Page 32 of Break Your Fall

And I’m proven justified when a holler pierces the night. An unmistakable whoop of happiness.

“That was Reyna,” I say, sitting straighter, my senses on high alert. That was Reyna. Out on the dark water, with waves that have started curling higher and rushing faster.

Another holler rings out and Julian is on his feet. “And that was Banks.”

I’m on my feet with him, Camille coming up in the middle, as a jet ski zips along the water. That unmistakable whoop sounds again as they bounce, zigzagging under the pier, illuminated a brief moment by the lights, narrowly missing the stilts.

Nausea rolls through my stomach. “Reyna!”

Julian and Camille are yelling with me, but Reyna’s scream is the only sound that is clear to my ears as I charge for the water.

9

Think of Me

Reyna

We flip. A scream rips from my throat as I fly up, back, down. Water slaps me in the face, filling my mouth as I’m swept under. I’m rolled by the current and I try to fight it, my hands reaching for the surface, but it’s too dark to tell if I’m near or far.

An ache builds in my lungs as air leaves my mouth in another scream, the voice striking me even as the ocean rushes through my ears.Hervoice—draping over my mind like a veil, shading all of my focus, stealing all of my fight.

WE’D ALL BE BETTER OFF.

My body gives in to the push. My limbs useless to try to save me.

Give up.

It happens so fast—the grip around my arm, my mouth gasping in air as I break the surface, that same grip helping me swim to shore. My legs almost buckle, too weak to kick myself along as a painful, silent cry parts my mouth over what just happened to me, over what could’ve happened to me.

I could’ve lost my life if it weren’t for Banks.

If it weren’t for his presence, I would’ve done everything tonight that I’d warned my mother I would do.

I’m losing myself, and I can’t stop it.

We’re coughing and staggering against each other as our feet hit the shallow area, Banks pulling me at his side. I hear my name being yelled and when I look up, I see Julian, Camille, and Tommy just ahead, up to their knees in the water.

They’re still here?

Why are they still here?fires off as a protest in my head.

They were coming for us, not knowing that for those last seconds I was under the waves, I didn’t want to be rescued.

Banks is shouting as we meet them and he releases me, five sets of feet hitting the sand. “We gottarun. That ski isn’t mine!”

“What thefuck, Banks,” Julian shouts back. I can’t look at him as I run my fingers through my hair, pulling back the wet strands clinging to my cheeks. My body is warm and weary from the exertion.

“Do you wanna get caught?Why aren’t we running?” Banks’s voice is labored as the two scuffle, their feet shuffling and colliding in the sand.

“What the fuck is wrong with you, man? You could’ve gotten Reyna killed.” Julian lets Banks go, jerking back as he shoves him away.

“Oh, yeah, it’s not likeIwas out there, too,” Banks notes in offense. My stare drifts up from their legs to Banks’s hands as he pulls at the bunched-up mess Julian made of his wet shirt when he’d grabbed him. “Ihadher. No one’s getting killed.”

“You are,” Tommy threatens as he charges for Banks. Julian, already between them, holds Tommy off, and the next voice I hear is my own.

“I’m fine.” I clear the clogged feeling in my throat, inhale a deep breath. “Nothing’s going to kill me.” A scoff sputters through my chest at the idea. “That would be too merciful.”

Everything stills but the waves as they heave to shore, our mingling, chest-heavy breaths as bodies and stares shift to me. I keep mine toward the pier lights beyond as they blur and run together.

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