LITMIR.BIZ

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money over to the man with the moustache. He smiled as he admired her new waistcoat. “Oh, that is fabulous on you, girl!”

      Coral smiled politely and turned on her heel. The game had already started but the girls managed to squeeze into a small gap in the crowd. They had a good view of the game too. The Spikers were down by three points.

      “C’mon, Spikers!” hollered Coral enthus iastically. A few more minutes passed and the Spikers managed to make up a few points, but the players still appeared to be out of sync with each other. And there was none of the usual encouraging back-slapping and high-fiving between the team members. The boys in particular appeared very straight-mouthed and stern, while the only two girls on the team seemed to hide behind nervous smiles.

      The players were older than Coral and Nicks, but the girls still knew each one of them by name. Everyone at school knew the Spikers – they really were popular. Just at that moment the captain – a boy called Rory – jumped in the air and served the ball over the net. One of the Biscuit Bay Bombers jumped even higher and volleyed the ball right back at Rory. But Rory wasn’t quite ready and the ball landed with a smack on his forehead and he fell to the ground.

      “Augh, Rory!” cried his teammate – a boy called Jasper. “You’re not meant to catch it with your head!”

      Rory looked furious and embarrassed at the same time.

      A Bomber quickly served and this time two Spikers both jumped for it. They collided midair, missed the ball entirely and scowled at each other.

      “What is going on?” whispered Nicks in Coral’s ear. “The Spikers are famous for their teamwork!”

      But there was no time for Coral to reply. A Bomber served the ball over the net and a Spiker called Jack made a dive for it. But instead of hitting it back over the net, he hit the ball out.

      “That was an easy shot!” cried his teammate, Duncan.

      “Then why didn’t you make it?” replied Jack, furiously dusting beach sand from his bottom.

      Suddenly almost every Spiker seemed to have something angry to say, and loudly too. Coral and Nicks stared at the teammates who had been best friends not too long ago but now only seemed to growl at each other. Friendship was not something to be taken lightly, and nobody knew this better than Coral and Nicks. Best mates (and love of course) made the world turn. So where exactly had it all gone wrong?

      Chapter 2

       the trouble with love

      There may have been a small miracle involved, but somehow the Spikers managed to pull themselves together and beat the Biscuit Bay Bombers by one teensy point. There should have been cheers, hoots and hugs from the winning team, but they were strangely subdued. The two female players – Jemima and Emily – seemed happy enough, giving each other and the rest of the team congratulatory pats on the back, but the lads skulked around, pretending to search for their sports bags instead.

      Coral stared and tugged her earlobe thoughtfully. What was going on? It was very frustrating. Not only was she nosy, she also didn’t like to see their favourite volleyball team so down in the dumps. Just what had come between them?

      “I don’t like this one bit,” she murmured.

      “Me neither,” replied Nicks. “If this continues the Spikers don’t stand a chance of beating the Dune High Decoys in a few weeks’ time. Sunday Harbour will lose the tournament final for sure.”

      The girls’ shoulders slumped. The volleyball trophy had been in Sunday Harbour’s trophy display cabinet for three years running. At this point it looked unlikely that it would make a fourth year. This was bad news. Not only was beach volleyball the town’s favourite sport, but it was also the only sport they were pretty good at. The volleyball trophy had had a rather lonely time in the trophy cabinet, but the thought of the cabinet sitting entirely empty for all to see was almost too much to bear. It was even more unbearable for Nicks, who had begun assisting the editorial team on the local newspaper. She’d been helping with picture selection for the sporting section of the magazine, although it was less of a sporting section and more of a volleyball section. Nicks felt like she was practically one of the Spikers.

      “Jemima and Emily might have the answer!” she announced determinedly. Coral nodded her agreement and marched alongside her friend until they found the two female volleyball players plopped down on the beach sand, kneading their weary legs.

      “Hi, Jem. Hi, Em,” they said in unison.

      The older girls glanced up and squinted into the sun. “Oh, hi there,” they said. It was clear that they recognised the younger girls, but did not know their names.

      “I’m Coral and this is my best friend, Nicks.”

      Jem and Em nodded. And then Jem smiled. “Interesting waistcoat, Coral.”

      Coral glanced down at her waistcoat and looked almost surprised (she’d forgotten all about her bargain find). “Yuh, thanks,” she replied quickly. “Jem and Em, is… um… everything all right with the Spikers?”

      Jem and Em stared at the girls for a few moments and then shrugged and chewed on their lips unhappily.

      “It’s just that… well, it’s obvious that something is up,” said Nicks.

      “We’d really like to help if we can,” added Coral.

      “We just cannot lose the volleyball final!” declared Nicks, who knew just as well as anyone that Sunday Harbour was a small but very proud seaside town.

      Finally, Jem spoke up. “Yes, something is definitely up. And her name is Cecily.” The older girl seemed almost relieved to finally say the name out loud.

      “Cecily the head cheerleader?” cried Coral and Nicks at once. She was only the prettiest and most popular girl at their school.

      Em nodded in an I’m-afraid-so sort of way.

      “But what has Cecily done to the Spikers?” asked Coral.

      “What has she not done!” harrumphed Jem with fury in her eyes.

      This didn’t really answer her question so Coral turned to Em hopefully.

      “That Cecily,” muttered Em dismally, “has spent this entire summer holiday madly flirting with Rory, Duncan, Jack and Jasper, and now they aren’t even talking to each other any more.”

      “Madly flirting?” murmured Coral and Nicks.

      “Oh yes!” replied Jem with a nod. “On Friday she went to the cinema with Rory. And on Saturday she met Duncan at the Milkshake Shack.”

      “The next day she was giggling with Jasper on a bench at the beach,” added Em with a frown. “And every Thursday afternoon she keeps Jack company while he works at his mum’s garden centre. The girl is diabolical. But the boys blame each other, not her. It’s so out of order.”

      “They’re all so in love with her,” agreed Jem hopelessly. “They’ve always been competitive, but before it used to be for the team. Now they’re all intent on working against each other.”

      Coral and Nicks listened to every word spoken by the two older girls before turning to face each other. It was obvious they were thinking exactly the same thing. Finally they turned back to Jem and Em.

      “Cecily isn’t exactly a bad sort,” said Coral out loud.

      Nicks also looked confused. “Yes, she’s always seemed quite careful with other people’s feelings before now.”

      They both paused and stared up at the blue sky for a few moments. Coral was thinking about the time Cecily didn’t laugh at her for walking straight into a lamppost in front of (practically) the entire school. Nicks was remembering the day that Cecily personally thanked her for selling the most raffle tickets to raise money for the new school flag.

      “That may be, but she’s still a troublesome flirt!” growled Jem.

      “And

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