Page 5

“They did good,” Dom said, putting his arm around me. “And guess who else did good?”

“You?”

“Well, yes, me. That’s a given.” He bumped me with his hip. “But you. You’re doing an amazing job this season.”

I never really knew what to do with compliments, so I just ducked my head to hide my blush. I turned around to chat with one of the parents and that’s when I saw her, walking down the bleachers again.

My mouth dropped open and I snapped it shut as I was going to respond to the parent.

“Could you excuse me for one moment?” I shot Dom a look and he stepped in. We had been working together long enough that he could read my face as if I’d spoken aloud.

It took me a second to find her again. She’d slipped into the leaving crowd.

“Hey, Echo!” I yelled, maybe a little too loudly. She paused with her hand on the gym door to leave. People streamed around us and she had to decide to turn around and face me, or open the door and pretend she didn’t hear me.

She picked the second option, and I wasn’t going to let that stand.

I pushed the door open as she speed-walked to the parking lot.

“Echo! Don’t walk away from me. What are you doing here?”

People were staring, but I didn’t care.

Echo pivoted on her heel and turned around fully. Her hair flowed over her shoulders in the breeze, as if she was posing for a hair product commercial.

Seeing her again was as intense as seeing her the first time: a visceral punch in the gut. The freckles across her nose made me clench my fists.

“What are you doing here?” I stepped closer so I could lower the volume of my voice and not create so much of a spectacle.

A calm smile spread across her face. “Just enjoying the show. It was open to the public.” She gestured to the people walking around us.

“It shouldn’t have been,” I muttered. I didn't like seeing her. It made me feel too many things at once. I wrapped my arms around my stomach to try and hold myself together.

“You’re welcome at our practice any time, Kiri.” The smile twisted into something else. Something that made my heart pound in my chest.

If there was one thing I hated,hated, it was her using my name. She didn’t have a right to my name.

“Oh, so I can watch someone do a bunch of half-assed jumps? No thank you.” It was a dig, and we both knew it. If I wasn’t careful, my temper was going to flare and then I would say things that shouldn’t be said in public.

She tilted her head to the side and narrowed her eyes.

“Are you making fun of my squad?”

“No. Yes. I don’t know.” I had to close my eyes and take a breath. “Just go away. I don’t even know why you came, except to steal our stuff.”

She rolled her eyes and let out a little laugh that was more like an exhale than anything else.

“Please, this is not that cheer movie from twenty years ago. Grow up.”

“You grow up!” I snapped. Perfect comeback. So witty.

A smirk played on Echo’s lips and then she gave me a little wave. “See you in Orlando, Kiri.”

I wanted to hurl the smartest one-liner that would have her shaking in her heels, but she was gone before I could say anything, let alone anything smart.

Looking up at the sky, I had to swallow the urge to scream. A hand tapped me on the shoulder and I almost did scream then, but for a different reason.

“Hey, what was that?”