Ride It Out by Lynne Hallett

Fears are confronted in this romantic short story by Lynne Hallett.

Roller coasters weren’t quite Sadie’s thing, but if it got her closer to Robin . . .

LOOK at the fun they’re having.” Sadie pointed to four of the girls in the dodgem arena, squealing as the cars made contact.

“It’s nice to see them outside the classroom, isn’t it?” she added.

“Yes, but I wouldn’t be letting them drive me anywhere, I can tell you that for nothing.” Robin chuckled and looked down at her.

Sadie’s heart leapt, though she had done everything she could to keep her feelings for him purely platonic.

They were colleagues, after all, and it didn’t do to have staffroom romances. It could all get very messy.

That said, she couldn’t stop thinking of him wrapping those long arms around her, pulling her close and kissing her gently . . .

“You’re looking a bit flushed,” Robin remarked, interrupting her daydream. “Are you all right?”

“Just hot,” Sadie replied quickly, fanning herself with the theme park map and looking around.

“I wonder how the others are doing.”

“Oh, they’ll be fine. Kids just love this stuff, don’t they?”

“Do you?” Sadie ventured.

Before he could answer, Lucy, Anna, Bella and Izzy hurtled towards them.

“Sir. Miss. Oh, that so was so good. We’re going on the Corkscrew next!” Lucy cried, her eyes shining.

“Come on with us,” Anna urged them.

“You’ll love it,” Bella added.

“Oh, you don’t want us spoiling your fun,” Robin said.

“You wouldn’t be spoiling it, sir. You’d be making it better.” Izzy batted her eyelids at him.

Sadie raised an eyebrow, half amused, half annoyed by this very obvious attempt to get round him.

She would never have been so forward when she was at school.

Mind you, most of the girls from Year 7 upwards had a crush on Robin.

“Seriously, girls, I’m flattered you would want us to join you, but I think I might just stay here and chat with Miss Francis.”

“Oooh, sir,” Anna said, as Izzy pouted behind her.

Sadie closed her eyes. That comment was enough to light the touch paper.

Before the end of the day they would be going out, getting engaged and married.

Did he have no idea about how teenage girls worked?

In an effort to divert their attention, she smiled brightly and turned to him.

“Come on, Mr Dawson. How could we possibly refuse such a tempting offer?”

“Yes!” the girls exclaimed in unison, jumping up and down before racing along the path towards the roller coaster.

“What on earth possessed you to give in to them?” He frowned at her now.

“To get their minds off us having a chat, Robin. You know what gossips girls can be.

“Anyway, it’ll do our cred no end of good to go on a roller coaster.”

They strolled over and took their place in the queue.

Sadie looked up at the Corkscrew, very aptly named given the shape of the track, and her stomach somersaulted.

Thrills and spills weren’t really her scene, and she hadn’t been a regular visitor to theme parks as a teenager.

She thought it might be fun to do something she hadn’t done before, mind you, even if it did look a bit scary.

You only lived once, didn’t you?

Anyway, she’d have

Robin there to hold her hand, metaphorically speaking.

They advanced fairly quickly along the queue and she sneaked a glance at him.

His eyes were fixed on the carriages, twisting this way and that, and his face was pale beneath his beard.

The screams of thrillseekers filled the air, as did the rattle of the carriages as they raced at speed around the track.

“Are you OK?” Sadie laid a hand on his arm, thinking that as a gesture of concern it would pass unnoticed.

“Yes, fine,” he said hurriedly. “I didn’t get enough sleep last night. I had a lot of marking to do . . .”

“Oh, I see.”

Strange, Sadie thought, to be up late marking when he wasn’t going to be at school today.

The carriages returned and a horde of people got out, some running to join the queue again, others disorientated and unsteady, staggering away from the ride.

The girls had already headed towards the back and, almost on autopilot, she and Robin followed, ending up in seats next to each other.

The safety barriers were locked into place and some sort of heavy plastic restraint descended over their heads.

Sadie quailed, but it was too late to change her mind. The carriages moved and there was a slow journey up to the first incline.

Thereafter they seemed to travel at lightning speed and she felt like a pea in a drum, thrust this way and that, her brain rattling around her skull.

She shut her eyes tight in the hope that not seeing where she was going might improve the experience. It didn’t.

