The Pass (Smart Jocks #5) - Rebecca Jenshak Page 0,73
weave through the people in the back yard at Jonah’s house.
Where the badminton net stood the last time I was here is a volleyball court—complete with sand.
“How?” I ask excitedly as I kick off my sandals and walk onto the hot sand. I close my eyes as it seeps between my toes.
“Every Fourth of July party needs an activity. I convinced Jonah this year’s needed sand volleyball.”
“Thank you. This is amazing.”
“And it gives you a chance to try out that new shoulder.”
“How long have you been planning this?” I ask as I walk around the perimeter. This took a lot of work to bring in all the sand alone.
“A while,” he admits.
“What if my shoulder hadn’t healed?”
“We’d have spent the day on the other side of the yard, and I would have hoped like hell you didn’t notice.”
He leans down and picks up the volleyball and tosses it to me. “What do you say?”
“I say I want you on my team this time.”
We grab Emily and Jonah to play against us. We’re pretty evenly matched with two volleyball players and two tall, athletic dudes, but Tanner’s and my familiarity with each other and the way we can communicate without saying anything at all, means we work better together as a team.
“Not fair,” Jonah says after the first game. “You two have some sort of secret love language going on. Let’s switch it up, boys versus girls.”
Emily and I share an amused look.
“You want to play against us?” she asks.
“We can handle it,” Jonah insists.
Emily walks over to my side with a bounce to her step. Tanner moves to the other with a shake of his head. “It’s a good thing Richard isn’t here to see you get your ass kicked by a couple of girls.”
As the day turns to night and the sun begins its descent, the party doubles in size. People who spent the day at party cove now trickle in, including Tara and Corinne. They hang near the pool and Emily and I stay close to the volleyball court. I think we’re both more anxious than we realized to get back to school and volleyball.
“I have to go help Jonah and Ollie set up the fireworks.” Tanner stands and brushes off his shorts.
“Have to?”
“Want to.” He grins. “I get to light shit on fire and watch it blow up.” He kisses my cheek. “See you in a bit.”
“Should we get another drink?” Emily asks. She gets to her feet and helps me up with both hands.
As we’re filling our cups with beer, Tara and Corinne approach. Emily sees her first. “Evil sister-in-law is headed this way.”
“You have to stop calling her that,” I say with a laugh.
“Mhmmm. Well, at least I have a full cup of beer in case I need to throw it in her face.”
I shush her with an elbow in the ribs.
“Hey,” Tara says as I hand her the tap.
“This is my friend Emily.” I motion with my head to her and glance at Emily’s hard expression. “Em, this is Tanner’s sister, Tara, and her friend, Corinne.”
They exchange stiff smiles and mumbled hellos.
“Sydney, can I talk to you for a minute?” Tara asks.
Emily stands tall beside me. She’s only slightly taller than me, but she can look downright intimidating when she wants to. And she wants to. I love how she always has my back, but I’ve got this.
“Sure.”
Tara takes a step, as do I, to follow her, but Emily grabs my wrist. “If you need me, give me a signal. A hair flip or something.”
“I’ll be fine.”
Though the longer she’s silent and the farther we move away from the party, the more unsure I feel about my safety.
“Are you going to push me into the lake?” I ask with a tight laugh. “Because I can swim.”
She stops and faces me. “I need to apologize to you.”
“Okay.” I wait for more that doesn’t come. “Was that the apology?”
“I’m sorry for everything. Tanner has mentioned you a lot over the years and I made some judgments based on my own experiences of girls who hang around the jocks at my school. I should have spent the last two weeks getting to know you, but instead I was hell-bent on hating you on principle. Even so, inviting Amelia here was not my finest moment.”
“People have never understood me and Tanner. We didn’t even understand it ourselves until this past month.” I shrug. “I meant what I said the other night. I hoped that you and I would