Page 105 of Sing Me Home
She blew out her breath, pulled her arm back, and hurled the spear through the air. I held my breath, praying it would land right. Charlie had spent hours and hours trying to nail this.
It curved down and I almost thought it was going to miss—but the tip landed just inside the circle. It hung there for one second before clamoring to the ground.
Charlie and I looked at each other and then we whooped.
I gave her a double-handed high five. “That counts!”
“Ugly but effective.” She beamed, so proud. “Let’s go.”
I glanced over my shoulder to see Griffin and Lemon heading into the penalty loop, meaning they’d both missed. Griffin shot daggers at Bowen who was just coming out with Maggie. They were laughing together about something, sweat dripping down Bowen’s pecs.
“Someone should’ve made him wear a shirt,” I said.
Bowen and Maggie caught up to us and once again, we were the Fantastic Four.
Charlie was on cloud nine, going on and on about how amazing it felt to nail the spear throw. “There can’t be more than six or seven obstacles left,” she said to me. “What’s next?”
“The Beater, I think.” I’d studied the map when I arrived this morning. “At least, I hope. It’s my favorite.”
“Spinning monkey bars,” Charlie said, chewing her lip. We’d watched how-to videos of each obstacle so she’d be prepared.
“It sounds hard but it’s easier than real monkey bars, in my opinion,” I said.
“Totally,” Bowen agreed. “The spin gives you momentum. You just gotta feel your flow and don’t let go. Like Tarzan swinging through the trees.”
“Feel my flow and don’t let go,” Maggie echoed like she was whispering a prayer to the obstacle Gods.
Just inside a group of trees, we came upon Silas and Sophie stopped on the side of the trail. Silas had a hand on Sophie’s back and she was bent over…throwing up.
“Oh dang.” Bowen slowed. “Soph,” He stood on her other side, hands on his knees to see her face. “You okay?”
In response, she puked again though hardly anything came out.
Bowen didn’t flinch or scoot back. He watched her with concern, brushing a lock of hair off her forehead. Maggie watched him with soft eyes like he was the father of her future children.
“What is happening?” Charlie breathed too low for anyone but me to hear. The worry on her face, aimed in Maggie’s direction, told me she saw it too.
“Do you need me to get help?” Bowen asked his dad.
Sophie stood and wiped her mouth. “No. I’m good. Let’s go. I have big plans for that money. Maddie and I are splitting it if either of us wins. Sephora…” She exhaled carefully. “Here we come.”
“Uh, uh, uh. You’re pushing too hard.” Silas waved us on.
“Dad,” Sophie whined.
“We’ll take it easy for a bit,” he said to her. Then to us. “You guys, go.”
So we took off again.
When we came up on The Beater, there were two lines. Charlie and I picked the one on the right, Bowen and Maggie the one on the left. Turns out Charlie and I had better instincts because we ended up a good two to three people ahead of them.
But they didn’t seem to mind. Bowen talked animatedly, his hands moving as he explained the aerodynamics of the obstacle to Maggie. She hung on his every word. But then her gaze dropped to his chest and there was a want in her eyes that I’d never seen when she looked at Griffin. Then again, Bowen was a lot more ripped than my red-haired cousin. Maggie’s cheeks flushed when she realized what she was doing and her eyes snapped to his face. He was so busy looking at the obstacle and explaining that he hadn’t seen, thankfully.
Charlie nudged me and whispered, “Did you see that?”
I scrubbed a hand down my face. “Yeah. Not good.”
“We don’t leave them alone,” she said.
