Page 2 of Break

Danny pushes the bag away with his foot. “Why are you lettin’ her do that? Come on, man. Let’s just play. My mom said I only got like an hour before I have to go back home.”

I slap his foot and try to reach for them again, but Vincent picks up the bag before I can get any of them. “Seriously, Ethan. Not now,” he snaps at me, then looks at the other two. “Okay, who’s with who? Wait, are we gonna do teams or are we going solo today?”

“Solo,” Max says, leaning over to snatch the bag away from Vince. He shoves a handful of darts into his pocket and loads his gun.

“Guys,” I say, standing with my hands on my hips. I look back and see that the little girl who helped me is still on her knees, watching us and obviously waiting for me to come back so she can try out shooting this thing. “I told her I’d let her try this out. It’ll only take a minute.”

Danny glances over to where I was looking, and then rolls his eyes. “Nooo. Are you kidding me, Ethan? Baby Willie? You are not taking one of my guns over there for her to touch.” He backs away, holding both of his guns and an extra bag of darts out so I can’t reach any of them.

“Who?” asks Max.

“Freaking Wilhelmina Bardot. She’s six, and this annoying baby that lives next door to me. They just moved in a few months ago. My parents keep having dinner with them and she’salwaysfreaking there. I’m not kidding, she’s not touching my Nerf gun. If you take it over there, I’m not gonna let you use my stuff,” Danny says, and I know he’s not going to give in. He never gives in and always has to be right.

Rubbing my hand over the back of my head, I look back over to her and see that church lady talking to her now. She’s not smiling anymore, but she keeps looking over at us like she’s waiting for me.

“But I told her she could ‘cuz she let me use one of her toys to fix this thing,” I tell them, holding up the empty gun.

“She’s what, like three? Just leave it be. She’ll get over it,” Max says as he loads up his gun.

Danny smirks at me. “I’m telling you, you don’t want her to touch your stuff. She’s gonna break it and then follow you around everywhere. Just ignore her. It’s what I do.”

Sighing, I give in. “Fine. Give me some dang darts.”

“Finally!” Vincent cheers, dropping to the ground to fish out more darts from the bag. “You guys don’t even know what you’re in for. These things have this rapid-fire trigger on them and they hithard.”

Looking back over at Wilhelmina, I see her picking up her toys while that lady, who I guess is her mom, stands over her with her arms crossed. I feel kind of bad for not going back and letting her shoot the gun, but they’re right. She’ll get over it and forget.

Once we’re all loaded up, we run away from each other. I only look back at the little girl one more time to see her and her mom walking to the cars in the parking lot. She reaches up to hold her hand, but her mom pulls it away, bends over to point in her face and yells at her for something.

I feel guilty again, but only for a second because I feel a dart hit me in the back. I turn around to see Danny laughing his butt off as he runs over to the jungle gym. Forgetting about his neighbor, I laugh as I chase after him and pull my trigger to nail him in the ankle just as he starts to climb the rope ladder.

Taking aim just as he gets to the top, I nail Danny again, this time in the back of his head, and he screams back at me, “No face shots! That hurts!”

“Don’t be a baby!” I call to him as I turn and chase after Vincent, who’s just gone up the tube slide. These guys are so bad at this game, and I smile, knowing that I’m gonna kick their butts, just like I always do.

Chapter 2

16 years ago

Vincent

Running through the hallway, I slide in my socks to stop myself before passing by the door to the kitchen. Reaching out a hand, I grip the doorway to stop. “Hey, Mom? I’m gonna go over to Danny’s. Is that cool?”

Looking over her shoulder, she grabs a towel to dry her hands before turning to face me. Planting her hands on her hips, she raises an eyebrow before asking, “Did you get your room picked up?”

Flinging my head back to groan at the ceiling, I complain, “Mooooom, there’s barely anything in there. I swear I’ll finish it when I get back.”

“Vincent, you always promise, but you never get it done. It’ll literally take you ten minutes if you just stop messing around anddoit.” Crossing her arms at me, I know I just need to pull out the puppy eyes and she’ll give in.

“Swear to God, I really will do it when I get back.Please?All the guys are going over there and we’re gonna play football for a little bit.” I show her my ball to prove that I’m telling the truth and then press it between my hands like I’m praying to her. “Promise. The moment I get back, I’ll get it perfect.”

Sighing, she rolls her eyes and then flicks the damp towel at me. “Get out of here.”

“Yes!” I fist pump in the air and then take off to the door to get my shoes on.

Calling out to me, she yells, “If you don’t follow through this time, I’m going to give you extra chores tomorrow. You hear me, Vince?”

“Got it, ma!” I yell back as I shove my feet in my shoes, pulling up my socks that are sagging down around my ankles.

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