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“I’ve ridden on this hundreds of times,” I returned. “Just go without me.”

They shrugged. “Okay.”

As they walked off, I moved toward the student who was still sitting on the bench—Layla Snow. Layla was one of those kids who never really had any problems with anyone and always sort of stuck to herself. She came to school, did her work, and never got into any mischief. While I didn’t think anyone had any reasons for disliking her, Layla also wasn’t surrounded by agaggle of friends, either. She was merely one of the quiet kids.

I sat down beside her, noted the way her eyes widened as I did, and asked, “Are you waiting for someone?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“Have you been sitting here all day?”

“Only since we entered the park,” she answered.

Layla had been in my group when we split to do the museum and chocolate factory tour, and I vaguely recalled seeing her throughout, so I hadn’t suspected that she’d been here since before that.

“Why aren’t you going on any of the rides?”

She shrugged. “Well, everybody is already paired up with friends to ride with.”

My brows shot up. I knew Layla was on the quieter side, but I hadn’t expected she didn’t have anyone that would join her in the park.

“I’ll ride with you.”

Layla sent a look of disbelief in my direction. “What?”

“You’re missing out on all the fun, and that’s awful. So, I’ll ride with you.”

Squirming in her seat, she tucked a lock of her long hair that was the color of dark chocolate behind her ear. “That’s… that’s… Do you even know my name?”

What kind of person did she think I was? “Of course, I do. You’re Layla Snow. Why would you… You know what, it doesn’t matter. We only have so much time left here today, so we should go on a couple of rides.”

She licked her lips. “That’s really kind of you to offer, Liam, but I… Well, honestly, I’m not sure I’m brave enough to ride them. Rides like this make me nervous.”

“Really? What do you think is going to happen?”

“What if it breaks, or I go flying from my seat at the most crucial time?”

I cocked a brow as my lips twitched. “Are you saying that you think we don’t maintain our equipment here?”

Her expression turned horrified. “Oh, God. No. I didn’t mean anything like that. I’m just a bit of a chicken. That’s all.”

“Aw, come on. I’ll go with you. And I can promise that nothing bad is going to happen. I help work on these in the summertime.”

“You do?”

I nodded. “Yep. I love working with my hands. I’ve always enjoyed learning how things work, and since I intend to manage the maintenance and operations of this amusement park once I’m done with school, I spend my summer learning everything I can about it now.”

“Wow, that’s impressive.”

Grinning, I stood and held out my hand to her. “Thanks. Now, I promise I would never take you on any of these rides if they weren’t safe. You can trust me.”

She held my gaze for several long beats, and I questioned whether I’d been convincing enough to get her to stand and join me. I waited so long, I started to lose hope. But then, she surprised me. Layla placed her hand gently in mine and stood. “Okay, Liam. I’m trusting you to keep me safe.”

I smiled at her. “Always. I promise.”

With that, I led Layla away from the bench and to my favorite roller coaster. She was jittery the whole time we were in line, and she didn’t hold back from screaming the entire ride, but she did it.

I was so proud of her and took her on a few more rides that weren’t nearly as intense. Despite that, she shoved her face into my shoulder and held on to me for dear life.