Page 76 of True to You

He puts a finger to his lips. “You didn’t hear that from me. We’re not supposed to tell anyone the actual vote numbers.”

A sense of pride radiates from me. I took the joke vote and ran with it. I’m not ashamed of being it, and I guess other people got behind that. Before I can relish anymore from coming in second, Greg blows a whistle, and everyone starts cheering around us.

“Let’s go.” Matt wraps his arm around me, and we start down the course that’s set up.

It isn’t very long, so each team has to make three laps. When I said I’m not very coordinated, I meant it. I don’t wear glasses or a pocket protector, but when it comes to anything athletic, I am the quintessential nerd cliché. I can talk about comics and movies all day long. My brain is full of useless pop-culture quotes and ridiculous, arbitrary facts about superheroes. But when it comes to anything sports related, I’m about as useful as a pile of rocks.

Matt tries to motion me around a cone, but somehow my leg that’s tied to his comes down on top of his foot, and I lose my balance. He still has his arm around me, so I cling to him, hoping to steady myself. He holds me up for a moment, but my momentum keeps my other leg moving. It steps out in front, and my leg that’s tied to him tries to move, while his tries to stay still and upright. The opposite ways our legs are moving sends us both down.

Falling to the grass, Matt follows right behind me and would’ve smashed me flat if he didn’t put his arms up. Laying on top of me, his arms holding himself up over my shoulders, he looks down at me with a grin. “Or, we could do this too.”

“Very funny.”

“Come on.” He rolls to a knee, our ankles still attached, but the rope loosened up from the fall. Offering me his hand, I take it and get back to my feet. Behind us, Oscar and Yvette are coming up.

“We’re about to get lapped.”

“It’s fine,” Matt brushes it off.

“Hey, you’ve actually have a chance at being prom king.”

“I don’t care about that.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, it’s just prom king. It doesn’t mean anything.”

We’re still moving slow, and Yvette and Oscar pass us. Jen and Franco are starting to come up behind and about to pass us too when Matt looks behind. “You know, as much as I don’t care about being prom king, I don’t like to lose either.”

“Okay, okay.”

This time I wrap my arm around him, hoping to keep myself from losing balance again. It doesn’t work. We make it to the finish line, about to start the second lap, when we turn the first corner where I tripped, and I do it again.

Matt tries catching me with both arms, but my feet are already out of balance. Instead of falling forward though, the momentum from him trying to stop me sends me backward, and I fall on top of him.

“Okay.” He laughs. “I’m starting to think you’re doing this on purpose.”

“I’m not.” I purse my lips.

“Are you sure? I wouldn’t mind.”

I roll my eyes at him, but a grin floats over my lips. “Yes, I’m sure. I’m just highly uncoordinated.”

“Or, you’re a master seduction artist.”

“What?” The word comes out three octaves higher than normal, and I feel my cheeks burning. “That’s ridiculous.”

“Says the girl still on top of me.”

“Matt, it’s a race!” I hear someone yell and look up to see his friend, Carter, laughing while standing next to a girl. “Not a make-out session.”

Scrambling to get off Matt, I get to my knees but can’t figure out how to get to my feet with our ankles still attached.

“Here, give me your hand,” Matt says, sitting next to me.

He’s trying to give me a hand to stand up, but my ankle is still tied to his. I somehow twist around and fall back down on top of him. Only, he’s sitting down, so now I’m straddling him.

He smiles and wags his eyebrows at me. “Yeah, I like this too.”

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