The Ferris wheel jerked to a stop.
“Why are we stopping?” Jacob blurted. His eyes flew open, a full-body shudder running through him as he saw how high they were. “Oh, god.”
“They’re letting us look over our beautiful city,” Felix said, his gaze trained on the horizon so he didn’t focus on the too-distant ground below them. “Look! You can see Liberty Heights!”
He pointed vaguely in the direction of their school, which was not visible at all. “Hi, school! Jacob, wave to the school.”
“How the hell is this helping me turn into New Jacob?” Jacob demanded.
“You’re getting out of your comfort zone!”
“Well, I want back in!” Jacob hissed. “What the hell was I thinking?”
Felix chewed his cheek. He wanted to point out that Jacob was shaking off the shackles his overbearing parents had placed on him, but whenever Felix made a perfectly good point about his parents, Jacob got all snappy and defensive.
Felix sat back against the seat, watching Jacob flinch as it rocked back and forth. He had a tried and true method for when Jacob got like this:
Distraction.
Felix cupped his hands around his mouth and cleared his throat.
Jacob narrowed his eyes. “What are you doing?”
Felix ignored him. He turned to the fairground and screamed, “LIBERTY HEIGHTS RULES!”
His yell echoed over the fairground. People looked up—tired parents and hyper kids, the occasional happy couple, but mostly their fellow students.
Jacob frowned. “Felix, what are you doing?”
Felix shushed him. Somebody down below whooped. The guy next to him followed suit, even granting Felix a fist-pump.
“WHOO,” Felix yelled. “YEAH! LIBERTY HEIGHTS, BAY-BEEEE!”
Cheers sounded from the Ferris wheel below them. Felix leaned over the barrier to see fellow students waving and hollering up at them.
“Careful,” Jacob said, pulling Felix back.
“Unclench,” Felix repeated. “Where’s your school spirit, man? WOO, LIBERTY HEIGHTS!”
Another chorus of cheering from below, louder now. Felix whooped, smacking Jacob’s arm.
Jacob’s mouth twitched reluctantly. He rolled his eyes, as if to let Felix know he was just entertaining him.
“Liberty Heights,” he called, reserved.
Felix dug his elbow into Jacob’s side. “Louder! Come on!”
“Liberty HEIGHTS,” Jacob yelled, and huffed a reluctant laugh. “Why does so much of your ‘new Jacob’ shit require me yelling? I said I wanted to be a new me, not a public nuisance.”
“Tomato, toh-mah-to,” Felix said breezily. He rocked their seat again, if only to feel Jacob grab him to keep him still.
Felix let himself enjoy the feeling of Jacob’s hand around his arm, then spoke quietly. “You know, you shouldn’t worry so much about this ‘brand-new Jacob’ stuff.”
Jacob gave him a wary look. “You tell me to loosen up all the time.”
“Yeah, ’cause you’restressed,” Felix said. “I want to see you less tense, sure. But I like the old Jacob.”
Jacob’s suspicious gaze softened. His mouth twitched again, and Felix’s gaze dragged toward it like a moth to a flame.
