Page 50 of Spring Awakening

“I can fix it,” Zach replies, sitting up. “That’s the trade Mum forced me into when she wasn’t sure my teenage knees would be able to handle rugby.”

Ezra looks at his legs. “Fair.”

“Shut up, man,” Zach says with a laugh.

Ezra runs his fingers along the band of his socks.

“You got the certificates and shit?”

“Yeah. The only smart thing I’ve ever done is keep up to date with that.”

Ezra hums. “When are you free?”

Zach shrugs. “Whenever. If they need it done by the weekend, we can get out of whatever Frankie is going to force us to do tomorrow.”

Speak of the devil. “You lads alright, or you wanna join the team?” Frankie asks, her hands on her hips.

Ezra rolls his eyes. He’s annoyingly fit. Zach thinks about telling Mali that, but then he gets annoyed because she might agree. “We’ll do the rest of practice, but we’re out for laps tomorrow,” Ezra says.

“Like fuck you are.”

“Sis, calm your tits. Zach’s a leccy.”

Frankie raises her eyebrows. “For real?”

“Yeah,” Zach replies.

“Neat. Thanks. You doin’ it tomorrow?”

“Yeah.”

This is the most Frankie has ever spoken to him without throwing a random insult in. He’s not sure he likes it.

“Morning or evening?”

“After training. Well, after part one of training.”

“Sweet. It’ll be a laugh.”

Zach blinks. “Excuse me?” He’s not sure he agreed to a watch party. With his luck, he’ll electrocute himself and blow every fuse in the house.

“I invited Mali over for tea tomorrow. Dad wants to meet her so he can start spending Ezzy’s sponsorship money.”

Ezra groans. “I haven’t agreed to anything.”

“Yeah, that’s the problem, bro. Mali is running around like a headless chicken trying to get you to sit down, and you are running away, like a pussy.”

“I don’t wanna get stuck like before,” Ezra says, and Zach wishes they were good enough friends that he could ask what he meant.

“If it helps, Mali’s been great with contracts for me. I got stung with one ages ago and didn’t even wanna do Blyke. She’ll sort it for you.”

Ezra looks at him. “You got the hots for her. You can’t be impartial.”

Zach blushes so hard Frankie laughs. “Real.”

“Shut up,” Zach responds, but then the object of all his desires strolls onto the rugby pitch, and he sighs audibly.

She walks straight over to them. “Hey,” she says, with a bright smile.

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