Hello, sorry, I'm back!

After my internet was so slow again the next day and gave up the ghost again at some point, my provider told me it would take at least three days (!) to get it back up and running.

I then set everything in motion to find a new provider, made a new contract and then spontaneously went to the sea with my grandchildren and my husband. Without laptop and Internet - just summer, sun, beach.

Verena

Chapter 104

Revenge! - At Least a Small One

Jake

"Are your hands tingling too?" I asked Leah as we ran back to our house.

They did not really burn, as I knew it after injuries. It was also somehow logical. Nothing was really injured. It only tingled quite annoyingly. I pumped all the time with my fingers to get rid of it faster.

Leah nodded - equally annoyed.

We came through the door and the first thing we had to do was grin.

Mom was already there.

Sure, Sonya was at home, too. She wasn't completely drunk, but she was pretty buzzed and tried 'The Black Eye' in this state. That wasn't easy enough when you were sober and didn't know it. Others might have been embarrassed to hear their tipsy mother blabbering stupid stuff in front of his friends. Not us. We thought it was funny. At least until she started eating our survival rations. Quite delayed, she noticed that we - her over all beloved children - were also back. She greeted us in a completely exaggerated way. Hugged us, patted us as if we were eight or so. Must have looked pretty silly, almost two heads smaller than us.

"Hello, my heart," we finally heard Dad behind us, and we were redeemed.

Without giving us another glance, she walked past us.

We sat down again.

I join Becky in the corner of the sofa and Leah on the floor in front of Marcus.

"You guys were yakking with your grandpa for a long time. Was there anything special?" asked Jason, who resumed his position as game leader.

"Nope, nope. Just the usual. How are you? Have you grown again? ..." I rattled off the usual procedure.

"... Are you guys doing well in school? Did Mom stumble one more time?" added Leah.

Lisa and Jason told us that those were always the same questions with their grandparents, too, but Leah and I weren't quite listening.

We looked to our parents standing in the hallway.

It didn't bother us to see our parents so enamored. Rather the opposite. As long as they did not exaggerate! Most parents were different. Did not show their feelings in front of the children. But the way Edward had come into this family, the way he had turned Mom's head from day one, even if she never admitted it like that, it would rather surprise us if the two of them behaved differently. It was also cute how they lay in each other's arms chuckling in love.

"Marcus," Dad said tonelessly after a while, standing in the doorway.

Becky, Leah, and I literally stared at him.

Curious what he had to gripe about now.

Marcus, on the other hand, immediately stood up nervously. He seemed somewhat intimidated.

Leah noticed it and stood in front of him. Protectively. She glared warningly at Dad.

"Unless you have other commitments, you're welcome again for breakfast before you drive to the beach together," Dad said politely, turning up the stairs with Mom in his arm.

"Thank you," Marcus called after him.

So delayed that the rest of us had to chuckle.

Our game did not last much longer.

Jason had made sure because of Marcus that it would be perfectly understandable today. Otherwise, when we did our wolfish duty earlier, we would have ended the game for today altogether. However, Jason had said that it was not worth continuing this game another evening.

Around half past one we cleaned up everything.

We had saved the world. Once again.

Lisa and Jason went home, Leah said an extensive goodbye to Marcus, and I went up with Becky.

"That worked out well, didn't it - for his first game," Becky commented as she took off her cardigan.

"I think so too. It took you longer to understand the procedure," I teased her, and she threw her T-shirt in my face in a huff.

When I looked at her again - I was about to pull mine over my head - Becky's hands lay in front of her mouth and she looked at me, startled.

"No call ... from your ... grandpa," she mumbled anxiously, taking the two steps toward me.

Her small hand carefully rested on my torso and shakily ran over some traces of blood.

I had completely forgotten about that.

Gently I took her face in my hands.

"You're right. There was no call from Charlie. Jazz called us about two vampires. But Becky, they weren't a problem! Really not. These are just the remains of scratches, like we usually have on our hands and feet's from running. It's nothing," I tried to tell my star.

She nodded, but she didn't look like she heard me. For that, her gaze was too fixed on the blood.

I took her by the hand and pulled her into the bathroom. I startled fleetingly when I saw myself in the mirror.

It was no wonder that this scared Becky. They really weren't true injuries. An accidental cut with a knife, as happened to Mom all the time, would be worse. Only, due to the fighting, the little blood had spread over a large area.

With a damp washcloth I wiped over a spot and absolutely intact skin appeared underneath.

