Page 32 of We Shouldn't Be Together
I flick my legs back down, releasing the board and the ramp, and gliding to reach the other side. Hanging air again, I twist on the board and spin a three-sixty. When I come back down, I don’t touch the ramp till I’m almost at ground level. Slightly off-balance, I fly up the ramp and dig the nose of my board onto the edge and sink my weight into it, stopping with a puff.
I plonk down on the edge, my board tucked beside me, and rip off the elbow pad.
“Here, James!” I call out and then peg it at her. “It did nothing.”
She catches it, laughing at me. “You’re a madman, Kai.”
I catch my breath as Tyler practices his skills on the ramp. My stomach tightens, hating being the one to sit back and watch. Oh boy, this is gonna be a hard two weeks. I already want to send myself backwards and blindfolded down this ramp.
As Tyler flips his board a foot away from me, I flop backwards and stare up at the patchwork clouds. Maybe if he runs over me, I can blame him for any injuries that come my way. Hmm, blaming any of the guys could be my loophole. My parents can’t punish me if someone else was in the wrong. Although, Mom did make a comment that they all follow me around like a cult leader.
I lift myself up, reclining on bended elbows. Below me, Jamie, Parker, and Lewis are trying to outdo each other, using the rails and stairs.Oof. Stairs are a bad idea.
I tilt my head sideways. But maybe if I skip that second step and grind against the third, I could probably flip the board around and make air over the last two.
I sit up just as Tyler flicks his board and narrowly misses my forehead.
“Dude!“ he hisses.
His back foot misses the board, and he skids against the incline.
I push off the halfpipe’s edge and slide down to meet him at the base. “Ty? Are you good?”
He’s standing and brushing off his cargo pants. “Yeah, I’m fine. Why the heck did you move? I could’ve clocked you.”
“I had a brainwave,” I admit with a shrug. “I wanted to hit the stairs. How was I supposed to know you were gonna jump me?”
He smirks. “How do you think I could resist when you were just lying there?”
I punch his arm. “Don’t try to kill me unless I ask you to.”
He grimaces. “Why would you ask me to?”
I climb up the side of the halfpipe to collect my board. “Well, I wouldn’t mind blaming you for some injuries if it means keeping my car.”
“You really are insane,” he replies.
I reach for my board and feel a sting against my stitches. “Hey, I’m just looking for loopholes.”
“Well, I’m not planning on giving you a concussion, even if you ask me,” Tyler says. “I can already hear Coach barking at me.”
I snigger, landing back on the cement ground. “Yeah. He’d hate you for taking out his star player.”
Tyler’s chest inflates as his ego bruises. “What a load of bull.”
I push off on my board, grinning at him. “That’s right. You couldn’t take me out, no matter how hard you tried.”
Despite the pain shooting between my foot and knee, the sting across my stitches, and the slight headache from the near-miss with Tyler’s board, I take on the stairs. In my head, it was a lot easier. Grinding against the stairs is no big deal, but building enough speed to pop over the last two steps needs a little more foresight.
Maybe I need to take a break. I can prove my greatness another day.
7
Inevitably,it’stimeforJamie to start her shift at the cafe. I left my soccer bag with Parker to dump at my house on his way home. On our wheels, and equipped with our backpacks, Jamie and I glide down Main Street.
Halfway toward Morton’s Café, I tap Jamie’s shoulder when I clock the store sign for Gadgets & Tech. “Hey, wait up a sec. I gotta go in and pick up a part for my drone.”
Jamie’s lip upturns. “Why are you bothering to fix it? It won’t fly again after it nosedived into that tree.”
