“You mean the three-week-long game I won?”
“You didn’t win, you cheated with your house rules! Plus, you kept hoarding all the resources! No one can build anything without wood.”
I laugh triumphantly. “That’s because my settlements were near the forests. I didn’t want to trade resources with you—that’s the same as letting you win.”
“If I remember correctly,no onewon because our moms made us pack it away and apologize to each other.”
“Well, I choose to remember it differently.”
I lift my chin defiantly and am shocked when he laughs. I glance at him incredulously and he laughs even louder.
“Wow, I almost forgot that expression. You look just the same as when you were twelve.”
“I do not! Take it back.” God, I hope that isn’t true. Between the beginning of acne, horrid makeup choices, and out-of-control hair, I don’t want to look anything like my preteen days.
“Fine.” He sobers and studies me. “Maybe you look a little different now.”
Flutters fill my stomach at the intensity of his gaze. It’s like he’s dissecting me with his eyes. I blurt out a question to distract him.
“Why didn’t your parents come to the band camp performance on Friday? Did they have to work?”
He squints at me for a moment, then he shakes his head. “You know what, on second thought, you were right. This was a bad idea. I’m going inside.”
“Are you completely incapable of having a conversation?” I shake my head. “Actually, never mind, I know exactly how to get you to talk.”
“Hazel…” he warns.
I stand. “I’ll make you a bet. If you can do a front flip on this trampoline, then you don’t have to answer any of my questions. But if you fall, you have to tell me something real about your life. Something you don’t want to tell me.”
“And why would I ever take that bet?”
“Because you hate to lose. And the only thing you hate more than losing is backing down from a challenge.”
“You don’t know me the way you used to.”
The soft sadness in his voice makes me pause. What is going on with him? He never acted this way when we were younger. I wish we could have a normal conversation instead of making everything into a fight, but I don’t know how else to pull the answers from him. If he’s going to be difficult, then I’ll be difficult right alongside him.
“I’m very aware that I don’t know you anymore.” I put out my hands as if to sayduh.“Which is why I’m reduced to making stupid bets with you.”
He studies me and then squints up at the sky. “Fine. I’ll take your bet.”
“See, I still know you pretty well. Wait!” I point at him. “Did you have a trampoline at your last house?”
“No.”
“Did you join gymnastics or tumbling there?”
“No.”
“When’s the last time you did a front flip?”
He smirks. “Here. I landed wrong and almost broke my neck, so you took pity on me and made me a big plate of nachos and put onThe Two Towers.”
“Oh. Right.”
I’d forgotten about that part of the night. It happened right after I found out his family was moving. I was heartbroken and secretly hoped that if we spent the evening curled up on the couch next to each other, he’d finally realize how much I meant to him and kiss me. Instead, he spent the whole time telling me trivia about Viggo Mortensen and how many of the Rohan riders in the Lord of the Rings were actually women in beards and makeup.
“Well, I didn’t forget.” He stands and starts jumping cautiously. “Those were good nachos.”
