Elle may not be the biggest player on the soccer team, but she's easily the loudest, which helps with keeping track of her when they're doing drills on the side of the field farthest from my spot in the bleachers. It's too bad I'll be back at Harvard before soccer season starts, because if she's this competitive in practice, I'd love to see her with an actual game on the line.

"Mind if I join you?"

The voice is familiar but unexpected, and I turn around to find Rachel smiling hesitantly.

"Sure."

"Couldn't resist checking out cheerleading practice for old time's sake?" She teases.

"Not quite. Why, is that why you're here?" I laugh. I know Elle saw Rachel over the weekend, but I don't know if that included telling her about us or if they were too busy discussing whatever Lee did to get himself dumped.

"Well, I was here because I promised Elle a ride home, but I'm thinking my services are no longer going to be wanted."

Okay, so Rachel knows. I return her smirk. "Elle told you?"

Rachel nods. "Explains why we're both getting the silent treatment from your brother," she adds, her expression clouding.

"Lee's being a little bitch."

"To Elle, yeah. I probably deserve it."

I raise an eyebrow. "I doubt that."

Rachel shrugs awkwardly. "Did Elle tell you what happened?"

"Only that you broke up."

"I broke up with him. So I can't blame him for not wanting to talk to me."

I can. Even having no idea why they broke up, I'm still guessing Lee deserved it.

We're interrupted before I can tell Rachel that, though.

"Didn't think you were the type to pick up your little brother's leftovers, Flynn."

Warren's sneer hasn't lost its ability to make me see red, but before I can do anything stupid I catch Rachel's eye and we both crack up at how far off the mark he is.

"Fuck off, Warren," Rachel sweetly declares, making me laugh even harder.

"That's all we'd need to make this situation worse," Rachel mutters only loud enough for me to hear as Warren walks away. "No offense."

"None taken." I'm not sure she's right, though. Not that I'm going to share this theory with her, but I think Lee might actually be less pissed if it were Rachel I was dating.

"How is Lee doing?" Rachel asks after another awkward pause.

"You think he's talking to me?"

I've barely seen Lee since we faced off on New Year's; he's been leaving early every morning and shutting himself in his room the rare times he's home. As far as I'm concerned, he's welcome to hide there until he's done sulking.

"I guess not. I didn't think he'd take it this hard. I just... it was just too much, you know?" Rachel stares at her fingers, her voice nearly too soft to hear. I don't actually know, but she must assume Elle told me, so I just nod. "He's so stressed out about college and trying to convince me to stay in California, and I can't talk about it any more. And I didn't even mean we should break up break up, just back off a little, but that's not how he took it."

It's weird having Rachel open up like this, but I guess she's decided to treat me like Elle's boyfriend rather than Lee's brother. And it's not like I mind finding out what happened, I'm just not sure how to respond.

This time it's a sharp yell that interrupts the uncomfortable moment. A sharp yell from an all too familiar voice, and my head snaps up only to see Elle crumple to the ground, teammates rushing to surround her. I'm halfway across the field before realizing what I'm doing, and just as I near Elle I'm relieved to see her sit up. She doesn't seem relieved, though, her hands clutching her left ankle as she lets loose a stream of swears that could put the rudest of my teammates to shame. Her coach has run over too, and he shoots me a brief, confused look of recognition before returning his attention to Elle. As best I can tell from Elle's furious commentary and her teammates' questions, she caught a cleat in a divot in the grass and turned her ankle. Elle gingerly wiggles and flexes her foot a few times before getting up with her coach's help, then declares herself fine. She's clearly not, given the face she makes when she tries putting weight on her ankle, and it's when I catch her as she stumbles that she finally notices me.

"Noah? What are you doing here?" Elle sounds equal parts pleased and alarmed.

"Watching you practice."

"Why?" Elle still seems perplexed, her eyes darting around to the teammates still watching her.

"Got bored at home and figured you might need a ride home. Besides, I wanted to see if the soccer uniforms were as short as I remembered."

"Perv," Elle laughs, shoving me. Pretty sure there's nothing wrong with enjoying the sight of my girlfriend in knee socks and shorts, but also pretty sure she's not actually upset.

"Do you need to stay for the rest of practice?"

"No, Coach told me to go home and ice my ankle. Wait here while I go grab my bag?"

"Sit, I'll get it for you."

"You can't; it's in the locker room. The girls' locker room."

"Because you're suddenly a big believer in single-sex locker rooms?" I tease her, enjoying the blush that immediately blossoms.

"That was an accident!"

Maybe so, but that doesn't make it any less memorable.

Elle does her best to mask her limp and pained expression as she walks off in the direction of the locker rooms, but after she stumbles a second time I pick her up before she can claim to be fine again.

"What? Put me down! Noah, I don't need your help." God, she's cute when she's mad.

"Sure you don't."

"I mean it! Put me down. And everyone is staring at us!" Elle hisses.

She's right, although I don't see the problem. "Are they?"

"Yes!"

"Good," I smirk before kissing her. It lasts only a second before Elle jerks back and punches my shoulder.

"Noah!"

"What?" I ask innocently.

"Why did you do that?"

"Kiss you? You usually like it."

"Not in front of the whole school!"

"I doubt the whole school was watching, Shelly. Which is why I'll be back tomorrow to have lunch with you."

Elle's blush deepens from embarrassed to infuriated, and tossing in that Shelly was probably pushing it. I regret nothing.

"So this is why you came to pick me up? To mark your territory like... like some caveman peeing around their cave?"

"Pretty sure that's dogs, not cavemen," I point out, laughing.

"You knew what I meant!"

"I was actually thinking giving you a ride home would mean more time with you. Which I don't have a lot left of before going back. Making those losers jealous is just a nice bonus."

Elle rolls her eyes at me. "Fine, so you're a sweet caveman. But still a caveman."

I set Elle down once we reach the locker room doors, but lean in for another, longer kiss before letting her go. She doesn't punch me this time, though she's trying hard to look annoyed when I finally pull away.

"You've made your point, Noah. Everyone saw, everyone knows."

"I'm not taking any chances. And some of those guys are pretty dense."

I'm joking, but I'm also aware how many of her classmates would like to be in my shoes right now, and I'm enjoying showing them why they never will be. I could have saved myself some detentions last year if I'd realized this was a much better way of keeping jerks away from her. Too bad I was too dense of an idiot myself to admit why I wanted to.

So, apologies. Trust me that no one is more anxious to read the rest of this story than I am, but I still haven't managed to write software that reads my daydreams and turns them into words. This is only the first part of the chapter I've been stuck on forever, but I decided it was time to provide proof I'm alive.