CHAPTER THIRTEEN #2
“I have to go get her,” I say, my ribs constricting around my lungs.
She can’t jump. She’s not a trained diver.
We’re in Acapulco, Mexico where the men have probably dived from the ledge hundreds of times, timing the rate of the waves into the rock, knowing exactly which spot to hit. She knows nothing!
“No,” Ryke tells me. “I’m going to get her.
You’ll have a panic attack halfway up the fucking cliff.
Just stay here. Watch the girls. Take a fucking breath.
” He looks like he needs one too. He doesn’t waste another second talking to me.
He darts off in the direction where we came from, trying to find a way to the cliff side.
I just watch her little speck of blonde hair that’s tied in a braid at her shoulder. She nods as a local diver points to the water below and then motions to the rock. At least he’s teaching her , is all I think. If she jumps she could die or get a concussion. This is not in the itinerary.
“Oh my God,” Cleo exclaims, reaching my side. Her fingers curl around the metal safety railing. “Is that Daisy?”
The girls gasp as they huddle around. They all start whisking out their cellphones to record my sister’s impending death. Her toes stick off the rock ledge, not much to brace herself with.
She’s planning on jumping. She’s not just up there for an intimate tour of the cliff. This is her idea of fun.
“She’s nuts,” Harper says with the shake of her head.
Another local diver springs off the edge and soars in the air with mastered precision. He dives headfirst into the right spot of water, and the man teaching Daisy keeps talking, as though that was some kind of demonstration for her.
Daisy nods, not even a little scared. I can practically see her eyes lighting up in awe and excitement.
“Is she going to jump?” Harper asks. “There are rocks everywhere.”
Cleo anxiously clenches the railing. “This isn’t an ocean.
This is like as small as a river. Shouldn’t she be jumping into that?
” She points to the full blue ocean that hits the northern part of the cliff, but Daisy is on the side, the section where the ocean flows into this little crevice between our lookout point and the mountain she spiders.
“I’ve seen these types of dives before,” Katy (or rather Tessa) says, smacking on gum. She sidles up next to Cleo. “There’s a small radius where it’s like really, really deep and then beyond that it’s shallow and really, really rocky.”
Where’s Ryke?!
“Shut up,” Cleo snaps at her. “Seriously, shut up.”
And then, I see Ryke ascending the cliff, grabbing cutouts in the rock and putting his feet in divots, hiking his body up and then over with endurance and strength.
He doesn’t need a local to show him the way.
He’s free climbing, I realize. Free-solo climbing.
Without a rope. I guess, in some way, he was able to do what he had planned before coming on this trip.
Still, I am terrified.
A local says something, and their heads swivel in Ryke’s direction.
The man edges closer and holds out his hand to Ryke when he finds their path.
He shakes it as though he’s a welcomed guest to their club atop a cliff.
Actually, they’re not on top. That would be too high.
But the side of the cliff is already too tall for comfort.
Daisy acknowledges Ryke, and then looks back at the water when his mouth starts moving. His face grows red and veins begin to pop from his neck as he rants. If I was closer, I wonder if I would see spit flying from his lips, beyond furious .
The locals let him say what he needs to, and then Ryke turns to them, speaking a little, but his motions are calm, less irate. They nod and then point to the water, replying back. God, I wish I could hear.
When Daisy begins talking, I think maybe Ryke has succeeded in convincing her to return to the parking lot. But her hands start gesticulating, angry and as irritated as he is.
They’re arguing.
He steps closer, his foot halfway on the ledge as they straddle the side of the fucking mountain. His nose touches hers as he gets into her face, shouting. Her chest puffs out and she yells back. Their voices begin to echo through the ravine but not loud enough to make out words or syllables.
And then she puts her back against the ledge and says something to the local man. He nods, and Ryke screams at her, “NO!” We can all hear the fear and anger writhing in his voice.
But it’s too late.
She dives.
Right.
Off.
The fucking.
Cliff.
Headfirst.
I hold my breath, my lips parting as my jaw drops. Not even a full second after she dives, Ryke impulsively jumps right in after her.
This…is not good. Both Lo and I are going to lose siblings in one day.
I wait for them to come to the surface for what seems like hours. Waiting. Waiting. The water rushes in and then back out of the ravine in a systematic cycle. White foam smacking slick black rocks.
Where is she?
Ryke pops up first in the center of the water, hitting the right spot. His head whips around, searching for Daisy. He spins in circles. From where I stand, I can see the panic lacing his eyes, and my stomach does a thousand somersaults.
“Ohmygod,” Cleo mutters. “Where is she?!”
The other girls keep out their cellphones, still videotaping. I should have realized that Daisy would be in more danger doing something potentially life-threatening than being kidnapped. I should have had a discussion about no cliff diving to your death before the trip began.
And then, her head breaks the surface of the water, a few feet from Ryke.
In what seems to be a deep, safe region.
I let out a small breath of relief.
Ryke looks ready to burst a blood vessel in his neck. He takes his aggression out on the water and splashes her. She splashes back, and they start screaming again. She shakes her head and ends up swimming away towards the rocky bank.
