It wasn’t the cleverest comeback in the history of comebacks, but it had the effect of shutting Brad up, which made it a good one.
“Touchy,” Brad said, laughing it off. “What’re you still looking at? Go,” he said, waving me away. “Marta must’ve left a full minute ago by now, you’re slowing us all down.”
I sighed, turning in the direction of the starting point and mocking Brad under my breath.
“I heard that,” he called after me. “This is for your own good.”
“Will you leave him alone?” Chris asked, just as I left hearing range. Maybe Brad responded, maybe he didn’t.
It was nice that Chris was defending me as well as Alex. He was a good friend to have.
I watched Marta rush past in her kayak as I was walking, her delighted whoop as she fell down one of the sharper drops echoing off the nearly-sheer cliff face on the other side of the river.
At leastshewas having a good time. But then, she didn’t care about winning.
I did. In front of Brad, I cared about winning. More than pretty much anything else on this trip.
And he had mybesttime beat by fifteen seconds, and I was getting slower.
I needed an edge. I even knew how to get it—I’d seen Brad doing what I needed to do. I just had to be brave enough to try it.
Even as I set my kayak in the water, my stomach clenched. Would I chicken out at the last minute?
Brad said that was my problem. I was too afraid of getting hurt to take a risk. My family would have laughed at me—they’d been through enough minor injuries by now that they thought all Ididwas take risks, but not compared to a lot of the people competing in things like this.
That was why I never won. That was why he’d…
No point thinking about it right now. I shouted for Alex to start the timer as I pushed off, letting the speed of the water carry me along for the first dozen clear yards, saving my strength.
Tomorrow, I’d only have to do this twice to get through to the finals. By then, the muscles protesting now would be used to this, they wouldn’t ache so badly, I wouldn’t feel like I wanted to crawl into a hot shower, curl up on the floor, and pass out until everything stopped hurting.
Determined, I paddled my way to the edge of the first drop and tipped over the edge with my eyes wide open, the foaming spray below splashing across my face and making them sting as I landed, still hurtling forward, pushed along by the current, water catching on the edges of my paddles and pouring into the kayak with me.
Technique, Brad’s voice whispered in my ear. I shuddered at the memory of it, creeping down the back of my neck with ghostlike fingers, and focused on what I was doing.
No splashing. Splashing was lost time.
I leaned forward, bracing myself for the second fall, my heart leaping up into my throat as I plummeted down and hit the water, too flat, the shock of it jolting my whole body.
Paddle faster.
My lungs were bursting by now, the roar of the falls behind and ahead drowning out all other sound.
There was my extra twenty seconds, coming up so fast I barely had time to steer toward it.
If I could getoverthose rocks instead of around them, that’d cut my time like I’d seen it cut Brad’s. The drop would be steeper, I’d have to be more careful about the landing, but it’dwork.
And if I didn’t at leasttry, all I had to look forward to was Brad laughing at me. Again.
Reminding me whyhedidn’t want me, why no one ever would.
I leaned forward and paddled with all the strength I had left in my arms, panting for breath as I pushed myself hard, the effort of keeping the kayak straight making every muscle from my waist to my ankles strain.
A horrifying scrape as I hit the rocks made me close my eyes, but then I was suddenly airborne, gliding over them and falling down the other side.
Too steep.
Too steep.
