Page 62 of Forbidden to Fall

“You’re doing fine. Just try again.”

Part of me wanted to refuse. To give up and accept that I was an automatic kind of girl.

But another part of me wanted to show myself I could do this. To trust myself, like James had said.

Slowly, I started to get better. I managed to get into first gear without any jolting. A couple minutes later, James had me accelerate, pointing out how the engine sounded and telling me to shift into second. When I did it, I cheered like I’d just isolated the first gene instead of cruising down the road at a whipping eight miles per hour.

We were coming up on a hillier section, so James told me to flip a U-turn. There was a short regression, as this required more than one gear shift and another violent jolt.

But I got back into gear faster and smoother than ever.

James’s smile was bigger than I’d seen it since he’d gotten back to Autumn Ridge.

Mine matched—until I looked in my rearview mirror. There was a car approaching. Quickly. His 25 mph made my 8 mph look like a three-toed sloth.

“James,” I said, a hint of panic in my voice.

He turned in his seat to look behind us. “Don’t worry about him. He can go around.” He rolled down the window and motioned for the car to pass us.

It honked.

“James,” I repeated.

“It’s okay. Ignore him.”

I couldn’t, though. The car was riding my tail—and had no clue just how dangerous my tail could be when I had to shift.

“You can speed up if you want,” James said. “Shifting into third will be easier than shifting into second was. But you don’t have to. Let him figure out his own life. Just focus on you.”

Shifting into third with a car kissing my bumper felt like a whole new type of reckless driving, but not doing anything was equally unthinkable.

Maybe that was why I turned onto the street that came up on our left a few seconds later.

“Uh,” James said as the car full of teenage boys sped up and flew out of sight—a middle finger flashing by with them.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I just couldn’t keep going with them riding my tail like that.” I returned my eyes to the road, and my heart skipped a few beats.

This road was not flat. It was not gently rolling like the one we’d been on. It was a full-blown hill, stretching upward ahead of us.

“James…”

“It’s okay. Just keep your momentum and stay in second gear. I’ll let you know if you need to downshift.”

I did as I was told, my heart beating like I was trying to land a prop plane at midnight in a minefield.

“Give it a little more gas,” James said as we started to lose momentum.

I did.

He shook his head. “You’re gonna have to downshift.”

Even in my state of high-alert, I noticed his right hand tightening on the grab bar on his door.

Downshifting was the last thing I wanted to do. I didn’t want to touch anything. I wanted James to take over. To save us.

“Sadie,” James said with calm urgency. “Shift into first. You’ve gotta do it quickly, though, or we’ll start to roll back.”

I had pushed in the clutch obediently, but my eyes ballooned. “WHAT?”