AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Wyatt Nippersink. Wendy’s treacherous twin brother.
What the hell?
I straighten, my muscles locking. Then I move in closer, until the sound of her sweet voice captures my ears.
“I should go home, now,” she tells the crowd of notorious troublemakers. A few other children, various teens and preteens, float around the edge of the pond, dipping the toes of their boots onto the ice, then jumping back with laughter. June’s expression looks apprehensive as she glances around. “I only wanted to make snow angels. My brothers don’t like you.”
Wyatt sucks on a cigarette, his ears red and irritated from the cold. “Go on, Juney. It’s your turn. You can’t chicken out on us.”
My hackles rise. I have no idea what Wyatt is up to, but the asshole has had it out for me ever since I broke up with Wendy that first time in the middle of junior year. He’s always been a bully, but he took it to a highly personal level that night, almost breaking down our door, yelling about Wendy and her broken heart.
I suppose I couldn’t entirely blame him for looking out for his twin sister. June and I aren’t even related and I’d do the exact same thing for her.
But this is different. This is crossing a line.
I advance on the group, a good ten yards away.
“I don’t want to,” June argues, stepping up to the iced-over water and peering down. “It’s too slippery.”
“Don’t be lame. I’ll go right after you, promise.”
My pace quickens and I call out to her. “June!”
She snaps her chin up so fast, her earmuffs fall back on her head. Crystalline eyes that parallel the frosty pond widen when she spots me running toward her. “Bra—”
Wyatt snatches her by her puffy coat sleeve, then slings her onto the ice, laughing. She slides on her knees to the center of the pond, scrambling to stand.
My stomach drops.
“Go on, little ballerina,” Wyatt taunts. He flicks his cigarette butt by his shoe, blowing ribbons of smoke out his nostrils. “Show big brother your pretty twirls.”
One of his friends mimics a ballerina, tiptoeing in a dainty circle in the snow, and everyone erupts with laughter.
June can’t keep her balance on the ice, her feet sliding everywhere. “You jerk!” she shouts, cheeks reddening with outrage. “Why did you do that?”
I barrel down the final hill that separates me from the group. “June, don’t move! I’m coming.”
“Brant to the rescue,” Wyatt sneers. He spits near my boots when I slide to an erratic stop. “Just having some fun.”
Ignoring him, I look around for an object to hold out to her. A large stick. Something.
I don’t trust the ice—it’s not stable. It hasn’t been consistently cold enough yet.
June’s legs splay when she tries to steady herself, her arms flailing, and then she plummets backward, her bottom slamming down hard on the icy surface.
My blood freezes.
Everyone laughs.
June looks like she wants to cry.
“June, hold still—” I start to tell her, but as a tear slips down her cheek, she tries to pull herself up anyway.
And that’s when I hear it.
Crack.
We all hear it.