Finally, after years of wondering why people screamed on roller coasters, she understood and joined in.

She thought she could detect some noise emanating from Robin, but it was rather difficult to detect individual screams from amongst so many.

What she did sense vaguely was a hand on hers, and as the awful ride came to a close and they pulled to a halt, she looked down to see him clinging on to her.

Torn between relief at having lived through the experience and trying to calm her breathing, she had only a moment to muse upon the kindness of his gesture.

He must have heard her screaming and decided to offer some comfort.

Although maybe he had needed the comfort. She hadn’t really believed his excuse about being tired.

He shook himself and released his grip. She looked more closely at him.

His brow was beaded with sweat. When the ride operator came to release them from the carriages, he seemed unable to move.

“Come on, Robin. Take my hand and we’ll go somewhere quieter.”

He managed to nod and Sadie pulled him out of the carriage.

She linked arms with him and they wobbled their way to a nearby bench, legs as unsteady as newborn calves.

The girls raced up a minute later, bouncing around like they were on space hoppers.

“Did you enjoy it?” Anna beamed.

Sadie pasted on a smile and nodded in a noncommittal fashion, not quite trusting herself to speak.

“Are you two all right?” Lucy asked.

“Just tired, girls. Now, why don’t you have another go? The queue isn’t long. Mr Dawson and I will sit here and watch you.”

“Bye, sir,” Izzy shouted over her shoulder, as they raced off to join the queue.

Once they were safely out of earshot, Sadie turned to Robin.

He had wiped his brow and the colour was returning to his face. His breathing was also less ragged.

“So, was it your first time, too?”

“Second,” he muttered, “but it certainly hasn’t changed my opinion.

“I was on a roller coaster when I was younger and there was a technical hitch. We were stuck for a while very high up before they got the carriages moving again.”

She gasped.

“You should have said. I’d never have made you go on it if I’d known.”

“It’s all right. I wanted to see if I’d overcome my fear.” He paused. “Seems not.

“Anyway, I didn’t want to look like a wuss in front of them. Or you.”

He glanced at her and then looked down.

“I wouldn’t have thought you were a wuss,” Sadie assured him. “Anyway, even if I did, I’m a wuss, too. I’m twenty-six and had never been on a roller coaster.

“My mum said they were dangerous.

“I know most kids would do exactly the opposite of what their mums wanted, but I took what she said as read and stayed on the safer rides.

“Today I decided I would find out for myself what it was all about.”

“And what’s your verdict?”

“Though I hate to say it, I think my mum had a point. And I won’t be going on a roller coaster again.” Sadie shook her head vehemently.

“There was one good thing about it.” Robin turned to look at her properly this time.

She laughed.

“What? Still being alive?” “No, this,” he said, reaching out for her hand and holding it for the second time, though more tentatively.

“I’ve been wanting to do this for ages. I guess fear helped me overcome my reservations. You didn’t mind, did you?”

Sadie gulped and shook her head as she looked into his eyes. His gaze was warming her from top to toe and her heart was thudding in her chest.

This couldn’t be happening, could it?

“No, not at all. I was . . . pleasantly surprised. I thought you were reassuring me, at first.”

“I’m glad you said ‘pleasantly’.”

“Are you?”

“Yes, and I think I might like to hold your hand quite a lot more of the time.” He raised an eyebrow.

“Would you?” Sadie tilted her head and smiled.

“Not in school, of course. That wouldn’t be quite the done thing, and we don’t want the rumour mill churning any faster than it already does, do we?”

“I agree. Much as it pains me to say it, perhaps you’d better let go before the girls see.”

Robin withdrew his hand, though the warmth of his touch remained.

Sadie cleared her throat. “I’ve heard that they have pedalos on the lake, Mr Dawson. Perhaps a calmer ride would be more to our taste.

“I very much doubt that any of our pupils will be around. Maybe we could practise holding hands there?”

She fluttered her eyelashes and giggled.

Robin smiled broadly and there was a twinkle in his eye.

“The pedalos it is. Lead the way, Miss Francis.”

They wandered off, arms brushing occasionally, and Sadie mused on how the attempt to face their fears might not have been successful in one respect, but had been extremely successful in another.

She doubted future dates would be taking place in a theme park, though!

The End.