minutes or so before we come to the end of the beach which is where we walk up a small hill which leads over a cliff then scramble through some bushes before finally emerging from the dunes to overlook Wanderer's Cove. It's small and crescent shaped. The blue ocean laps agains the white sand and glistens in the evening light.

The group heads down to a very particular spot, probably where they come and sit every time, and set the cooler down. "I was wondering when you guys were gonna show up." I hear a voice say, it sounds somewhat familiar. "What took you so long?" I turn to see Sydney approaching us.

"Kim decided to tag along." Ellis explains.

"Oh Kim! I didn't even see you there!" Sydney smiles and sits down in the sand beside me.

"Hi." I say sheepishly. All of the girls are gorgeous and pretty and all that but Sydney is different. She's still stunning like the others are except I'm not at all intimidated by her. It's like she's a real person. I seem to get butterflies around her for some reason.

"Let's make a fire." Noah suggests.

"Yeah, okay me, you and Ellis get the wood, the girls get some rocks to surround it." Jason instructs.

"Collect rocks?" Morgan pulls a face as though she's been asked to jump off a cliff. "I'm not going to ruin my nails."

"We just had them done today." Jess adds.

"Are you kidding?" Ellis asks.

"It did cost us 50 bucks, guys." Stephanie tries to justify.

"Well I guess it's just you and me collecting rocks, Kim." Sydney says holding out her hand.

"Okay, let's get a move on gang!" Noah says cheesily.

So Sydney and I take our shoes off and wade ankle deep along the shore line looking for some good rocks to surround the fire. "So how are you finding the troop?" Sydney asks. I admire her olive skin and green eyes as the gentle breeze blows at the curly wisps of brown hair around her face.

"An interesting combination of personalities." I remark.

"I'm going to assume you're talking about Morgan and Jess, yeah I'd have to agree with you if I'm quite honest." She laughs.

"Stephanie isn't too bad, she's like a watered down version of them. Also she's Poppy's older sister so I sort of grew up with her like a sister to me too."

"Speaking of Stephanie, her and Jason, eh?" She laughs.

"I know they both like each other, but d'you know what exactly is going on between them?" I reach down and pick up another wet rock from the water.

"It's really not my place to say, especially not to his little sister." That seems fair, but I'm really nosy so its annoying that I can't know. "I mean, would you want him knowing your love life?"

"What love life?" I scoff.

"There must be something going on?" Sydney asks. "Anything about Noah come to mind?" She nudges me gently.

"I guess I have maybe to tiniest crush on him, you could say. But I'm not at that head over heels, psycho shrine in my locker stage just yet." Sydney laughs.

"Well, give it time and see what happens." Sydney advises. "Never right-off anything." We stop walking and look at each other for a moment or two. I feel like it's not an awkward pause, a comfortable one.

"Thanks, Sydney." Our bodies are quite close, I'm very aware of that, there's a sort of tension in the air that pulls our heads closer to each other. Sydney leans forward and presses her plump, soft lips against mine, I close my eyes. For some reason I'm not taken by surprise, it feels right. I don't pull away, and it doesn't feel uncomfortable that it's a girl kissing me. I just kiss her back.

"Hey girls, do you have those rocks?" I hear someone yell from far away where we were sitting. We pull our heads away from each other. I suddenly feel my checks go burning hot red.

"We should head back." Sydney puts one arm around me and leads me back over to the group. All I can do is grin from ear to ear...that was my first kiss.