Page 21 of Akarnae

“Oops. Sorry,” Alex apologised, whispering this time. Then she giggled.

Wait,giggled?

She did it again.

Uh-oh.

She looked at Jordan, horrified. “What’s wrong with me?”

“Come on,” he ordered, rising from his seat. “We’d better get you over to the Medical Ward.”

Alex tried to stand but found her legs were made of jelly. She crashed noisily down to the floor, gathering even more attention than before.

“My legs are angry at me. Too many runnings.” She giggled again as her vision flickered in and out of focus. “That’s not right. Too much running. Better.”

She nodded to herself and looked up at Jordan and Bear who were standing over her. “You’re really tall,” she observed, squinting at them. She cupped her mouth with both hands and yelled, “Hellllllloooo up there!”

The boys shared another glance before reaching down to help her to her feet.

“All right, up you get,” Jordan said, steadying her as she swayed on her feet. “Easy there.”

“Wheeeeee!” she squealed, watching the room spin around her. “That was fun! Can we do it again?”

Jordan’s mouth twitched in amusement and Bear couldn’t hold back a snort of laughter as he reached out to grab her free arm. Together they hauled her out of the food court, carrying most of her weight between them.

Once they were outside, she glanced from one boy to the other before tucking her legs up underneath her. “Look at me! I’mflying!”

Jordan and Bear grunted as they were forced to shoulder the additional weight of her whole body.

“There must be an easier way to do this,” Bear mumbled as Alex bounced around in their arms, throwing her weight up and down and laughing hysterically. What a great game!

“There is,” Jordan replied, and in a single motion he swept Alex up into his arms, bridal-style.

“Much better,” Bear said, untangling her arm from around his neck.

“For you, maybe,” Jordan muttered.

Alex looked up at her new mode of transport in wonder. “You’rereallystrong!”

Jordan raised an eyebrow. “Don’t get used to it.”

“I wish I could do that!” she squealed, pointing to his face.

“Do what?” he asked.

“The one-eyebrow thing! I can never do it right! It makes me look like a demented monkey.”

Bear laughed and turned to Jordan. “She’s going to besomad at you when she comes down from this.”

“How is thismyfault?” Jordan demanded.

“You should have told her about the juice,” Bear answered.

“I really like that juice,” Alex said with a longing sigh. “It’s yummy. Tastes like happiness in a cup.”

“Ididtell her!” Jordan said to Bear. “I told her to take it easy, she just didn’t listen.”

“I did too listen. I’m a good listener. I’m the best listener who’ll ever listen,” Alex said, trying to catch a butterfly fluttering across their path. Such pretty colours!

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