Page 43 of Break Your Fall

He snaps his fingers and looks back at Mom. “I’ll stay out back until I have something set up.”

“I already called it.”

Dad’s laugh is dry at my claim, and I’m waiting for him to remark how this isn’t a game, so I can then mockingly suggest flipping a coin when Mom takes a step around the table in my direction, my stare sliding from Dad’s to hers.

“This is the last time I’ll see you before college.” She says this like I’m moving across town instead of a short walk away. The last thing I want to do is add more emotional wounds on top of what Dad’s already given her. But she’s not the only one wounded.

“You should’ve thought of that before this.”

“I told youthisisn’t about you,” she says with a motion between her and Dad.

“Then quit doingthisin front of me,” I say back with the same motion. “Or at all.” My voice strains again, revealing my slight ulterior motive. I’ve been wanting to disqualify myself from this competition, exclude myself to the guest house since it started, but if my absence can force my parents to work on their problems without me around, maybe they can fix them.

It’s a slim chance, but it’s a chance.

Hey, denial.

“All right, hold on—”

The shuttingclickof the back door cuts off Dad’s protest, all three of our stares connecting with Camille’s as her eyes travel over ours one by one. Even at the back end of this war of words, she can sense the tension.

“I’m just here to scope out the library,” she says simply, and my mom manages a smile.

“Oh, yeah, sure, dear. Go ahead.”

Mom’s library has been restocked since Camille’s last snoop. I kind of want to see her face when she sets her sights on the new shelves. It’s a look I haven’t seen in over a year, but my feet are glued to the floor.

You look high,I’d laughed at her one time.

It’s that new book smell.

She passes me with a wide-eyed stare on her way to the books, and I rush to claim my new living arrangement again.

“I’m going tonight,” I announce with as much finality as I can. I’ve gotten a head start on packing, and if I don’t camp first, Dad will.

I haul my ass back to the laundry room to start the cycle on my clothes so I can move to my backyard. I retrieve my phone and it vibrates in my hand as Julian’s name shows on the screen. I’ve been avoiding him. He knows who he should be reaching out to and he knows he’s not. He’s only trying with me, so all he’s getting from me are disappearances and dead-ends.

“You know, he’s been through this,” Camille says as she pops up beside me, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, eyes on my phone screen. “You might wanna talk to him,” she pushes, encouraging me to confide in the friend who knows best, in the friend who can help me sort my thoughts and feelings—if things were normal.Normal.

“Grumbles misses you chasing her around the house, anyway. Julian tried, but it wasn’t the same.”

I laugh as I send the call to voicemail, then give her a pointed stare. “Are you calling him your boyfriend yet?”

Camille returns my look. “He knows what he is.”

Mytskis exaggerated as I move past her.Nope, not good enough.“Quit being stubborn and I’ll set up a chase date with Grumbles.”

“That’s not the best counter argument, considering,” she returns at my back through a laugh, and I spin around.

“Okay, how about I have to pack, then I have to give Banks advice on how to get Reyna to date him.Something she’ll like,” I quote him with a mischievous lilt that has Camille lighting up with laughter and following after me.

“Oh, I want in.”

13

With a Twist

Reyna

---