“Never.” I lifted my knee and then kicked backward, mostly missing as my foot slid past his shin into open air. But despite my poor aim, he let me go with a startled laugh and my feet landed on the ground. I faced him and then immediately ducked left. He mimicked my movement, and I let out a tiny shriek as I dipped in the other direction, and he hooked me around the waist as I let out a sound that I feared gave away the fact that I was less than upset by this little game and that my class-star status had been tested and found severely lacking when it came to real-life role-playing.

“Hello? Children? This is really embarrassing. Can you stop?” Charlie’s voice came from a great distance away. But I couldn’t stop. Or maybe I just didn’t want to.

Tuck spun me around with one arm, and I hooked my leg around his thigh, pushing my heel into the back of his knee as he grunted, knocked off-balance so that we both tipped forward. He twisted his body around at the last minute so that his shoulder made first impact with the snowy ground on the side of the road where we’d landed. “Ow,” he grated.

I rolled over, taking both his hands and raising them above his head where I pressed them to the ground. “Say uncle.”

He let out a bark of laughter. “You say uncle.”

“Why should I? I’m the winner here.”

And then as quick as that, I was flipped over so that I was flat on my back and Tuck was over me, bringing my hands above my head and pinning me with seemingly no effort at all. I wiggled and bucked, and Tuck let out that same pained hiss, jaw clenching as he stared down at me. “You were out of control then, and you’re out of control now,” he stated, voice gravelly.

Then? I stilled, setting my hips on the ground and going slack beneath him. He meant when I was a kid. And okay, I had thrown things at him then as well. I’d attacked and tormented and done anything to get his attention. He wasn’t wrong about that. Because no one, no one, spun me out of control like Tuck. And I supposed it was still true, because I didn’t seem to be able to stop myself from knowingly pushing his buttons and then enjoying the result.

My indignation drained completely, leaving a strange void. “You’re right,” I said. “I haven’t changed. No wonder you still hate me.”