Phantasm (Phantasm, #1) - Camila/You

Chapter 22 [📱]

"But Y/N, I wanna learn!"

"Sam, you're gonna get hurt."

Sam continued clutching on my leg as I tried to steady myself on my bike. She's been following me since I wheeled it out because she said she wanted to learn. But she was only six years old and didn't have enough leg or coordination to ride it successfully.

"I won't if you just teach me!"

She had a point there. I glanced towards the front lawn and saw mom talking to dad who was setting up the barbecue. They would probably kill me for what I'm about to do but I never was one to resist my sister's pout.

"Alright," I said, moving down from the bike. "You can ride it but I have to help you get steady."

She beamed at me and I had to admit, my heart melted at the sight. I steadied her on the seat but she insisted she wanted to pedal instead, so she inched forward until she was out of the seat and was instead on the body. I held the bike steady as she positioned herself comfortably on it.

"Let's go, Y/N!"

I laughed as I ran and rolled the bike with me. We weren't going that fast but Sam was laughing as the wind kissed her cheeks. She looked so happy, so carefree—I'm glad I was making her smile. We went around the block with me just running and rolling her along. We stopped as I planned to roll her back home.

"Ride with me," she said.

I furrowed my eyebrows and pouted. "That's dangerous, Sam. I'll just roll you back home."

"Please, Y/N? I wanna experience riding it. Please?"

I groaned as she pouted again. God, the power my sister had over me. "Alright but just this once."

She clapped as I instructed her down the bike. I positioned myself on the seat and told her to sit princess-like in front of me while giving her my helmet. It was a little bit hard to handle since Sam's weight added to mine was unbalanced. But I managed to make it work as we rode down the street.

Sam laughed as we neared our house and I couldn't help but smile with her. She had such a child-like wonder that I had to admit, I was jealous. Everything was beautiful in her eyes—everything was perfect.

The cat jumped out of nowhere and I jerked the pedal to the right. At any other time, it would've been a successful evasion but Sam's added weight caused the bike to steadily fall. However, in a split second, I managed to wrap my arms around her and cushion her from the road.

That meant, however, that I got the brunt of the fall.

We rolled a few feet but I just held Sam tightly in my arms so she wouldn't get any scratches. The moment we stopped, I finally let her go and she lifted her head from my chest.

"Sam, are you okay?"

"Y/N! You're bleeding!" I didn't really care about that and surveyed her body, checking for scratches. Luckily she had none so I laid my head back down on the pavement. After a few seconds, I heard the voices of my parents calling for our names.

I was so in trouble.

"Y/N? Sam! What happened?" my mom cried out.

She grabbed Sam from on top of me and checked her for scratches. I sat up and met my father's eyes as he knelt in front of me. "I'm sorry, dad, it's my fault. I know you told me not to let Sam ride my bike but I still did it."

Dad just looked at me for a few seconds before sighing and pulling a handkerchief out from his pocket. He carefully dabbed my forehead with it and I noticed the blood stains my injuries left. "I'm not angry, Y/N. Rather... I'm proud of you."