Page 28 of Pick Me Up On Tuesdays

He grinned, not remotely fazed. "Nah, this is too fun. Also, side note, you run like an overfed pigeon. It's kinda awesome."

I was too out of breath to argue.

Up ahead, Joy turned around, grinning like the class clown she was. "Clark, did you know breathing is a free service? You should try it."

I resisted the urge to throw a rock at her. Mostly because I didn’t have the arm strength for it at this point.

Meanwhile, Ethan—who had not broken a sweat—ran a hand through his perfectly styled golden hair and sighed dramatically. "Wow, Clark. This is embarrassing. Even I thought you’d last longer than this."

I flipped him off. I would have said something more creative, but unfortunately, my lungs were too busy fighting for their life.

Mr. Dax was the only person who had managed to be worse than Ethan, Max, and some other jocks this entire climb. He turned around from his spot at the front, crossed his arms, and gave meThe Look.The one that said he was out of patience but also legally required to let me keep breathing.

"Move it, Alderman! We don’t have all day to wait for your lungs to catch up!"

Max gave me a light shove forward, all too happy to help. "You heard the man, Clark! Hustle!"

I mumbled something about educators needing to be supportive but forced my legs to keep moving.

By the time we reached the top of Mt. Cain, I collapsed onto a rock, sprawled out dramatically. "Leave me here... I belong to the mountain now..."

"Too bad," Joy said, handing me the camera without an ounce of sympathy. "You’re the nerd.

You have to identify all the animals while we make this award-winning documentary."

"But you're the wildlife club captain," I complained.

She gave me that look like, ‘I’m not the smartest one in the room.’

I groaned, reluctantly taking the camera. "Fine. But we have to make it perfect. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

Ethan leaned in, his voice dripping with amusement. "So, what you’re saying is... if we mess it up, we’ve ruined everything?"

I twitched. "Yes, obviously."

Ethan smirked. "Noted." That smirk.

Max threw an arm around my shoulders, nearly knocking me over. "Aw, don’t stress, buddy! If we mess up, we’ll just tell the judges it was 'abstract cinema' and hope for the best."

I sighed. "That’s not how this works, Max."

"That’s exactly how this works," he shot back.

I decided to ignore both of them. Mostly because acknowledging them would shorten my lifespan.

I adjusted the camera, carefully focusing on a nest in one of the trees lining the crater’s edge. The nest was large, tangled with twigs and strange blue leaves, and sitting inside it was a very interesting bird. Its feathers shimmered in the sunlight, shifting between green and gold. Even more fascinating—it had three eyes.

I began filming. "Okay, let’s start. This, ladies and gentlemen, is a rare—"

And then Shun stepped too close to the edge and kicked a rock into the crater.

The resulting noise was loud.

The bird—clearly offended at our presence—let out an unholy screech and immediately launched into the air, wings flapping aggressively as it dive-bombed straight for us.

"Uh-oh," Joy said.

"Oh no," I whispered.

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