AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No,” I answer again, a little reluctantly as the answer will only fuel his determination.
“Exactly,” he says confidently. “So, we’re cutting class today.”
I sigh, knowing there’s no point in resisting any further. But even though I sigh, I can’t deny that there’s a twinge of excitement in my chest.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
His smile deepens, before the light turns green and he swivels his head back to the street. “Somewhere you’re afraid of.”
* * *
“Seriously, Hunter?”
He’s grinning from ear to ear as he undoes his seatbelt. “Let’s go,” he says enthusiastically as he swings out of the car.
A gaggle of young kids runs by us, shrieking with excitement as we walk down the parking lot.
“An amusement park?” I ask Hunter again.
“Notanamusement park.Theamusement park.”
My stomach does a funny kind of twist. “You actually remember that?”
This was the amusement park we went to on that fourth-grade field trip. When I got too scared to go on the roller coaster, and Hunter voluntarily stayed behind with me while the other kids went on, so I wouldn’t be alone.
There’s a glint in his eye as he looks at me while we line up to buy tickets. “I remember everything, Pheebs. You know that.”
My stomach does another somersault.
It almost feels like he’s saying he remembers everything about me, about us, like me and our history together have a special place in his mind.
I chase the feeling away, though. It’s silly. Obviously, he’s just making an arrogant quip about his memory in general. It is true that he seems to remember everything.
Still, that moment when I thought he was specifically talking about remembering everything related tous… that somersault feeling in my stomach wasn’t a bad feeling.
“You know what we’re riding first,” Hunter says as we walk into the park after getting our tickets.
“What?” I ask, looking around and taking in the scenery. It’s busy, even though it’s almost noon on a weekday. Lots of people taking advantage of flexible work-from-home arrangements, and high school or college students with the same skipping-class idea Hunter had, I guess.
“The Cloudscraper.”
Now my stomach sinks in a much less pleasant way. “Definitely not.”
Hunter laughs. “You have to get over your fear of rollercoasters, Pheebs.”
“It’s not a fear!” I protest, even though I know I’m lying. “Besides, shouldn’t we start off … smaller?”
“No way.” Hunter crosses his arms and shakes his head definitively. “We’re jumping straight into the deep end. Think of it this way, after the Cloudscraper, no other rollercoaster will phase you again for the rest of your life.”
There is a sort of logic to what he’s saying. But still …
“Hey,” Hunter says, his smile suddenly softer and his eyes warmer. “I’ll be right there next to you. Nothing bad’ll happen. You trust me?”
I’m surprised to find my head nodding without even thinking about it. “I do,” I admit; and a pang of awareness goes off in my chest. I actually, really do.
“Good. Let’s go, then.”
I take a deep breath, summoning my courage. “If I throw up after, you’re holding my hair back for me.”