Becky made a sound, something between a sigh and a gasp, but it sounded quite relieved. Her expression relaxed. She took the washcloth from me.

We did not say a word. Her hands gently stroked me and handed each other the rag washed out again and again. Everywhere she very carefully freed me from the red veil that covered my skin. My upper body. My arms. My sides. My back. My legs. My hands were gently at her waist or neck, depending on where they were out of the way.

It took time, but it felt significant somehow. Like a ceremony.

When Becky finished, she planted a kiss on my heart and smiled tenderly at me, but she had tears in her eyes.

"Why are you crying, Becky?" I asked her gently.

"I don't really know myself," she smiled a little sheepishly and put her arms around me, "It kind of ... touched me."

"Me too!" I replied and kissed her on the forehead.

We went to bed in silence.

Words were sometimes superfluous and would only ruin this moment.

When I woke up the next morning, I heard voices.

No. Not hallucinations. They were really here! Really now!

"... you don't mind if I come in? ... After all, you are mostly undressed when you lie in this bed," I heard, escaping my confused dream of heroic fights for licorice sticks.

"No, really not ... I don't know ... I'm not sure where to put you. Are you or will you be my father-in-law one day, whereas I can hardly compare you to someone like my dad? Or are you a very good friend who goes to school with me and happens to live with my boyfriend? The truth is somewhere in between. I trust you. More than others ... Besides, I assume that you have already seen me naked. If only through his thoughts."

A beautiful young female voice that was right next to me.

"I'm afraid you're right about that. Jake's thoughts are sometimes unpredictable. One second he's thinking about basketball or school. The next, the thought of you overrides everything else ... You're very important to me, Becky. Not just because you matter everything to my son. You yourself are very lovable," said a male voice.

My mind was not yet awake enough to identify them, but there were not many possibilities.

A pause followed, during which something moved next to me.

What happened there then?

"Your pet is perking up."

Unfortunately, not yet perky enough to growl at anyone. Neither Dad for this statement - nor Becky for her subsequent chuckle. If already animal, then please PREDATOR and not pet!

However, my resentment helped wake me up.

Sluggishly I opened my eyes, which I squeezed shut again because of the light. The sun shone through the window, directly into my face. I clapped my hands protectively on my face and turned away from the sun.

Does a vampire feel like that when he turns to dust in the sun? ... Oh yes, that was not possible.

A hand tickled through my back neck.

"Where's the little rascal?" purred Becky.

That's enough! There would be trouble!

Gruffly I opened my eyes now finally.

My star, shining in the sun, sat on the edge of the bed, one leg on the floor, the bedspread pulled under her arms. And she was chuckling! But looked so beautiful.

I straightened up, kissed the mole on her shoulder blade, slid my arms around her and rested my chin on her shoulder.

"Hi ..." she looked at me.

I only smiled.

Certainly totally idiotically in love. So purely optically.

"How was that for trouble?" asked Dad, who was squatting on the floor in front of the bed and laughing.

"Better lap dog than disco ball!" I countered, pointing to the myriad of light reflections that just illuminated my room - all because he was sitting in the sun.

Becky had a fit of laughter, Edward looked grim. But only for a moment. He stood up, gave me my kiss on the forehead and left us alone.

It was already 9:40 a.m.

I usually didn't sleep that long, but our very private washing ceremony last night had taken a while. Well. Dad must have kept us company mentally. Running with Leah was definitely out. However, neither of us had a bad conscience about it. After all, we had dispatched two vampires and thus done our duty.

We got ready quickly, putting on our bathing suits directly under our normal clothes. We were going to the beach, after all.

I heard the doorbell, pulled open my bedroom door - we had just finished and were going downstairs - and Emma was standing in front of it with her fist raised, startled.

She was probably about to knock.

"Good morning, you little sunshine!" I picked Emma up, twirled her through the air and set her down on my hip. I thought the short one was just cute. Too bad that Mom and Dad wouldn't bring little brothers and sisters into the world. I would definitely be a super big brother! "Oh ... thank you!" I said well-behaved when I got a smooch.

Becky was also greeted in good spirits, but then we went downstairs.

I still had Emma on my arm, she played with my long hair while she told me about the breakfast table.

My mouth was already watering. Every Sunday, Dad surprised us with new treats.

Marcus was already sitting at the table with Leah. Not quite as stiff as last week, but casual also looked different. I greeted him as I passed, pressed a kiss to my little sis's temple, and headed for Mom, who was just coming out of the kitchen.

