Today is the 30th November, the last day of National Novel Writing Month. Right now, it's 20:40 and I have just recently become a winner of NaNoWriMo!!!! I wrote my 50,000 words! Link in the sidebar.

Hence the late upload - I was writing :)

Also, the Watty Awards begin from December. The Kissing Booth is entered in The WA so please vote for it :) xxxxxx

Anyway, here's the next chapter, and I hope you enjoy it!!! Sorry, it is kind of short! :)

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Chapter 9

“Jeez, Lee, could you make any more mess?”

            I picked up the sock and t-shirt he’d dropped by the door; he was moving back into out room now Rachel was gone. I was still sick – headache, stuffy nose and cough – but June had picked up some stronger medicine from the drug store, so I was feeling way better. Which was just as well really; I couldn’t afford to be ill when we barely had any time left here.

            Noah was leaving Saturday morning, taking a twelve-thirty flight to Massachusetts with his dad, but they were flying from the airport nearer to home, and it was around a two hour drive back there.

            That only really left us with Friday together. I didn’t care if I was still kind of sick. I was going to make the most of this last day whatever it took.

            And with Lee’s things messing up the bedroom, and no Rachel, it felt just like old times.

            Not that I wasn’t totally sad to see her gone; it had been nice, actually, having her around. Plus, I knew Lee had loved having her here.

            “Are you even ready?” I sighed at him now.

            “Yes, of course I am. What about you? Hair straightened and makeup all plastered on ready to go in the sea?”

            “Har-de-har,” I said, narrowing my eyes. He was so taking a dig at my bed-head, which was so untamable I couldn’t even get it back into a half-decent ponytail, so I’d run a brush through it and given up.

            “I’m sure Noah won’t care if you look like a troll, don’t worry. You drool in your sleep.”

            “What’s that got to do with –? Wait, I drool? Are you serious? Oh my gosh, tell me you’re joking!” My cheeks started to burn up at the thought; I’d fallen asleep in Noah’s arms last night – what if I’d drooled all over him?

            Lee burst out laughing. “I’m yanking your chain, Shelly, don’t worry!”

            “Yanking your chain?” I smirked. “Really?”

            He just gave me a bright smile and shoved the pile of clothes he’d picked up off his bed into a drawer, ramming it shut.

            “Hey, are you guys coming or what?”

            “Shelly hasn’t got her face on,” Lee said. “She needs another hour for that.”

            Noah looked at me then, and I saw him bite back a laugh at my hair.

            Under any other circumstances, I’d have been totally mortified for Noah to see me all snotty and sick, and with bed-hair, and in old unflattering pajamas – but everything felt different at the beach house. Like, I was almost allowed to be a slob here if I wanted to. I didn’t bother wearing makeup, and I rarely did my hair like I would usually.

            So now, with Noah smirking at my hair, I just rolled my eyes.

            “Nice hair.”

            “Nice –” I broke off, because no insult sprung to mind. But I’d hesitated too long to try and cover it up, and Noah chuckled, a smirk covering his face. I sighed sharply through my nose, annoyed at myself for failing on the insult front.

            “Ow,” Lee groaned all of a sudden, gripping his head and doubling over, looking completely grossed out. “My eyes! My ears!”

            “What?” I laughed, pulling a face at him, totally confused.

            Then he straightened up, his face calm and the disgusted expression all smoothed out. “If you two are done flirting, can we go?”

            I giggled, and threw the t-shirt and sock of his I was still holding onto at his head. The sock hung off his ear until he shook it off, looking like a dog. Noah laughed too, and that wistful part of me, the part that was forever a hopeless romantic, wished I could take a snapshot of the moment: all three of us laughing, smiling, at the beach house together like always, and seemingly having not a care in the world. It was a perfect moment in time – but that’s all it was. Just another moment.

This time, I gave in and joined in the game of volleyball. But what really threw me was when Lee and Noah went on the other team, both of them against me and wanting to enjoy every moment of my absolutely terrible contribution to the game.

