AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I stopped and thought for a minute. There were people from my old team, school, and youth academy that I spoke to, but as far as having an influence on my life went…they didn’t affect me either way. Same with ex-girlfriends—I’d never had any serious relationships, so there hadn’t ever been a girl who had been important enough to me to make the list. I’d never known my mum—she’d left right after I was born and had passed away when I was four or five, and my dad had been an only child whose parents had both passed away before I was born, so I had no other relatives I knew of.
I guessed I could include some of my new teammates. A few of them already felt like friends, not just teammates.
I added three more names to the list.
Reuben Mendy (my teammate)
Lars Nielsen (my teammate)
Ainsley Shaw (my teammate)
The blank space below Ainsley’s name stared at me accusingly. I growled under my breath, almost stabbing my pen through the page as I added one final name.
Theo Lewin (my teammate/hated rival/pretentious wanker)
15
THEO
Of course, the place I’d chosen to come to for some peace and quiet was also the place my unwanted roommate had chosen. It appeared that he was scribbling in a notebook, and he had earbuds in, so with any luck, he wouldn’t notice me. I began to circle around the back of the rocks and then stopped.
“What’s that?”
Jordan’s head shot up. When he caught sight of me, he slapped his notebook shut, yanking his earbuds out of his ears. “Oh, now you’ve decided you want to talk to me?”
This had been a mistake. “No. I simply asked a question.”
“I didn’t hear you. Music.” He pointed at his ears and then pushed his sunglasses on top of his head. Today, his eye colour matched the sea. “What did you say?”
“I asked what that was.” I nodded towards the pile of rubbish at his feet.
“Oh, that?” He grinned, and I had to look away. “It’s debris that got washed up on the beach. I collected it as I was walking.”
Despite the fact that I should have stepped away, I moved closer, crouching down to examine the pile. “Why?”
“Why was it washed up, or why did I collect it?” For once, there was no hostility in his tone, just curiosity.
“The second one.” Picking up a headless doll, I examined it before throwing it back down with a shudder. Creepy. “What exactly do you plan to do with all of this?”
“I’m going to dispose of it responsibly. All this shit is really bad for the environment, you know. And the island’s ecosystem.”
I stared at him, temporarily lost for words. “You care about the environment?”
“No need to sound so surprised,” he muttered, his lips forming a bratty little pout. I rolled my eyes.
“I didn’t know you cared about anything other than yourself. Oh, that’s it, isn’t it? You’re doing this to score points, to make yourself look good.”
His eyes darkened, real anger entering them. Throwing his notebook down, he leapt to his feet and shoved at my chest, hard. I hadn’t been expecting it, and I fell backwards, taking him with me.
“You arrogant fucking knobhead,” he snarled as we rolled, sand flying around us, gettingeverywhere. “Just because I like to show the body I work fucking hard to get doesn’t mean I’m a brainless himbo. I care about things, not only myself. You’re just too fucking stuck-up to see past the end of your own nose.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” I kicked at his shin while he got in a blow to my kidneys that left me gasping.
He stilled above me, gripping my wrists painfully to hold me in place. “It means that you judge me by your own fucking upper-class standards, which means I’ll always be found lacking in your eyes. You did it from the first day we met, and you’re still fucking doing it now.”
“Maybe if you showed this side of yourself once in a while instead of just posing for endless selfies and fucking underwear brands, then people might realise that you’re not as shallow as you come across.”
“Fuck. You.” He shoved at me again and then launched himself to his feet. Grimacing, he rubbed at his shin where I’d kicked him. “Asshole.”
