Grinning, I flew by them, too, and didn’t stop when they screamed my name. I rode the narrow dirt path over rocks and puddles of rain from the day before, taking each sharp turn like the pro that I’d become in the past couple of years.
If my parents knew what my friends and I meant by “biking the mountain trails,” they would lose their minds with rage. While the path was marketed to tourists as “easy,” it was anything but. One slip, and the wheel of my bike could skid, throwing me off the thing and straight down a cliff.
The next switchback came and went, and I was nearly down the mountain when I spotted a boy with dark hair hiking with his back to me. Even without seeing his face, I knew exactly who it was.
It had been two months since I’d seen Ridge last. He hadn’t tried to stop me at the bridge again, and he hadn’t come up to the hilltop when I was there. It had finally occurred to me that he might be avoiding me, which did wonders for my stubborn nature. As adamant as I had been to remain friends with the boy, I was just as determined to avoid him right back. Two could play that game.
Ridge hadn’t seen me yet. I would ride right by him without saying a word and with my head held high. But I was so focused on speeding by him that I failed to see a thick stick on the path until moments before my bike hit it. My front wheel jerked to a stop and I lurched forward over my handlebars then landed hard on my back.
Gravel dug into my shoulders before I shot up and tried to breathe. A moan came out instead. Everything felt constricted.
Ridge knelt down in front of me and placed his hand on my back. “You just had the wind knocked out of you. Try to breathe through your mouth while pushing your stomach out.”
My eyes latched on to his as I did as he said or at least I tried like hell to.
“Good. Now exhale while sucking your stomach back in. That will help stretch out your diaphragm.”
His presence was so calming that even when I felt like death, I knew everything was going to be okay. Though that wasn’t the first time I’d had the wind knocked out of me, it was still terrifying.
Just as I was regaining my breath, the sounds of the other bikes approached. My senses were returning quickly, and I was suddenly aware that tears had stained my face and dirt covered my clothes and exposed skin. I didn’t care so much about the dirt, but I didn’t like the fact that Ridge had just seen my tears. I never allowed anyone to see my weaknesses, yet I felt prone to them with him.
“Camila!” my friends yelled in near unison.
Josie and Raven were the first ones to me, while Emilio, Brody, and Trip came up behind them.
“Are you okay?” Josie, my best friend, asked, already inspecting me for injuries.
Raven, Trip’s younger sister, stood back and stared at Ridge.
“I’m fine now, thanks to Ridge.”
Trip’s glance bounced off Ridge then back to me like he wasn’t even there. “Well, all right,” he said without extending an ounce of grace to the boy who’d just helped me breathe.
Ridge picked up my bike, remaining quiet, while Trip helped me off the dirt. Then everyone looked at each other in awkward silence.
“We should get you home,” Trip said soberly. “Are you okay to ride, or should we walk?”
“I said I’m fine.” I shot him a glare, angry that my friends couldn’t even look at Ridge or thank him for being there to calm me when I fell. I turned back to Ridge, my expression softening. “Thanks again for your help.” My words were firm, and I hoped my friends would take a lesson in my kindness. “I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
Ridge ran a glance over my friends then nodded.
I grabbed my bike from Ridge and hopped on. “Last one down the hill buys the pizza,” I called as I took off riding.
My friends all yelled, “Slow down!”
“You are the craziest of the crazies,” Josie told me as she reached for a slice of pizza.
“Freaking nuts,” Raven chimed in around a mouthful.
“But kind of badass, though,” Brody added with a shrug. “You’re not afraid of death. I give you that.”
He followed his comment up with a hearty laugh, and we all joined in. Well, everyone except Trip, whose narrowed eyes were glued to the door of the pizza joint. When I followed the direction of his stare, heaviness washed over me. Ridge had just walked in, and had stopped at the hostess stand for a menu.
“We should invite him to sit with us.”
Trip snapped his head to give me a wide-eyed stare. “Are you crazy? No way, Camila.”
He hated my new neighbor, and I blamed our parents for that. Whatever issues Papa had, Thomas Bradshaw had adopted them.
Once upon a time, I’d had a crush on Trip. He’d always seemed so attentive and nice when we were younger. And he was unmistakably gorgeous, with his deep-blue eyes and sandy-blond hair. It seemed every girl in our school had a crush on him. But my crush had ended the moment I found out that he’d only been so attentive because my papa had been paying him to keep a close eye on me. From that point on, I’d felt more resentment toward him than anything else.
“You think the Ute boy can read?” Trip sneered.
Every nerve jolted to attention when I heard the name of Ridge’s tribe. But why does he, like my papa, use the word in such a demeaning way? It felt wrong and dirty, and I boiled inside because of it.
“It’s so strange,” Raven said with a contorted expression. “I would never have guessed that Ridge was Native American.” She did a double-take then squinted when she looked at him again. “He doesn’t look it.”
Josie placed a hand on my knee and squeezed, telling me to bite my tongue. Unlike Trip, Raven didn’t mean any harm by her words. She just didn’t understand.
“His dad is Farmer Cross,” Josie said, far more gently than I would have. “It makes sense that he’s mixed. But we probably shouldn’t worry about someone else’s business.”
“He’s our business now that he moved to town,” Trip said with an uptick of his head.
I lifted and eyebrow in a challenge. “You should get to know him, then. Maybe you two will become friends.”
Trip’s laughter rocked his entire body. He even tossed his head back a little for dramatic effect. I didn’t think I could hate my friend any more than I already did. Trip had always been a little bit of a jerk, but I had never seen him react so harshly to someone he didn’t even know. Surely, Thomas Bradshaw and my papa had rubbed off on him.
“Me?” he asked, pointing at his chest. “Friends with Ute Boy over there? No, thanks. I know you’re friendly to everyone, Camila, but you really shouldn’t be so naive all the time.”
I gripped my glass of water with all my might. “If by naive you mean that I don’t judge someone because of their appearance or where they come from, then I guess you chose the right word.”
“Oh, come on. You know how the town feels about the Cross family. You of all people should be on my side.”
I shook my head. “I’ve never understood the stupid rivalry. Even if I did, Ridge had nothing to do with it. Just like I had nothing to do with it.”
Josie squeezed my knee again. “Okay, time for a subject change. I want to talk about Camila’s epic crash on the mountain. Anyone else?”