Page 55 of A Million To Fall

“Even worse.”

Boston laughs under his breath, then lifts the whistle hanging around his neck.

“Alright, everyone,” he calls out. “Ready…”

The gym stills almost instantly.

“Set…”

Cassie grips my hand tighter.

“Go!”

The whistle shrieks.

Chaos erupts.

Kids stumble forward in every direction, half of them immediately collapsing into laughing piles on the gym floor. One pair somehow veers sideways instead of forward. Another kid loses a shoe.

Cassie and I actually start surprisingly strong.

“Oh my god,” I gasp as we hobble forward in sync. “Wait. We’re kind of good at this.”

“I told you!” Cassie squeals.

To my horror, Boston and Bronx are right beside us. And annoyingly coordinated.

Boston’s long legs should make this impossible, but he’s somehow matching Bronx’s smaller strides perfectly, one arm hooked around his little brother’s shoulders to steady him.

“Come on, dude,” Boston laughs. “Keep up.”

“I am keeping up!” Bronx croaks.

I glance over and narrow my eyes.

There’s no way I’m losing to Boston Rawlings and a third grader.

“Skye!” Cassie yelps as we nearly topple sideways.

“Sorry. Sorry.” I steady us, then look back toward Boston and Bronx.

God, Boston is unfairly tall. He could totally just pick up Bronx and…

I have an idea—terrible and awesome at the same time. “Cassie,” I say urgently.

“What?”

“I’m going to need you to trust me.”

Before she can question it, I bend, hook an arm around her, and hoist her up against my hip.

Cassie screams. Not so much in fear as delight.

The entire gym erupts.

“Hey!” Bronx shouts furiously behind us. “That’s cheating!”

“Stormy!” Boston barks through obvious laughter. “That is not how this works!”