"Hey, Mom," I said chipperly, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Good morning. Did you sleep well?" she asked buoyantly, returning the gesture. "Are you going to carry Emma around all morning?" she asked with a laugh, pinching Emma's little cheeks.

"Wouldn't mind," I just meant, but lowered Emma, who climbed onto the chair next to Leah.

"Tell me, Jake. How many little Emma's do you want to have someday?" Becky asked me.

"A complete soccer team!" I clarified once and put my arms around her. "Or a whole pack," I winked at her. She was still searching for her voice in the meantime. Or counted. Maybe both.

"But I don't play soccer," Emma interjected indignantly.

"By the way, we don't mind if you wait to produce until you're done with school and have finished college!" reminded Dad.

"And you must be married, after all!" pointed out Emma quite seriously.

Of course. School, college, marriage, kids. That was the planned and parental-approved order. I really enjoyed playing and fooling around with Emma and her brothers, but I didn't see myself as a father yet. Not for a long time!

We ate breakfast.

Mom told us about her evening.

It seemed to have been a good play. It was about a marriage swindler, at least that was his plan, but he had no real success with ladies.

In the meantime, I quietly asked Dad if he had any more questions in store for Marcus today. There would still be missing info's about his favorite color of underwear.

In response, all I got was rolling eyes and I chuckled.

The doorbell rang.

"Hello, Sonya," I greeted our favorite neighbor at the front door with a light hug. We had gotten out of the habit of saying Aunt Sonya a very long time ago. After all, we had never called David 'uncle'.

She smiled and stole a piece of bell pepper from my hand.

"Hey!" I complained.

"We're allowed to!" she declared, holding a hand against her belly.

Well, who could possibly disagree with that?

Emma had of course noticed who was coming and climbed onto her chair, so that she was standing on it with her feet. Emma was so jittery that she threatened to lose her balance with the chair.

And then it happened.

"EMMA!" everyone seemed to be shouting at the same time, but no one could do anything.

Becky was on her way to the toilet, Leah had just come out of the kitchen, Mom and Dad were sitting on the other side of the table and I was still in the living room with Sonya. None of us would be able to reach her in time. The only one within reach was Marcus, but he was only a human being. His reflexes couldn't be fast enough, because between him and Emma was Leah's empty seat. But supernaturally it could be done and for that Dad had already jumped up from his chair, although from my point of view it was quite hopeless.

I did the only sensible thing I could think of. I turned Sonya toward me so that she would not have to witness her daughter's accident.

Dad was already halfway around the table when I looked over Sonya. But Marcus reacted, too. He slid over Leah's chair and was able to snatch Emma to him while she was still falling. In doing so, however, he had to push himself so far backward that he himself toppled over. With the back of the chair in his back, Marcus landed on the floor, but he held Emma safely in his arms.

Marcus folded himself from the now reclining chair, sat on the floor, shook the head with which he had landed, and Emma was sitting on his lap.

She looked at him with wide eyes. The fright sparkled in her big googly eyes, closely followed by bitter crying. She hadn't gotten a scratch, but the fear of what had happened so quickly seemingly overcame her.

Marcus took her tightly in his arms, squeezing her, comforting her, while Emma clung to him, crying.

The rest of us stood around the two. Smiling about the fact that fortunately nothing else had happened.

"You need to pay more attention," Marcus said gently.

Emma nodded and wiped tears from her eyes.

"Are you okay?" I asked Sonya, whom I had still held a little. No idea how easily pregnant women let themselves be taken by something like that. They are supposed to be, if I was not mistaken, somehow oversensitive or something and always blamed everything on their hormones.

But Sonya looked composed and smiled reassuringly.

Emma scrambled off Marcus and, intimidated by the situation, walked toward her mother.

Sonya immediately went to eye level with her daughter and took her in her arms with relief. Asked if anything hurt her.

At the same time, Dad held out a hand to Marcus to help him up. With a suppressed groan, he stood up.

"You have fast reflexes!" noted Dad, and he actually sounded really grateful.

"My cousin is eight. Rocking on chairs is his hobby. That's where you learn to be fast," Marcus replied, looking a little crumpled.

He stretched, there was an audible crack, but he smiled.

"Thank you, Marcus!" Sonya immediately stood by his side as I lifted Emma back onto my arm.

The little one was looking for support and I was closest to her. The crying had stopped, but she could not quite bring herself to smile.

