Switching Gears

by Chantele Sedgwick

  I grit my teeth and push my food around my plate. “He might have asked me to go riding, but that doesn’t mean he was asking me out.”

  “Oh, quit being so … you and let the guy take you out.”

  “I’m not going out with him, okay?”

  I don’t mean to snap at her, and as soon as I do, I feel horrible.

  She’s quiet for a moment and instead of finishing her breakfast, pushes it away. “Sorry, Emmy. Didn’t mean to make you mad. Is this about Lucas again?”

  “No. It’s just …” I think of Mom again and shake my head. “My family. It’s kind of got me on edge. I’m sorry for freaking out. I really didn’t mean to take it out on you, I swear.”

  She shrugs. “You’re allowed to have a freak-out once in a while.”

  That earns a tiny smile from me, but I’m still not happy.

  “I’m here if you need to talk about it,” she says.

  I sigh. “I know.”

  She’s silent again, but perks up fast. “Why don’t we do something to take your mind off everything?”

  “Like what?”

  “What are you doing tonight?”

  I scan my mental list of things to do. Besides working on bikes, it’s blank. I sigh. I don’t have a life. “Nothing.”

  She frowns. “I thought you had stuff to do?”

  My lips twitch and I fight back a smile. “I thought you had to work?”

  She chuckles. “We’re horrible liars.”

  “Yes. Yes, we are. So, what’s the plan?”

  She takes a bite out of my scone, chews, and swallows before talking again. “Sorry. It looked really good.”

  I wave my hand. “You’re fine.”

  She shrugs. “I know. Anyway, I have a few ideas. And none involve shopping, believe it or not. We can do that tomorrow instead. I can tell I’d be pushing it if I took you today.”

  “I’m fine.”

  She gives me a pointed look. “Sure. Anyway, I’ll narrow my ideas down and we’ll do something awesome.”

  “Okay …” I try to look super excited, but in actuality, I’m super scared.

  Kelsie’s ideas of fun are way different than mine.

  CHAPTER 7

  Mom and Dad are gone when I get home, so I hang out in the garage and try to fix up the Gary Fisher I’ve been working on so I can put it online and try to sell it.

  The bike is in pretty good shape. And after finding it at the second-hand store for ten bucks, I’d call that a steal.

  Normally when I fix up a bike, I can sell it for at least triple what I bought it for. Like the Scott I sold last week. Bought it for $15 at a yard sale, fixed it up, and sold it for $150 online. People don’t know how much bikes are really worth when they just throw them out like that.

  I grab a bottle of blue nail polish and cover up some of the scratches on the bike’s frame. It’s almost a perfect match. From far away, no one could tell it was a little off.

  A good thing about fixing up old bikes is I now have a huge stash of every color nail polish I’d ever want. Sometimes when I go to the store, I’ll buy ten different shades of blue, come home and match it to a bike I’m working on, and take the rest back the next day. The checkers always look at me weird when they see the receipts I bring back. At least they know I’m not really a nail polish hoarder, though.

  I glance up as Gavin comes through the garage door. He has his car keys and is dressed in his work clothes. “Hey, Gav.”

  “Hey.” He grabs the brake on the handlebar closest to him and smiles. “Having fun?”

  “Sure.”

  “I was wondering … since you haven’t said much about … you know. About Mom and all that.” He frowns. “You doing okay?”

  I glance up at him, seeing the concern on his face. “I think so.”

  “Good. That’s good. I’m heading to work, but if you need to talk, you know where to find me. I know how you like to handle things on your own. But it’s not good for you. So, just know I’m here. Waiting to talk when you’re ready. Okay?”

  “Thanks, Gav.” I reach out to give him a hug, but he makes a face and puts his hands up to stop me.

  “Are you kidding? There’s no way you’re hugging me when you look like that.”

  I glance down at my outfit covered with grease stains and chuckle. “Fine.” I put my arms down. “Have a good day at work.”

  He nods, gets in his car, and drives away.

  I kind of love my big brother. Always looking out for me, even when I don’t realize it.

