Weirdly, Liam and I work well together, and he's always in the spot I need him to be when I have the goal. In fact, after one goal, I forget that he's my mortal enemy for long enough to clap him on the back. "Good job!" I cheer.
His brows jump up, but a moment later he's grinning too. "Thanks."
"I'm tired," Bonnie declares. "Losing over and over is exhausting."
I am pretty tired too, muscles sore from all that running around. From the look of everyone else, they are too, so we head back to our towels. Erin takes out some fruit and water bottles from her backpack.
We snack, and everyone stretches out on their towels, enjoying the sun. Time passes, and Liam and Bonnie wander off to see how cold the ocean is, despite Kennedy yelling out threats of getting frostbite. Erin gets a phone call from her boyfriend and walks down the beach to talk in private.
I lean closer to Kennedy, pressing a kiss on her shoulder. We're lying on our stomachs beside each other, and Kennedy's donned a straw sunhat.
"They're having fun," Kennedy murmurs, eyes out to the ocean.
I follow her gaze to Liam and Bonnie splashing each other. Liam laughs, his head tipped back with his eyes closed, his thick black hair falling back. The sight of him like that, with the water shimmering below and the sun above him, makes my stomach flip. It reminds me of the weird feeling I got around Mr S, my sixth-grade primary school teacher, or when I watched Avatar: The Last Airbender as a kid and season 3 Prince Zuko would show up on my TV screen. Or that time I slept over at Jasper's after a party, and we —
"It must be warmer than we thought," I say to distract myself.
"Or they're both crazy," Kennedy says.
"That's more likely." I lower my mouth to kiss her arm.
Kennedy twists around to kiss me on the mouth, and I part my lips so she can slide her tongue in. We've kissed each other so much that I know exactly how our kisses go. In a moment, Kennedy will pull apart and I'll kiss her neck and then she'll snuggle her head under my chin.
And that's how it happens. It's still fun kissing Kennedy, but it's not as exciting as it was in the beginning. Maybe that's why we're both so eager to have sex. To make things exciting again.
I've had sex a couple of times before, always at parties, and as you can guess, it didn't go amazing. But I want it to be different for Kennedy. I want it to be special for her.
"They've gotten close, haven't they?" Kennedy says, eyes back on Liam and Bonnie.
"I suppose," I say after a moment. "I guess we all have."
I know what she means, though. Bonnie and Liam have gotten particularly friendly very fast. Maybe it's because they're the same age as each other, and Kennedy and I are dating, so they've latched on to each other.
Bonnie seems enamoured with Liam, in fact. It's strange because I don't think girls at Easton Grammar are like that. Well… I rake my eyes over Liam's body. Yeah, girls are interested in him.
But Liam's never had a girlfriend. I wonder if he's a virgin. The randomness of the thought makes me a jolt. Why would I care? I try to think of something mean about Liam to distract me, but instead of finding pleasure, I just feel guilty. Now that Liam's being civil, it's exposing how awful I am to him.
How did I become this way? Sure, Liam was an asshole first, but I couldn't help retaliating until we were locked in a war of insults and snide comments. Kennedy must be exhausted.
#
Hours later, everyone holds their shoes in one hand, and their towel in the other as we climb up the cliffside stairs. The stairs are old and made of wood that is being eaten away by weeds and bushes. I'm at the back of the group, following Liam up the steep and twisty path.
His skin is milky compared to the tanner complexions of the girls. I'm close enough to his back that I can see pale acne scars from his younger years.
Liam turns around and my eyes shoot up to meet his.
"You played well," he says.
"Oh. Thanks," I say. "You too."
He shrugs like I'm just being nice, but it's the truth. I knew Liam would be fast, but I didn't expect him to be that quick. But I guess looking at his body, it makes sense. I've seen Liam shirtless in the past — at school swimming carnivals, for example, but only during this holiday have I seen up close the hint of his abs, his slim waist.
"Do you play soccer competitively?" Liam asks.
"I played on a school team, from Year 7 to 10. But I dropped it last year."
"Why?"
