16. A Battle

"This is my cousin Noa." I said, watching the war begin. We stood on the shore, facing the older gang, the soft waves from the bay reaching for our feet.
Noa's intense stare swept over them, cutting them down. Kelly was the first target. She broke easily, smiling politely, turning away to play with her red hair. Next was Dave, he looked down almost immediately, nervously shuffling his bare feet in the sand. Finally, Noa's gaze focused on their ringleader. The battle had begun.

It was about three in the afternoon. We had walked here from the plaza, stopping only to grab a sandwich at the cottage. Omar, Curtis, and Jill had started playing Fortress without me. That stung but I couldn't expect them to wait three hours while I was off with my cousin carrying out our plan. I had found Jack's friends lounging at their usual spot on the beach, the guys throwing a football while Kelly tanned. I watched Oliver carefully. If anyone knew how those illegal DVDs got into Jack's room, it would be him.

I didn't think our plan would work. That was okay, I no longer liked the idea of my cousin working undercover. These weren't the people that I remembered. Oliver and Dave were larger, more muscular and less boyish. Kelly's braces were gone, her body had finished growing and she no longer looked awkward wearing a bikini. They had all grown up. Oliver broke the silence.

"Did your cousin come out of a time machine?" I looked at Noa's attire, realizing I had stopped noticing how out of place it was. Today's outfit consisted of a pair of baggy shorts, a short-sleeved, button-up shirt and a scarf tied around her neck. It looked like something a parent would label 'casual beachwear', a sad uniform for fun. I started to feel embarassed. I could see my cousin looking at Oliver, reading him, looking right through him but he didn't back down. He was used to handling his guilt. I could envision him as a kid, being yelled at in a princpal's office for breaking a window, caught holding rocks, denying everything. The type of kid you could nail the facts to his face and he would stick to his story, deny, deny, deny with stone cold calm.

"Oliver..." Kelly pretended to scold, eyeing Noa's outdated outfit.

"What?" He said, shaking his head, "Her clothes look like they're from the 1920s."

"The 1930s." My cousin said politely, complimenting her adversary's guess.

"Noa is seventeen." I said stupidly, as if mentioning her age would help everyone bond.

"Sixteen." Noa corrected.

"Almost seventeen." I said feebly. This was not going well.

"Ah," Kelly said, "so you're stuck hanging with the kids this summer?" I resented being referred to as 'the kids' but I let it slide.

"The reason I'm here is to ask about your friend Jack." Noa began. I tried to get my cousin's attention but she was still locked on Oliver. So much for subtle.

"Is he coming up this summer?" Dave's face lit up as he asked.

"We don't know. But we're investigating his case." I could hear the waves quietly lapping up on the shore in the silence. Then it was shattered by an abrupt laugh.

"Are you for real?" Oliver blurted out, grinning. Then he put his best serious face on. "Sorry officer, I didn't realize you were in charge of the investigation." He took particular relish in saying the word 'investigation'. I scanned the beach, searching for a suitable hole to crawl in.

"Do you know anything that could help Jack? Any clues at all?"

"Clues?" Oliver yelled at the sky, hopping with exaggerated glee, "did she really say that? Did she really just say that?" He dropped to his knees, pounded the sand, and rolled around. Kelly stifled her laughter.

"I don't think we do." Dave said, trying to take us seriously.

"If you're done with your silly performance, Oliver," Noa said, putting him in his place, "I'd like to ask if you know anything." A dark cloud came over his face. The very hint of this young woman scolding him knocked the glee out of his attitude.

"Excuse me? Try looking in a mirror before you insult others." Oliver was getting warmed up but my cousin didn't even flinch. She did the unthinkable, she cut him off.

"It's obvious to everyone that you're hiding something." My cousin said. I looked at Oliver, his eyes were lifeless, emptied of emotion as his body filled with rage. It was the calm before the storm. I felt like I was watching myself. He began to advance on my cousin, filling her personal space, leaning over to talk directly to her face.

"I don't know who you think you are throwing accusations at us little girl. We don't have any idea what Jack was doing with those DVDs. Why don't you take your investigation up-"

"I didn't say anything about DVDs." All eyes converged on Oliver, waiting for him to explain. He laughed.

"Yeah, well, I must have overheard someone talking about it. My parents or something." He backpedaled, switching strategies, and I realized that my cousin had been playing him all along, setting him up to push his buttons, goading him into a mistake. "Sorry," he said, "I get upset when I remember my buddy's in trouble." Oliver walked behind Kelly, crouched, put his head between her legs and stood up. She yelled as she was hoisted atop his tall frame, towering over the beach.

"What are you doing?" She giggled.

"We're at the beach, right? Less chit chat more play." Oliver announced. Suddenly Noa was being lifted into the air. Dave had snuck behind her and in one swift motion raised her on his wide shoulders. Noa was calm and quiet unlike her squeaking opponent who was still shouting in mock protest.

"Put me down!" Kelly screeched playfully, lightly slapping Oliver's back.

"Finally we can have a real battle," Oliver said "Think you can take down the champs?" They began to walk into the water. Noa and Kelly riding high in the air like knights preparing to joust.

"I"m not wearing my bathing suit." Noa stated.

"You're at the beach, it's all a bathing suit." Kelly laughed.

"If you don't want to get wet, don't lose." Oliver smirked. The arena was past the first sand bar, where the water was waist deep. It was a decent drop for the loser to fall. I was filled with a morbid curiousity, trying to imagine my cousin playfighting. She looked timid on Dave's shoulders like an animal frozen in fear, her arms hung limp and her head was low. It had begun. Oliver and Dave circled each other, shouting to their partners.

"Ready Noa?" Dave asked, realizing his partner had gone quiet.

"Grab her hair if you need to!" Oliver shouted, I wasn't sure if he was joking. The titans collided. Noa didn't even try to defend herself. Kelly almost knocked her off on the first push but Dave reached up to steady her.

"C'mon partner!" Dave cried out.

"Finish her off, Kel!" Oliver shouted.

Kelly was shrieking, a shrill banshee scream, shoving Noa hard. Oliver also joined the attack, knocking into Dave who stumbled backward but found his footing, reaching up a second time to stabilize Noa. He couldn't keep this up. His partner was dead weight, protesting the match with passive resistance.

"Push!" he pleaded.

"Get her Noa!" I was surprised to find myself yelling from the shore. "Push!" But my cousin didn't stir. Oliver smelled blood, charging for the kill. Kelly wound up for a tremendous finish, throwing herself recklessly into her defenseless target. She pushed, Noa suddenly came alive, giving her opponent a brisk pull, the result was incredible.

Kelly toppled in a complete summersault, her legs catching Oliver's head causing him to fall forward, crashing into Dave, sending the whole mess into the depths. Except for Noa who nimbly hopped off of her mount as he fell backward. In the blink of an eye three people disappeared under the water, leaving one, landing on her feet near the edge of the sandbar, walking on her tippy toes to prevent her shorts from touching the bay.

"This will dry soon." Noa said, brushing her shorts as she approached me. The barest bit of moisture had touched her clothes. We headed back to the cottage.

"She didn't even get wet!" I could hear Dave sputtering and laughing. Oliver stayed low in the water, watching Noa leave like a crocodile watching its prey.