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|| Chapter 17 ||

I hate the beach. The fact that it's supposedly 'refreshing' sitting in a pile of dirt for the day and getting saltwater all over you, is a lie. Don't get me wrong, the beach can be fun but its those moments when you're packing up and there's just sand everywhere, you feel sticky and gross from the saltwater-sunscreen mix and you have sand in places where sand should never be, that ruins the rest of your day.

The whole family decided to come out for the beach day with my friends. I'm sitting next to Alyssa and Kendall who are both lying on their stomachs, trying to tan, when a bunch of sand smacks me in the face.

"Boy, if you don't stop throwing sand in my face I will kill you in your sleep," I threaten Sebastian who is too busy digging a hole with Maddie to pay attention to my threats. Natalie, Harry's girlfriend looks at me, alarmed.

"Took that a little too far, Hun," my mother replies from behind me where she's sitting with my dad under the umbrella he set up for them. She's got a big black floppy hat on with matching sunglasses while she's reading a book. My father is sitting next to her with his swim trunks on and a white button-up on.

I stand up, grumbling to myself and dust the sand off of myself as best as I can. "Yo Tess!" Jesse, Drew's best friend, calls my name from the shore where all the guys (Isaac, Mateo, Benji) are standing around throwing a football to each other. Drew has his aviator sunglasses on, hiding the black eye he got from the fight last night as he throws the football in my direction. I plant my feet in the sand and catch the football before jogging over to them, the whole moment brings me back to the first time I went to the beach with Drew after my sister and her friends had finished their finals.

*Flashback*

"Why do you keep ruining my fun?" I growl at Drew, who had just caught the football I threw in the hopes of hitting Sebastian.

Alyssa leans in next to me, "Maybe you just don't like having competition for once." Charlotte and her friends chuckle behind me, causing my to tightens my hands around my backpack.

"Okay no, you are way off," I tell her with a flat look, shutting down her thought process.

"But is she?" Olivia asks slyly, coming up and nudging me in the ribs.

I clench my jaw and drop my stuff on the sand, leaving it there as I walk away from everyone. They yell to get me to come back but I ignore them and keep walking. I stop when I hit the rocky area that has all the little tide pools and bend down to inspect what's in them, trying to distract myself.

"Tess?"

"What do you want?" A sigh escapes my lips, this is the last person that should come after me right now. "You coming after me is going to make them talk."

"I figured, Alyssa seemed a little too happy to send me after you," he chuckles, coming to a stop next to me. We stand next to each other in silence for a few moments watching the waves.

"You know, it's really annoying having you as a friend." A little crab sticks his head out of the water and I watch him wander on the rocks before slipping into another tide pool.

"Yeah, why's that?" He sounds amused.

"Because, ever since you showed up, they're a lot more interested in my life now, it's exhausting," I pick up a rock and weigh it in each hand before throwing it as far as I can into the oncoming waves.

"Oh yeah?" He asks, picking up his own rock and throwing it a inch farther than mine. I hold in the urge to grumble out loud. "You sure it's not because you're no longer the sporty one in the group?"

"Did you see me hit that home run while tipsy at that party? Yeah, I think I'm still the sporty one."

"So then why are you upset?" He moves to stand next to me.

I look up at him, "I'm not upset, I'm pissed off at the attention."

"Oh yes, a pretty girl getting attention, the horror," he laughs, giving me a teasing grin.

"Bite me," I retort, rolling my eyes. His laugh is so spontaneous that it makes me crack a small smile.

"If you insist," he shrugs leaning forward to bite my arm and I push his face away.

He laughs and looks back at the waves and I find myself watching him for a few seconds. "You know, you're my best friend."

He looks over at me with a small smile on his face, "Me? What would Alyssa say?" he pretends to be shocked.

"Her and Kendall are best friends, I know that." I sit down on a rock, holding one leg against my chest and letting the other dip in a tide pool. "I've never had a best friend. People think I'm too intense." He sits down next to me. "Hard to get along with or control, I guess."

"Control?" He asks, tilting his head to the side.

"Peer pressure doesn't affect me, never has, never will. People don't like that."

"I think it's cool. You're not a pushover, if someone does something wrong, you tell them straight. It's refreshing," he smiles at me.

"That's why you're my best friend," we make eye contact and his smile grows wider.

"Well I'm honored," he claps his hands and stands up, "Now come on best friend, the waves wait for no one." He holds his hand out for me to grab and I feel him pull me up. "Since we're best friends do you think we should have like a theme song or something?"

"Don't push it."

*End of Flashback*

"Don't you think, Tessy?" Charlotte's voice interrupts my thoughts but I don't make it obvious that I did not hear a word before her sentence.

I shrug, folding my arms across my chest, "Eh, I guess."

Isaac furrows his eyebrows, "You guess?"

"So you want Drew and you to be on the same team for volleyball or to be captains?" Jesse asks for clarification, helping me catch up in what I had missed.

"I rate we just do girls versus boys, Drew and I don't need to be in charge of anything. In fact, I nominate Olivia and Sebastian as team leaders," I decide, looking around the circle to all the girls.

Olivia claps her hands and moves to stand next to me, "Oh it is so fucking on."

"Okay then, girls versus boys," Liam, Kendall's boyfriend ends the conversation as he moves over to one side of the public volleyball net.

"I wanna play," a voice comes from behind us. Maddie is standing there staring up at us with her arms behind her back.

"Sorry Munchkin," I say to Maddie, patting her on the head, "You're a little small for this game."

She scowls, shoving my hand off her head, "At least I'm not a skyscraper," she rudely replies twisting on her heel in the sand and walking back up to my parents. I widen my eyes and look at my sisters who are staring back just as confused.

