"Hey Kayla" Paige answered her phone on the second ring. I could tell she was eating popcorn. Kettle corn judging by how loudly she was eating it.

"Are you busy? I need advice" I was still sitting on my floor. I hadn't moved an inch since Jake hung up on me.

"Are you crying?" Paige was much more alert and the sound of popcorn subsided.

"No I'm not crying. Have I ever cried over a dumb boy? No I-"

"Well there was that night when you and Jake broke up that you-" Paige interrupted me.

"I thought we agreed to never speak of it again" I silenced her. Did pinky swears mean nothing these days? Oh my I'm a twenty one year old who still uses pinky swears as a legitimate form of agreement.

"Fine I won't mention it again. Now tell me what has you not crying" Paige got the conversation back on track.

"Jake called"

"Are you two back together? Wait did you break up with Scott? I mean Scott seems nice and all, but I mean come on we all knew you and Jake were going to end up together again eventually. Tyler owes me twenty bucks. I told him it wouldn't take you guys until August" Paige was rambling, again.

"Paige slow down. Scott and I are still together, and Jake and I are worse" I sighed as the whole conversation replayed in my head.

"What!? Things were going so well! What happened?" the sound of popcorn started back up again.

"He called, he was drunk, and he went on for five minutes about how much he hated me and how he wished we never met" I slid down the wall until I was practically laying on the cool floor.

"Gosh why is he such an idiot?" Paige groaned, "Kayla he was drunk. You know Jake rarely drinks enough to get drunk, so when he does you can't expect him to be rational. I'm sure he didn't mean it" I couldn't tell who Paige was trying to convince, me or herself.

"They say alcohol brings out the truth. I think he really does hate me. How am I supposed to face him at camp tomorrow?" I ran a hand through my hair, and all the knots gave me one more reason to be frustrated.

"Well if you truly believe he meant what he said, which I don't, then he's the one who messed things up. You just go about your business, and if he decides to explain himself let him, but for now I'd leave it be" Paige said through a mouth full of popcorn.

"Alright, but please don't leave my side tomorrow" I begged.

"Pinky swear" Paige promised. See you're never too old for pinky swears.

When we said our goodbyes and hung up I just sat there on the floor for a while. That was the longest I had ever voluntarily sat in a dress. I guess black suited my mood.

Eventually I dragged myself off the floor, put on some sweats, and crawled into bed. I fell asleep dreading what the morning would bring.

***

I climbed out of Paige's car the next morning and took a deep breath before hauling my bag out of the back seat.

"Ready?" Paige offered me her hand.

"Ready" I grabbed her hand and headed toward the beach.

"Just act casual" Paige started tip toeing across the sand.

"That's your definition of casual? Really?" I swear she had the maturity of a five year old.

"I'm basically a spy. Don't judge me. Gosh" Paige gasped dramatically before heading to her court. So much for not leaving my side.

I started pulling balls out of my ball bag and setting up cones on my court for a drill.

A few minutes later I spotted Jake walking down from the parking lot, hand in hand with Mary. I turned away to ensure we didn't make eye contact. Thankfully the kids started arriving shortly after.

"Alright guys we have a game in an hour so we have to practice hard. Can you all show me how your serves are coming along?" I corralled the munchkins and set them to work before they could start creating trouble.

Seeing their improvement each week made me so proud. Not to brag, but my team was obviously the best.

"Pssstt Kayla" I heard a whisper from behind me.

"Paige what are you doing? You can't hide behind that pole. Everyone can still see you" I rolled my eyes at the 5'10" girl trying to hide behind a narrow pole.

"Every party needs a pooper that's why we invited you" she stuck her tongue out at me before coming out of "hiding" and walking over to me.

"Oh hush. What are you doing over here? Don't you have kids to teach?" I asked as I caught a stray ball and tossed it to the nearest munchkin.

"That, Kayla dearest, is the beauty of water breaks. Plus if you're going to hear bad news don't you want to hear it from your best friend?"

"Oh boy. What now?" I felt my stomach drop.

"Guess whose team you're playing in scrimmages today?" Paige grimaced.

"Jake's? Are you kidding me? Does the universe have something against me? I mean this is just cruel" I was kicking at a mound of sand when Paige's uncontrollable laughter distracted me. "What is possibly funny about this situation?" I hoped my confusion was evident on my face.

"I was completely joking. You're not playing Jake today. Your reaction was worse than I expected" Paige was slowly trying to control her laughter.

I shot her a glare before kicking sand at her.

"Too soon? Yeah too soon. You're not playing Jake today, but you are playing Mary's team" Paige insisted on pulling me into a hug no matter how much I pretended to resist; however, I'm pretty sure the hug was just a ploy to hide her laughter.

"Get back to your court before I decide you're not funny and tackle you in the sand" I shoved her playfully before turning back to my team.

"Hi Kayla. The kids are so excited to play your team. Looks like you have some sweet kiddies over hear. Oh this is going to be so much fun" Mary practically skipped over with her team in tow.

"They're great kids. Which side do you want?" I had to concentrate on keeping a smile on my face. Don't get me wrong, Mary's nice and all, but there was such a thing as too cheery.

"Oh either one is just fine with us. Call us team flexible. Alright kids let's get into position just like we practiced" Mary clapped her hands.

"Alright guys show them what you got. Don't be afraid of the ball" I set them up and the game started.

If I counted the number of times Mary bounced up and down and clapped during that game I'm guessing the number would be well above thirty. It's like the girl had springs in her feet.

I don't mean to rain on her parade, but I don't know how her kids tolerated her squeaky overly peppy voice all day. My annoyance with her had nothing to do with the jealousy problem I definitely do not have.

"Good game Kayla! This was fun! I can't wait to play your team again!" Mary hugged me as her kids went off to meet their parents. If she was this cheerful after a loss I didn't want to see her after a win. Her face would probably break from smiling so hard.

"You too" I gave her a genuine smile.

"Mary you ready to go?" Jake's voice drifted over my shoulder and I froze.

"I sure am! One second, come help me grab all my stuff and we can head out" Mary skipped over to grab Jake's hand.

"Hey Kayla. How'd your game go?" Jake smiled at me as Mary practically pulled his arm out of its socket.

"Great. We won" I answered hesitantly. This was completely unexpected.

"That's awesome. See you later this week" Jake waved before walking toward the parking lot with Mary.

What...

"Was that Jake talking to you? Oh boy how bad was the fight?" Paige was clearly trying to assess the situation.

"There was no fight. He said hi and didn't seem mad at all" I was still staring after him, completely confused.

"That's great! Told you he doesn't really hate you" Paige did a little happy dance.

"Maybe" I wouldn't say great, more like weird. What was going on?

Well Jake way to be unbelievably confusing. Let me know what you think and don't forget to vote!