head over heels

4 ~ damage control

[A/N - hehe]

The next day before school, Ethans foul mood radiated through the house. Emma stayed as far away as possible, sending a questioning look at Evan as he sat on the counter eating his cereal, he just shrugged at her and mouthed, 'volleyball.'

She grabbed one of Ethans protein bars and a cup of coffee, and retreated swiftly down the hall.

"He can't really be serious," Ethan wailed from the couch, "He can't just not play? He lives for volleyball."

Evan just shrugged, "I dunno."

"Fuck i want to kill him, we can't afford to miss any practice before the championships start in three months. Like seriously, Dan could get better?"

Evan winced. That was unlikely. Dan had a foul attitude, regardless of his inability to throw a ball right, and even if he was a good setter, he would undoubtedly be an annoyance. He thrived off drama. Evan could only imagine what he would do with the popularity he would get from being on the starting lineup.

"Drop him from the team Ethan," Evan hummed.

Ethan sat up, glaring at him, "Seriously, you too?"

"He's bad, and he treated Willow like shit, still does," Evan muttered, "Still calls her William to this day."

Ethans brow furrowed at that, "Really?"

Willow's parents were close to theirs, he'd known the girl way back from when they'd all been kids, and Willow had been Evans best friend way back before she'd transitioned. Ethan also knew her well. No one had really been all that surprised when she'd come out. And Ethan to his credit, despite being as clueless as a blind monkey, always stood up for her.

"Yep," Evan said accusingly.

"God, " Ethan groaned. "He's awful, on the court and off."

Evan just shrugged at that, "You really want him on the team then?"

Ethan looked torn, "No, no of course not, i just didn't have any other real options, Hugo is the only one of them thats halfway decent, but he's our libero, if we put him in as a setter, we'd have a huge hole in our defence and—"

Evan stood up, tuning Ethan out as he went to wash his bowl in the sink.

"Can we go?"

Ethan sighed, "Yeah, yeah fine," he muttered as he grabbed his bag and keys.

"Emma—" Evan called down the hallway, "We're going, c'mon."

After a few seconds, Emma emerged, her nose in her phone. Evan fell into line with her as Ethan made his way out to the car.

"How was your first day, did it suck?"

The girl shrugged, "It was fine."

Evan nodded, leaving it at that. He'd have a look out for her later, but he knew better than to push his sister into talking about her first day more than she wanted to. He was the only sibling she actually talked to for a reason, and he wasn't about to fuck it up for nothing.

They slid into the car, and the ride ensued in silence.

...

"He's in AP chem?" Willow exclaimed, looking up from her textbook in surprise.

They sat in the library. He and Willow were already swamped in work, and as always Riley just hung around on her phone.

Evan nodded slowly, wincing as he felt a headache brewing behind his temples. He was glad he hadn't scheduled any of his tutoring students this week.

"Yeah."