Pretty Tough

by Nicole Leigh Shepherd

  It was funny, Krista thought. Carla and Charlie were so close that she hadn’t had a chance to know Carla outside soccer. Now, she discovered, Carla was funny, smart, and really sweet. Charlie was lucky to have found such a good friend.

  “Okay, some other things I can’t stand.” Krista laughed, sipping on her Diet Coke. “Dave Matthews, The Simpsons, and the word nipple.”

  Carla burst out laughing. “Me too, me too,” she agreed. “Especially The Simpsons.”

  “What? Who could possibly hate that show?” Noah asked. “It’s un-American.”

  “I was born in Mexico,” Carla pointed out.

  “Well, you’re excused,” Noah conceded, “but Krista? You’re on the hook for this one.”

  “I’m more concerned with nipple,” Nate pointed out. “Who hates nipples?”

  “Ew! Stop saying that word,” Carla yelled. She and Krista burst out laughing again.

  Nate threw his hands in the air playfully. “You’re the one who brought it up!”

  “It’s not just that,” Krista explained. “Any double-lettered word. Bubble… puddle… ripple…” She shivered. “Ew.”

  Noah shook his head. “You’re a nut. A very cute nut, but a nut.”

  “I just know what I like.” Krista smiled, catching Noah’s eye. He smiled back. She quickly looked away, embarrassed. Had that been too much?

  Carla got up to go to the bathroom, and Krista made an excuse and followed. Girls always went to the bathroom in pairs, and it seemed like a good opportunity to put some space between her and Noah—just for a minute.

  Hanging out with him was much too easy… and comfortable… and fun.

  “So you and Nate are like dating, dating, huh?” Krista asked as she reapplied her lip gloss at the mirror. Carla emerged from the stall.

  “Yeah, I guess we are.” She smiled. “I really like him. I even met his mom last weekend.”

  “Whoa, meeting the parents. That’s serious.” Krista rubbed her lips together. “What does your mom think of him?”

  A look of guilt crossed Carla’s face as she turned on the water and clicked the soap dispenser twice.

  Krista gasped. “She doesn’t know?” she guessed.

  Carla focused on washing her hands, as if it took every ounce of her attention.

  “Why not?”

  Carla shut of the water and grabbed a paper towel. “Because she’d never approve,” she explained. “She’d call Nate a gringo and say that this is exactly why she didn’t want me to go to this school. She’d probably yank me out before finals. I’m not allowed to even kiss boys, but Anglo boys? She’d probably put me in a convent.

  “It’s like, I know what I’m doing is wrong according to what my mom says,” Carla continued. “But it doesn’t feel wrong to me, you know? So if it doesn’t feel wrong—is it wrong?”

  Krista understood completely. She realized that after spending the day with Noah, she knew what it was like to want to be with someone who had been declared off-limits. How could she have wasted so much time caring about Cam when Noah had been right there all along?

  “I wish I knew the answer,” Krista lamented. “All I know is we have two really cute boys waiting for us out there…”

  “And eating all our pizza.” Carla laughed.

  And together the girls walked out of the bathroom and went back to join their guys, who had in fact already eaten the large pizza between them.

  “You have to!” Krista begged as they drove down Main Street.

  “I’m stuffed. I couldn’t possibly eat any more food,” Noah complained.

  Krista frowned at him playfully. “That’s because you ate the entire pizza! I’m still starving!”

  He laughed and reluctantly pulled into Coldstone Creamery, Krista’s favorite ice-cream shop. There you could make your own flavors by adding any toppings you wanted, and they’d mix it for you right on the spot. Instead of small, medium, and large, the sizes were “like it,” “love it,” and “gotta have it.”

  Krista ordered a “gotta have it” and marveled at how good it felt not to have Brooks whispering in her ear, scolding her about calories.

  Noah groaned. “What are you? A bottomless pit?”

  “Maybe,” she said. She sat down with her huge waffle bowl and scooped a tremendous spoonful into her mouth. Mmmm. It was so creamy and chocolaty and—

  OW!!! Krista felt a piercing pain between her eyes. She grabbed her head in horror.

