I looked up from the book in my lap and let out a small yawn.

Next to me on the bleachers, Ashley flipped a page of the novel I had recommended to her.

“Sleepy?” she asked.

“No, I’m fine.”

Immediately following the argument we’d had in the dining hall a few weeks ago, Ashley and the others had been somewhat apologetic and subdued in their interactions with both me and Nolan. They had promptly gone back to treating him—and me—normally, albeit with tentativeness.

I could tell that they were ashamed that they’d been getting on his case so much for a medical condition that he’d wanted to keep personal, and their awkward behavior around him reflected that.

Over the past week, the meekness had finally left their speech and actions, and they’d gone back to treating him normally.

I realized that the explanation he’d given them didn’t quite cover why he was so sleepy in the daytime and occasionally went off on his own during lunch period, but they hadn’t started asking questions about that so far. I figured that we’d worry about it when it actually happened.

Right now, Nolan was on the basketball court with Derek and the others, filling in an empty position since one of their friends couldn’t make it today. I had tagged along so that Nolan would be more comfortable knowing that I was here. Since she didn’t have any other plans apart from finishing the novel that she was halfway through, Ashley had decided to accompany me on the bleachers.

After successfully stealing the ball from another guy, Nolan shot a layup. The ball went in without touching the rim of the basketball hoop. I sat up in my seat.

“Nice shot, Nolan!” I called out.

Now that I thought about it, I was basically here to be his personal cheerleader, albeit one that sat instead of standing.

He whirled around at the sound of my voice, and I flashed a thumbs-up at him. He grinned at me.

Melissa, who was standing behind him, sighed but didn’t say anything. She’d wanted to pick Nolan to be on her team, but Derek had gotten to him first. To his credit, however, Derek didn’t gloat at Melissa’s disheartened demeanor.

“It’s such a nice evening,” Ashley said, causing me to look over at her. “It’s so cold in here. I almost want gloves.”

“I love the rain when I’m indoors,” I agreed.

The heavy downpour outside had started not long ago. We could hear the howling of the wind and the gushing of the rain all the way from inside the gym.

Someone called for a water break, so everyone came off the court towards the bleachers, where they’d dumped their stuff near us for safeguarding.

Nolan and I shared a smile when he got close enough to grab his bag, which he had placed on the seat next to mine. Getting his water bottle out of it, he shifted it aside so that he could sit beside me.

I watched with fascination as a bead of sweat rolled down from his hairline to the side of his cheek. It slid down his jawline and dripped from his chin. Even sweating, Nolan looked cool as a cucumber as he drank slowly from his bottle.

Compared to the rest of them, he was barely displaying any signs of exertion.

Once he was done guzzling water, Derek let out a satisfied sigh.

One of the guys—I remembered his name as Justin—turned to Nolan, wiping the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand.

“Seriously, man, you don’t even look tired,” he said. “I can’t believe you’re only playing for fun.”

The other guys had gotten over the novelty of Nolan speaking to them after the first month, and now they talked to him like he was just any other person. Nolan still chose not to start any conversations on his own, but he responded whenever someone asked him a direct question.

“I thought you were from the track club at first,” another one, Leon, said. “Seems like a waste to only be in the astronomy club.”

“Yeah, why don’t you at least join one of the sports clubs?”

“I don’t want to,” Nolan said, tossing his water bottle back into his book bag.

“I don’t get it,” Justin said. “You don’t get to the level of your stamina without training like crazy. How are you not interested?”

“I’m just not interested.”

“You should join the soccer team,” Leon said. “You’d become a starter in no time.”

I shifted uncomfortably in my spot. Despite knowing that Nolan could handle it, I didn’t want this line of thought to lead to even more questions.

“Nah,” Nolan said.

“But—”

“Drop it,” Derek said in a slightly sharp tone. “He’s already said no. How many times are you going to ask him?”

Wow. I hadn’t been expecting that. Even Nolan’s mouth opened a little.

Leon looked taken aback. “Whoa, okay. I was only curious. Sorry I asked.”

“Water break’s over,” Melissa said, interrupting the awkward atmosphere that was beginning to form over us. “Come on, guys, we just got here ten minutes ago. I want to play!”

Everyone murmured their agreement, relief evident on their faces as they put their water bottles away.

Before he left, I reached out to touch Nolan’s hand. He instantly responded by curling his fingers around my hand and grinning at me.

“See you later,” he whispered.

“Okay,” I mouthed back.

When they were all back on the court, Ashley bookmarked her page and grinned at me. “You guys really are cute together.”

Embarrassed, I cast my gaze onto the book in my lap. “Um, thanks?”

After a short chuckle, she apparently decided to give me a break, because she changed the subject.

“That was nice of Derek,” she said. “But if he hadn’t said anything, I think Melissa would have. She was staring really hard at Leon earlier.”

I had been too busy watching Nolan’s reaction, wondering if I should jump in, to observe anyone else.

