Page 83 of TJ Powar Has Something to Prove

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Friday quietly rolls around. TJ has the day off from school for Nationals, but only if she partakes in the morning’s social event... a hike.

So here she is, sitting on a rock along with everyone else who’s made it to the summit already. She admires the view down on the valley, how tiny the city seems from here, and the waters of Okanagan Lake sparkling in the sun. The view almost makes the fact that her glutes are on fire worth it.

She spent the long hike chatting with debaters from the other provinces. Now she’s winded from both exercise and conversation. She tucks her water bottle back in her bag and looks around. Some debaters are already headed on their way down.

Nate is among them—it takes her a second to recognize him with his hat and sunglasses. When he sees her, he sends her a sunny middle finger. She responds with two. He clutches at his chest and keels over like he’s sustained a mortal injury. Other hikers step around him on their way down. Grinning, she gets up and walks over, giving him a light kick to the leg.

“Volunteering for the weekend?”

He lifts his sunglasses up into his hair. “Volun-told,more like. I’ve been directing people up trails all morning. But what really sealed the deal was the idea that I could watch you and Charlie embarrass yourselves in the debates.”

Hearing his name takes the light edge off her mood. “I’m sureCharliewill.”

“Oh, that’s a given.” But there’s a question in his eyes. He wants to ask about them, she can tell. Luckily, at that moment an out-of-province debater walks up to them, looking at theVOLUNTEERsticker stuck on Nate’s jacket, and asks him to take a photo.

Relieved, TJ leaves them to it and wanders off. Alone again. Idly, she checks her phone. Piper’s sent her a selfie from the bus to Abbotsford with the rest of the soccer team, with the captionCoach misses you :(.TJ grins. Coach looks disgruntled to be captured in the photo, but that’s about it.

She’s so engrossed in typing a response that she nearly runs into someone. She halts, mouth opening to apologize—

It’s Charlie.

He jerks back to avoid crashing into her, clearly also distracted. They stare at each other for a moment.

She hasn’t seen him in weeks, and her treacherous eyes catalogue every detail. His hands are stuffed in the pockets of the same lightweight blue jacket he wears in his Instagram profile picture, and it’s jarring to see him in mud-caked hiking boots, his brown hair spiked with sweat.

Then he says, “Hi.”

She doesn’t answer right away. Howisshe supposed to react to him now? Her common sense tells her to be disgusted. Her body strongly disagrees.

She ignores that and crosses her arms, offering a bland, “Hey.”

Expressionless, Charlie looks past her, to the trail he washeaded down. “See you tonight.” A sticky pause. “At the impromptu topic release, I mean.”

She wonders if he knows she saw the Instagram post. Well, if he’s not going to bring it up, she won’t, either. No way is she giving him the satisfaction of getting to her.

Just then, someone throws an arm around Charlie’s shoulders. Isaac Turner, seemingly appearing out of thin air.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t Kelowna’s dynamic duo,” Isaac drawls. “Hopefully we face each other this weekend.”

“Hopefully,” Charlie echoes with a smile. Most people probably wouldn’t notice how strained it is, but TJ can tell. As if by instinct, her heart warms for him instantly. Maybe he didn’t like the post, maybe it was a misunderstanding after all—

She shakes herself and reminds herself firmly of what Chandani told her.Don’t get hurt again.

Isaac goes on. “I’m feeling nostalgic, Charlie. Remember when we used to hit up that bakery near Whitewater for the killer croissants? We should go there after this. For old times’ sake.” Charlie’s silent. Isaac looks at TJ, then back at Charlie, and she knows from his smirk, right away, that heknows. “Your girlfriend can come, too.”

TJ inhales sharply.

“No,” Charlie says.

Isaac tilts his head. “No to what part? TJ doesn’t have to come.”

“To—to—to—”

“No to...?” Isaac prompts. His eyes are laughing.

Despite the fact that Charlie has turned out to be a tool, TJfinds herself unamused. She speaks over Charlie’s stuttering. “No to all of it, obviously, weirdo. Get lost.”