Drowning

Beach Day

The beach. It was Finley's family's go-to vacation spot over the summer since forever because it's what her dad's family did. She had gone with her youth group on a beach trip once or twice, but this was her first time going to the beach with school friends, and no adults.

When she was with her family at the beach, it was non-stop boogie boarding. She was obsessed with it, not necessarily super great at it, but she'd be out there for hours just having a blast. But considering how overcast it was today, she was not going in the water. When she had come with friends before in overcast weather, she had spent her time getting sunburnt and making horrible sandcastles, but that just didn't seem like the thing to do with this group. She was perfectly fine with sitting on her towel and spacing out, but that wasn't really presented as an option. Hawk had spotted the volleyball net on the beach, and Mr. Competitive that he is, decided they should play a game of beach volleyball.

Aisha was at some beach club or something with her parents for the day, so she couldn't make it, and Miguel was going to be coming later after he was done helping his mom clean the house. Which left her with Hawk, Moon, and Demetri. The happy couple were on one team with Finley being Demetri's partner, although if we're being honest it might have been better if he wasn't playing.

But Finley was happy to have him there. She didn't think she could deal with being alone with Hawk and Moon, and honestly Demetri was starting to grow on her. He may have sucked at volleyball, and all athletic things in general, but he was there, in his old man sandals, trying his best.

They had been playing for about 15 minutes, and if Moon hadn't insisted they not keep score and just play for fun, it would have been 11-2. Finley wasn't great at volleyball either, but the bar was so low among this company that it really didn't matter. The girl had almost laughed at the beginning when Hawk pulled a Cobra Kai embossed volleyball out of his bag. When the dude did something, he really went all in... and she admired him for that.

"Ok Demetri. Hold it in your hand, arm slightly bent and then as your right arm swings to hit it, just let the ball drop."

Finley had been trying desperately to coach Demetri into not sucking, but it was very difficult considering what she had to work with.

He stretched his neck, rotating it in a circle, in what Finley assumed was an attempt to look cool. "Don't worry, I got this."

This was gonna go well. Sure enough, he hit it into the net and it bounced slightly, out of bounds. Finley was vaguely aware of Hawk standing back up out of his "ready" position and letting out a sigh as she grabbed the ball.

"Uh, mulligan, send it back."

"There's no mulligans in volleyball." Hawk just sounded exasperated.

All he wanted to do was play a game of volleyball. But a game involved returns and actually being able to get it over the net- neither of which his friend was excelling at. On top of that, the competitive side of him just wanted to play by the rules, but with Demetri, the rules were suddenly something fickle that he could bend to fit his unathletic abilities.

Demetri scoffed. "Says you. Water break!"

Finley rose her eyebrows as Demetri walked off, and Hawk's face pinched in a confused disbelief. The beanpole grabbed a towel from beside the net to wipe off some of the sweat from his face, and it just so happened to be a Cobra Kai towel.

"I'm gonna grab a drink too." Moon smiled up at her boyfriend, giving him a quick peck on the cheek before going to grab her water bottle.

Finley looked down at the ball in her hands and then back to Hawk. "You still wanna..."