"I'm Sonya. It's nice to meet you," she obligingly extended her hand to him.

After the shock, Sonya first needed something to eat. Therefore, we sat down again and continued to eat breakfast.

Emma sat very nicely on a chair - without moving.

But knowing the whirlwind, that wouldn't last very long.

"So, you're all going to the beach. That means lunch is canceled today?" Mom asked afterwards as we stood in the kitchen putting everything away again.

For the next hour I was full.

We affirmed that we didn't need any more feeding today. We would not be back until sometime this evening. First to the beach and later the pitiful rest of our group was arranged.

I hadn't talked to Brandon again yet. But I wasn't sure if I wanted to either. It was still unbelievable to me how my best buddy could give me such a line. 'I now know how fucked Mike feels!' That's what he had said. Was he justifying the way Mike had attacked Becky? I didn't even want to think about what he might have meant. How he could compare his situation with Jenny to Becky and Mike's in any way. I had punched him in the jaw where really made me pull myself together not to kill him.

Dad prepared Becky's hand for the beach. A large waterproof band-aid and a tight bandage over it so that the band-aid couldn't become independent.

I wasn't a doctor, but the scar looked good to me. It had been two and a half weeks now. The upper layer of skin was almost healed.

Dad confirmed that everything looked good. He gave me another plastic and bandage so that I could redo it later. It would certainly be unpleasant if the bandage became soaked with salt water. He also reminded me to bring an extra blanket for Becky. For normal people it might get cold if we 'splashed' in the water, despite the sunny day.

We said our goodbyes and were off.

Once on the beach, Marcus looked out for his sister Maggie. She and Ethan had been here since this morning.

We found them making out on the beach while they took a little surf break. We distributed what we had brought from Marcus bus.

Three surfboards, which were not heavy, but bulky. A huge bag that contained wetsuits and whatever else he needed. In addition, there were our own bags.

There was no suit for me. They didn't have one that could fit me. But they had one for Becky.

Without knowing anything about surfing, I would say that they were really prepared for everything. Except for me.

Marcus pulled his T-shirt over his head next to me and I happened to look straight at Leah, who seemed somehow frozen in her movement. She looked dreamy, tilted her head a little and bit on her lower lip.

What on earth got into my little sis? I considered, chuckling. Well. I knew the answer, couldn't really comprehend it. In me, after all, nothing stirred when I had a supposedly well-built man-body in front of me.

Even Marcus noticed her mental absence.

Smiling, he walked up to her, put his arms around her and kissed her very tentatively while her hands were against his torso.

I wanted to concentrate on undressing again, but a light-reflex where there shouldn't have been one caught my attention.

Marcus had a piercing that Leah was playing with her fingertips. I felt a prick in my nipple and immediately made sure it was intact. Everything still there! Lucky me! That had to hurt! But he really didn't seem to mind. Rather the opposite.

"Doesn't that hurt?" I asked Marcus in amazement.

"Nope ... I usually don't even feel it anymore," he meant.

I could hardly believe it.

"But the stabbing must have been pretty intense," Becky inquired.

"Could have been ... Can't really remember anymore."

"Huh ...?" was all I said. He was eighteen. It would hardly have been so many years ago that his memory could fail him in the process.

Maggie and Ethan, meanwhile, were chuckling.

"I fainted in the process. That's why I only have one of them. The plan was actually to do both sides, but my circulation didn't cooperate for the second one," he mumbled sheepishly.

"I can understand that," I stated matter-of-factly.

"He was white as a sheet!" laughed Maggie, getting something clothing-related thrown at her head by Marcus.

"Father's face was worth it!" grinned Marcus at Maggie with diabolical amusement.

"Even the slap afterwards?" grinned Maggie back questioningly.

"That too!" confirmed Marcus, before turning his attention back to Leah. "It's the last remnant of my personal rebellion against my father," he said explanatorily.

"Last one, my ass!" interjected Ethan with a laugh.

I looked at Marcus invitingly, expecting more details.

Leah and Becky looked at him with similar curiosity.

"Go on! Show them the full power of your resistance already!" Maggie urged him.

"Otherwise, I'm going to help!" threatened Ethan.

Marcus refused, but Ethan put his warning into action.

I then helped to keep the guy in the sand, who was beating around with his hands and feet's, under control.

Maggie pulled at his jeans, which he had already unzipped.

I rolled in the sand laughing and Becky and Leah could barely stay on their feet laughing too.

