away from the
inside. I'd been determined not to back down. I had something I
needed to do, and I'd planned to do it no matter the humiliation I
suffered.
"Well…" I'd paused, trying to decide how to
tell him what I'd done. "Well, I also spoke to Xyla and told her
what a horrible person I am and what a wonderful person you are.
She's agreed to meet you at the Cold Creamery for a kind of
mini-date. You know, since I ruined it for you the first time you
were trying to talk to her."
The instant the words left my mouth, I'd
felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. When his
incredulous glare shot at me, it occurred to me that whoever said
no good deed goes unpunished had been right. He'd looked at me as
if I'd just turned into termites covered by maggots being eaten by
roaches.
"What did you do?"
His response… his unexpected response had
made my cheeks flame as if they'd suddenly caught fire. Rather than
back down, I'd shrugged.
"I-I talked to Xyla. You know… the very
pretty girl you were flirting with at the ice cream parlor. I told
her you'd meet her for ice cream this Thursday after school."
His laugh was sardonic. "You… you set me up
on a date ,"—he'd used air quotes
around date —"with the girl in the ice cream parlor. Do I
look like someone who needs you to interfere with his life?"
I'd chewed on the already punctured and
bleeding lip and choked on my words. "N-no. I just thought it was
the least I could do after… you know."
"I'll tell you what. I'm going to go
because… You know, I don't really have an option now. Do I? But
let's just agree that you aren't to interfere with my life ever
again. Do we have a deal?"
I'd wanted nothing more than to run and hide
out in my safe room for the rest of my life. Instead, I'd swallowed
my pride and bobbed my head.
"Good. This Friday and every Friday from now
on, our survival training will be much more difficult. It seems to
me that you have too much time on your hands."
Without another word to me about that
subject or Xyla, he'd turned away from me, walked out the front
door, and headed toward the guesthouse he lived in.
After that encounter, there'd been nothing
teasing or playful about Jayden or his attitude toward me. The new
Jayden had been business. All
business. Because he made me work harder than Tawney and
he nagged me tirelessly, I'd accepted the reality that he hated me,
that my apology and my attempts at matchmaking had not led to the
forgiveness I expected.
It didn't take long for us to evolve into
the team we were today, one that offered snide comments quicker
than compliments. Without question, the only time Jayden ever
really spoke to me since the parlor incident was to ridicule the
fact that I couldn't run far enough, fast enough, or quiet enough.
There was no doubt in my mind that our banter was dysfunctional,
but it was all we'd known for so long that it was impossible to
change.
Not long after we'd begun the more intense
survival training the crush I'd harbored for Jayden fizzled out and
flaked away. Instead of looking at Jayden through the eyes of a
lovelorn teenage girl, I'd come to equate him with the brackish
mildew covering the forest floor that I'd accidentally eaten each
and every time I'd face-planted during our intense sparing matches,
with the sweat covering us after hours of vomit-inducing hikes, and
with the blood and gore that came from the wild game Jayden had
forced me to hunt, kill, gut, skin and cook so we'd have one hearty
meal every day.
Making me hate him more, Jayden had refused
to let me eat if I'd not killed something that day. That particular
mandate was harder on my family than it was on me. It was all Mom,
Dad, and Gran could do to stand by while I'd been forced to sit on
a log, chewing on the few pine nuts I'd gathered while my family
dined on the game Jayden had captured.
Once Mom tried to silently support me by
refusing to eat, but I'd quickly intervened and said, "Mom, you
need to eat. I'll be
inside. I'd been determined not to back down. I had something I
needed to do, and I'd planned to do it no matter the humiliation I
suffered.
"Well…" I'd paused, trying to decide how to
tell him what I'd done. "Well, I also spoke to Xyla and told her
what a horrible person I am and what a wonderful person you are.
She's agreed to meet you at the Cold Creamery for a kind of
mini-date. You know, since I ruined it for you the first time you
were trying to talk to her."
The instant the words left my mouth, I'd
felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. When his
incredulous glare shot at me, it occurred to me that whoever said
no good deed goes unpunished had been right. He'd looked at me as
if I'd just turned into termites covered by maggots being eaten by
roaches.
"What did you do?"
His response… his unexpected response had
made my cheeks flame as if they'd suddenly caught fire. Rather than
back down, I'd shrugged.
"I-I talked to Xyla. You know… the very
pretty girl you were flirting with at the ice cream parlor. I told
her you'd meet her for ice cream this Thursday after school."
His laugh was sardonic. "You… you set me up
on a date ,"—he'd used air quotes
around date —"with the girl in the ice cream parlor. Do I
look like someone who needs you to interfere with his life?"
I'd chewed on the already punctured and
bleeding lip and choked on my words. "N-no. I just thought it was
the least I could do after… you know."
"I'll tell you what. I'm going to go
because… You know, I don't really have an option now. Do I? But
let's just agree that you aren't to interfere with my life ever
again. Do we have a deal?"
I'd wanted nothing more than to run and hide
out in my safe room for the rest of my life. Instead, I'd swallowed
my pride and bobbed my head.
"Good. This Friday and every Friday from now
on, our survival training will be much more difficult. It seems to
me that you have too much time on your hands."
Without another word to me about that
subject or Xyla, he'd turned away from me, walked out the front
door, and headed toward the guesthouse he lived in.
After that encounter, there'd been nothing
teasing or playful about Jayden or his attitude toward me. The new
Jayden had been business. All
business. Because he made me work harder than Tawney and
he nagged me tirelessly, I'd accepted the reality that he hated me,
that my apology and my attempts at matchmaking had not led to the
forgiveness I expected.
It didn't take long for us to evolve into
the team we were today, one that offered snide comments quicker
than compliments. Without question, the only time Jayden ever
really spoke to me since the parlor incident was to ridicule the
fact that I couldn't run far enough, fast enough, or quiet enough.
There was no doubt in my mind that our banter was dysfunctional,
but it was all we'd known for so long that it was impossible to
change.
Not long after we'd begun the more intense
survival training the crush I'd harbored for Jayden fizzled out and
flaked away. Instead of looking at Jayden through the eyes of a
lovelorn teenage girl, I'd come to equate him with the brackish
mildew covering the forest floor that I'd accidentally eaten each
and every time I'd face-planted during our intense sparing matches,
with the sweat covering us after hours of vomit-inducing hikes, and
with the blood and gore that came from the wild game Jayden had
forced me to hunt, kill, gut, skin and cook so we'd have one hearty
meal every day.
Making me hate him more, Jayden had refused
to let me eat if I'd not killed something that day. That particular
mandate was harder on my family than it was on me. It was all Mom,
Dad, and Gran could do to stand by while I'd been forced to sit on
a log, chewing on the few pine nuts I'd gathered while my family
dined on the game Jayden had captured.
Once Mom tried to silently support me by
refusing to eat, but I'd quickly intervened and said, "Mom, you
need to eat. I'll be
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