Last week, she twisted her ankle trying to jump from a swing, now she thinks she can climb a metal fence ... in flip-flops.
Sure enough, she gets to the top and her sandal slips, so I dart from under the tree and catch her against the links before she falls completely.
She squeals and jerks her head back to see who caught her, her eyes widening when she finds me.
I don’t know why she pretends she didn’t know – it’s always me.
As I lower her to the ground, she moves her hands along the metal to make sure she’s steady. When she hits the grass, her eyes fly to mine and I glare.
“Why you always doing stupid stuff?”
She puts her hands on her hips like a brat. “I’m not. Rowan bet I couldn’t climb it, so I was showing him I can.”
“Well you didn’t, did you? You almost fell. And where is Rowan anyway? I don’t see him watching.”
She ducks her head and shrugs a shoulder. “Stacey and Brandon started playing cartoon tag, guess he wanted to play, too.”
“So you tried to show off for a boy who doesn’t even care and got hurt doing it. When are you gonna stop trying to make him like you?”
“He’s my friend, he likes me!”
“Yeah, but you want him to be your boyfriend and he’s not.”
“No I don’t! And I didn’t get hurt.”
When I point to her foot, she glances down with a frown, then gasps.
She tries to run off but winces and jerks her knee up.
Blood is dripping from a cut on her toe, making it hard to see the color of paint on her nails. Her eyebrows jump in panic and she looks to me, big tears welling in her eyes.
Instantly, I’m anxious – I don’t like when she cries.
I step forward, putting my hand on her cheek to keep her from looking back down.
“Stop it.”
“I can’t, what if-”
“I said stop. You’re fine.”
“Just go away,” she sniffles, and for some reason my chest starts to ache.
“No, you need me. Let’s go to the water fountain and clean it off.”
“But it might hurt.”
I shake my head, pushing her hair behind her shoulders and her eyes jump between mine. “It won’t hurt, I’ll be careful.”
“Promise?” she whispers and suddenly all I want is to make her feel better.
“Yeah.” I swallow. “I promise.”
She hesitates for a second, then nods.
When her hand slides behind my back to wrap around my waist, my stomach grows tight, kind of like it does before a roller coaster ride, and I freeze, glaring down at her.
I hate how she always makes me feel weird. Like how I always know when she’s around, as if I have a sixth sense or something. I thought maybe it was a girl thing, but it only happens with her.
Her cheeks grow pink and she goes to pull away, but I quickly grab her hand to keep it right where it is. Together, we move over to the picnic tables.
Soon as I set her on the bench, I cup my hands and fill them with water then slowly pour it over her wound.
She yanks it back but when she realizes it doesn’t hurt, she sticks it out again, pointing her pink toes right at me. I rinse it once more, then grab ahold of her foot to get a better look, seeing the cut is pretty small – a clean slice alongside the nail.
I look up, ready to tell her she’s fine, like I said, but nothing comes out of my mouth when I find Oakley’s eyes on me instead of her foot.
She does this a lot, watches me when she thinks I’m not looking. But I see her, even though I pretend I don’t.
I like it. It makes me want to run faster or throw farther when I’m playing football with my friends.
“Why you being nice to me today? Yesterday you called me spoiled and said you couldn’t stand me.”
Yesterday you were chasing Rowan around the field.
“Felt like being nice, I guess.”
The corner of her mouth lifts a little. “I wish you’d be nice every day, I like when you talk to me.”
My heart starts beating hard against my chest and I worry she’ll see it through my T-shirt.
“You-”
“What’d you do, Alec?!” comes from behind me and Oakley jerks her foot away.
I look up, finding she’s chewing her lip, eyes no longer on me.
I stand slowly, turning to look at Rowan as he runs over.
He drops beside her, picking up the foot to inspect it.
“I cut it on the fence, Alec was helping clean it...”
Rowan lifts his glare to me, then blocks her from my view. He helps her up and her hand snakes around him, same as it did to me only minutes ago, and my fingers ball into fists.
“Come on, Oaks. I’ll take care of you.”