More of Sparia’s kids (and Paily’s kid and Haleb’s kid!)
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"Good practice this morning," Coach Harris caught Ellis coming out of last period and slapped an encouraging hand on his shoulder. "Keep it up in the weight room though.You need a little more power to beat Trey out for a spot on the varsity team." Coach gave Ellis another pat on the shoulder and continued on toward the teachers lounge.
Ellis nodded at his coaches retreating form. His height was an advantage in swimming. But he hadn’t yet been able to put on much bulk. He was good for an underclassmen but not quite fast enough to beat out older, bigger competitors. And he wanted that varisty spot. His mom had promised him she’d take him to see the men’s singles matches at the US Open this summer if he could make varsity before sophomore year.
But right now there was something else he wanted even more than that varsity and world class tennis.
He navigated the crowds of kids streaming out of last period, found Holly at her locker sorting through books and binders.
"Hey." Ellis said. He got a nod from his sister, but she didn’t look up.
" Mayyybe…" Holly said, leafing through her chem folder, picking through lab notes.
"Let me walk Laura home alone today?" With Holly and Laura being such good friends, it was hard to actually ever talk to Laura without his sister around.
"Why? So you can stare at her and say nothing all the way? What kind of friend would I be to subject her to that?"
Ellis sighed. He loved his sister. But it was kind of a pain in the ass being related to one of the most sarcastic girls in school.
But then again he knew her weaknesses.
"C’mon. Do me this favor and I’ll do you one."
"Like find a way to make sure you can sneak off with Ash for most of Saturday afternoon."
Holly flushed and Ellis knew he had hit his mark.
Still, she didn’t relinquish the upper hand easily .
"Why would I want to be alone with Ash?"
Ellis just stared at his sister, his left eyebrow raised. If she was gonna rat him out about Laura, he wasn’t going to let her off the hook about her very obvious Ashlyn Rivers situation.
"Ok, ok." She gave in after a minute of his unwavering gaze. "So maybe that’s a thing." Holly glanced around the crowded school hallway. "But it’s not a thing we’re talking about yet."
"I don’t know why you guys are sneaking around anyway." Ellis said, but he did lower his voice.Â
"Obviously moms don’t care if you’re into girls," Ellis continued. "Caleb and Hanna wouldn’t be mad at Ash for dating you either, our parents have been friends for like a thousand years. What’s the big secret?"
"We kinda just like it being just us for now. With out everyone asking a bunch of questions."
Ellis looked carefully at his sisters face, searching for evidence that she was telling the whole truth.
"You sure she isn’t pressuring you to stay in the closet?"
Ellis didnt think many people could pressure Holly into anything, but Ash was someone in an entirely different orbit. Ash was a sophomore, she had skipped a year in school and was powerful in a way that was different from being popular. She made things, sick looking custom laptops and clothes with integrated electronics. She sold them, at school, at other schools, online; she always had money, her own money. Even teachers paid her to fix their broken phones and stalled out e-cars. People knew she knew things, she could get things, she had ways of making things happen that very few people understood. And that shadowy image seemed important to Ash. Maybe she wasn’t ready to be seen dating someone like Holly, who loved to bask in the bright light of popularity.
Ellis was three minutes younger. He rolled his eyes.
"Come on, I’m serious."
Holly softened a little. “No, nothing like that. We are just…figuring stuff out. It’s not big announcement time. Same reason you didnt want to say you liked Laura yet.”
"I get that. Our moms are kind of…involved."
"Exactly. it’s just nice to have something they aren’t all over for once. You’ll see if you get Laura to go out with you. Despite your sad addiction to Axe body spray."
"Crap. Is it too much? Should I go shower again?"
"You’re such a dork. But I hear straight girls like that kind of panicked puppy dog thing." Holly grinned at her brother. "Chill out. El, she likes you. She’s just quiet about it."
Ellis grinned back at his twin. “So we got a deal? Alone time for me and Laura today, and I fix it up for you and Ash to sneak off on Saturday?”
"Deal, but how are you going to make sure that whole house full of people leaves me and Ash alone?"
Everyone was coming over for a cookout, Laura and her moms, Ash with Caleb and Hanna and the new baby, plus Grace had invited some friends. And Emerson had a new hobby of making “video installations” which just meant he popped up everywhere with a video camera. Not to mention that Spencer and Aria had made it clear to their kids that Saturday was family time and no hiding out in bedrooms, or zoning out on phones would be tolerated.
"If you say so, baby brother."
Ellis stuck his tongue out at his sister.
Holly hit him on the arm. “Fix your face, dude. Laura’s coming.”
Ellis straightened up and ran a hand through his hair. It always dried weird in the back.
"Tell her you like her nail polish."
Ellis did like Laura’s nail polish. She always did all these cool patterns and different color combinations. It was neat how she always matched her outfits. But he’d never actually say something like that to a girl.
Ellis didnt have time to respond. Laura was there and Holly was leaving and Laura was looking at him like he should say something but all that came out was “Uhhh.”
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