Page 46 of My Star-Crossed Summer

“Hey,” Noah says. He’s only about ten feet away now, but he seems to understand that the footsteps and the vibrations are making this so much worse. “It’s okay,” he tells me, keeping his voice calm and quiet. “I promise you’re safe, and I’ll help you.”

I nod, though I don’t agree. None of this feels okay.

“You want to hear some fun facts about this bridge?” he asks, his tone light.

I snort. “Not really, Valentine.”

He bites back a smile, no doubt thinking that having me irritated at him is better than being terrified. “It has a weight limit of four tons. It can hold at least thirty people safely, and it was reinforced with more steel cables about ten years ago. You could ride a buffalo over this thing.”

“Super,” I wheeze. My brain helpfully supplies me with an image of this bridge snapping in half and I’m sinking to my knees again.

“The distance across is shorter than the distance from your cabin to the dining hall,” he says. I know he’s trying to help, but I heard Sophie when she told the kids it was just over a hundred feet across. Right now, it might as well be a mile.

I look past him to where all the kids are now staring, and a wave of embarrassment nearly knocks the wind from my lungs. Why can’t I just put one foot in front of the other the way that they all did?

“Vic,” he says quietly. “Do you want me to come over to you?”

I shake my head, biting my lip.

“What can I do?” he asks. “What do you need?”

Again, I shake my head, because I honestly don’t know. Lately, everything feels off. I can’t get a handle on what I want anymore. I don’t trust myself to know what I need. My skin feels too tight and my brain feels scrambled, and now my whole body feels like concrete.

“You got this, Victoria!” Priya yells. Next to her, Layla gives a loud whistle and throws her hands in the air.

“You can do it!” another kid yells. And then another. And then all the kids are chanting my name, shouting out encouragements, and something in my chest loosens.

I’ve never felt so many people rooting for me in all of my life. Sophie, Noah, these kids who barely know me and don’t want a single thing from me—except to have me join them on the other side.

My heart feels like it cracks wide open, and I take another step toward Noah. He smiles—that secret smile that’s only for me—and I take another step.

Behind him, the kids keep cheering and calling my name, and Sophie’s clapping right along with them.

“That’s it, Vic,” Noah says, his voice still low and steady. “You got this. Just a few more steps.”

I inch toward him, but it still feels like I’m trying to wade through cement. I take a couple more steps and my foot catches on something. When I look down to check, I see the gorge down below, and seeing the sheer amount of air between me and the ground makes my gut churn.

“Hey,” Noah says. “Look at me. Don’t look down.”

I close my eyes, gripping the rail. Every muscle in my body has gone rigid and moving my feet again feels like an impossible task. I want to tell him this, but before I can even put the words together, I feel the bridge vibrating again under my feet. Isqueeze my eyes shut tighter, wishing I could make all of this go away, and then I feel a hand wrap over mine.

When I open my eyes, Layla’s standing in front of me. She’s somehow pried my hand from the rail and is holding it in hers.

“Holding hands helped me,” she says, and my heart somehow finds a way to crack open even more. She gives me a firm nod and squeezes my hand, and there’s no way I’m staying rooted here now.

Across the gorge, the other kids are still shouting their encouragement and Layla smiles. “It’s scary for a minute, but then totally worth it, right?” she says, and my chest loosens. I take one step, and then another, and Layla starts telling me about her project again. Using some kind of complex equation they learned to figure out if we have another planet in the solar system, hiding in plain sight. I understand about a third of what she’s saying, but it has me thinking about rogue planets instead of hundred-foot drops, and pretty soon we’re past the halfway point and Noah has started walking backward, keeping his eyes steady on mine.

My legs move more easily, and by the time we get within a few feet of the other side, I have one hand on the side rail and am almost walking fully upright again. The kids’ shouts are louder now, and as soon as Layla leads me off the bridge and onto the platform, they all erupt in cheers.

Sophie pulls me into a hug. “I’m so sorry,” she whispers. “I had no idea.”

“It’s okay,” I tell her. “Honestly, neither did I.”

Noah claps his big hand on my shoulder and says, “Knew you could do it, Vic.”

I nod as he squeezes my shoulder, and before I realize what’s happening, I’ve wrapped my arms around him in a bear hug. My cheek’s pressed against his chest, and the thumping of his heart is as soothing rain on a rooftop. His body relaxes as his bigarm tightens around me, and what’s left of this wall between us crumbles into dust.

Chapter Fourteen

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