Crazy but Sweet, Sweet but Crazy

15: a match

"Fuck, brain freeze," I groaned.

Laughing, Noah Hall pointed to his mouth. "Put your tongue against the roof of your mouth. No kidding. It's science. Helps with brain freeze."

After a full plate of aglio olio followed by four more hours of class, I sat on the spectator seats in the tennis court of Valley Oak with Noah to my left.

Two rows behind us, were Reneé and her group of friends. She was probably in the cafeteria. That meant she'd seen what happened between Josephine King and me.

"Uh, I think it's working," I mumbled, pressing my tongue awkwardly against the roof of my mouth.

"I think I know why you two are friends," Noah chuckled, pointing to the seat to my right, where Bianca's bag was. "You're pretty similar."

I rubbed my temples with my knuckles. "You mean our need for a swear jar?"

"You two have the guts. You have the guts to sit here after what happened in the cafeteria." Noah's eyes scanned the at least thirty-something strong crowd sitting in spectator seats.

"Hm." Gingerly, I sipped the cup of ice lemonade again. "So. Your type of a girl is a girl with guts, short hair and a sharp tongue?"

"See, I am making it obvious, right?" He moaned, taking a glug of his own cup. "C'mon, quick. Tell me while she's gone. Do you think Bianca knows?" he asked, his face a picture of anxiety.

"If you like her you shouldn't make her confused. Whether you really have feelings for her or not."

"How did Elli make you not confused?"

A threat with my dad's picture at the casino.

I glanced at Noah. He seemed serious enough about Bianca- at least more than she thought him to be.

"We had...serious talks." I looked at the tennis court, the sun viciously beating down on it. It was already five oh-clock, but the sun wasn't going down.

"What kind of talks?" Noah pressed, looking like he was ready to take notes.

Talks about threats, alliances, deaths and disappearances. "You know- the kind of conversations you have when you get to know each other better. The kind that lets you judge the other's values, beliefs."

"That kind of serious? With Elli?"

It was for a second, but I caught the tone of disbelief in Noah's voice. Disbelief anyone could have such a deep talk with Elliot Lockwood.

Catching himself, Noah quickly diverted the topic. "Sun's really not going down quick today."

Noah pointed to Elliot who stood on court, a tennis racquet in hand, dressed in a white long-sleeved dry fit tennis shirt and black pants that came to his ankles.

Surrounding him were Ester and other tennis club members, all of them dressed in short-sleeved shirts and pants or skirts. Some rubbing on sun screen, but none in long sleeves.

Laughing at something his club member said, Eli put on a cap and fastened on a tight sports visor.

Now more accustomed to the Jekyll and Hyde level of a gap between him at school and him around me, I could see Elliot Lockwood's side at school more objectively.

It was no wonder he was loved. The way he laughed at what people said, the way he remembered everything they told him- it would make anyone feel special.

"Elli really hates the sun. There's no one paler than him in the tennis club, as you can tell," Noah interjected, catching my gaze. "He should just go live in London."