At Ashley’s words, however, the unease resting at the pit of my stomach melted away. I didn’t have to worry.

Our friends really had our backs.

Ever since they found out that Nolan was sensitive to the sunlight, they had all tried to be considerate about his condition.

They only invited him when we were hanging out outside in the evenings. Whenever they forgot and asked him to join us on something that he couldn’t do—mainly because it took place outdoors in sunny weather—and Nolan would inevitably reject them, they would quickly remember why and apologize for the slip up.

Derek probably didn’t want Nolan to be uncomfortable about being pressed about participating in an outdoors sport like soccer, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to. I couldn’t help smiling at that realization.

I really loved my best friends.

“I’m so thankful to have you guys,” I blurted out, impulsively hugging Ashley. “You have no idea.”

“Aww,” she said, putting her arms around me as well, “me too.”

A voice interrupted our impromptu hugging session with, “Hi, guys.”

I didn’t even have to raise my head to recognize it as Cody’s. He stood near us, patting down his brown hair with one hand. When our attention fell on him, he gave us a bright smile.

“Cody!” I said, pleasantly surprised by his appearance. “Hey! What are you doing here?”

“Oh, he happened to be free, so I asked if he wanted to come join us,” Ashley said, her cheeks rapidly turning pink.

“Can I sit here?” he asked Ashley, pointing to the seat on her left.

She nodded quickly—a little too enthusiastically, actually. Cody smiled at her and sat in it, sliding his bag off his shoulder. He began rummaging around in it.

Lifting my eyebrows, I asked, “To watch our friends play recreational basketball?”

“It’s still basketball,” she said defensively.

“You’re spending most of the time reading,” I pointed out.

“Whatever! I’m not playing either way, so does it matter if I’m watching them or reading my own stuff?”

I wanted to laugh at the pout that had surfaced on Ashley’s face, but I was just teasing and had no intention of actually irritating her.

“You guys want any?” Cody asked, pulling out a medium sized bag of sour cream and onion chips and tearing it open.

“Sour cream and onion?! Yes, please!” I said, trying not to salivate on Ashley while I leaned over to grab some. “Thanks!”

“It’s the best flavor, isn’t it?” he said, tilting the opening of the bag towards me.

“Totally.” I took a handful.

“Do you want any?” he asked Ashley.

She hesitated.

“Oh, she doesn’t really—” I started saying, only to be interrupted.

“Sure! Thanks, Cody,” she said, reaching into the bag.

I goggled at her. “What? Since when—”

She sent me an urgent look. Unfortunately, I couldn’t understand what she wanted to convey with just her eyes. This was the second time she’d cut me off, though.

Maybe I should just stop talking.

“Um,” I said, putting one of the chips I was holding into my mouth. “I’ll just eat my chips now.”

That was weird. What was weirder was that Ashley, unlike the rest of us, never snacked no matter what. Every time we’d offered her something to eat in between meals, she’d turn us down. She said that it was healthier not to snack, so she wouldn’t. It was a principle that she’d been sticking steadfastly to since I’d known her.

At least until now.

Hearing the chips crunch in Ashley’s mouth was almost surreal.

I could practically feel the cogs in my brain turning as I tried to figure this out. I grinned slowly. Was she making an exception because of Cody?

Cody swallowed his mouthful of chips and asked, “How was your day?”

“Pretty good,” Ashley said. “We got our English tests back, and I got an A.”

“The class average has gotten even better, so Mr. Jameson was in a really good mood today,” I added.

“That’s good,” he said. “I heard that he can be scary when he’s not.”

Ashley and I exchanged wry smiles.

“Kind of,” I said. “So how was yours?”

“Good. A bird flew into Mr. Johnson’s classroom during second period, so it got chaotic. He finally chased it out after twenty minutes, but one of the girls was scared of birds and had a mini breakdown in front of the whole class.”

“Wow,” Ashley said, her eyebrows drawing together. “Sounds exciting.”

Cody bit into another chip. “Yeah. I wish I wasn’t there, though.”

I laughed a little.

“How often do they play together?” he asked, nodding at our friends who were on the court.

“About two times a week, I think,” Ashley said. “Sometimes less, depending on who’s not free.”

“Nolan subs in when they’re missing a player sometimes,” I said, “so I guess that means they get more flexibility now.”

“I still remember when he never talked to anyone,” Cody said, eating another chip. “I can’t believe he’s actually playing basketball with them.”

“I couldn’t believe it when he started studying with us,” Ashley added. “He talks to us so normally now. It’s strange to think that just a year ago he wouldn’t even have nodded back at us if we passed each other in the hallway.”

I couldn’t deny that he still didn’t acknowledge most other people, but when it came to us, Nolan had definitely let down his walls.

A year ago, I could never have imagined myself as the person whom he voluntarily showed his vulnerable side to.

“Yeah,” I said, watching Nolan dribble the ball past the guy who was guarding him.

A fond smile tugged at the corners of my lips.

He really was one of us now.