  “Oh my God, ouch!” she yelped.

  Noah laughed. “Brain freeze?”

  “Not funny,” Krista cried, being overly dramatic. “It hurts, I tell you! The pain!”

  “You forced me in here, and now you want sympathy?” Noah chided.

  She nodded violently, loving every minute. She could never be silly with Cam. With Noah, it just felt natural.

  “Put your tongue on the roof of your mouth.”

  “Huh?” Krista asked.

  “Put your tongue—flat—on the roof of your mouth. And rub it around. To warm it up.”

  Krista obeyed, and like that, her headache disappeared.

  “Wow.” She smiled. “Impressive. Got any more tongue tricks?”

  She scooped another huge bite into her mouth.

  Noah regarded her skeptically. “Are you sure you want to—”

  “OW!” She grasped her head again.

  “—do that?” he finished. As she writhed around in pain, he grabbed her waffle bowl of ice cream. “I’ll keep that safe for you,” he said as he scooped a giant bite into his own mouth.

  It was just past eleven as Charlie tossed and turned in her bed. She couldn’t sleep. Maybe it was the excitement of the game today, of knowing how hard she’d worked, of feeling that finally things were coming together… but she was wired. She wanted to call Carla or even Bryan, but it was way too late for phone calls.

  Bryan—Charlie wondered if things were going well with him. He did call her now and then, and a couple of times he’d sat with her at lunch and walked her to class. But did that mean anything? Did he like her? Or did he like her, like her? It was hard to know.

  She supposed she could ask Krista, but Charlie wasn’t sure the two of them had been on good terms long enough for that.

  Maybe she should run it past Noah at next practice….

  Yeah, that was an idea. He could give her a guy’s opinion. And the two of them were certainly close.

  Charlie popped out of bed, tired of being restless, and slipped on her shoes. She hadn’t been to her lifeguard station in a while. And for some reason, something was pulling her there tonight.

  As she hopped on her bike and made her way down to the beach, she thought of how many nights she’d sat out there wishing her life could be different. And now it was.

  She no longer felt like a misfit or an outcast. As she walked down the halls with Pickle and Carla, stopping to talk to Jamie and Zaida or Ruthie and Darcy, she finally felt like she belonged. Just yesterday, when she was eating lunch in the quad, Nate and a few other guys from the boys’ team came and joined her. Carla wasn’t even there yet. They sat with Charlie just because they wanted to.

  Charlie thought back to the beginning of the season. To how she got into this whole soccer thing solely to spite her sister.

  She couldn’t believe how lucky she’d been. She didn’t know if she deserved something so good after she’d started it for such bad reasons—to make her sister’s life miserable.

  She took the last turn toward the beach, the cold air blowing on her face. It felt so good to be outside. It was quiet this late. Everything seemed so still.

  She couldn’t help but smile as she thought of the game today. She didn’t know what possessed her to hug Noah like that, right on the sidelines, with everyone watching. It occurred to her afterward that maybe it wasn’t appropriate. Girl players couldn’t just go around hugging their male coaches. But she just felt so much toward him.

  Not in a boyfriend way—not at all.

  It was a
ll the encouragement he gave her, the pep talks, even the criticism—she knew they had a special bond. He made her feel like she was worth something, like she was somebody worth seeing.

  It was rare that someone saw that when Krista was around to overshadow her—being more beautiful, more outgoing, more perfect. But Noah treated her like something special on the field, and because of that, she had become something special on the field.

  She was no longer in her sister’s shadow. That’s what the hug had been for. It seemed like just saying “thank you” wasn’t enough.

  She rode her bike down the sandy path and stopped when the sand became too deep to pedal through. Hopping off her bike, she let it fall to the ground as she made her way toward her lifeguard station. It looked so lonely under the moonlight. Since it was already November, she knew no lifeguard had been there since the summer.

