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  And she wasn’t just good at volleyball. She was good at teaching the rest of us how to play too.

  Afterward, we went to have dinner together at the dining hall. Laughing and joking and talking with everyone? I had to admit it was a needed distraction from tutoring, schoolwork, and the giant pile of homework I couldn’t seem to juggle lately.

  So Sara had been right. Volleyball took up some time, but it sure got rid of all the stress. Even our weekly study group for American History had really helped us all do well on the test.

  Plus, on Saturday, we won our next game. We won the next one too. Austin and Nate were beside themselves. And I got the feeling that Brooklyn liked the distraction from what she had going on too.

  The team officially voted her and Nate team captains, and another true smile lit up her face. No more sadness in her eyes.

  We were headed home after the game, everybody going their own way when I caught up to her on the sidewalk. My dorm wasn’t far from hers. “Hey, can I walk with you?”

  Brooklyn nodded. “Yeah.”

  Shelley had already left for some kind of club meeting, so it was just the two of us.

  We weren’t far from our dorms, even taking our time and talking. A minute later, the sound of screeching tires coming to a stop a few feet ahead made us stop in our tracks. Right away, I recognized the car.

  Brooklyn’s ex got out, slamming the driver’s door closed. With a serious look on his face, he came right up to us.

  He looked me up and down like he was about to say something, but she quickly took his hand and led him away.

  Even so, I heard him say, “Why won’t you answer my calls anymore?”

  She glanced back at me, and I could tell she was embarrassed. Meanwhile, I didn’t know if I should wait for her or keep walking. This guy looked like he was up to no good, and I wasn’t sure if I should leave her alone with him or mind my own business.

  Brooklyn’s hushed voice barely reached me several feet away. “I told you I can’t talk to you right now.” I walked a little further, sat down on a bench, and pretended to look at something on my phone, but really, I strained to hear if everything was okay.

  If he tried anything…

  “I know, but I just want to be alone right now…” I heard her say.

  I glanced in their direction. She began walking away, but he grabbed her arm.

  Before I knew it, I was walking toward them.

  Her ex held onto her. “Don’t walk away from me like that,” he said in a low voice.

  Just looking at him you’d never imagine him to be the kind of guy to push a girl around. He had on khaki slacks and a nice shirt, but I couldn’t have cared less about appearances.

  Brooklyn tried to pull her arm away. “Ethan,” she cried.

  “Hey,” I said. My stomach did a flip as I fully realized what I was doing. But I couldn’t just let him keep doing this to her. “She said leave her alone.”

  He turned toward me, finally letting her go. I wasn’t sure if he recognized me from that first night of tutoring or not, but either way, he looked like he was ready to punch me in the face.

  Brooklyn stepped in between us. “Please, Ethan, can we talk later?” she pleaded.

  Ethan glanced at her and then back at me. Every inch of his face told me he wanted to give me a piece of his mind, but instead, he addressed her. “What, are you with him now, Brooklyn? Is that what this is?” he asked.

  “Really, Ethan?” she whisper shouted. “Just stop. He’s just a friend. Like I said, we will talk later, okay?”

  All he did was stare at her like she was the worst person in the world.

  I came up beside her, especially since several people had stopped to watch what was going on. Brooklyn kept on a straight face on, but it was easy to tell she was hardly keeping it together. I ached to take her hand and reminded myself it would only make things worse. “Let’s go,” I said quietly.

  She turned around slowly and walked with me.

  “I’ll never forget this, Brooklyn,” Ethan said out loud. “You did this to us, not me.”

  She glanced back at him one more time.

  Finally, he got back in his car and drove off, his tires screeching just like before, leaving a burnt smell in the air.

  She stared after him, and my heart broke a little bit for her. The tears began cascading down her face, and she walked off into the night and into her building.

  I took a few steps, wanting to go after her, but then it hit me that if she wanted me to comfort her she wouldn’t have just left.

  As much as that thought stung, I told myself that this was something she had to deal with.

  And as much as I wanted to be there for her and tell her a million times that she deserved someone better, I didn’t think it was something she wanted to hear right now.

  Not from me, the math tutor.

  At our next volleyball practice, Brooklyn pretended to be okay, but I could tell she wasn’t.

  She kept giving us pointers on how to defend, but Nate must have realized she wasn’t herself because he took over after a few minutes. The big clue? She couldn’t nail a single move.

  After practice, she left without saying a word instead of hanging out with the rest of us. I was surprised when she showed up at tutoring the next day, thinking she’d skip it.

  It was unusually busy, even with a couple of extra people tutoring tonight. I did a double-take when she came in, but then I gave her a small wave, expecting her to come right over. Plus I was the only person available. But instead, she glanced around like she was looking for someone else, even though she’d clearly seen me.

  I knew better than to take it personally.

  She finally walked over and set her stuff down without saying anything. I didn’t say anything either.

  I let her have that. Just a regular tutoring session with someone who happened to know how to solve the calculus problems in front of us. Not tutoring with a friend, the guy that she played volleyball with. I kept things one hundred percent business, for her sake.

