Chapter 6

~Jason~

" No,no no dude," Connor says, " he was all 'I can't believe you dropped that Watts, my grandma would have caught that and she's about to be put on life support.'"

Everyone started laughing at Connor's impression of Coach Ray scolding me for messing up. Although it was at my expense I cracked a smile at the memory. It was the practice before our first game of the season and the nerves had hit me hard.

" Ha, ha ," I say, pretending not to care, " you guys won't be laughing when I'm getting the trophy for MVP this year."

" As if," Connor retorts, " that trophy has my name all over it and you know it."

Gabby interrupts us before we go off and have a whole hour argument over our stats, " Anyways, have any of you guys heard from Izzy? She said she went to go get her phone but that was fifteen minutes ago."

At the sound of this Connor sits up straighter. He checks his phone before looking up at the rest of us.

" She hasn't texted anything," he says worried, " maybe I should go look for her."

We smile at how obvious his crush is. All of us but Izzy herself know about it and none of use have told her yet. We were all waiting for the day Connor grew a pair and asked her out.

" I think she's good," Mason says from where he's standing, facing the water, " She's right there. And not alone."

We all turned and sure enough we all saw Izzy walking back to us, talking to someone next to her.

" Oooo, Con what if she's with a guy?"

He turns to glare at me.

" Not funny Jay," he says seriously, before looking at the direction Mason was looking, " And from the looks of it, definitely not with a guy.

Izzy walked up to our tent arm in arm with another girl that I've never seen at school before, or anywhere really. I think I would've remembered seeing someone that pretty. She was kind of short and had brown curly hair that was currently tied up. Her eyes were a light brown and were looking over all of us. She was wearing a white dress that contrasted against her tan skin making it look like she was glowing.

" What took you so long sis? I was starting to think that you got abducted or something."

As soon as those words left Gabby's mouth Izzy and the mystery girl looked at each other and laughed nervously.

" How did you know?" The girl asks.

At the same time Izzy says, " Well you're not necessarily wrong."

~Lexi~

"Relaxe Con, I'm fine," Izzy said as one of the boys came up to her as soon as she spoke.

As Izzy explained what happened I zoned out and looked at the group of people in front of me.

The boy who rushed up to her was Connor and obviously had a huge crush on her. The other girl laying down had to be Gabby. She had Izzy's same eyes and the same black hair but in a differnt style.

The other two tall boys who were standing around I assumed were Mason and Chase, the basketball stars. The only similarity between them was their height. Mason was clearly mixed with darker skin and short curly hair while Chase had much fairer skin and blond hair.

That meant the boy sitting down was Jason. He had slightly curly brown hair pushed back by a pair of sunglasses. If he was wearing them they would've covered up a pair of bright blue eyes staring at Izzy as she retold our encounter with the creepy man.

I was jolted back to the conversation when I heard Izzy introducing me.

"Guys this is Lexi. She moved here from.. Um where did you move from again?"

Everyone turned to look at me, causing me to squirm under the sudden attention.

"California," I said, " I'm just staying here for the summer."

"Right," Izzy said before turning back around, " This is Lexi, she moved here from California, and I've asked her to spend the rest of summer with us. Gabby and I need another girl to hang out with and she's cool so it's settled. "

" I'm Connor," he says, sticking his hand out in introduction.

I grab it and instead of shaking it normally, we end up doing a handshake that I was used to doing with the guys on the team back home.

He lets go of my hand and looks at my strangely.

"How'd you know how to do that?"

" Oh umm," I tried to quickly think of an excuse. Back home I was constantly mocked for liking football and not actually playing. People seem to forget that to play, you have to fit on the team mentally and physically. I got along with the guys fine but was at least half a foot shorter than all of them.

"My cousin," I come up with, "He played football when he was in high school and I just became a habit I guess."

I look at him, seeing if he believed me. It technically wasn't a lie. Luke did play in high school before tearing his ACL.

" That's cool," Connor says, "Jason and I play too. I just never thought a girl would pick it up. No offense. A girl could totally play, I just don't see it as much."

"So tell us about California," Gabby interjects saving me from embarrassing myself more, " Do you actually see famous people on the street everyday?"

I laugh, " Well I lived in southern California, but not near Hollywood so not everyday, but I did eat in the same restaurant as Zac Efron once."

"No way," Izzy said, " I'm so jealous."

" Hey," Connor said, standing in front of Izzy, " What does Efron have that I don't?" He started flexing causing Izzy to laugh.

" He has, like an eight pack, and his biceps are twice the size of yours."

" And about 20 million dollars to his name, " I add.

"But I still love you Con," Izzy says hugging him.

"Is the traffic really the bad there," Mason asks, turning to me

" Yeah," I say. I tell them all about the traffic and the horror stories from school trips. None of them had even been to California so I spent the next half hour answering their questions about where I lived, before Mason suggested we should go in the water before leaving for lunch.

I was slowly starting to get more comfortable around them as the day went on and by the time we got out of the to get food I realized that Izzy was right and they all were really nice. Even Jason who was quiet when I first met him started talking to me a little bit.

They choose a place called Pete's for lunch and when I tell them I've never been there before I'm met with looks of shock by everyone.

Jason is the first to speak, " You're telling us you've never in your life been to Pete's, like ever?"

"Well considering the last time I came where I was like seven, and I've been here for a total of approximately thirty-six hours. No, I have never been to Pete's, like ever."

Gabby and Izzy laughed at my response while Jason just shook his head with a small smile.

"Okay so Gabby and I can ride with you Lexi," Izzy said, " The boys can decide car arrangements themselves but I don't trust any of them to give you directions."

We pack up our stuff and make our way towards my car. I load up the trunk and get in the car. Izzy sits next to me and Gabby sits in the back.

Izzy starts giving my direction to the famous Pete's while Gabby starts talking in the back.

" I can't wait for this summer. I've heard that they're planning to hold weekly bonfires and everything this year."

"Bonfires? That's so cool," I said looking at her in the mirror, " I've always wanted to go to one, but back home they were too much of a fire hazard."

" You have to come to one," Gabby says, " Gimme your phone. I'll put in all our numbers so we can text you whenever the next one is."

At a stoplight I hand my phone to Gabby and I hear her nails tapping against the screen.

"So does Jason hate me or is he just quiet?"

Gabby looks up from my phone and meets my eyes in the mirror.

" You're overthinking things Lex. Jason doesn't hate you but he's the opposite of quiet. He just takes some time to open up to people. His dad died when he was younger and his mom dated some interesting people before remarrying. Just give him some time."