Marcus had a tattoo. A small baby blue unicorn with rainbow colored tail and pink horn. On his right ass cheek! Now THAT I would not have shown also voluntarily!

"Why would you do that?" Leah struggled to breathe.

Embarrassed and red-faced, he told us that he had chosen it himself, completely drunk.

After his confession, however, we all headed in the water.

Maggie and Ethan were pretty cool, but left in the early afternoon. They had been at the beach since this morning and had had enough. Not like us, who arrived here only around noon.

Marcus was really good at teaching us how to surf.

Leah, who had a day's head start on Becky and me, cut a very casual figure on the surfboard. When she wasn't falling in the water! He was also great with Becky. He knew that something bad had happened to her, even if he didn't know the extent in detail. I wasn't sure if he had thought long and hard about his behavior toward her or if it was coincidence. He never touched her unexpectedly. For example, he held out a helping hand for her to climb onto the surfboard, but it never seemed like he assumed she had to accept that help. He sort of gave her the choice. I couldn't put it any other way.

It was definitely pretty fun to try our hand at surfing.

The girls paused.

Becky had gotten cold after a while, so she had gotten a hot cocoa from one of the cafes and snuggled up with Leah in the blanket that I had taken thanks to Dad's tip.

Well then! How crushy Leah was, I had already heard enough in the past days. Time to listen to the other side. After all, I had a certain responsibility as a brother!

"Leah has really done it to you!" I noted with a grin. That was really not to be overlooked now. Without parental supervision, he was really confiding. He would understand by himself that he should not be embarrassed in front of our parents. After all, they were no better than we were!

"Oh yes ... she did," he admitted downright dreamily.

I propped one arm on the surfboard and leaned my head against my hand. I waited patiently - and grinning - until Marcus turned his gaze away from Leah and back to me.

That lasted.

He ran a hand through his hair, smiling embarrassingly, when he noticed my gaze.

"Love?" I continued to ask.

He shrugged his shoulders ignorantly.

"I've been with a few, but what does that have to do with love?" he asked a counter question that somehow brought me closer to Dad's rejection.

"Well. Sex should already have to do with affection!" I snapped at him. Perhaps a touch too aggressively.

He grinned.

I wasn't quite sure why. Was it because I was attacking him for his line or because of the content of my response to it? It seemed somehow contagious, though - this grin.

"I see it that way too! ... I just mean ... I don't know ... love is a pretty big word. The girls always meant something to me, but I never took those relationships seriously enough that I gave them some serious thoughts. I liked them, enjoyed the time with them. We had fun!" he tried to explain, and I understood to some extent what he meant.

Very few high school flirtations lasted forever. For me, flirtation was the appropriate term. That was how I felt in retrospect with the girlfriends I had already had. We lived in the day, were young, didn't waste a thought on life after school. Only today counted. At the same time, our feelings were just as young and capricious as we ourselves were. Growing up got in the way of most puppy loves.

"Then you pick up girls for the sake of fun?" I asked suspiciously. 'We had fun!' What kind of statement was that? With the saying he could forget me letting him go out with my sister again! How had Dad been able to say nothing so far!

"Bullshit! I'm not that kind of asshole! ... One-night stands are not my thing, I just know not only from conviction, but from experience. But it was only once and I was not with anyone at the time ... Otherwise, there was only one ... Lily," he began, and I asked more precisely, because he looked wistful at the end.

He somehow didn't give the impression of a playboy now.

"We were together for almost a year until she moved to Japan with her parents at the beginning of this year. I missed her at first and still skyped with her a lot, but that quickly wore off after she made new friends there and settled in."

He sighed softly to himself.

"Did you love Lily?"

"If you had asked me a few months ago, I probably would have said 'yes' without hesitation. But after the phone calls became less and less frequent, I ticked that off pretty quickly. She was my first great love, if you can call it that, insofar I will never forget her. Especially because she was the first person I slept with. Ultimately, however, she was only one among several. There weren't that many of them. I'm not a Casanova!" he explained.

And I had the feeling that he meant every word seriously.

I said nothing.

I had the impression that Marcus had not yet said everything.

His gaze went dreamily towards the beach again.

"... But this time it feels different ... I couldn't wait to see Leah again. To look into those eyes. The smile ... Being with Leah feels like I've arrived somewhere I didn't even know I wanted to go. But I don't want to leave ... When I think about driving back to Portland tonight again, I get so sick."

"It's called love!" I affirmed.