  Thirty minutes later, she gave me a half-hearted thanks, packed up her stuff, and walked back out the door, hardly meeting my eyes the entire time. Fifteen minutes later, my shift was over, and I left too.

  As I approached the bus stop, I was surprised to see the lone figure with long caramel-brown hair on the bench, thinking the bus would’ve been here by now.

  I wondered if I should give her space and just walk home instead. Then again, I really needed to get home and work on my own assignments, and walking home would mean a forty-minute walk.

  So I went and sat on the bench, but I didn’t say anything.

  I glanced at Brooklyn for a second before getting on my phone, pretending to be busy. I wanted to ask her how she was doing, even if it was obvious that she wasn’t doing that great. Wishing there was something I could say, I exhaled and kept quiet. Anything to make her feel just a little bit better.

  Well, there was one thing I could ask her. “How did your quiz go?” I asked.

  She sniffed, and just when I thought that she’d decided to ignore me, she finally spoke. “I passed. With a B.”

  I nodded and smiled. “I knew you could do it.”

  Brooklyn gave me a ghost of a smile, and we went back to not saying anything. A few more minutes passed by.

  I tried to think of something else to say when the sound of her voice caught me off guard. “It wasn’t always like that, you know. He used to be the nicest person. I don’t know why he’s changed so much.”

  I bit my lip, not knowing what say to that. “I guess my parents were the same way. For most of my life, probably since before I was born, they each changed. I guess they didn’t feel the same way about each other anymore. They got divorced a few years ago,” I said.

  “I’m sorry,” she replied softly.

  I shrugged. “I think they’re better off. Not fighting all the time. They just weren’t happy anymore, so what was the point?”

  She se
emed to think about that. “How long were they together?”

  “Almost twenty years,” I said.

  Her mouth fell open. “That’s like half their lives, and they threw it all away just like that?” She looked at me like I had all the answers.

  I gathered my thoughts for a second, wanting to say things exactly right. “They would’ve thrown their whole lives away if they’d stayed together. They were miserable. We were all miserable. Now they can each figure out what’s next for them, I guess. My mom’s still really sad about it, but I think she’s just more lonely than anything. She got used to being with my dad, even if she was unhappy. But now she can go and find somebody who does make her happy. She deserves that.” I looked at Brooklyn.

  She stared at the ground.

  “Everybody deserves that,” I said.

  Something about the way she turned to me made me think she’d finally heard what I’d been saying. “But how do you know? How do you know if you should give up or keep trying?” She blinked. “Do you believe in soul mates, Adam? What if—“

  “No, I don’t,” I said, and for some reason, I thought of Sara as soon as I said that. “I believe that maybe there is more than one person out there for you. And they may not be right for you forever. Sometimes, it’s just time to move on.”

  I wasn’t sure if I’d said that last part to her or to myself.

  Maybe both.

  Even with just the street light around us, I could see a quiet tear roll down her cheek. Part of me wanted to do something for her. Give her a hug maybe, a shoulder to cry on, but another part of me said that was not the right thing to do.

  Instead, we sat and waited for the bus. We didn’t say anything else.

  The next Saturday we played another game of volleyball, and oddly enough, volleyball became my second favorite thing to do. The entire team had really grown on me.

  But most of all, I liked hanging out with Brooklyn. Our tutoring sessions took first place for things I looked forward to.

  She didn’t show up every day, but whenever she did, I liked getting to know her and watching how she worked out her calculus problems. I liked seeing her struggle less and less with math. But most of all, I loved to watch her play volleyball.

  She was good, really good. She was the entire reason we’d gone undefeated so far.

  And when it came to volleyball, there was a lot that she could teach me.

  She laughed every time I did an underhand serve. I had no idea why. I preferred the underhand to the overhand serve.

  “Am I doing something wrong?” I asked finally. But she just shook her head and smiled.

  “Maybe I can pay you back for all that tutoring with some serving lessons,” she joked.

  When it was her turn, I bopped her on the head with the ball before handing it to her so she could do her signature overhand serve.

  Her hand slapped the ball hard.

  Ace.

  She got to serve again.

  I got back into position and waited for her to go. She looked at me for a second before I turned my attention back to the other team. I shook my head and tried to focus. I had just fudged a pass a minute ago, and I didn’t want to do that again.

  But this time, when Brooklyn served the ball, it hit the net and fell onto the sand on our side.

  I stood up straight and looked at her, curious. She never missed.

  Nate tossed the ball back to the other team. Now it was their turn to serve.

  It must’ve been a fluke because when the other team served the ball straight at Brooklyn, she defended the ball easily. It popped back up into the air.

  Austin set the ball in my direction. I ran, jumped in the air, and struck the ball across to the other side.

  But the other team was pretty good themselves, and they didn’t let the ball hit the sand. They struck it back to our side, and Brooklyn defended it again. Nate set it again. This time, when Austin struck the ball, it didn’t come back up.

  Austin and Nate gave each other a high-five. Another point for us.

  We won two out of three games, winning the entire match. I was pretty sure were starting to become famous around campus because no one had been able to beat us yet.

