KORI

Day 2, 10:59 AM

I walked back to my seat wondering if Andy would have the guts to take my advice. Easier said than done, I knew. I was a little worried that if he did do his best this guy would pound him and I'd have to live with it on my conscience.

"What'd Andy want?" Dean asked as I sat down.

"Nothin'," I said, shrugging.

"C'mon, Kor. He's more my friend than yours."

I remembered Andy mentioning how Andrea was mad at him. "He just wanted my advice. His sister is mad at him and he just wanted a female's point of view. That's all."

"Why is she mad?"

I shrugged. "I dunno."

"Maybe I should-"

"Don't do anything," I said firmly. Great. Now Dean was going to tell Andie that her brother told me she was mad and she would be even more angry. "I handled it just fine. Talking to people takes tact, and you desperately need that."

"That's not true."

"You're right," I said sarcastically. "I just love to falsely accuse people who I don't even care about."

"No wonder you don't have a boyfriend," he muttered. "You scare all the guys away."

"I don't need a boyfriend," I said. "Nor do I want one."

"That's part of the reason you're so insane."

"What's the other part?"

"Your inability to-" He stopped. "Carson's up."

My attention was quickly turned to the jumps and who was riding them. I watched Andy carefully as he rode. When he landed for the third time, he let me down. When he landed, the bike was tilted to the right, and the impact forced it to turn and go down. He wiped out, and the bike ended up on top of him.

"Andy!" I cried. Did he do that on purpose? It had looked accidental to me, but that didn't mean he hadn't planned it.

"He'll be OK," Dean said, getting up.

"Where are you going?" I demanded, also standing.

"To see him."

I followed him through the crowd of people downstairs to where the riders were. Andy was limping back towards us, a person on each side of him with his arms slung around them.

"Andrew!" a blond girl said. "Are you OK?"

The people helping him led him to a bench and he sat down. "I think so," he replied, taking off his helmet.

"Anything twisted?" asked someone that I assume was his mother. "Or broken?"

Andy shook his head. "I'll be fine in a minute."

"Andy?" I asked. I don't know if he noticed me before that, and I wanted him to know that Dean and I were there.

"Kori," he said, suddenly amazingly calm and a mixture of seriousness and sadness.

"What was that?" I asked. What I really wanted to ask was "Was that on purpose?" but if I said that, then it would raise too many questions.

He shook his head. "I don't know." With a glance to a couple other people, he said, "You guys don't know each other, do you? Guys, this is Kori, Dean's cousin. Kori, this is my sister Andrea, my brother Jason, and my parents."

"Hi," I said to them.

"It's nice to meet you, Kori," his mom said.

"And you," I replied. I looked to Andrea. "I've heard a lot about you, mostly from Dean. I admire any girl who races moto."

She smiled. "Thanks. Do you ride?"

I nodded. "Dean and I are both competing here."

"Andrew," his mom said. "Are you sure you're all right?"

Andy rolled his eyes. "It's not like I fell from the air, mom. I was already on the ground."

"But your bike crushed you."

"No it didn't. That back there was a 3 ½ foot fall. It's pitiful, really."

"You were doing good," Dean said.

"Thanks, man."

"You still have a chance to win if you don't do that again."

Andy snorted. "Win? No way. Not with Travis Pastrana in this. But maybe I can do well. 5th or something."

"Yesterday's score was pretty good, though."

"It wasn't bad. I just hope this doesn't pull me back too far."

"Well, if we aren't taking Andy to the emergency room, I'm going back out there to watch," Jason said.

"Jason!" his mom exclaimed.

"What?" he asked. "he said he'd be fine in a minute."

"I will," Andy replied. "No one's taking me to the emergency room. Go on."

"Well, if everything's fine, I'm gonna go, too," Andie agreed. Then quickly added, "If Andy's OK."

"Go on," he said. "Mom and dad, too. I'll be fine. Just let me sit here for a little bit."

"Andrew…" his dad said, unsure.

"I've fallen before," Andy insisted. "Really."

His family left.

Andy shook his head. "Typical parents," he muttered. He looked at me and Dean. "You guys don't have to stay here, either, you know."

"You sure?" Dean asked.

Andy nodded. "Yeah, I'm just gonna sit here for a little while and chill out."

"OK," Dean said. "Kori, you comin'?"

"I-" I hesitated. If I stayed, Dean would, too. But I had to talk to Andy alone. I had to find out what was going through his mind when he fell. "I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'll be there in a sec."

"OK."

I started away, but once Dean was gone I turned around and went back to Andy.

"Did you do that on purpose?"