The Trail Rules (The Rules Series Book 2)

by Melanie Hooyenga

Cally laughs. “I’m all for cushioning. I’m used to snow breaking my fall.”

  Mica nods at her and Alex’s eyes light up. “You board?”

  “Ski.”

  They’re noticeably disappointed, so I come to her defense. “Don’t let her kid you. She won the Dash last spring.”

  Admiration fills their faces and I pick at the barely-there fabric on my legs, feeling stupid. Of course they’re drawn to Cally more than me. Everyone is. It’s why I confided in her when I barely knew her, and why we’re friends now. I figure sooner or later her confidence will rub off on me.

  “You wanna ride with us for a bit?” I look up to find Mica watching me. Heat creeps up my neck but I take a deep breath before it can reach my face.

  I smile and nod at Alex. “We don’t want to intrude.”

  Alex holds up her hands. “No intrusion. I’m all for more chick bikers.”

  Cally gives me a smile that tells me she’s doing everything she can to appear calm. Excitement ripples through her and I know there’s no way I can turn them down.

  “We’re not…” I pause.

  “This is my first time out,” Cally says, saving me from having to admit my fear.

  Alex stretches out a hand and high-fives Cally. “Awesome! We’ll stick to the greens.” She holds up her hand for me and I slap my palm against hers.

  What have I just agreed to?

  “You ladies lead the way,” Mica says.

  I catch his eye and he gives me a smile that loosens the knot in my stomach. I smile back because it’s the polite thing to do, not because I find him intriguing. Without dirt covering his face I can see the freckles that dust his nose and the scar that peeks out from beneath the scruff on his jaw. His teeth aren’t exactly straight and reddish-brown hair peeks out from beneath his helmet. And without his louder friend Topher, he seems more confident.

  Cally waves Alex down the trail, and we ride in that order: Alex, Cally, me, and Mica. He doesn’t crowd me, but I’m hyper-aware that my shorts leave very little to the imagination.

  But there’s no time to worry about that because we’re less than a minute into the trail and Alex stops at a creek. Mica skids to a stop behind me. “Why’d you stop?”

  “We’re going through that?” I ask, my voice coming out an octave higher than normal.

  Alex dismounts and faces Cally and me. “Our caboose seems to have forgotten that this might be new for you.” She grabs the crossbar of her bike and hoists it to her shoulder. “We’ll save puddle jumping for next time.”

  Cally and I mimic her movements, a zillion emotions pulsing through me. Disbelief that I’m about to jump into a creek while carrying my bike—with the understanding that they normally ride across it. Fear that I’ll slip on a rock and break my leg or my bike. And a tiny bit of disappointment that I might ruin my shoes. But it’s too late to back out because Alex is already halfway across the five-foot span of water and Cally is stepping into the current. I wait until Alex reaches the other side before dipping my foot in the water.

  The water is cool and the current wraps around me. I quickly jump back, knocking into Mica. My back tire locks with his handlebars and I blush. “Sorry.”

  He touches my elbow, then quickly yanks his hand back. “No worries. Take your time. You got this.”

  How does he know that? Unless you count the minute it took to get here, the only times he’s seen me I’ve been standing with my bike—not riding. But his encouragement gives me the boost I need. I take another step into the creek and ignore the fear that twists through me. Alex and Cally just did this, and I can do it too.

  The water is clear, and despite the current, the bottom is easy to see. It gets deeper as I move toward the middle and laps at the edge of my shorts. Then I’m climbing the other bank and setting my bike on the ground next to Cally’s.

  Alex holds out her hand for another high-five, her smile making me feel like I just scaled Mount Everest. “Way to go!” We slap hands as Mica sloshes out of the creek.

  “Told you you had this.” He sets down his bike and shakes water from his feet.

  I feel silly that I need a cheering section when I’m the one who’s been riding for months, but it’s helping. “Now I know why you were so muddy the other day.”

  He holds out his arms, inspecting them. “You’re right. Time to fix that.” He mounts his bike and his smile tells me I’m in trouble. “Alex, find some mud!”

