But her feet were too close together. Not again! Her shoes slipped across the surface of the board.

"No!" she cried, clenching her toes, cupping the air with her palms, anything to keep herself on board.

Her right shoe slid toward the board's edge until her toes were silhouetted against the trees.

The trees! She was almost sideways, her body parallel with the ground.

The slalom flag zoomed past, and suddenly, it was over. The board swung back under Tally as her course straightened out again.

She'd made the turn!

Tally spun to face Shay. "I did it!" she cried.

And fell.

Confused by her spin, the board had tried to execute a turn, and dumped her. Tally relaxed as her arms jerked straight and the world spun around her. She was laughing as she descended to the grass, dangling by her bracelets.

Shay was also laughing. "Almost did it."

"No! I got around the flags. You saw!"

"Okay, okay. You made it." Shay laughed, stepping off onto the grass. "But don't dance around like that afterward. It's not cool, Squint."

Tally stuck out her tongue. In the last week, Tally had learned that Shay only used her ugly nickname as a put-down. Shay insisted they call each other by their real names most of the time, which Tally had quickly gotten used to. She liked it, actually. Nobody but Sol and Ellie-her parents-and a few stuck-up teachers had ever called her "Tally" before.

"Whatever you say, Skinny. That was great."

Tally collapsed on the grass. Her whole body ached, every muscle exhausted. "Thanks for the lesson.

Flying's the best."

Shay sat down close by. "Never bored on a hoverboard."

"This is the best I've felt since…" Tally didn't say his name. She looked up into the sky, which was a glorious blue. A perfect sky. They hadn't gotten started until late afternoon.