Suzie dragged Mac outside.
“What, what, what?” he yelled at her.
She stood with her hands on her hips. And this time she wasn’t twirling.
“Mac, I think of you as a brother. I care for you. I even love you.”
“Would you stop it!”
“All the kids are talking about this death jump with Rhett. I heard them today. All day!
You are not going to jump. No way. No how. And if you don’t promise that you won’t I’m tellin’. Right now!” She stomped her foot.
“What do you want me to do? Look like a coward in front of the whole stupid school? I can’t…”
He turned away.
“I know, I know, you can’t ride your bike.”
He stared at her. “How…how did you know?”
“I know all kinds of things, buddy.”
“I have to do the jump. I just have to. Even if I don’t make it I have to try! I lost my mom and I couldn’t make that stop. My dad is lost somewhere and I can’t bring him back. This is the only thing, the only thing, I can do that I have some control over!”
Tears rolled down his face. Suzie hugged him and he cried. Hard.
“Okay,” she sniffed, because she was crying, too. “I’ll help you. At night. When no one can see. Okay?”
He wiped his nose on his sleeve. “Okay,” he whispered. “We’ll do it. We’ll do it.”