The Ex Games by Jennifer Echols

read, SNOWFALL HIGH SCHOOL JUNIOR HAYDEN O’MALLEY LANDS A FRONTSIDE 900 IN THE HALF-PIPE TO WIN THE GIRLS’ 16 TO 18 DIVISION .
    “Give me that, you little traitor.” I grabbed the paper back. “I’ve got to hide from Mom and Dad. You want them to make me spend my whole winter break in some shrink’s office?”
    “If it helps you get over your phobia, yeah. Dad will just call the newspaper office to deliver another copy. And I don’t knowwho you’re calling little.”
    I knew one way to solve this argument. I carefully tore the whole article out of the front page, then rolled up the newspaper and slid the rubber band back on. “Doofus,” I whispered. Poor Doofus, behind us in the mud room, stood up in a rush of jingling dog tags and slobber. I slipped the paper into his mouth and whispered, “Take this to Dad.”
    Doofus wagged his tail and trotted into the kitchen. We heard Dad say, “Did you bring me the paper? Good dog. Wait a minute. Bad dog!”
    Josh softly closed the door behind us. “You’ve got to do something, Hayden. You just
can’t
throw away this opportunity with Daisy.”
    “If it’s a choice between that and me falling to my death, I sure as hell can!” I shrieked. As if in answer, ear-splitting brakes squealed downhill. “And now we’re going to miss the bus!”
    We waved our arms and skidded down the icy sidewalk with our snowboards as fast as we could. The bus driver was used to us and waited. Hardly anybody rode the bus this early—only a couple of other die-hardlocals on winter break. We called hi to them in the back and sat down up front.
    I heaved a deep sigh. “You’re not the only one gunning for me to go off the jump. Now I’ve got Liz and Chloe on my case.” Briefly I recounted my ugly convo with Nick last night and explained our snowboarding challenge—leaving out that I’d supposedly made Nick feel worse about his parents’ separation on purpose, which was actually an accident.
    Josh was staring at me with his brows down, perplexed. “Nick Krieger, of Krieger Meats and Meat Products?”
    I nodded. “Yeah,
that
Nick Krieger.”
    “Why is Nick Krieger telling you that girl snowboarders are no good and your win doesn’t mean anything? Does he like you or something? Make sure he knows we’re vegetarian. Mom and Dad would die if they had to pay your dowry in kielbasa.”
    I gaped at Josh in disbelief. “What do you mean, does Nick like me? Is that how
you
flirt with girls you like? Tell them they’re bad at stuff? Is that how you flirt with Gavin’s sister?”
    He blinked innocently. “Is that wrong?”
    “I wouldn’t say ‘wrong.’ I would say ‘notthe most efficient way of asking a girl to the middle school Valentine’s dance.’”
    He wrinkled his nose and moved his mouth, imitating my scolding, so I knew I’d guessed correctly about the last time he’d bombed asking out Gavin’s sister.
    “Stop it.” I slapped at him. “And tell me the truth. Do you agree with Nick that I’ll never be as good as a boy, so there’s no use trying?”
    “Keep in mind that I have seen the answer key. I know what I’m supposed to say to stop you from hitting me.”
    “Uh-huh.”
    He leaned back against the salt-streaked window and considered me. “You are the most physically fit person I have ever met. I mean, I’m physically fit, too. I probably work out in the health club almost as much as you do. But I have been known to sneak a Pop-Tart out of the vending machine at school.”
    I gasped and put my hands to my mouth in mock horror.
    “I know. It was whole grain, but still. You, on the other hand, are serious about keeping your body in top shape. You have a lot of natural athletic ability. And you gothurt all those years ago, which gives you extra drive like nobody else on the slopes.”
    I couldn’t believe all this was coming out of Josh’s mouth. Normally he was such a dork, but he did have his moments of depth. Right now he was looking me in the eye,