  After that, the team grabbed some burgers and milkshakes. We were tired of the campus food, so we hung out at a local diner for a while, laughing, talking, and procrastinating on homework. Soon, Shelley’s friends picked her up. Then half of us got back in Austin’s car, and he drove us back to campus. Nate drove the other half of us back.

  Brooklyn ended up sitting next to me. I couldn’t help but notice how tan her thighs were. I looked away.

  She nudged my shoulder. “I passed my second quiz,” she told me quietly.

  “Seriously?” I asked with a smile, meeting her gaze and noticing how close she was.

  She grinned. “What? You doubt your tutoring powers? I actually got an A this time. It really looks like I’m not gonna have to retake this class again next semester.”

  “That’s great,” I replied.

  She exhaled. “Do you know how great it feels to actually understand what the TA’s teaching? That has never happened to me before.”

  Her happy face had me smiling like an idiot. “Pretty soon you won’t need me at all,” I teased. I meant that as a joke, but then I also realized it was true.

  The semester was already halfway over, and she wouldn’t need tutoring from me forever.

  And volleyball wouldn’t last forever either. We just had a few more games left. And we didn’t have any classes together, so I wondered when I’d ever get to see Brooklyn.

  She might have realized the same thing because she gave me a weird glance and then looked away.

  I stared out the window, trying to think of some way or some excuse to keep seeing her, but I couldn’t come up with anything.

  At least nothing that didn’t sound completely lame.

  Maybe if we were lucky we’d have a class together next semester, but I doubted it.

  I doubted she’d have another math class this year, but who knew. Maybe we could still hang out.

  Austin finally dropped us off back at our dorms.

  We thanked him and waved bye. I glanced up at the sky, noticing how dark and cloudy it had gotten on the way home.

  Brooklyn gave me a small wave as she walked to her building, and I waved back as I left to go to mine.

  I wondered when I’d see her again.

  But why did I care so much?

  I didn’t want to think of why so instead I pushed all thoughts of her out of my head.

  The next time I saw Brooklyn was at the following volleyball game. She must have been doing well on her own in math because she’d skipped tutoring all week.

  Meanwhile, our team barely won by two points. That was the minimum you needed to win by in volleyball. The game went gone on and on because we’d be up by one and then the other team was up by one and then we’d catch up again. But finally, we won, and it was over.

  Nate and Austin cheered and screamed at another victory. This had been our best game yet.

  “That was awesome, you guys,” Nate told everyone. He looked at Brooklyn in awe. “Brooklyn, that defense, girl. We would’ve lost for sure without your skills.”

  Everyone agreed, and she pretended it was no big deal, but really, she loved the praise.

  I love seeing her eyes light up whenever we complimented her. But it was the truth. This team was nothing without her.

  And this was just intramural. It was solely for fun, but it’d been pretty awesome to hang out with Austin, Brooklyn, Shelley, Terry, and Nate.

  I still felt a little overwhelmed with school and work and everything else sometimes, but I hadn’t felt this happy in a long time, especially when the team hung out after each game.

  Winning was awesome, but a couple of large supreme pizzas were even better.

  After we were completely stuffed, all of us began walking back to our cars. Today it was Nate and I driving everyone back s
ince Austin’s car was out of commission.

  The rumble of thunder overhead had us craning our heads.

  “Looks like rain,” Nate said.

  Before we made it our cars, rain poured down in buckets.

  Amidst shrieks and laughs, we made a run for it. It didn’t help that we’d all parked down the street.

  Brooklyn screamed, “I can’t believe none of us brought an umbrella.”

  “I have an umbrella,” I shouted back. Everyone turned to look at me. “In my car.”

  Austin shoved me, and we all laughed out loud.

  By the time we got to my car, Brooklyn and I were soaking wet. Since Shelley had left ages ago, it was just the two of us.

  We closed the doors quickly, and Brooklyn tried to dry her face and legs with her own T-shirt as best as she could.

  I started my car up. It took us longer than usual to get back to our dorms because of the endless rain. Finally, I found a spot in the parking deck, grabbed the umbrella from the back seat, and we walked back towards our dorm buildings.

  “Your dorm is on the way to mine, so I can drop you off if you want,” I told her, umbrella in hand.

  Brooklyn nodded. “Thanks.”

  “You think it would’ve let up by now,” I said as we headed into the rain.

  “I think it’s raining even harder,” she replied.

  The sky responded to her statement with another flash of lightning, followed closely by a boom of thunder.

  It was really coming down out there, and it was beautiful.

  Trying to squeeze together under an umbrella made for one person, we were both getting soaked again. Part of me wanted to take her hand as we jogged through the mostly empty campus, but I didn’t.

  The closer we got to her building, the more the wind picked up along with the rain. By the time we were just a few feet away from Brooklyn’s dorm, the umbrella was practically useless, our clothes and hair sopping wet.

  Then, a big gust of wind turned the umbrella inside out.

  Brooklyn screamed, and I fought to fix it and get it over our heads again.