  Cally raises an eyebrow at me and I shrug. The uncertainty I normally feel with Evan slips away and I feel like I could destroy this trail.

  As long as we stay on the green.

  *****

  Alex definitely found all the mud. Dirt cakes our legs, our arms, and Cally has a streak across her face that makes her look like a warrior. I feel like a warrior. Alex challenged us, assuming we’d speak up if we couldn’t handle something, and took us on trails I never imagined I could beat. It’s kind of like the driving test. I drove my X number of hours with my parents while I had my permit, but the test with a stranger was totally different.

  “How you doing?” Alex asks. We’re in the parking lot next to the Bronco, sucking down water and stretching. Mica’s on the other end of the lot getting towels from his car.

  “I think I’m ready for a blue,” I admit.

  She smiles. “I’m happy to hear it. Some people get scared off by mud but it seems like it energizes you.”

  I look down at myself and laugh. “Who knew?”

  Cally bumps her fist against my shoulder. “Thanks for bringing me.”

  “Let me get your number,” Alex says. “I come out a lot—and not always with the boys.”

  “What?” Mica asks, throwing a towel at her head and pressing a hand to his chest. His hair is matted from his helmet, and the late sun catches the red streaks, making it practically glow.

  Alex wipes her face and arms and gives him a shrug. “Just speaking the truth.” She pulls her phone out of a pocket and raises her brows at me. I rattle off the numbers and a moment later hear a ding inside the Bronco. “I texted you.”

  “Thanks.” I glance at Mica, not sure how to act now that I don’t have my bike to hide behind. “This was fun.”

  “Glad we ran into you,” he says. He smiles at Cally. “Hope your first time was memorable.” She snorts, and I blush, which makes him blush. “Aw, shit. I didn’t mean—” We double over laughing and he waves a hand at us.

  “Smooth, Mica.” Alex whips him with the towel. She steps forward to high-five Cally, then me. “We’ll see you around.”

  We wave goodbye and they head to Mica’s car, and exhaustion slams into me. “I don’t think my legs have ever been this tired.”

  Cally laughs. “Welcome to the wonderful world of sports.”

  I start the car and lean my head against the headrest. Riding with Evan is fun, but not whole-body exhilarating. Maybe it’s because he never challenges me. He always chooses the trails and decides when we rest, but now that I’ve had a taste of what riding can be like, I don’t want to go back to being cautious. Despite how tired I am, my body’s still humming. And best of all, my mind is clear.

  I could get used to this.

  “I’m glad we ran into them,” Cally says. “They seem cool.”

  “Me too.” I grab my phone from the center console. There are two unread texts. The first is from Evan.

  I made the team!

  Then I read Alex’s text.

  Let’s do this again.

  I swear adrenaline is still pumping through me the next morning. My quads and forearms hurt more than after other rides, but it’s worth it.

  “You look like you had quite a night,” Hannah whispers. Mr. G has finished announcements and we’re supposed to be studying—not talking—but as long as we’re quiet he doesn’t usually care.

  I glance at the scratch that runs the length of my arm. “You should see the other guy.” There’s a matching one on my leg, too. I was so focused on following Alex that I didn’t noti
ce the scrapes until I was in the shower.

  “New trail?”

  “And new friends.” Can I call them friends? Alex gave me her number so yeah, friends.

  Hannah elbows me. “Call me next time!”

  “Seriously?” Hannah’s mentioned riding together before, but I didn’t think she meant it.

  “Yeah. I mostly ride with guys and it gets old. I need some girl power!” She pumps her fist in the air and Mr. G looks at us over his tablet. We both giggle and lower our heads, like that’ll keep him from watching us.

  “I gotta admit, it was different riding without Evan. I mean, I love him—” she rolls her eyes—” but he’s super protective and babies me too much. Last night they just assumed I could handle myself.”

  “And did you?”

  I smile. “Yeah.”

  She reaches into her bag and tucks her phone in her lap. “Give me your number.” I do, and she texts me. “For real, tell me the next time you’re heading out with the girls.” She catches my eye and smiles, and something in my chest loosens.