  Once he’s down the street, I turn on some music and smile as it blasts through the garage. Our neighbors probably hate me. I hum along to the song as I reach for the bowl of vinegar the cassette is soaking in and smile as I see all the flakes of rust settling at the bottom. Vinegar does wonders. I pull out my old toothbrush and scrub at the few flakes left.

  While I scrub, thoughts of Mom take over. I wonder how she’s doing today. Maybe I should ask her if she wants to go out to dinner and … talk or something. I want to know things. I want her to tell me how she’s feeling and how things are affecting her and how badly. I want to keep doing our girls’ nights without worrying if she’ll remember them or not. I know I should keep treating her the same—like nothing’s wrong—but I can’t when I know there is something wrong. And what if she doesn’t want to talk to me about anything? It’s not like she came out and told me what was going on anyway. I shake my head and focus on the task at hand.

  I take out the cassette, look it over to make sure I didn’t leave any rust in any crevices, and set it on a towel to dry. The vinegar is gross and smelly on my hands, so I stand to wash them.

  As I do, someone pulls into my driveway and my mouth drops open as I realize who it is.

  Cole.

  He smiles when he sees me and jumps down from his truck. It takes five seconds to realize I’m wearing an ugly pair of pajama shorts and an old faded tank-top. My hair is in a messy bun and I’m sure I have grease stains on my face.

  I have to talk myself out of running inside and changing.

  “Hey,” he says as he walks up to greet me. His eyes take in my awesome outfit, and I see the corner of his mouth twitch.

  “Uh … hi?” I’m standing with my hands outstretched, soaked in vinegar, and I’m pretty sure my mouth is still hanging open. I glance down at my outfit and feel my face heat. What a wonderful time for him to show up when I look so amazing.

  His smile widens, and I really want to say he looks like crap, too, but no. He’s wearing his biking gear and looks … hot. Yes. I said it. And right now I kind of hate myself a little.

  I hesitate a second more before I’m coherent enough to say something. “What are you doing here?”

  He shrugs. “Just finished a ride and thought I’d come say hi.” He glances at the bike I’m working on and raises an eyebrow. “Isn’t that bike a little tall for you?”

  That snaps me out of my staring. “It’s not mine. Well … technically it is, but I’m not going to ride it. I’m fixing it up to sell it.” I leave him standing at the edge of the garage and go wash my hands in the sink hooked to the back wall. When I return to the bike, he’s checking it out.

  “You fix these up?”

  “Yep.”

  He looks up at me and I swear I see a flicker of amazement cross his features. “That’s … awesome. Did you build your own?”

  “Yes.”

  “Sweet.” He glances at my bike sitting a few feet away and then back at me. “I ride but don’t build. Maybe you can teach me a few things sometime.”

  “Okay.” I stare at him, wondering what he’s really doing here. “So, all you came to do was say hi?”

  “No, not really.”

  “Oh?”

  He plays with his keys in his hand and looks kind of nervous. “I was wondering if you and Kelsie wanted to get some friends together and come bowling tonight.”

  I stare at him. “Are you serious?” I can’t remember the last time I went
bowling. It’s been years. And believe me when I say I’m super awesome at it.

  Total lie.

  He shrugs. “My cousins are coming in from California and I’m supposed to entertain them tonight. I thought it would be nice to invite more people. Mainly, you and Kelsie.”

  “Why?”

  He smiles. “Is it a bad thing to want to hang out with you?”

  My cheeks heat and I grit my teeth together. I don’t know why he has to do that. Make me feel all … fuzzy. Fuzzy? “I’ll … uh … talk to her, I guess.”

  “You guess?”

  “Yes.” I sit down in my chair again and think about what else I need to do to the bike in front of me. Distract myself. From him.

  “You’re not going to come up with a stupid excuse like earlier today, are you?”

  I glance up at him. “Huh?”

  “I invited you to go biking, but you said you had stuff to do. Like cleaning around the house.”

  I shrug. “I do.”

  “Cleaning bikes around the house?”

  I blush. “Exactly.”

