"I know but-" Madison swiveled her head around taking everything in. Blue eyes wide. "Seriously, Aiden. I can't do this. There's, like, a lot of people here. I don't think I realized what being exposed like this would mean."Now that she said it, I could feel Madison's entire body tensing around me. Like a rubber band wrapping over and over around a set of spokes."I'm sorry, I'm not as strong as you," Madison said.In that place, with that tone, in that moment, it was such a strange, unexpected thing for my sister to say and it took me aback. Our whole lives, Madison had been the athletic one.Despite the disadvantages of her size (and generalizations about her gender) my sister was the physically gifted sibling, capable of any feat. I was the soft nerd, hiding behind my computer screen. Just because I'd gotten in shape that year, sorta, didn't change any of our inherent differences."No, dummy," Madison said. She tapped me on the forehead. "In here.""Maddy, that's so not true," I s
Last Updated : 2026-10-12 Read more