  I’m finally making my own friends. And a pack of bad-ass, take-no-prisoners friends at that.

  When I bounce into Ethics, I’m still reveling in the possibility of having a new posse. I managed to ignore Brianna and Kenzie in first period, but it’s more difficult when she’s right next to me.

  “Are you okay?”

  It takes me a moment to realize it’s Brianna whispering at me. I look at her, my guard immediately up. “What?”

  “Is Evan…” she glances at my arm and lowers her voice so she’s barely saying the words out loud. “Is he hitting you?”

  “What?” I repeat.

  She pointedly looks at my arm and meets my eyes. Something behind the layers of mascara and disdain seems genuinely concerned, but that can’t be right. Brianna only cares about herself.

  “It’s from a tree.”

  A snort on my left makes me turn. Jasminda presses her hand to her mouth like she’s holding back a laugh.

  “A tree?”

  I turn back to Bri. “Yes.”

  She continues watching me and a tiny part of me thrills at making her wonder, at not bowing to her demands to give her whatever she wants. But why is she even asking? Last time I checked you don’t get scratches like this from getting hit, but—

  “Why?” I ask.

  She shrugs and returns her gaze to the front of the room, dismissing me and my tree-abused arms.

  In Chemistry, I relay the conversation to Evan.

  “She seriously thought I was hitting you?”

  “Apparently.”

  He cradles my arm in his hands and lowers his head to kiss the length of the scratch.

  My stomach flutters at his touch, but my words from homeroom flash through my mind: Evan babies me. Then I remember his mom’s words and I pull away.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “What were your parents talking about last night?”

  He sighs. “Like I said, it’s stupid.”

  “Humor me.”

  “They worry—” he rubs his hand over his face and doesn’t look at me. His voice drops. “They worry that you don’t care enough about school.”

  I clench my jaw. How long have they thought this? His parents have always made me feel welcome, so were they just pretending? “So they think I’m too dumb to be with you.”

  “No! You know how it is. Junior year we’re supposed to be thinking about college and all that, and they’re leaning on me hard to try to get scholarships.”

  “And I’m somehow preventing that?”

  He grabs my hand. “No. You’re not.” He raises my hand and kisses my knuckles. “Please don’t worry about them.”

  It’s too late for that. I take a deep breath but he smiles and changes the subject before I can say anything else.

  “So you had fun yesterday?”

  Just thinking about riding relaxes me. I force his parents and my lack of motivation out of my mind and remember yesterday’s ride. “So much fun. We ran into that guy Mica from last weekend and his friend—or girlfriend, I think—Alex, and they took us on some different trails. I even carried my bike across a freaking river!”

  Evan’s smile, which is normally easy and relaxed, grows tight at the corners. “You crossed a river? I thought you were going to Crestpoint.”

  I nod. “We did. So maybe not quite a river, but there was definitely a current and Alex had to catch me from falling in.” The lie comes so easily I startle myself. Maybe it’s uncertainty that makes his green eyes darken, or maybe it’s the tiny part of me that keeps flashing back to that moment when Mica’s hand touched my arm.

  His smile brightens. “That’s great. Maybe you can show me that trail this weekend.” Whatever hesitation I sensed before vanishes and my normal loving and respectful boyfriend sits next to me, holding my hand. “How’d Cally do?”

  I laugh at the memory of her screaming on the first hills. “She’s a natural. But it was fun to see her be scared for a minute.”

  He gives me the side-eye. “You were happy to see her scared?”

  The judgment in his voice catches me by surprise. Was I? “No!” I squeeze his hand, flashing back to the days before we broke up last fall, when he thought the Snow Bunnies were turning me into a heartless bitch. “You know that’s not what I meant. It’s just that she’s so amazing on skis that I’m not used to seeing her unsure of herself.” Except that’s not true either. When she first moved here she was uncertain about everything—Blake, me, Brianna’s motivations, being in a new school—but she has a confidence that I’m lacking and…

  I shake my head, hating myself for slipping back to my old ways.

