Page 129 of Alice Chen's Reality Check

At this point, my arms feel like they’re about to fall apart from Bryan’s manhandling and having to go rock climbing for the second time today. I never want to do this again. As I push myself upward, muscles screaming in protest, I vow to unsubscribe from all those Rock World Gym emails I’ve been keeping in my inbox because of some delusional idea that I’ll magically become the kind of person who rock climbs.

Hilariously enough, it’s the thought of things going back to normal that allows me to push forward. I can’t wait to go back to my regular life. I can’t wait to clear out my marketing emails, and play board games with Cindy and Tara, and craft the perfect lesson plan, and make dinner with my mom.

I make it to the top of the wall and gauge the distance between me and Dawn. It’s daunting, to say the least.

“I can do this,” I mutter to myself. I inhale for several seconds, then exhale. I can feel my world narrow to a point, to this one moment and what I have to do. Calm washes over me, with an undercurrent of adrenaline. I summon the feeling of complete concentration and focus that I used to take my team to victory time and time again back in high school.

I pivot, carefully hanging on to my handhold while angling myself at Dawn Taylor.

Finally, she notices me. Her eyes widen in surprise, and it’s at that moment that I leap. I grab onto Dawn, wrapping my arms and legs around her. The weight of my body causes us to careen sideways.

“Hey! Get off me!” Dawn shrieks in rage. She attempts to bat at me, but her dress is limiting her range of movement. The trophy is crushed between us.

I make the mistake of looking down. The ground feels very, very far away, the trees minuscule dots of green. Below us on the platform, Chase has gotten into a shoving match with Bryan, while Daniel is wrestling Peter Dixon to the ground. The crew, along with Ava and Noah, don’t seem to know what to do with this turn of events.

I close my eyes against the height and compose a to-do list:

Get the trophy.

Get down somehow.

Stop the explosive.

Easy.

Three steps.

I open my eyes again, snake my hand between me and Dawn, and yank the trophy out from between us. Step one, done. But how am I going to get down? I’m just high up enough that I’d break something if I jumped onto the platform, and I can’t catch myself with a front roll, considering I’m holding this heavy trophy. And with the way we’re swinging back and forth, if I drop at the wrong time—I don’t even want to think about it.

“Alice!”

I look down, and there, right in the middle of the platform, is Daniel. His arms are open wide.

“When I tell you to jump, just jump!” Daniel shouts up at me. “I’ll catch you!”

“I don’t know if I can!” I shout back.

In the middle of all the chaos, he actually has the gall to smile up at me. “Yes, you can. Iknowyou, and you don’t let anything get in your way. You’re Alice fucking Chen!”

When he says it like that, I find myself believing him. I grip the trophy harder and take a deep breath, summoning that same focus and concentration from before. I imagine myself the way Daniel sees me. Smart, sharp, brave. Capable of doing anything. Capable of jumping down. Capable of trusting Daniel to catch me.

Because when it comes down to it, I do trust him.

“Jump!”

I let go.

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