Page 16 of The Moment Promised

We ride our bikes side by side on the neighborhood street, not bothering to use the sidewalk.

The beach is only a half mile from Finn’s house. You need a special key to get past the gate, which only the residents of his neighborhood have.

The air smells like rotten eggs. It blows against my face as I petal faster to keep up with Finn.

“It’s an eggy day out,” Finn says.

“A what?”

“An eggy day. It’s what my dad calls it when it smells gross outside. Like rotten eggs.” He makes a disgusted face as I glance over at him.

I laugh a little at the expression.

Sometimes I wonder what I would be doing if I never met Finn last year. I dread the thought. I hope our friendship lasts forever. I don’t know what I would do without him.

I used to wake up every day feeling like I had a hundred pounds sitting on my chest. I loathed being home, and I hated being at school because all I could think of was how horrible it was going to be when I got picked up.

I still don’t like being at home, but I don’t spend the time I’m away from it dreading going back, because now I have someone I’mexcitedto see every day.

A blue Volkswagen Beetle drives by as Finn says, “Punch buggy blue no punch backs!” and punches my arm, making me lose balance and fall.

Pain suddenly engulfs my knee. The skin burns as I scrape it against the asphalt. Tears well in my eyes and my blood stains the road beneath me.

“I’m sorry! Are you okay?” Finn’s voice shakes.

I wipe my eyes like my dad always tells me to.“Don’t cry. You’re not a fuckin’ baby.”His voice is always around, even when he’s not.

My chin quivers, and I try to stop the tears.

Gentle arms wrap around me. “It’s okay,” Finn tells me.

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to cry.”

“You can cry, here let me call my mom. She can pick?—”

“No!” I scream.

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t want her to call my parents. It’s fine, I’ll wash my knee in the ocean.”

“But your knee is bleeding a lot, you need a bandage.”

“Please, Finn. Really, I’m okay,” I plead. “I’ll get in trouble. My parents think I’m at school and my dad gets mad if I get hurt.”

He pauses for too many heart beats, like he’s battling something within himself, and then says, “Okay.”

I wipe my eyes and get back on the bike.

Finn doesn’t say a single word to me. Not while we ride our bikes, not when he’s putting them on the bike rack, and not as we walk through the sand.

The water is biting. I take a deep breath and walk further in until my knee is fully submerged. I wince at the pain.

Finn finally breaks silence. “What did you mean when you said your dad gets mad when you’re hurt?”

Images of an angry Jason flash through my mind.

“I don’t know.” I shrug. “He says I shouldn’t be falling around, and I need to watch where I’m going.”

---