Page 23 of Don't Let Me Go
I stare at him in incomprehension. “All this is for a song?”
“It’s not just any song,” Duy informs me. “It’s literally one ofthegreatest pop songs in movie historyever.”
The crowd seems to agree. As soon as Olivia Newton-John’s voice sings out over the sound system, skaters flock to the rink like their lives depend on it.
“Come on!” Audrey shouts, grabbing Tala’s hand and pulling her to the rink, where the LED lights are now pulsing in flashes of neon pink and blue.
I can tell Riley and Duy want to be on the floor with their friends, but they’re stuck propping me up.
“It’s okay,” I shout. “I’ll sit this one out.”
“What? Don’t be silly!” Duy shouts back. “This song is the whole reason we came. They only play it once an hour.”
“I think Tala’s right. I need to take it slow. You two go without me.”
“No,” Duy snaps, grabbing my left hand. “Just hold on to Riley and me. You’ll be fine.”
“Yeah,” Riley says, taking my other hand and shooting me a grin. “We’ve got you.”
Before I can protest, Riley and Duy steer me onto the rink. We merge with the throng of skaters who seem to have been training their whole lives for this moment. Everyone is executing spins and leaps like they’re goddamn Olympic pros. Meanwhile, I’m concentrating so hard onnotfalling down that I don’t even care what people think about the fact that I’m holding hands with two boys. I mean, one boy and one Duy.
“You’re doing great!” Riley yells over the music.
Greatis an overstatement, but I appreciate the encouragement. We circle the rink a couple of times, and after a few near stumbles, I start to feel more confident. Though not as confident as Tala and Audrey, who are holding hands and weaving gracefully in and out of the crowd. They’re really fast, or maybe I’m just embarrassingly slow, because they manage to lap us twice. On their third approach, they slow down and separate. Tala skates over to Duy and links her arm around their free arm while Audrey rolls alongside Riley and does the same with him.
“We thought we’d give you a hand!” Tala shouts.
“Literally!” Audrey adds.
From opposite ends of our human chain, Tala and Audrey begin to pull us all forward. Since we got onto the rink, Duy and Riley have been so focused on keeping me upright that we haven’t had the chance to gain much momentum. With Tala and Audrey acting like a pair of engines, though, we finally start to pick up speed. It’s both exhilarating and terrifying.
“You okay?” Riley asks, clocking my expression.
“Yeah. I’m okay.”
“You want to try skating on your own?” he asks, offering me an encouraging smile.
I’m a long way from becoming a skating prodigy, but I no longerfeel like a complete idiot on wheels. And with Olivia Newton-John belting what I can only assume is the climax of the song, the driving beat has me feeling oddly confident. Maybe Duy’s right about its pop-musical greatness. It certainly makes me feel like I could fly—or at least not fall.
Or maybe that’s just Riley and his friends.
“Okay, on the count of three,” Riley instructs the group. “One. Two.Three.”
Duy and Riley release my hands. The others fall back, and I push myself forward, uncertain and unsteady, but on my own two feet.
Chapter 10
Riley
“Thanks for today,” Jackson says, taking a hearty bite of his bacon double cheeseburger. “After these past couple months, I needed it.”
“Thank Duy. They invited you,” I remind him, sipping my Diet Coke.
After several hours of skating (and only a few near collisions), Jackson and I are resting our weary and blistered feet in the Rink-O-Rama café while we wait for Duy, Tala, and Audrey to finish competing in the limbo tournament.
“I will thank them,” Jackson replies. “Though right now, Duy looks a little busy.”
I follow Jackson’s gaze over to the rink where a recently disqualified Duy stands on the sidelines chatting with a striking Black boy who’s rocking a platinum-blond Afro and a zebra-print muscle tee that does indeed show off his muscles. I can’t hear what they’re saying over the wail of Olivia Newton-John’s “Magic,” but from their body language, I can tell there is definitely some hard-core flirting going on.
