Page 81 of Caught in a Bad Fauxmance
My knee pivots, prepared to nail Julian right in the crotch, when he suddenly releases me. I stumble, tripping over a gnarled tree root and falling onto my ass. Everything but the treetops becomes a blur, stars and muted shapes clouding my vision. This is how I die, huh? Surrounded by the Seo-Cookes in the middle of the woods?
Can’t say I didn’t see that one coming.
A warmth covers me, a familiar smell overwhelming my senses. My body tenses beneath Julian’s, his slotted so easily against mine. If I had any energy left, I’d push him away, but I accept my fate and let him press our linked fingers into the damp leaves.
“May the best man win,” he whispers against my lips, and kisses me like I’m a prize to be won.
“Get off him! I have pepper spray!” Maya shouts, followed by the rattle of her shaking the can to life.
“Oh shit, she does.” Henry springs into action, pulling Julian off me by the scruff of his shirt. Julian stumbles but manages to flash me one last smile before taking off into the trees with his siblings. They’re gone faster than I can process, but before they disappear, I spot someone new waving to the three of them. Mr. Cooke, watching me for the briefest of seconds before vanishing into the trees.
Either I have a serious concussion, or we’re going to see some pigs with wings any second now.
“Dev, are you okay?” Maya races toward me, tossing the can of pepper spray aside as she collapses onto the ground beside me.
I nod, propping myself up against the base of the tree. Once I’m up, I realize Julian pushed something into my hand before he took off.
“Did he hurt you?” Maya asks while brushing leaves and chunks of dirt off the back of my shirt.
I shake my head, slowly unfolding the crumpled ball of cloth. Maya freezes, lips parting in a silent gasp as I lay the bright blue cloth out in front of us.
TEAM 7: SEO-COOKE
“Did you…” Maya trails off, blinking up at me in awe.
My fingers run reverently along the name written in Victorian chicken scratch.
“We won.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
In under three hours, Maya manages to arrange the most raucous after-party Lake Andreas has ever seen.
Streamers and popped balloons litter our makeshift dance floor at Dixon’s. If this year is about moving on from the past, this is the best place to start: with a ten-foot-long Meat Mayhem big enough to feed half of Lake Andreas. Our official family portrait serves as the centerpiece, displayed proudly behind the counter. Old Bob made an exception for the night, letting us hold on to it before it’s sent off to its rightful place on the Wall of Champions in the visitors center. Turns out he made another exception, one most of us didn’t know about….
Old Bob removes the blanket covering the frame with a flourish and I almost choke on my Gatorade.
“How did they get this?!” I exclaim, racing up to the frame to confirm that I’m not just imagining things.
It’s not the photo we’d posed for in front of Allegheny Park with Andy throwing up a peace sign and Maya sticking out her tongue. Instead, it’s a framed copy of my application piece. Us with Mami on her secret pier.
“I asked if they’d be willing to bend the rules a little,” Isabel says with a proud smile.
I whip around to face her. The others are too occupied with party setup to have noticed the portrait yet.
“But you and Andy aren’t in it.” Touched as I am, they were as much a part of the win as we were. And they’re as much a part of this family too.
She shrugs, still admiring the portrait instead of looking at me. “We’ll be in it next year.”
My heart swells over the portrait, over her kindness, over the thought of us coming here again because wecan.Words fall short, so I pull her in for a hug that says everything I can’t.
“Thank you,” I whisper into her shoulder. “For everything.”
She responds by holding me close and running a hand through my hair the way Mami always would when she missed us. It takes all the energy in me not to cry as we untangle and take in my drawing one more time.
It’ll fit in very nicely next to the twelve stiff, unsmiling Seo-Cooke portraits.
Thanks to my twin, what the rest of us assumed would be a modest affair became a lake-wide event as big as the Winter Games themselves. All the locals and visitors who came upfor the spectacle decide to stick around, eager to get a peek at Lake Andreas’s newest Winter Games champions. Soon enough the sheriff comes along and closes down Fulton Drive, letting the party spill out onto the street when Dixon’s becomes too packed and turning the other way when she catches me, Maya, and Andy sneaking sips of champagne.
