In her attempt to dive right, she’d landed on her side, and her hip and knee throbbed. She rolled onto her back with a groan.
Troy’s face appeared over her. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, all except for my pride.” She sucked in a breath as she propped herself onto her elbows, gravel digging into her skin. “How about you? I crashed into you pretty good.”
“I’ve had much worse.” Troy jumped to his feet and extended a hand to her. She let him pull her up and then looked down to assess the damage. The denim over her knee was ripped open, and the exposed skin had a bloody scuff on it. It stung, but there was something cool about it, too. Like it was reminding her that she was still alive and doing something she forgot she loved. Not that she needed anymore battle scars tonight. “I should probably take a break before I break something. Or someone.”
“Let’s go sit for a few, then.” Troy grabbed both skateboards and tucked them under his arm. He wrapped the other arm around her waist. She almost told him she didn’t need his help, but he was warm and he smelled good, a beach-y scent with a hint of citrusy goodness. Her knee was stiff and not very happy about moving as they made their way over to the fountain.
Summer lowered herself onto the ledge of the fountain with a sigh, and Troy followed suit, letting out a sigh of his own. He put his hands behind him and leaned back on his palms, the muscles in his arms flexing. With his dark, messy hair and the stubble starting to form on his jaw, he looked tougher than he used to when he constantly bleached his hair. But then there was his constant, easy smile. The delicious mix of good and bad boy had her pulse suddenly skidding out of control. She knew she should stop looking at him, thinking those kinds of thoughts about one of her best friends, but she couldn’t seem to help herself. He was the same guy as always, yet totally different in a lot of ways.
Darren came over and pointed at Troy’s disregarded skateboards. “Mind if I use yours for a few minutes, Summer?”
“Be my guest,” she said.
Darren hopped on and started messing around, skating back and forth across the area. Even though he was wobbly, she was impressed by how many of the basics he had down.
Troy shifted forward and his knee rested against Summer’s. All the blood in her body seemed to rush to that one spot. “So?” he said.
“So,” she echoed. The breeze sent her hair across her face and she swiped it off her face and tucked it behind her ear.
Troy opened his mouth, but then his gaze flicked over her shoulder. She heard a skateboard approaching and glanced in that direction.
Ashlyn rode up to them, kicked up her board, and sat next to Summer. “It’s been a long time. I came so close to face-planting that last one. Pulled it out last minute, but still got my palms pretty good. She held them up, and, sure enough, they had little bits of skin hanging loose.
“Still, I’m impressed. Yet another thing you’re awesome at,” Summer said.
“Mother says it doesn’t count as exercise because it’s got wheels,” Ashlyn pressed a hand to her chest. She was wheezing again, her breaths coming out shallow and fast. Summer knew that Ashlyn hated attention drawn to it, so she didn’t say anything, but she was going to keep her eyes glued to the girl until her breathing normalized again.
“Watch out, dude!” Nelson shouted. He had his camera up, filming Darren as he rolled toward the large, cement stairs.
“Stop, Darren,” Troy said, tensing up beside Summer. “The stairs are right—” He jumped to his feet, but it was too late.
Darren rode backward over the edge of the cement steps, disappearing from view. His yell tore through the air. Then everything fell silent.
They all sprinted toward the stairs. Summer gasped when she saw Darren’s body crumpled at the bottom, eerily still.
Ashlyn threw her hands over her mouth. “Darren!”
Ignoring the pain in her knee, Summer rushed down the stairs with the rest of the group. Blood oozed from the back of Darren’s head, and the streetlight lit up his pale, pinched face.
Oh holy crap. Summer crouched next to him. Dying from a skateboarding incident would be unlikely, but Darren wasn’t the sturdiest of kids to begin with. Bracing herself as much as one could when death was involved, she slowly reached out and touched his arm. Nothing. She went ahead and wrapped her entire hand around his arm. Still, no visions came, and she let out a shaky breath.
Darren blinked up at her. “I think my brain’s coming out the back of my skull. I heard it crack open. If I move my head, my brain will slide out, I just know it.”
Troy flipped out his phone and started dialing, and Aaron knelt down next to his brother. Summer shucked off her hoodie and held it against Darren’s head wound, trying to stop the blood, hoping it was the right thing to do. “Don’t move okay,” she said. “You’re going to be fine.”
“My wrist hurts really bad, and I’ve got the chess tournament coming up. How am I going to play speed chess with a broken hand?” With his left hand, he reached back to where Summer held the hoodie and slipped his hand between the fabric and his head. “Why does it feel so wet?”
He brought his hand back to his face and screeched at the blood covering his fingers. “I do one crazy thing in my life and now I’m going to die. There’s so much I haven’t done. I’m too young to die!”
Summer gripped his hand and locked eyes with him. “Darren, listen to me. You’re not going to die.”
He looked unconvinced, fear etched across his features.
She squeezed his hand tighter. “You’re a math guy, right? I can give you a one-hundred-percent guarantee that you’re not going to die. If you were an athlete, I’d say a hundred and ten percent, but you’re too smart for that. You know that’s impossible as much as I do.”
“In fact, giving one hundred percent would cause you to die.”
Summer smiled. If he was still alert enough to give out mathematical facts, he should be okay. “That’s right.”
“So how can you be sure I’m not going to die?” His eyes focused in on her, and they looked clearer this time. A good sign.
“I get a sense about these things. Just trust me.”
“Mom’s going to kill both of us.” Aaron pulled out his phone. “I guess I better call her, too.”
Summer squeezed his hand. “You hang on, Darren. Help’s on the way.” She glanced up at the rest of them through the hair the wind kept blowing in her face and noticed someone was missing. “Where’s Ashlyn?”
The lights from the ambulance lit up the area, and several people gathered around to see what was going on.
Summer remained glued to Ashlyn’s side, afraid to take her eyes off her. For those few minutes she didn’t know where Ashlyn was, or if her breathing had returned to normal, she’d panicked, thinking the worst. Apparently she’d run up the stairs to try to find help.
Now they both watched as the paramedics loaded Darren into the back of an ambulance. He needed stitches and most likely had a broken wrist. The paramedics assured everyone he’d be fine but said they’d probably want to observe him at the hospital overnight to see how bad the concussion was.
Ashlyn steepled her hands and brought them to her lips. “Mrs. Devlin looked so worried.”
As luck would have it, Aaron and Darren’s mom had already been downtown. She’d shown up shortly after the ambulance had. Seeing an opportunity, Summer said, “Moms are like that. Always worried about their kids. I guess we should give them a break sometimes.”
Ashlyn’s shoulders slumped. “My mother would rather me have a heart attack exercising than accept me at what I weigh now.”