Page 5 of The Rebel
“Totally.” I flashed a big smile, thankful for freshman drama classes that I’d absolutely hated.
“Gabby looks so in love,” Jazmyn said. “She’s glowing.”
Glowing?I wanted to say,That’s probably from the sub zero temperatures.
But I nodded, forcing the smile to remain on my face. I drew in a shaky lungful of cool air, my resolve weakening by the moment. I wanted to be pleased for Gabby, but it was dawning on me that I was falling into an abyss, a dark cold void. My crush not crushing on me was literally crushing me.
Yeah, even though Scott probably didn’t know it, and Gabby certainly didn’t, they were wrecking me, destroying me.
I needed space.
“Hey, I’m going up to the top run,” I said.
“What? No, Vali. You can’t,” Jazmyn spluttered. “It’s not safe.”
“Of course it is. I saw some kids over there.” I kept striding up the path. The top run was steeper but it was the terrain that likely panicked Jazmyn. It wasn’t a place for the meek or mild, known for its bumped-out runs where you could lift off and catch some air.
“You weren’t here last week,” Jazmyn injected some urgency into her voice. “A boy crashed down and split his head on a rock.”
“I won’t be sledding into any rocks,” I said with an air of arrogance. Though a concussion might actually be a blessing. Then I wouldn’t have to think about the miserable turn my life had taken.
“Gabby!” Jazmyn turned around and shouted to my best friend. “Tell Valencia she’s crazy!”
I stormed ahead, not listening to the voices calling my name. Strange how the evening had gone from a high to a low, but the worst thing was that the chaos was all inside my head and I couldn’t tell anyone about it.
My best friend had done nothing wrong—yet she’d doneeverythingwrong. She liked the boy that I liked.
It was a mess; I was a mess.
Gabby, Scott and Aaron caught me up, though it wasn’t hard—my thighs burned with the climb and I’d slowed to a snail’s pace.
“A boy got seriously hurt last week,” Gabby said, taking hold of my shoulder. “You shouldn’t do it, not in this light.”
“I’ll be fine,” I scoffed, and, completely out of my control, I could feel an ugliness seep through me, overwhelming me, and I said something I neither planned nor thought possible—I mocked Gabby. “Geez, just because you’re a wimp, doesn’t mean I am.”
Gabby’s eyes widened and her chin quivered as if I was transforming into Frankenstein’s monster right in front of her.
Quite possibly I was, my coping mechanism seeming to be the need for a burst of wild adrenaline, and if I belittled my friend in the process, so be it. Yes, in order to protect myself from thinking about Gabby and Scott’s new relationship, I needed a mind-blowing rush, something to block out this new and shocking reality.
An unintended smirk graced my lips, my mouth operating on automatic, and I hated myself as the words tumbled out. “It’s allright, you can ride the little hill with Scott. I’m sure he’ll hold on to you and keep you safe.”
I needed to get to the top and blaze down the hill with speed. I needed the wind on my face and the crisp air to numb me. Or preferably, the sled to levitate and fly me home because I didn’t know how to grasp the fact that my best friend was dating my crush.
I picked up speed after the first jump, my sled wobbling but I controlled it as I slid further down the hill. Veering toward another small jump, I clung tightly as I spun around, but it was in vain as I lost my grip and parted ways with my sled. Putting my foot forward to avoid sliding into a small rock, I rolled before coming to an ungracious stop, my breath knocked out of me.
I guess I should have listened to Gabby and Jazmyn.
I lay on the cold hard hill for a moment, looking up at the sky, the light fading fast. As I recovered my sled, a flash of color headed toward me, a black and orange flash, and in a whirl I was moving again, shunted forward by another sled, changing my trajectory so that I was in line to meet a tree!
Not quick enough to redirect my sled, I could only abandon it, rolling off and sliding down the hill for a few yards until I had the lucidity to stop myself. For the second time within a minute, I was a breathless mess.
“Hey, sorry. I couldn’t stop.”
It took me a moment to register that beneath the orange beanie was Oliver Sinclair, Dani’s youngest son.
“Hey, Ollie.” I rolled over to sit up, scanning around to make sure I wasn’t about to be hit by any more sleds. I brushed the ice off of my sleeves, knowing I’d probably have a bruise somewhere tomorrow.
But Ollie gasped and his face twisted in a grimace.