  As she approached, she saw something strange. She wasn’t sure, but it looked like two people were leaning against the railing, kissing. Charlie sighed. Never had anyone else been at her lifeguard station, and now the one night she wanted to sit under the stars, two horny teenagers had designated it their make-out spot. Well, Charlie wasn’t going to put up with that. She’d come all the way down here. She was going to enjoy it.

  “Excuse me?” she called out, moving closer. The people didn’t stop. She decided to be a little more forceful.

  “HEY!” she yelled. “Do you mind? There are other people here!”

  Caught, the two people moved into the moonlight.

  Charlie stopped short. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. It was Noah and Krista. They were the ones kissing….

  Charlie turned and sprinted for her bike.

  “Charlie, wait!”

  “Stop!”

  She could hear them calling after her, but she didn’t stop until she reached her house.

  Chapter Eleven

  The bell rang, signifying not only the end of classes, but the beginning of Thanksgiving break. Charlie grabbed her stuff from her locker and made her way out to the parking lot. There, the entire soccer team was waiting to pile into a motor coach headed for Pomona, California.

  Charlie stood waiting with her bag, proud to be one of the lightest packers on the entire team. She shoved her backpack in the baggage area under the bus and climbed on. As she had been doing all week, she marched past Noah without saying a word. She headed for the back, where Carla was already seated.

  The entire bus was buzzing with excitement. Charlie could feel the energy in the air. This was what they had trained for all season long, and now it was happening. They were driving out to Pomona for the state championships—a four-day elimination tournament played at night, under the lights.

  There was just one problem—Charlie felt completely deflated. Seeing Noah and Krista together had drained every ounce of excitement out of her. Right now, soccer was the furthest thing from her mind. And Carla had noticed.

  “Okay, that’s it,” Carla said, exasperated. “You’ve been moping around for the last few days. It’s not like you, Charlie. You have to tell me. What. Is. Wrong?”

  This was the seventh time Carla asked Charlie what was wrong in a forty-eight-hour period. She supposed she couldn’t deny it anymore.

  Charlie looked around. Everyone else was distracted, trying to figure out where they were going to sit and next to whom. Plus, a sheet of paper was circulating listing everyone’s room assignments at the hotel.

  Krista read the page and appeared to be freaking. Maybe she’d been separated from Buffi and Julie. Ha!

  Carla leaned in close so she could hear Charlie’s whispering.

  “Okay, so last Saturday night,” Charlie began explaining, “I couldn’t sleep, so I went down to this lifeguard station that I hang out at, and when I got there, I saw Krista and Noah—”

  “Wait,” Carla interrupted. “You hang out at a lifeguard station?”

  Charlie looked at Carla in disbelief. “That is so not the point! The point is, I saw Krista and Noah there—making out!”

  She looked at Carla for a reaction. Horror, disgust, surprise—any one of those would have done the trick.

  Instead, Carla had a sheepish grin on her face.

  “What?” Charlie asked. “Why aren’t you freaked?”

  “Well, I hung out with them that day after the game, and—”

  “Wait—you what?” Charlie interrupted.

  Had she just heard that correctly? Carla had “hung out” with Krista…? What was that about?

  “There was a pickup game down at the beach,” Carla explained. “Nate came to the game, then wanted to play….”

  “You played a pickup game after our game?”

  “I didn’t really want to, but Nate did, and I wanted to hang out with him before I went home. At first, I thought I’d just watch, but then, right before we started, Krista and Noah showed up….”

  Charlie pressed her lips together, trying to contain her emotions. “Okay. And then what?”

  Carla hesitated. “Then we grabbed pizza afterward. All of us.”

  “All of us?” Charlie asked, in a tone that demanded an answer.

  “I mean… me and Nate, Krista and Noah,” Carla explained.

  Charlie’s mouth hung open. She couldn’t believe this!

  Carla paused. “What?” she asked. “Are you mad? It’s not like you and Krista are fighting anymore.”

  “That doesn’t mean we’re best friends,” Charlie snapped.

  “Hey, I’m not best friends with her either. But Noah and Nate used to be on the boys’ team together and—” Carla stopped short. “You know what? I don’t have to justify this to you. We played soccer. We had pizza. So what?”