  “What’s that German word for taking pleasure in someone else’s pain?” Evan’s voice is so low I’m not sure if he expects me to answer.

  But I do. “Schaden-something?”

  He snaps his fingers. “Schadenfreude.”

  “Is that what you think I’m doing?”

  He shrugs and the urge to pull my hand from his is nearly overwhelming. I loosen my fingers slowly so he doesn’t think I’m being dramatic, but suddenly touching him isn’t high on my list of priorities.

  Trail Rule #4: Never second guess a decision.

  I free my hand and grab my pen.

  “Cally’s your best friend,” he says. “It makes me wonder what you think about me when I’m not around.”

  “Evan, you know how I feel about you,” I whisper. Mr. Treich closes the classroom door and takes his position at the front of the room. I lower my voice further. “I swear I didn’t mean anything by it.”

  He nods, but doesn’t look at me until class ends.

  But I didn’t mean anything by it. It’s okay to laugh at your friends when they’re right in front of you and they know you’re laughing. It’s not like I secretly wished she’d crash. So why are Evan’s words bothering me so much?

  I’m still arguing with myself when I set my lunch tray at Hannah’s table. Schadenfreude my ass. If I really wanted to see my friends suffer, I’d be just like Brianna, and that’s what I hated most about her when we were friends—that I could never trust that she had my best interests in mind. Like earlier today, asking about my arm. She only wants to know so she can spread rumors about me and make my life miserable, all because I stopped putting up with her crap.

  I purposely sit with my back to Brianna and Kenzie so I don’t have to see them.

  Hannah and her friends look up from a hot pink flyer on the table in front of them. “You okay?” Hannah asks.

  I slide between Emilia and Willow and let out a sigh. “I was.”

  Willow stiffens. “Hey, I showered.”

  Emilia laughs. “I didn’t.”

  I burst out laughing, their silliness distracting me from myself. Before this year I’d never said more than three words to either of them, but when Hannah invited me to join their table, they welcomed me with open arms. The weight of worrying about whether Evan’s sti
ll mad at me lifts and I nod at the flyer. “What’s that?”

  Hannah raises an eyebrow. “You really don’t know, Ye Former Disciple of Brianna?”

  Reflex makes me look over my shoulder, but Brianna and Kenzie are huddled together at their table across the cafeteria.

  Hannah’s face grows serious. “Man, how were you friends with her?”

  I pick at the plastic wrap on my sandwich. “It wasn’t all bad.”

  “But it wasn’t all good,” she leads.

  “No.”

  Emilia pokes me with her elbow. “They announced Homecoming Court.”

  Of course. “Who’s in it?”

  “Your BFFs,” says Hannah.

  “Plural?” Last time I checked I only have one BFF. Really only one F. So who else— “Cally AND Brianna?”

  The girls nod.

  “Wow.”

  “That’s awesome for Cally,” says Willow. “Everyone basically loves her so it makes sense.”

  I glance at the other names on the list. Soccer captain, cheerleader, and—I do a double take. “Jasminda?”

  “You know her?” Hannah asks.

  “She sits next to me in Ethics, but we don’t really talk.” Not like us in Homeroom, I want to add, but I don’t want to go there with Emilia and Willow sitting here.

  “She’s pretty cool,” Willow says. “Doesn’t take crap from anyone, which is probably why you don’t know her.”

  I stiffen. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  She twirls the cap of her water bottle. “Nothing. Just that your friends—sorry, former friends—are royal bitches and Jas doesn’t waste her energy on people like that.” The admiration in her voice is impossible to miss.

  “So you’re friends with her?”

  “Not super close, but yeah.”

  Emilia nods along with her and I catch Hannah watching me. I force a smile to my face. “Well, it sounds like it’ll be an interesting vote.”

  The rest of lunch is awkward, the stupid pink flyer that disrupted our normal routine glaring at me from the center of the table. I text Cally, Congrats!!, then tuck my phone back in my pocket. Her lunch was before mine so she won’t be able to reply until after class, which gives us maybe two minutes to talk, which sucks because I could really use my best friend right now.