All Chapters of Boys Don’t Play Fair: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

Wednesday. 9:47am. The Buses. The drive dragged on for two hours. Noah spent most of it just zoning out, staring at fields and forests zipping past. Joe was passed out next to him, head against the window, earbuds in. The rest of the bus was alivekids chatting, laughing, blasting music. Classic school trip stuff. Noah, though, felt off. Nervous. He kept thinking, Two days. Two days stuck here, with Jay somewhere nearby. Two days to either fix everything or blow it apart. The buses slowed. Someone up front shouted, "We’re here!" Everyone pressed against the windows. The Riverside Historical Museum and Gardens spread out brick buildings, lawns, fall colors just starting to show on the trees. Like stepping into a postcard. The buses pulled into a gravel lot and stopped. Mrs. Patterson stood up at the front of Bus 1. "Alright, everyone! Grab your bags and meet at the main entrance! Stay with your groups!" The crowd moved fast. Noah grabbed his backpack, followed Joe off the bus.

Thursday. 6:18am. Riverside Grounds.The place was dead quiet before breakfast. Mist hung over the grass, making everything look silvery and new. The flowers were bowed under dew, like the whole garden had just woken up. Birds were calling somewhere in the trees, sharp and clear in the cold air.Noah walked alone behind the main building, hands jammed deep in his hoodie pockets. He hadn’t slept, not really.Every time he closed his eyes, he saw last night’s firelight flickering on Jay’s face.Saw Jay come toward him under that tree. Heard Liam calling him away before anything could get said.His phone said 6:18am. In a few hours, everyone would do their presentations, pack up, climb onto buses.Tomorrow was supposed to be the last day, and suddenly tomorrow was here.Breakfast, stand up, talk about dead historical figures, load the buses, disappear.Whatever mess was between him and Jay would get shoved back into school hallways, the space between them full of silence again. Unless

Samantha Anderson wrapped up her talk on women’s suffrage not a stammer, not a slip and shuffled back to her seat, cheeks bright red. She looked like she couldn’t decide if she wanted to sink through the floor or burst into song.Mrs. Patterson checked something off on her clipboard. “Thank you, Samantha. Next up Noah Carter.”Noah’s heart was somewhere near his knees. Actually, he was pretty sure his stomach was down there too.Joe leaned over and squeezed his shoulder. “You’ve got this.”Noah stood, knees weak, hands clamped around his notebook. Every step toward the podium felt like walking across a tightrope over a canyon. He finally got there. Turned to the crowd.Rows of faces staring. Some curious. Some bored. Some looked like they weren’t sure if they were even in the right room.Noah’s eyes went straight to Jay, who sat way in the back. Jay was looking right at him, expression impossible to read.Noah’s voice didn’t want to cooperate. He blinked at his notes, but the words

The dining hall was its usual madhouse.Long tables crammed with kids who’d just survived two straight days of activities and now, finally, got a chance to just be. Plates hit trays, forks clattered, voices crashed into each other from every direction. Some kid was throwing grapes. One zip! Two zip! A teacher roared over the noise, telling him to knock it off.Noah and Joe edged their way through, grabbed plates pasta, limp salad, bread that tasted yesterday and slipped onto the bench by the windows with Emma and Marcus.“Thank god that’s done,” Emma said, aiming her fork at her salad like she was mad at it. “I was pretty sure Mrs. Patterson was about to make us present again.”Marcus snorted. “Yours was way better than Tyler’s. Did you even hear him try to say ‘California?’ ‘Cal-i-FOR-nee-uh.’ God.”Emma had to laugh. “He was nervous. Leave him alone.”“Nah, he just didn’t prepare.”They went on, the kind of loud, easy back-and-forth that came when you didn’t have to think about it

The buses rolled into the school lot just after noon.Up and down the line of seats, students slowly dragged themselves awake, the hiss of brakes and the engines idling lower shaking off heavy sleep. Neck pillows vanished into backpacks. Earbuds got stuffed in pockets. People picked up whatever half-finished conversations they'd dropped hours earlier, acting like nothing had happened.Outside, clouds pressed down on the sky flat, gray, cold.It took Joe nudging his shoulder for Noah to open his eyes.“We’re back.”For a second, Noah had no idea where he was.Then it all rushed in at once.Riverside.Jay.The fight.That silence afterwards.He felt the ache fill his chest before he’d even found his bearings.Around him, students were already shuffling to their feet, yanking bags down from the overhead bins. Mrs. Patterson’s voice cracked from the front of Bus 1, sharp and loud over the bus speakers.“Make sure you take everything with you! I am not mailing forgotten chargers back to