"Okay then," I say, breaking the silence.

"Yo Harold, let's go it's boys versus girls, volleyball!" Sebastian shouts to where he's lying in the sun next to Natalie. He looks over at her and says a couple words and she shakes her head in reply but he puts a hand on her shoulder and says something else to which she nods her head. They both get up and come over to us.

"Go easy on Natalie," Harry says and glares at Sebastian as he opens his mouth to retort.

Sebastian shuts his mouth quickly, nodding with a fake smile on his face, "Easy, yup, that's exactly what we'll do."

Olivia grabs Natalie's arm, pulling her to the edge of the taped line. "Just stay towards the back if you don't want any action, don't worry the boys aren't that strong so it won't get back here," she winks at Natalie who giggles. Olivia turns to the rest of us, eyeing everyone carefully. "Okay, I know fuck all about volleyball someone help me."

We all laugh at her. Kendall clears her throat and gains everyone's attention. "Well, it may help that I'm on the volleyball team at school," she shrugs with a smirk on her face.

"Oh my god, yes!" Olivia shouts loudly reaching forward to hug Kendall.

Kendall points at each one of us placing us into positions.

I stare at Sebastian standing directly across from me on the other side of the net. He moves his hand across his throat and points at me but I just smile and flip him off.

"Okay guys let's keep it clean," Jesse says, holding the volleyball in his hands as he gets ready to start. All the Hayes siblings including Olivia stare at Jesse with blank expressions. He rolls his eyes, "Fine, no mercy, damn dramatic family."

Jesse throws the ball in the air and smacks it onto our side of the net. Kendall hits it in the air setting it for Courtney who jumps up and spikes it onto the boys side but Mateo dives onto the sand and manages to hit it in the air. Drew hits it in the air, setting it for Sebastian who spikes it directly in the middle of us making Charlotte dive for it but it hits the sand before she can get to it.

"YES!" The boys shout, high-fiving each other. Sebastian stands in front of the net and pretends to brush sand off his shoulder with a smirk on his face.

Jesse throws the ball in the air and smacks it to our side. I move backwards and set the ball and Kendall jumps forward and spikes it so fast that it catches all of them off guard for a second as the ball smacks the sand with a thud. Kendall just smiles sweetly and moves to the back to start the next set.

This back and forth goes on for the next thirty minutes. The boys are down by one point and we've had two casualties so far, which I would say is pretty good for us. Benji had gotten a spike to the face and my mom had to make sure he didn't have a concussion (he didn't) and Quinn twisted her ankle diving to save the ball.

We've decided that this would be the match point since it's lunch time and we're all getting antsy for food. Kendall hits the volleyball onto their side of the net and Drew hits it in the air, setting it and Sebastian tries to spike it but Olivia hits goes on one knee and hits it into the air. Charlotte sets it and I spike it onto their side. It hits the sand and the girls start cheering.

"Uh-uh-uh! That was out," Sebastian yells at us, gaining out attention.

I look at the ball, which is clearly in bounds, "No it wasn't, are you blind?"

"No but obviously you are, it's out, that's point to us so we're tie," Sebastian says, folding his arms across his chest, challenging me.

Challenge accepted.

I fold my arms over my chest, mimicking him, "Bass, look at where the ball landed and look at it in line with the net, it's clearly in."

"No it's not, you don't get the point." A few guys move towards Sebastian and start inspecting it, slowly agreeing with him the more he explains.

"Come on, babe, don't be a sore loser," Olivia whines, rolling her eyes.

"I am not a sore loser, I am a gracious loser but I'm not a loser right now because it's in," he insists.

I step up to the net so that Sebastian's face is a few inches from mine, "I guess there's only one way to settle this, Bass."

He smirks staring at my face, not having to look down since I'm a couple inches shorter than him. "Looks like it. The Hayes Way it is then."

I nod my head in agreement, "The Hayes Way. Tomorrow, at dawn."

"Dawn?" He scrunches his nose, losing his cocky demeanor, "It's the summer, I don't function before noon."

"Typical," I roll my eyes, "Fine. Noon."

Olivia walks up to us with a questioning glance, "What's the verdict?"

"We're deciding this The Hayes Way," Sebastian informs her with a solemn facial expression.

Her face brightens and turns around to face the rest of our friends, "We're doing it The Hayes Way!" There's a few cheers from my siblings, Drew shakes his head with a smile on her face and Alyssa looks like she might throw up any second, but everyone else looks a little confused or terrified.

"Fuck me, this is going to be painful," Jesse mutters, sighing because he's heard of but hasn't personally been a part of The Hayes Way.

"Uh, what's The Hayes Way?" Isaac asks, putting his hand up in the air.

"The Hayes Way is something that us siblings created as a way to settle all arguments and debates, basically: if we can't come to an agreeable conclusion, we fight to the death over it," Harry explains, throwing the volleyball up in the air a couple times.

"'To the death'?" Mateo emphasizes, his eyes wide, clearly not putting murder past us Hayes siblings.

"You'll be fine," I wave my hand dismissively. "Just make sure you're wearing enough layers." I look over at Sebastian with a smile, "This is war."

|| ✨ ||

Okay, one problem with having so many characters in a scene...trying to make sure I mention each of them!

So, does anyone know The Hayes Way? It should be pretty obvious if you've read the bonus JMYN chapters.

How is everyone doing during quarantine? Love being with your family 24/7? Slowly plotting someone's murder because they keep eating your snacks? Let me know!!

Sending all my love! Stay safe,

Sammipott xx