Free Intrepid by J.D. Brewer

there was a contest between me and her, only a moron would choose me. I played around with her threat in my mind and realized she was just trying to get a reaction out of me—one I refused to give.  
    “You don’t have to lie to me,” she said.
    Before I could reply, the song that was playing lulled to a transition and let us hear a faint clicking noise, like cicadas opening up a song at sunset. Sully was there, but his face was behind the camera, and Lindsay hammed it up for him as he coached: “Like a tiger now. Now you’re a baby koala bear. Now you’re a manatee. Swim, graceful manatee. Swim, I tell you! You call that swimming ?” I couldn’t breathe from laughing at all of Lindsay’s awkward poses as we entered the dancing disease of people.  
    My movements were awkward, and I kept trying to remind myself not to think about how much I hated dancing. But the more I tried not to think about it, the more I did, and the more awkward my movements became. I settled for the swaying-side-to-side routine, and sometimes I moved my hands so my thumbs jabbed at the air just to mix it up.  
    Rather than dance, Sully stepped up to Crystal and Jose. “Make room for Jesus! Sir, there is not three feet of space between you and your partner. Do I need to get my yard stick?” The way he mimicked Mrs. Thorne’s infamous chaperone line was spot-on, and the two dancers stiffened their arms to play along. They were the two Frankensteins to Sully’s comedy bit until the song ended. Then we entered the realm of his signature dances: the water-sprinkler, the climbing squirrel, and the drowning squid. I loved how Sully always brought the silly out of us. This was how we always were, and normal felt refreshing after having such an awkward afternoon with him. He was in the middle of his puppy-chasing-tail dance when the band started playing one of his favorite songs. “It’s Garth ! Tex! Gaaaaarrrth ! Wanna dance?”  
    I laughed. “Naw. I’m thirsty. Y’all go ahead.”  
    I ignored the disappointment that fluttered across his face as he said, “Suit yourself.” He took Lindsay’s arm and twirled her into a two-step, and I heard their voices veer off into the fray: “I’ve got friends in looooooow places…” The words were cumbersome to their hysterical laughter, and soon they were lost in the crowd.  
    Things were changing. I had to admit it, no matter how much I didn’t want to. But in that moment, right then and there, I could tether myself to a memory like this one. These cheese-balls were my friends, and for a minute, it didn’t matter that things were shifting.  
    I made my way off the dance floor to track down water at the concession stand. All the bodies crammed into the gym made me forget what cold felt like, and when I placed the bottle on my forehead, the cool beads of condensation clashed with the warm beads of sweat. I leaned against the wall, took a few deep gulps of water, then a few gulps of air.  
    There was a slight throbbing growing between my temples, and I closed my eyes to center myself in the midst of all the people.  
    Energy.  
    It was everywhere.  
    It was contagious.  
    It was suffocating.  
    The clarity that had been rushing through my body was becoming mucked up, and my skin began to feel clammy.  
    “Did hell freeze over? ¿Qué haces aquí?”
    The question almost pried my eyes open, but I stopped the lids from moving. Instead, I groaned. “What’d you want?” Without moving my head from the wall, I took another cool sip of water. I wasn’t in the mood, but even with my eyes closed, his presence was everywhere. Whatever soap he’d used in his shower smelled of pinecones, and his cheap cologne made my head swim. The assault on my nose felt more stabbing due to the wobbly feeling in my head.  
    “Sheesh. Just saying hi, is all.”  
    I pulled my lids open to emphasize the glare that was behind them. Iago’s square frame blocked out the rest of the dance, and the strobe