  He raises an eyebrow and gives me a half smile. “Whatever you say.” He waits for a moment and I can feel him watching me. “So, you game?”

  “For what?”

  He lets out a frustrated breath. “Bowling.”

  “Oh. That.” I stop what I’m doing and look up at him again. “I’ll think about it.”

  He smiles. “Great. We’re leaving around six tonight and meeting at West Point Lanes. I’ll probably have to drive my cousins, so meet us there?”

  “Sounds good.”

  “Great.” He backs up, his eyes never leaving my face. “See you there, Marty.”

  I cringe at that. “We’ll see, Evans.”

  He laughs as he gets back in his truck and drives away. I stare at it until he turns the corner.

  What just happened?

  CHAPTER 8

  I stare at the bowling alley in front of me and frown. “No.”

  “Come on, Emmy. It’ll be fun,” Kelsie says.

  “No way.”

  “Cole’s waiting for us. We’re late. His cousins are going to be disappointed if he doesn’t bring friends. He told me to come in and find them. They’re at lanes 7 and 8.”

  I fold my arms and lean back against the seat. “I didn’t realize you’d been fraternizing with the enemy behind my back.”

  She laughs. “Fraternizing?”

  I shrug and give her half a smile. “It seemed like a good word to use.”

  Kelsie chuckles. “If you come, I promise I’ll make it up to you. You know, for all my fraternizing.”

  “How?” She’d better do something awesome. Like letting me off the hook to go shopping with her.

  “I’ll buy you a shake on the way home. Caramel brownie. Your favorite.”

  A shake. Such a trivial, fattening thing. But one of the only things she can use against me.

  Curse you, food, and all of your deliciousness.

  “Fine,” I grumble. “It had better be a large.”

  She laughs. “Of course you’ll do it for food.”

  I frown. “It’s my weakness. I can’t help it.”

  “I still can’t believe you can eat like you do and still stay that size,” Kelsie says.

  I grimace. “It will catch up with me, I’m sure.”

  “Doubtful.” Kelsie helps me out of the car and links arms with me. “Thanks for coming with me. I know we’re gonna have fun. And just because I love you, I’ll throw in a side of fries with your shake on our way home. Deal?”

  “Might be pushing it,” I say. “I’m supposed to be eating healthy. You know, the whole biking thing?” I frown. Maybe that’s why I can’t beat Whitney. Maybe I should start nibbling on crackers all day instead of downing a shake in five seconds.

  “I’ll eat some, of course.”

  “Fine.”

  “Look. I told you I wanted to help take your mind off whatever was bothering you, so here we are.”

  “You should have told me we were coming here, though. I would have passed.”

  “Is it helping?”

  I let out an annoyed breath. “A little.” It’s true. I haven’t thought about Mom since we got here. Until now, I guess. But I’m sure when I’m actually inside with Cole and his friends, it will be the furthest thing from my mind. I can hope, at least.

  “I knew this would work. You should trust my judgment more often.”

  I sigh. “I know.”

  When we walk through the doors, hot, stale air hits me. It smells like old shoes and grease.

  Which makes me think of my closet first, and then for some reason, bacon.

  I’m kind of hungry. Maybe I shouldn’t have skipped dinner.

  “There they are. Let’s hurry and pay and grab our shoes before we head over,” she says.

  We walk up to the register and Cole meets us there. “Marty, you made it!” He glances at Kelsie. “You’re awesome, you know that?”

  She grins. “I know.”

  I shoot Kelsie a look before glancing at him. “How many games are we playing?” I dig in my purse, but he’s already pulling out his wallet.

  “I’ll pay for these two,” he says to the worker.

  “You don’t have to—”

  He’s already getting change back. “Thanks,” I mutter. He really didn’t have to do that. Now I owe him. I hate owing people things.

  “What size shoe?” the worker asks.

  “Six.”

  Cole laughs. “Are you kidding me? You only wear a six? Your feet are tiny!”

  A slow smile creeps to my face. “Not really, but thanks. I think.”

  “Miss Tiny Feet,” Kelsie grumbles as she picks up her size nines.