            Because, sure, I sucked at volleyball – but that didn’t mean I was going to cringe in the corner of the court and stay out of the way of the ball. If I was going to be in the game, I was going to be in the game. Whether I was any good was another matter.

            We were playing five people per team. There were two other girls on the court, one on my team and one on Lee and Noah’s. Most of the girls in the area had flocked around, but only to check the guys out.

            We were winning. By, like, one point. And the game was almost over.

            Even I could feel the tension, and I didn’t give a damn who won.

            But I did kind of want to see the look on Noah’s and Lee’s faces when they lost… Especially Noah’s. He was such a sore loser.

            Lee whacked the ball toward the middle of the court, where I was closest to.

            “Mine!” I yelled frantically, even though I knew I didn’t have a chance in hell of hitting the ball, let alone getting it back over the net.

            “I got it!” some guy on my team yelled. I backed up diagonally, moving to the left in the hopes that somehow, someway, the ball that was spinning toward me would magically not hit the ground at my feet. Or hit my head. Either one was good.

            It got closer and closer, and I felt my body tensing up, bracing itself to get knocked out by the volleyball. I backed up another step – I’d just let the ball hit the sand, and save myself from any serious damage!

            “Oof!”

            I went down, the guy behind me went down, and the ball smacked me right on the top of my thigh with a sharp slap! I was going to have a bruise there tomorrow… I heard the sunbathing audience laugh and groan alternately at me.

            Then I realized I was half-lying across something firm and soft. And I had been for a few seconds now.

            My cheeks burned up, probably redder than my thigh which had just been slapped by a hard leathery ball. I was practically on top of the guy who’d tried to save the ball before I screwed up the game, and he was holding my elbows. He gave me a look with these round, bright brown eyes that looked like he didn’t know whether to laugh or ask if I was alright.

            And all I could think about was how he had impossibly long eyelashes.

            “Ohmigosh,” I gasped, scrambling to my feet. “I’m so sorry! I totally didn’t mean to – I mean, I didn’t –” I slapped a hand to my forehead. “I’m such an idiot. Sorry.”

            The guy got to his feet, dusting sand off himself. Then he bent to pick up the volleyball, and then put his free hand on my arm. “Hey, it’s no problem. Are you alright?”

            I nodded, probably too enthusiastically. But I was so embarrassed! Not only do I fall over, but I fall over onto a guy who was actually kinda cute, and to top it all off my thigh was killing me right now. I’d end up limping home, I knew it. Oh, and that had all happened in front of a whole bunch of people. Fantastic.

            I was vaguely aware of the other team high-fiving and shouting, “Yes!” while my team muttered about how they had to get this next point – and about how that wouldn’t happen if I tried to play again.

            “Sorry,” I said again. “Um, maybe I’ll just sit this next part out.”

            “You sure? You –”

            “Hey, Elle,” shouted Noah, catching my attention. I jumped, and the guy’s hand left my arm. “Are you alright?”

            “I – uh, y-yeah. Yeah. Fine. Totally fine.”

            There was something about the frown on his face that I really didn’t like. At a glance, it was just a concerned, worried frown, but I could see the muscle jumping in his clenched jaw, and his eyes looked darker than usual.

            “Hey, um, Elle?” said the girl on my team. “Are you okay? Maybe you should just sit out for a bit, to give your leg a rest?”

            I had to hand it to her, she said it in the nicest way possible.

            “Sure,” I said, nodding fervently. “No problem.”

            One of the other guys on my team whistled sharply. “Yo, Tom! You’re in, man!”

            “Hey.” I looked back up at the guy I’d fallen on top of. “You sure you’re okay?”

            I forced a smile, trying desperately to get rid of the mortified look that was still on my face. “Uh-huh. Thanks.”

            Once I reached the sidelines of the court, I plopped down into the sand with a huge, silent sigh, and tucked my legs up so my knees were under my chin. I scraped some dust off my shin and looked back up. They were lining up to serve the ball now. I caught Lee’s eye. He just shook his head and smirked at me. But Noah – well, I still didn’t like the look on his face. It made my stomach twist up, and I felt my heartbeat pick up ever so slightly.