Marcus looked at me a little befuddled and I wished I could hear his thoughts.

Dad was never around when you could need him! I thought with a grin, knowing that I was completely wrong. Whenever you really needed Edward, he was here.

Marcus was apparently still searching for his speech, so I tried to explain it a little more fully.

"When you feel like you don't want to be anywhere but with her, no matter what mood she's in. Whether she's happy, sad, or even angry. You want to make her laugh, take away her worries, comfort her. When she laughs it makes your mind goes blank. When she touches you it makes your body tremble. When she kisses you and you forget everything around you ... Then it's love."

"That's ... intense!" noted Marcus, considering for a moment, looking to Leah. "I guess I'm in love then!"

"So tell her that on occasion!"

"Are you crazy!" he said, startled.

I laughed.

I knew from Brandon, among others, how long it had taken him and Jenny to put that all-changing word 'love' in their mouths. One was downright afraid of that word. Regardless of age. That it could change something. Making a fool of yourself in front of the other person because you felt that way, but the other person might not. One avoided saying it. One always waited nicely for the other person to say it first. Fortunately, with Becky it had been quite uncomplicated.

As a 'thank you' for my suggestion, I was relentlessly pushed under the water ... Again and again. Although I got to grab him a few times, a little later I was kneeling on the beach, panting.

That just went pretty much against my wolf honor! For consolation: he also laid panting in the sand.

"You'll get it again!" I warned him in advance.

I picked myself up, still struggling for air, held out a hand to him and he pulled himself up by it.

"Do you have a circulation like Leah's?" he asked, looking at my hand.

"Native American blood!" I grinned. "It's magic!"

"I believe it immediately. I'm bloody cold and you don't seem to mind at all," he remarked with an offended laugh as we walked to our girls.

It was afternoon by now.

How could it be otherwise, Leah and I were hungry again.

We got some things from the bistro and made a contemplative picnic. Couples by couples we lay together while we chatted about all sorts of things, interrupted now and then by kisses.

Meanwhile, I whispered a soft "I love you!" to Becky to show Marcus how it's done.

We still had a date with the friends.

Well, with Lisa and Jason. More were not remained.

Therefore, we dispensed with another teaching unit.

"What are you guys up to?", Marcus wanted to know when I asked if he was coming along.

Laser tag.

He had heard of it, but had never played.

We packed everything up and drove over to the hall in Biddeford, where Lisa and Jason arrived at the same time as us.

First we sat down in the lounge and drank some more, lively discussing the composition of the teams while we waited for access.

We had rented the hall for one hour.

Four games of ten minutes each.

We agreed on girls against boys. This meant that no one was at an advantage or disadvantage. We all didn't play like pros, but we didn't play like beginners either, and with Marcus I doubted that he wouldn't get the hang of it quickly. Especially because he knew paintball and the games were very similar.

Our time came and we put on the outfits.

The lights were off, emergency lighting, fog machines here and there, music that swallowed all sounds, a veritable labyrinth of walls, hiding places, ambushes. Fire at will! ...

We came out almost soaking wet after the first run.

We needed a breather.

Even the wolves among us. That was more exhausting than it looked.

We looked at the preliminary scoring.

Jason led. He was closely followed by Leah, then me, Marcus, Becky, and Lisa. After each game, the ranking changed.

We were leading in the team ranking, but the girls kept catching up. On to the final!

I just hid from Lisa and looked at the small display on my wrist. Two minutes to go, the victory was getting tighter. Again and again, one of us was hit. One of them had to be encircled. I carefully crept through the corridors to help my comrades.

"Dude, we don't take prisoners!" I yelled at Marcus when I spotted him.

Smooching with Leah, with his reflectors in clear shot for Becky, who was hidden not far away and regularly shot at him as soon as the lock was lifted after a hit. I popped her!

"I'm interrogating the enemy!" he defended himself.

"Yes ... nope, it's clear!", I just said and shot down Lisa and Leah on the side.

We lost!

We sat back in the lounge, ate something - the burgers here are great! - chatted for a long time and had to listen to the girls for the rest of the evening, about how they had destroyed us.

"You have only swindled your victory!" I stated here once categorically, which confirmed my comrades-in-arms just as energetically.

In addition, the losers had to pay the bill.

For this defeat Marcus would pay sooner or later somehow. So, I already counted two reasons to somehow tear Marcus' ass up.

Jason and I accused Marcus fiercely, but funnily.

