I screamed the last line, ready to take the leap. “You’ll see we’ve won!”
I jumped. Twisting, turning, tucking and … falling. My boot was heavy, and as I tried to bring it around for the last move of the Licorice Twist, gravity wouldn’t let me. It was pulling me toward Earth faster than I could spin.
As if I were having an out-of-body experience, I heard Leona yell out, and the girls scrambled to get in position for the basket catch. But we had horribly misjudged the timing. Trying to avoid a face-plant in the grass, I got my legs underneath me and braced for the impact.
Control top pantyhose! This was going to hurt.
I landed hard, my ankle in the cast immediately buckling on impact. I screamed, falling to my knees, the pain vibrating up my entire leg. Twisting my stomach. Banging into my head. I’d never felt anything like it as I writhed on the ground, my cast splitting and a little bit of blood visibly leaking out.
I realized—my only clear thought—that I didn’t just break my ankle this time; I had broken my leg. We’d failed.
“Oh, my God!” I heard Kira’s frantic voice, but I couldn’t even open my eyes. I was praying for the shock to numb me. Hadn’t I heard that going into shock stopped the pain?
There was yelling all around me, and I dug my fingers in the field, my nails embedding in the dirt underneath the grass. Someone was brushing back my hair. Someone else told me to hang on.
“Get the f**k out of the way!”
And I breathed. A big breath of air filled me, and I slowly turned my head to see Aiden bending over me.
“Christ, Tessa. Your f**king bone is sticking out.”
“Ew, really?” Ah, this was the shock. But they lied! It still hurt like H-E Double Hockey Sticks!
Aiden stared at me and let out an I-can’t-believe-you laugh. Then he plopped himself down in the grass next to me and put my head in his lap, wiping my tears off my cheeks.
“Can’t move you off the field,” he said quietly among all the screaming.
They’re calling an ambulance.” I stared up at him, his face pale from either the sight of blood or the scare I’d given him. Maybe both.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, my voice thick from tears. “I didn’t know you’d be in town.” He shrugged.
“Chloe called me. Said you were doing something really stupid. Like jumping off a human pyramid with a cast on.”
I went to laugh, but stopped myself. I found that if I stayed completely still and tried not to breathe, it didn’t hurt as much. Ouch.
Kira came into view above me. Her mascara was running down her cheeks and her palms were pressed together in front of her lips. “I’m so sorry,” she said.
“It’s not your fault. I didn’t factor in the weight of the cast times the—”
The siren of an ambulance broke through the air. Thank goodness. I needed a shot of some really good stuff right about now.
“Honey?” My mother rushed over, kneeling at my side. She looked down at my leg and then at my father. He took off his glasses and stared sternly at me.
“I thought I told you not to hurt yourself again?”
I couldn’t help it. Despite the incredible pain in my leg, I laughed. Only for a second before I winced.
Aiden’s hand lay protectively behind my neck before his other hand slid down to touch mine. At first, we didn’t move—although people around us were visibly frantic—we just sat there, his hand against mine, neither of us technically holding.
Aiden bent down to kiss my forehead, adjusting my head in his lap. The world was so loud, but right here, between us … it was peaceful. It was so strawberry smoothie.
“Clear a path, please,” I heard an authoritative voice shout. Then the EMTs came running forward, a gurney with them. I was never so glad to see someone in the medical field.
Before we could even say anything, Aiden’s hand moved away from mine as the EMTs began to assess the damage. The taller one with the mustache looked at me, a disbelieving expression on his face.
“Were you cheering with a broken ankle?”
“Yep.”
“Brilliant,” he said and shook his head.
“Thank you!”
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught the ESPN camera pointed in my direction. I wondered if he’d caught the fall. Darnit. I can’t believe I messed up the routine.
Aiden and my parents stayed close by as the EMTs got me on the gurney and began to wheel me off the field. They assured me that I had indeed broken my leg—possibly in three different places. Well, I was nothing if not an overachiever.
And just as I was about to exit the field, the weirdest thing happened. There
was … applause. Over the loudspeaker, I heard the announcer: “And it looks like our Smitten Kitten is going to be okay!”
I lifted my head slightly to see that in the stands people were up and cheering, looking concerned but grateful that I was alive. Even the football team was clapping from the bench, their helmets off with respect. Well, other than Blaze Harmon, who sat fully uniformed and looking in the opposite direction. That boy needed some sparkles of his own.
“Wow,” Leona said, appearing and putting a pom-pom in the gurney next to me. “Looks like all we needed to be popular again is to nearly kill ourselves. Good to know for the future.” She smiled and pointed at the pom-pom she’d given me. “So you know we’re thinking about you.”
Leona. She was the kitten’s meow. I was so lucky to have her. Have all my friends. For a second, I felt like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. The part where she wakes up and sees all of her friends and family. It was surreal. But then again, I didn’t think Dorothy had her leg broken in three places!
“Who’s riding with us?” the driver asked as he opened the double doors to the back of the ambulance. The lights were still swirling, and I felt a little dizzy.
“You go ahead,” my father said to my mother. But just before she climbed in, I touched at her arm.
“I want Aiden,” I murmured softly.
My mother turned to look at me, probably thinking I was out of it, but then her face cleared and she smiled softly. “Okay, then. We’ll be right behind you, sweetheart.”
I thanked her and as they lifted me into the back of the van, I caught Aiden looking at me. His green eyes were beautiful, a devious twinkle to them. He licked his lips and glanced away as if he hadn’t just been staring. Sigh. He was the most fantastic thing I’d ever known.
After I was settled, Aiden started to climb in when the ambulance guy stopped him. “Hold on a second,” he said, sounding impatient. “Who are you?”