            It seemed like forever until the game was over.

            And my team had lost. Noah scored the winning point, too.

            A few people dispersed, going to grab a snack or a drink, and a few people went onto the court to play another game. I stood up as Noah walked toward me. Lee stayed on the court, talking enthusiastically with a couple of guys stood his side of the net, and gesturing wildly. It made me smile a little.

            I turned my attention back to Noah.

            “Nice,” I said, nodding my head at the court, meaning his winning point. I didn’t know the technical terms of volleyball. Slice? Hit? Whatever, I didn’t really care either way. “Congrats.”

            He didn’t even look smug about it, make a comment like, ‘I told you so, I knew I’d win.’

            So I said, “What?”

            He looked at me for a split-second, but one that felt like forever, and then started walking off, his hand touching my arm to propel me along. It wasn’t until we were far enough away from the game and its audience to not be overheard that he dropped his hand from my arm and turned to face me.

            “What?” I huffed. I even crossed my arms. Whatever his problem was (and I had no clue what it was), he was really bugging me.

            “You know what,” was his answer.

            Noah was frowning. It was the sullen, irritated kind of look that when I was younger, if I ever saw it, I tended to move in the opposite direction. Now, it just made me stick my chin out and glare up at him defiantly.

            “No, I don’t know what, actually,” I snapped. “What the hell is your problem?”

            He scoffed, like he didn’t believe me. “Oh, right, so you have no recollection of being all over some random guy two minutes ago?”

            “What?”

            Oh, right… The guy I fell on. That’s what he’s mad about!

            But… why is he mad about that? It’s not like I chose to trip and land on a guy.

            “The guy I tripped on?” I said aloud, my eyebrows going up and knitting together in a mixture of disbelief and annoyance. “That’s why you’re mad? Because I happened to fall onto some random guy? You know I can’t play volleyball, did you really expect me to stay on my feet the entire time, Noah?”

            His eyes narrowed in a way that clearly conveyed ‘Don’t change the subject’. Even though I didn’t think I was changing the subject.

            “It’s not like I did it on purpose!”

            “I didn’t say you did,” he retorted. “But you didn’t exactly make an effort to get up, did you? And you were blushing like – like a little girl. He was flirting with you, Elle, and you didn’t even look bothered.”

            “He was not flirting with me!” I exclaimed. “And I didn’t get – get up – b-because –” I broke off, coughing hard, and I sniffled. Damn stupid cold! Ruining my arguments! Once the coughing subsided, I went back to glaring at Noah, straightening myself up as tall as I could be without going on my tiptoes.

            “I didn’t get up because I was embarrassed,” I said. “And my leg hurt. I didn’t even notice I was lying on him at first, and when I did I got up.” After gawking at his super-long eyelashes, I added silently. “And he was not flirting with me! He asked if I was okay! Which any decent person would after someone just falls over and gets hit by a volleyball.”

            “I asked if you were alright,” he told me brusquely, scowling.

            “I never said you didn’t.”

            “You implied it.”

            “I did not. And you’re missing the point!”

            “What point? Elle, you still don’t seem to get it – guys will take every advantage they can get, and when you fall on top of a guy, he’s not gonna pass up the chance.”

            “Now you’re just being stupid,” I snapped. But maybe he wasn’t, and he had a good point. At that point, though, I was just mad at him and didn’t care if he was right or wrong.

            “For God’s sake, Elle, when are you gonna start listening to me?”

            “When you stop being such a controlling freaking jerk!” I yelled back, and stormed off. I slipped in the sand once, but carried on stomping away as angrily as I could possibly manage without even looking back to see if he was following me.

            I wanted him to come after me. I wanted him to run after me, grab me and tell me he was sorry, that he didn’t mean to be a jerk, and then I’d forgive him and we’d kiss and it’d all be okay.

            But not everything worked out like the perfect happy-ever-after.

            And I didn’t think he was coming after me.

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Hope you all liked it! I will try to get the next chapter up Sunday; I'll be out Saturday so can't upload then. Vote if you liked it, drop a comment!