Spy. Defector. Traitor! To simply abandon one's comrades was not acceptable. In a war, everyone had to make sacrifices. So did he!

A vigorous denunciation, whereby he tipped over a glass on the table. I jumped up immediately, but the last sip of Coke still ran on my pants.

Great! Looked like I had peed in my pants.

While everything at the table was laughing, I tried to dry myself with napkins.

So that was now the third item Marcus would pay for.

I didn't look bad when Brandon suddenly stood in front of me during my drying action.

When we had thought about playing laser tag today, our circle of friends still consisted of seven people. So of course he knew that we would be here today.

We said nothing, just looked at each other.

On my part with a damn bad conscience. His lower lip was burst open, swollen to double and shining dark red. Two days, had passed since my blow!

I saw his motorcycle helmet in his hand.

Rosie had installed the parts of the Simson that were left with us at the time. Actually, she had completely disassembled and reassembled the machine. Since then, Bran rode it regularly, as long as his mom didn't notice. His dad was more casual and had bought him the helmet.

I nodded invitingly in the direction of the helmet and squinted my eyes.

Wham ...!

It rattled in my head, the force of the blow knocked me off balance and I shook my head while lying on the floor.

Bran squatted down to me.

"If you grow right back together, can I do it again?" he asked softly.

"Forget it! Your line on Friday was too harsh for that!" I replied, adjusting my jaw.

"I know. I'm sorry. It was shitty of me," he said, hanging his head a little. "But I just meant that I can understand Mike in that he took his anger out on you. Not what he did to Becky," he hinted softly, holding out a hand for me to pull myself up from the floor.

I nodded.

Dad had been right once again.

A waitress came running up with a baseball bat, ready to beat us out of the place with it.

We said we were done with the beating now and she brought us ice.

For the face. Each.

We introduced Marcus, who had genuinely wanted to get involved and had only been held back by Leah.

I liked this guy more and more.

"You don't greet each other like that every day, do you?" he inquired.

We replied in the negative ... laughing.

Around ten we were back home.

Becky and I said goodbye to Marcus and went into the house.

Of course, it took Leah a little longer to tear herself away from him.

"Where's Mom?" I inquired.

Dad was sitting on the sofa with his laptop, and I didn't see her anywhere.

"Still with Zoey, but I'm sure she'll be here any minute. And how was your day?" he asked immediately.

Becky sneezed in response.

"You tell me what Marcus thought of the day!" I challenged him with a grin and threw myself on the sofa. Becky was grinning just as much next to me. "Still objecting to your son-in-law?" I followed up.

Edward rolled his eyes in annoyance and first told Becky to call her parents.

A sign of life from her daughter would not be too much to ask for.

"You seem to like him!" he then commented.

"Yep ..." I said and began to list why. "He obviously has quite good manners and is not stupid. He's funny and he's really great at surfing. He even tried to stop a brawl this evening ... That reminds me, I'm talking to Brandon again ..." On demand I showed a mental repetition. "And he is in love!" I ended with my list ... now somewhat delayed.

"I hear it!" admitted Dad.

Becky came back to us and sneezed again.

When asked if she would not get sick, she waved it off.

At some point Leah was able to tear herself away from Marcus, so he drove home, and I ran another lap with her.

When we got back, Becky was already in the guest room asleep.

I was a bit surprised that she was already in bed, on the other hand surfing and laser tag were quite exhausting for a normal person. In addition, first the cold on the beach and then the physical exertion at the game. And yes, the weekend was over. So, we should sleep in separate beds again.

I went to her again quietly and gave my star a kiss on her forehead.

I woke up in the middle of the night.

Edward stood in front of my bed and put Becky with me.

"She does seem to be getting sick. She's got a bit of a temperature," Dad whispered softly, saying that I was probably the best hot water bottle in the world.

I nodded with a grin, enjoying having my star in my arms after all.

"Of course, you're going to school!" Dad then gave me to understand very clearly the next morning. "Becky only has a cold, not pneumonia," he added.

Damn. I had hoped to stay with Becky. After all, someone had to take care of the patient. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that Mom had nothing to do at the moment.

Monday and Tuesday Becky stayed in my bed and school dragged on for a damn long time without her.

Her parents came by too, but by the time I got home after practice, they were gone again.

I still had a lot of material to work on for school - but Dad helped me with that - and I had to train on the side, because my first game was coming up.

With Leah running as usual was nice, but also exhausting.