  “So what?” Charlie snapped. This was unbelievable. Didn’t Carla get what was going on here?

  “Come on, Charlie,” Carla pleaded. “This is stupid. I can be friends with you and Krista….”

  Charlie grabbed her stuff. “No, you can’t. And it looks like you made your choice.”

  She shoved past Carla and looked for a new seat.

  • • •

  The ride to Pomona was excruciating for Krista. Mostly because she had to sit clear across the bus from Noah and act like nothing had ever happened between them.

  Now she understood why it was easier to just ignore each other. Once the dam was broken, there was nothing you could do to stop the flood of emotion.

  She hadn’t meant for anything to happen between them physically. But then, she was the one who’d suggested they head down to the beach, wasn’t she?

  She just hadn’t been ready for the night to end. Being with Noah was easy and fun. He liked her with absolutely no physical expectations because it couldn’t… or at least wasn’t supposed to… happen.

  Which made it all the more surprising when Krista leaned over and kissed him.

  He’d pulled away instantly. “Krista… we can’t.”

  Krista remembered looking down, embarrassed.

  “Not that I don’t want to,” he quickly explained. “I mean, this is why I keep my distance. Ever since that day we went swimming during hell week—”

  “You mean, when you peed in the water?” Krista reminded him, punching him playfully on the arm.

  Noah defended his actions. “I was flirting!”

  “Oh, what was next? Pulling my hair?” She laughed. “What’re you, eight?”

  Noah shrugged. “Maybe nine.”

  She smiled and stood up. He followed. “Wait—you’re leaving?”

  “I think I have to,” she told him. “Because if I don’t… I’m going to have to do this.” She leaned in and kissed him again. This time, he didn’t pull away.

  It was a perfect kiss. Noah was sweet and tender. Krista never wanted it to end—

  Then Charlie walked up and spotted them.

  And now she was giving both of them the cold shoulder. Every time Krista tried to speak with her, Charlie just blew her off.

  A honk of a car drivin
g by jarred Krista from all her thoughts. They were turning in to the Marriott in Pomona, where the team would be staying for the next four days… assuming they made it to the end of the tournament.

  As she gathered her stuff to go in and change for their practice session, she shared a secret smile with Noah. They’d made a pact that they didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize the status of the team—and even though he was a volunteer coach, Krista guessed making out with a player, even one who was eighteen, wasn’t encouraged.

  Besides, they had plenty of time to be together after the soccer season was over… and now there were only four days left. Krista was determined to make the most of it.

  Martie pulled Charlie aside after practice to ask what was wrong.

  “You weren’t listening to Krista, Carla, or Noah out there,” she said. “What’s up?”

  “Nothing.” Charlie shrugged. It had just been a stupid scrimmage. Who really cared if it went well?

  Martie placed a hand on Charlie’s shoulder. “Charlie, if you want to talk, I’m here. If not, do us all a favor and work it out. You’ve come too far to get red carded again. You’re too good for that. Don’t let your temper get the best of you.”

  Charlie pulled away. “Fine,” she agreed.

  When she said it, she had every intention of not flying off the handle. But just walking past Noah and Krista made her blood boil.

  And to make matters worse, she was assigned a room with Carla and Krista. The universe clearly had it in for her.

  That night, Charlie sat on her bed with her iPod blasting in order to tune out Krista and Carla. She felt bad that she was tuning out Jamie in the process—but whatever. Jamie was a casualty in her new war of silence. As she sat, she flipped through a copy of Teen People that she’d borrowed from Jamie. Not because she had any intention of reading it, but because she had nothing else she could use to distract herself.

  As her eyes pretended to scan a page on the dangers of eating disorders, she wondered if it was obvious she wasn’t reading. Krista, Jamie, and Carla seemed too engrossed in a Laguna Beach marathon to notice that Charlie was sitting there, seething.

  The longer she sat there, the more her intense dislike for her sister festered and grew. Just when Charlie was happy about her life—just when she had something that was hers and hers alone—Krista had come along and deliberately ruined it.