I hated the way he sounded so sure, like he knew everything. “Just throw the stupid ball,” I repeated, getting more annoyed by the minute.
“Okay. But just remember. You asked for it.”
I rolled my eyes, kicked off my flip-flops and streaked across the field, putting distance between us just like Brody had. “That’s far enough,” he yelled.
I ignored him and kept on running. He wasn’t the boss of me. When I was good and ready, I stopped running and spun around to face him. Whoa. I’d covered some distance. He was pretty far away. He probably couldn’t even throw a football this far.
I smirked, imagining the ball falling short. That would teach him to gloat.
“It’s gonna hurt,” Gideon warned, not even lifting his head from the comic book he was reading. I didn’t think he could read yet, so he was just looking at the pictures. His lips were purple from the grape popsicle in his hand, juice dripping down his arm.
“That’s if she can catch it,” Jude snickered.
I’d catch it if it killed me. Besides, I doubted he could throw a football as hard or as far as what they were claiming he could. The ball left his hand and spiraled through the air like a missile headed directly toward me. The sky was so blue and I was staring up at the sun which made it hard to see the ball. Jude’s annoying voice was yelling something but I didn’t hear his words. I was too focused on catching this ball. Concentrating like my life depended on it.
Next thing I knew, I was flat on my back, all the air knocked out of my lungs. There was an elephant sitting on my chest making it hard to breathe or even move.
“Is she dead?” That sounded like Jesse. A finger poked my ribs. I played possum.
“Jude killed Lila?” That would be Gideon. “We’re gonna be in so much trouble.”
“Let’s get another popsicle.”
“Yeah. This is boring.”
A shadow blocked the sun on my face. I opened my eyes and blinked a few times. Blue eyes the color of the wildflowers in the field peered down at my face, too-long brown hair falling over his forehead, his brows drawn together. “Are you okay?” Jude asked, his voice softer than before, tinged with worry.
I wheezed, trying to catch my breath so I could speak. “I’m fine.”
“You caught the ball.”
My eyes widened in surprise. “I did?”
He nodded and gave me a smile that put dimples in his cheeks. “Sure did,” he said, and I heard the pride in his voice. My stupid heart inflated like a balloon. “Held on to it too.”
I tilted my chin down to look at the football I was still clutching to my chest. Now it was my turn to gloat. “Well, of course I did. Told you I would.”
“Your underwear says Saturday,” Brody pointed out, and I couldn’t decide who was more annoying. Him or Jude. “Today’s Sunday.”
“Pull down your dress,” Jude said gruffly, smacking Brody upside the head. “Don’t look at her underwear.”
Brody shrugged. “Not my fault she’s wearing a dress to play football. Not my fault she doesn’t change her underwear.”
I most certainly did change my underwear every day and opened my mouth to protest. But Brody had already darted away and I shut my mouth, not bothering to correct him.
I vowed to never ever wear a dress again. Ignoring Jude’s outstretched hand, I got to my feet and smoothed my hand over the skirt of the stupid dress.
“There’s no Sunday,” I mumbled.
“What?” Jude asked.
“The underwear. There’s only six in a pack. They skipped Sunday.”
“That’s messed up.”
“Yeah.” My cheeks flushed with heat. This was so embarrassing. I cast around for something to do, other than playing football. My hands still stung from catching the ball and my chest was still sore from the hit, but I wasn’t about to admit that.
“You wanna race?” Last year, I was one of the fastest runners in the third grade, and I knew I could beat Jude and Brody, even in a dress and bare feet. That’s how sure I was.
“What are we betting?” Brody asked.
“Question is, what are you willing to lose?” Jude smirked at me.
So. Annoying.
“Since you’re gonna lose, let’s make it good.” In my head, I was running through a list of my prized possessions, ready to offer one of them up to the winner. Since I would be the winner, I wouldn’t have to part with anything.
Jude tilted his head and studied my face. “Truth or Dare?”
“What?”
“Pick one.”
“Dare,” I said quickly, without even stopping to think about it.
Jude and Brody chose dare too, big surprise. We lined up and Jude checked that the three of us were even.
Then he snapped his fingers like he’d just remembered something. “Oh hey, you’re not scared of crocodiles, are you?” I searched his face for signs that he was joking but he looked dead serious.
“I’m not scared of anything,” I said bravely. I was only scared of one thing. Thunderstorms. But I wasn’t about to tell him that. “Why?” I asked, immediately suspicious. I looked around for a swamp or whatever it was that crocodiles lived in but I didn’t see one.
“Just make sure you win and then you won’t have to worry about it.”
I followed his gaze to the fence at the bottom of the field. Our finish line. It was pretty far away but I wasn’t too worried about the distance.
“Are you sure you wanna do this?” he asked, giving me an out.
I nodded. “I’m positive.”
“You can have a head start, on account of being a girl and all,” Jude offered.
“No, thank you.” I crossed my arms over my chest and kept my feet planted on the ground. “I’ll stay right where I am.”
“You’re not wearing shoes,” Jude said, pointing out the obvious.
“So what?”
“That doesn’t make it a fair race.”
“You’re just scared of getting beat by a girl. I’m fine right here. Even without shoes.”
Jude looked at me for a minute, then he toed off his sneakers and peeled off his socks so he was barefoot too. Brody did the same. I looked down at their bare feet. “Now it’s fair,” Jude said, and I was surprised he even cared about playing fair but the way he said it made me think it was important to him.
“On your marks, get set, go!”
I was off like a shot and I could see from the corner of my eye that I was in the lead. I ran faster than I’d ever run. My lungs were burning, legs and arms pumping. The rough grass and small rocks dug into the soles of my feet, but I ignored the pain and pushed myself to go faster. The fence was within my sights when Jude overtook me. He sprinted past me, running so fast I felt the breeze.
I lost to Jude by a mile and Brody by a neck. When I reached the boys, Jude was sitting on top of the fence, looking cool as you like. As if he’d been hanging out there for hours and had already gotten bored waiting. He wasn’t even out of breath. Brody threw himself onto the ground and panted like a dog. My legs gave out and my knees hit the ground. I leaned over, my hands planted on the ground, and I tried to breathe.
I felt like I was going to throw up.