Leah was in a really good mood. It pleased me how happy Leah was with Marcus. That was also the reason why running with her was exhausting. How much did I actually want to know about my sister and her boyfriend? See through their minds? Hear from their thoughts? Exactly. Not much! There was the problem! But I guess I would have to let it wash over me. Leah said I would have been absolutely no different with Becky. To some extent, I even got some sympathy, but only until I got to see some hot kisses or caresses from her again. More had not happened between the two fortunately yet. So, fortunately for me!

The two spoke on the phone every evening together.

It was not so easy for him in terms of time to come to Saco during the week. Even though Portland was only a half hour away by car, it remained an hour's drive in total, in addition to sports, work, school, studying, and his friends in Portland. In exchange, he would stay with Maggie on the weekends. She had even given him a key to her apartment so that he could move around more freely.

By the way, Leah was beaming all the time, while Dad didn't say a single word about Marcus! Perhaps he had given up?

And then it was already time.

Wednesday, November 06, 2024. Our first game would be in the early evening today. Against the 'Bulldogs' of Portland High School.

Brandon and I were feeling good.

Last evening, we had trained for a long time in front of our garage. His lip was still plenty red from my blow, but he didn't have to play with his mouth.

We went up to the well-filled grandstand, our poor opponents still had got time to warm up. Everyone was there - even my star was lively again -, and felt they had to motivate us.

Unnecessary! We knew our opponents. We had already outclassed them so badly last season.

"I don't believe it!" then Brandon suddenly cursed in disbelief next to me as I was just getting my own motivation from Becky.

"Marcus!" I heard Leah say before I had even turned around.

My eyes immediately went to the pitch.

There he was. Marcus. I grinned. My revenge was near!

"So that's why you have a date for today! He knew he was in town today!" I murmured to her. Whether she had known that? The way she looked - probably not.

She ran downstairs excitedly while Marcus' gaze roamed over the spectators.

Apparently, he was looking for Leah.

We waved at him, but Leah was already on her way. He looked disappointed until Leah showed up downstairs. They ran into each other in arms.

"Finish him!" Dad was still murmuring to me as we had to go back downstairs.

He could rely on that. After all, I still had a score to settle with Marcus! Strictly speaking, there were three! The water fight. The defeat in laser tag. The Coke on my jeans. Wolf hearing! I listened to the strategic discussions of the opponents. And what I heard made my certainty of victory buckle a little. The coaches were happy that Marcus could finally play again. Last season he was completely out due to his accident, but now he was back in full force and better than ever - supposedly. The coaches were sure that the disaster of the previous season would not be repeated because of this. They were bottom of the table. But one player could hardly improve the whole team, could he?

Still, I warned Bran to keep an eye on Marcus.

I tied my hair and stepped onto the field.

As captains of the team, Marcus and I greeted the referees and immediately faced each other at the midfield line.

"I want to see a fair game!" the ref urged us.

We gave each other the obligatory high-five, and both thought the same thing, grinning: Never ever!

The game was tough and Marcus was really damn good. But still we stayed fair.

More or less.

Leah was romping in the stands when Marcus got my elbow in the face.

Was certainly an enthusiastic romp. For sure!

He tripped me up, Bran pushed him roughly away under the basket, I pulled on his jersey ... That's how the whole game went.

Tie. Still seven seconds of game time.

The humans on the field were visibly out of breath.

Not me for a long time yet, but I gasped along in solidarity.

The opponents had the ball, which Brandon deftly took from them. I stood free, while Bran was immediately surrounded. Pass to me. Five seconds. I spun to avoid another, dribbled toward the basket, which was covered by Marcus. Three seconds. He set up in front of me, blocking me from a direct throw with his almost two meters. I dribbled on, sashayed around him with the ball, we bumped into each other hard, he lost his balance and stumbled backwards. I jumped up and put the ball in the basket. When I reached the floor, the final siren sounded.

Victory!

The crowd jumped up, my team gathered around me cheering, our cheerleaders and coaches rushed onto the field.

I made my way through the many people and held out my hand to Marcus, who was still lying defeated on the floor, which the commentators immediately announced over the loudspeakers as an exceptionally honorable sporting gesture.

If they knew he was something like my brother-in-law, they would have held back on such remarks and not asked the audience for general appreciative applause.

"I'll see you again at the finals!" he warned me with a laugh.

"Or later with us!" I replied and while Marcus nodded, my star immediately jumped into my arms.

Thank you for reading!