Ten minutes later, they appear near the top of the hill, waiting for us and dripping wet. Ryke runs his hand through his thick, soaked hair. And Daisy’s green tank top sucks to her slender frame while her jean shorts sop. We all start walking, and I hear their argument the closer I approach.
“He told me where to land!” she shouts “I took diving lessons in seventh grade. I was fine, Ryke!” She did take lessons, I remember now. Our mother made her do a ton of things, trying to find her talent until she ended up modeling.
“You left all of your friends at a fucking restaurant!” he shouts back. “Your sister thought you’d been kidnapped! How selfish are you?”
Her cheeks grow red. “I didn’t think anyone would care…”
“Bullshit,” he sneers. “You knew we’d come after you. You knew we’d track you down and ruin our plans to make sure you were alive. You wanted us to chase you.”
She shakes her head rapidly. “No. I just wanted to do this, but I knew Lily wouldn’t let me. This is why I chose Acapulco—for this cliff. It’s famous. And I’m sorry for ruining everyone’s day, but it was worth it.”
“You could have died,” he growls, his eyes narrowing with such anger—I would have already cowered back. Daisy has her shoulders locked tight, her head held high, resolute. Ryke is right. Nothing scares her.
“I know.”
He stares at her for a long, long time, and as I reach, I hesitate on breaking up their heated fight. “Did you want to die?” he finally asks.
Daisy blinks for a couple seconds, not in confusion. It’s as though she expected this reaction. She shrugs and then says, “How’d you find me anyway?”
“Freefalling,” he tells her. “You said it’s better than sex.”
Her lips twitch into a smile. “Do you agree with me now?”
“As fun as that was,” he says roughly, “it’ll never be better than fucking someone you love.” He adds, “Don’t do that shit again.” And he turns around and motions to the pack of girls to follow him back to the parking lot.
I catch Daisy’s arm before she goes to Cleo. Her weak smile immediately falls to the wayside at my near-tears. I’ve never been more terrified.
“Lily…I’m sorry. My intention wasn’t to scare you.”
“What if you died?”
“I didn’t.” She touches my arm and shakes it. “Come on. Be happy, we’re in Mexico.”
“That’s not okay, Daisy,” I say. “You can’t just sprint away without telling someone where you’re going.
” I have never read the Big Sister Handbook, so I decide to just tell her what I feel.
That has to be enough. “We could have found a cliff that was supervised, not one clearly meant for professional, local divers.”
“I wanted to jump off this one.”
I sigh heavily. “Do you hear yourself? You wanted this one? You sound like Cleo and Harper, spoiled and entitled. ”
She cringes. “I’m sorry. I really am.” She shakes her head. “I shouldn’t have…If I’d known your reaction beforehand, I would have stopped.”
The scary thing—I don’t believe her. Not one bit.
“Okay.” Nothing else can be said. Ryke grilled her. I gave her the disapproving, brokenhearted look.
“I’m not on your shit list, am I?” she asks. “Honestly, I didn’t even think you had one.”
“I didn’t.”
She gasps. “So I’m the only person on it?”
I can’t help but smile. We begin to walk back together, her friends farther ahead of us. “I guess.”
“What can I do?” she asks. Her eyes brighten. “I know! Cake. Cake fixes everything.” She shouts at the girls, “Cake time!”
They let out cheers and clap and spin around to record Daisy for the end of their videos. I’m sure those will be circulated around her prep school for quite some time. She’ll be a superstar. For all the wrong reasons.
Ryke turns his head at the announcement and still looks pissed. He rolls his eyes and shakes water from his hair with a firm hand.
“You know what he said to me?” Daisy says.
“He told me that I was going to crack open my skull, bleed into the ocean, and be eaten by sharks. And then he goes and jumps in after me.” She lets out an irritated laugh.
“I didn’t need him to be my hero, showing up, scaling the cliff and speaking Spanish to the locals?—”
“Wait, they didn’t speak English?”
Daisy realizes she let that little part slip.
She winces as she flashes an apologetic smile.
“They were telling me stuff, and I just replied back with, ‘Sí,’ over and over again. I got the gist of what they were saying when they moved their hands. You should be more surprised by the fact that Ryke is fluent in Spanish. ”
“I’m not,” I snap, “because he grew up with a mom as neurotic as ours.”
“He did?” Her brows furrow.
“I don’t know her personally,” I clarify. “But she kept him busy.” I refrain from saying like you because she does not need to be attracted to him anymore than I think she already is. Their age difference is no-no territory. Ryke understands this, and I’m afraid that Daisy may not.
“Oh.”
I hesitate. “Daisy, you don’t…” have a crush on him.
She meets my eyes and reads them well. “Like you said before, Lily, he’s seven years older…
well, about to be six.” She tries to give me a reassuring smile before she breaks from my side and catches up to Cleo, but I’m not satisfied.
Because she glances back at Ryke as he peels off his wet shirt and wrings it out.
Her eyes flit over his body, and I see a not-so good future.
I’m not sure how Lo would react to a Daisy and Ryke scenario.
All I know is that he wouldn’t be happy.