Page 49 of Fostering Chemistry
Mia apparently also had climbing skills She pulled herself up to the branch and swung one leg around it, straddling it. I watched with concern as she scooted out toward the first nest, but she was able to take a picture of it.
"Catch," she said, and her phone fell toward me.
I caught it. The picture was still on the screen. The oversized nest, instead of having eggs or baby birds in it, contained a collection of cell phones with broken screens. I wasn't sure what kind of social commentary that was, but I didn't need to be. Her phone was warm, and I did my best to ignore the fact that it had just been tucked in the waistband of her leggings. After I uploaded the picture, there was a rustling sound above me.
"I can't move," Mia called down.
Crap. "It's okay. Just don't look down and slide backward toward the trunk of the tree."
"No, I mean the tutu is caught on the bark."
Oh. That one I didn't know how to fix. "If it rips, we'll buy Jenna a new one."
She nodded, sliding backward. I didn't imagine those thin leggings provided her legs much protection from the rough bark. Ouch.
"Damn it, it’s still stuck," she said, and some brown leaves floated down. "What do I do now?"
I studied her as she perched on the branch. From down here, it looked higher than twelve feet.
"Can you do a reverse of what you did to get up there? Swing your leg over and kind of balance on your stomach like gymnasts do."
"I feel like a gymnast on the top parallel bar," she said, her legs dangling down.
"Uneven bars," I said automatically. My middle school girlfriend had been a gymnast.
I positioned myself under Mia in case she fell. “If you could just drop your body down under the branch, I can grab your feet."
"Are you sure?" For the first time, she sounded worried.
"I've got you, Mia."
I’d used my most reassuring voice and it must have worked, because she wiggled her hips back and forth until she slid off the branch. She slid off it, but the tutu snagged on the bark and stayed up on the limb.
"Crap," she said, grabbing for it and losing her balance.
She plummeted toward me, a drop of only a few feet, but it was like time slowed down. I reached up, pulling her toward me before she could hit the ground. She grabbed at my head, and I pulled her against me in a bear hug until I was sure we weren’t going to overbalance.
Her hands were on my shoulders as she stared into my eyes. Hers were wide and surprised. Then she shook her head as if to clear it and squinted up at the tutu still caught on the branch."I guess I’m not a ballerina anymore," she said, sounding dazed. "I’m not sure what I am.”
Beautiful.
That’s what my mind supplied, but I held the word back. I had no right to think of her like that, but some malfunctioning part of me felt like I’d known her for longer than I had. Like we had a connection—which was absurd, because I’d spent less time with her than any of the other new students in the house.
But it still felt true.
And she really was beautiful.
15
MIA
I was stillin Diego’s arms, wide-eyed and breathless. His hands were on my waist, and I felt a little too shaky to move. Climbing the tree had been fine, being up there had been fine, but that drop, even though it was only a few feet, had terrified me. The sick feeling in my stomach made it feel like I’d fallen off the side of a cliff. When you thought about it, it was the exact same sensation, at least for the first second or so.
Finally, Diego let me go and stepped a half step back.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
He raised an eyebrow. "You're the one who fell out of the tree."