  We share clothes all the time, but shoes? Never.

  “We’re just finishing putting everyone into the computer,” Cole says as we follow him over to the two lanes he’s reserved.

  My favorite person in the world is typing in the names on the board. And for once, she’s not wearing pink. Whitney immediately frowns when she sees me, but it disappears just as fast when Cole starts talking to her.

  “Add Kelsie and Emmy, Whitney.”

  “Sure.” She shoots me a smile and puts Kelsie in. Then she adds me, but instead of my name, she puts an E and tells me she accidentally pushed enter. “Sorry,” she says.

  I shrug. “No big deal.” What I really want to do is tell her where to stick her stupid E.

  As I glance around the group, I notice besides Whitney and Cole, all of the friends he invited are other bikers. They were all on the team together last year. My old team. Mark, Isaac, and Jamie sit across from me, and John is taking his turn.

  I notice two girls standing near Cole, both with dark hair and tanned skin. The older one, or at least taller one, looks over at me and gives me a smile. She says something to her sister—I assume it’s her sister since they look almost exactly alike—and leaves Cole’s side to walk over to me.

  “You must be Emmy,” she says, holding out a hand.

  I take it. “Yes. I’m Emmy.”

  “I’m Mia. Cole’s cousin. That’s my sister, Madison.” She gestures to her sister, who smiles and gives me a small wave before sitting in one of the seats. She looks a bit paler, I mentally note. “It’s nice to finally meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you today.”

  My mouth drops open slightly. “Really?”

  “Sure. Cole told me how awesome it is to know a girl who’s so good at mountain biking. He didn’t know many in California, so it’s new for him.”

  I blush. “Oh. Thanks.”

  “Seriously. Take it as a compliment.” She smiles as Cole calls her name.

  “Mia, you’re up!”

  “I’d better take my turn. I don’t even know why he makes me bowl at all. I’d do just as well sitting over here. I’m horrible.” She chuckles and walks away.

  As she goes, Mark takes her place beside me.

  “How’s it going?” h
e asks. He takes a seat and brushes his jet black hair across his face. “I haven’t talked to you in forever.”

  “I’m good. You?”

  “Great. You ready for Back Country in a few weeks? It’s supposed to be killer.”

  I nod. “Looking forward to it. Why haven’t I seen you at the last few races?”

  He shrugs. “I’ve been out for a few months. I crashed and dislocated my shoulder. It’s on the mend, but it’s still bugging me.”

  I shiver. “Sounds painful.”

  “Not too bad. But bad enough to have to let heal before I ride again.”

  “Kelsie’s knee is still healing as well. She can ride, but she has to go pretty slow. Hopefully you can ride again soon too.”

  “Planning on it.”

  “Hey, Mark. It’s your turn,” Whitney snaps.

  He gives me a small smile before he stands and leaves me alone.

  “He’s a cutie,” Kelsie whispers.

  “He really is.” I actually had a crush on him last year, but then he started dating a girl from a different school. I wonder if they’re still together.

  Mia sits next to me again and we relax in comfortable silence, cheering everyone else on. She was right when she said how horrible she was. She bowled a 1 on her first turn. I’ll probably match her or get worse.

  Once everyone else but me has taken their turn, Kelsie stands to take hers. Of course she gets a strike on the first try. She’s a natural at every sport, I swear.

  She squeals and hugs everyone on the way back to her seat. “Want to put a bet on this game?” she asks when she plops down next to me.

  “Um … no. I’ll be happy if I bowl a 20. I suck.”

  She laughs. “You said it, so I can agree with you.”

  “Thanks for that.” I give her a smile as I walk up to grab a bowling ball to take my turn, but as I’m standing there on the slick floor, my phone rings. I pull my cell out of my pocket and frown. It’s Mom. I stare at her name flashing on the screen. She doesn’t usually call me unless there’s an emergency. I turn around. “Kelsie, why don’t you go for me. I need to take this.” I push answer and start walking outside so I can hear her better.

  “Hello?”

  “Emmy?”

  “Hi, Mom. Is … everything okay?”