Page 16 of All In Good Time

If the universe wanted to make things even worse for her, the girl would start crying and make her parents come demand payment for breaking her board.

Becca bit her cheek and shifted uncomfortably. “I’m sorry.”

By some miracle, the girl didn’t cry. Instead, she just stood up and wiped her hands on her pants, before holding one out to Becca. “It’s not your fault, I knew the ice would make it harder to stop.”

Becca paused, then put her hand into the girl’s, letting her help her up. She winced slightly at the tug on her wrist.

“Are you hurt?” The girl must have noticed Becca’s strained expression and eyed her wrist from where she stood.

“Just a little twist. I think I’ll be fine.” Becca smiled to reassure her, and the girl didn’t look like she wanted to argue. Now that she was standing up, Becca noticed the girl looked about thirteen or fourteen, older than she originally assumed because of her short height. Probably a freshman she’d never noticed. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” She stepped past Becca and picked up the now flimsy board. “But this isn’t. I hate winter.”

“I’m really sorry about that. I should have been paying attention.”

“You don’t happen to have a car, do you?”

“No.” She smiled sheepishly. She could drive, but her mom wasn’t willing to buy her her own car just yet. Extremely inconvenient, especially in times like this. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” She waved it off. “I’ll see you around.”

With a piece of the broken board in each hand, the girl started to walk away. It was only then that Becca realized she was wearing barely any layers. Only a semi-thick jacket. No gloves or hat or anything.

“Wait!” Becca called after her, already removing her own gloves to hold out to her. “It’s way too cold to be walking around without a coat. Why don’t you take these to keep warm?”

“I’m fine. It’s not too far.” Clearly, this girl was the independent type.

“Please, it’s the least I could do,” Becca said.

The girl took a moment to think about it, but she still didn’t look entirely convinced.

“Or at least let me walk with you so you don’t pass out from hypothermia or something.”

The girl’s lips lifted into a small, amused smile. “Fine.”

She turned and Becca kept pace next to her, the two of them taking up the width of the icy sidewalk. Becca kept her gloves in her hand though. It felt wrong to be the only one bundled up when the girl was probably freezing to death. She shoved them into her pocket.

“I’m Mal,” the girl said first, not looking at Becca when she did.

“What?”

“My name, it’s Mal.”

Becca’s brows raised. “Oh, I’m Becca. It’s nice to meet you, Mal.”

“Yeah.” She still sounded a little awkward. “You too.”

“Why were you skateboarding just now?”

She shrugged. “I like it.”

“I mean, why when it’s so cold out? People don’t usually go out when it’s like this, much less skateboarding or riding a bike.”

“I used to skateboard all the time during winter in LA.”

Becca turned to look at her. “You’re from LA?”

“Yeah, we moved here a few months ago.”

---