Page 51 of Oh, Flutz!

And after a grueling twist lift practice—in which I toss Katya up in the air and she has to turn herself around three times before she comes back down, which is when I, somehow, have to catch her without keeping my arms up in wait—my bones seems to think I’ve aged eighty years.

I’m going to have to start taking ice baths again if we keep going at this rate. The only thing keeping me pushing through the pain—not to mention a particular redhead’s constant nagging—is that we might actually be ready in time.

If I don’t die before then, that is. I groan as my back cracks so loudly that Oliver stares.

“Are you good?”

“No,” I mutter, wincing as my spine lets out another loud complaint. “Do you think it’s possible to contract arthritis at twenty?”

“No clue. Try not to, ‘cause your broke-ass insurance won’t cover it. Hey, when’s that reporter lady’s supposed to come?”

“Now,” I say miserably.

“Yikes. You guys have a plan?”

I shrug helplessly. “Not get flamed? Try not to make it look like we can’t stand each other half the time?”

“You better hope she and the reporter don’t gang up on you.”

“I might have to go into hiding.”

“Good luck with that. Our Red Queen has the nose of a bloodhound.”

I drop my gaze, bending over to touch my toes. “You could be nicer to her, you know.”

“That’s no fun. And since when are you on her side, anyway? You were just saying how you wanted to stick her hand in an air fryer.”

Okay, I did say that. But we’d had a bad day, and I was liable to be pissed and a little melodramatic—fine, alotmelodramatic. “I can’t afford for there to be sides here. None of us can. If we screw up here, we’re screwed, period.” I sigh. “Look, she doesn’t have anyone here, either. She might be impossible, but she is all alone, you know? I guess I kind of…feel bad.”

When I glance back, pulling my leg up behind me to stretch out my quad muscles, Ollie’s looking at me with a weird grin.

“What?”

“You’resowhipped.”

“I—” I register the pointed look on my best friend’s face, then groan, planting my leg back down on the scuffed floor. “Oh, what the—”

“Hello? Were you not just mooning over her, like, a second ago?”

“Well, you’re wrong, ‘cause there is totally nothing there.” Like,nothing. Is he insane? It takes all my self-control not to kill her half the time. “Seriously. She’s a total pain in the ass.”

“Looks to me like you want that pain in your—”

I reach over into my bag and throw a towel at his face before he can even think about finishing that sentence.

He coughs and splutters. “Ugh! This is your armpit rag!”

“Serves you right.”

“Exactly. I’m always right. That’s my point.” Oliver sighs. “Listen. I know you’re being forced to skate with her right now, but I don’t have a good feeling about this. She’s gonna pull some bullshit, and I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

I roll my eyes. “I’m a big boy.”

“Could’ve fooled me.”

“I’m gonna throw this one at you too,” I threaten, balling up my other towel, and he groans dramatically.

“Alright, alright! Fine. Just be careful, alright? She’s a total loose cannon. I don’t trust her.”

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