Chapter 3

The next morning I woke up before any one else did, as usual. It was the easiest way to avoid conflict. So I quietly got dressed, slipped my backpack over my shoulders, and sneaked down to the kitchen.

Just as I was about to open the fridge, I heard thumps from upstairs. Someone else was waking up. Heart pounding, feeling more like a thief than a resident of my own house, I grabbed the first foods I saw and stuffed them into my backpack: a tube of yogurt and a processed cookie in plastic wrapping.

Yum, I thought. Super nutritious.

Fleet-footed, I strode out of the house, closing the door silently behind me.

•≈•

When I got to school, I was an hour early.

Just my luck. It was freezing cold in the morning. Mist lingered over the ground, soon to be dissipated by the rising sun. I wrapped my coat around me tighter and looked around, rocking back and forth on my heels in an attempt to generate warmth.

The school was big and clean, a brick building with modern-looking domes and lots of windows. There was a huge yard out in front stretching all the way around the outside of the building, and with a wide sidewalk leading up to the front doors. Clusters of trees grew in random places around the lawn, and I hovered nearby one.

Suddenly, I heard a familiar, deep voice from the other side of the trees.

"Are you serious?" Jason said calmly, as if trying to restrain him. "And what if she gets hurt?"

Pause.

"Of COURSE she could get hurt!" he hissed. "We're not the only pack at this school! How did I not know about this before?"

It piqued my interest, and I held my breath, listening in curiously. I tried to ignore the deflating of my heart, telling myself it was just heartburn – when I knew, deep down, that I felt this way at the thought that he cared this much for a girl at our school.

Quietly, I crept around a wide tree, peering out from behind it to look at him.

His usually neat, trim black hair was ruffled and messy, as if he'd been running his hand through it. Jason held a phone to his ear, sharp jaw flexing and unflexing with barely restrained fury. His blue eyes searched the grass in front of him as he listened.

"Find a way to push them out," Jason growled. "Now. Rapid Falls kept to the other school before all this happened, so we just have to find a way to encourage them to go back to where they're familiar–"

His head suddenly lifted, eyes sharpening. An indecipherable expression crossed his features. "I have to go. Keep me posted."

Jason slipped the phone into his back pocket, looking around.

My heart began to beat rapidly. Did he know I was there? How could he possible know? What if he came around the tree and found me there, listening in like some creepy stalker?

I held my breath, squeezing my eyes shut and praying for a miracle.

Of course, I didn't get one. A cool breath fanned my face, I smelled peppermint, and I knew he'd found me.

Tentatively, I cracked open my eyes to fearful slits. He glared down at me. I gulped. Ruh-roh.

"How much did you hear?" he demanded quietly.

I shook my head loosely. "I plead the fifth!" I said weakly, trying to flash him a winning smile.

"Emma." His voice was silky but cold. "I'm going to ask you this one more time. How much did you hear?"

He sounded dangerous. I froze up.

"I-I... I heard you s-say something about our school and how a girl might get hurt there, and something about waterfalls?" I said uneasily.

After a moment of deliberation, Jason nodded.

I immediately darted backwards a few steps. My eyes roved over him, up and down. He wore black jeans and another button-up with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Now that the adrenaline of spying on him faded away, I shivered again.

"What are you doing here so early?" he asked curiously.

I froze. I didn't expect him to ask a question like that, where the answer would link to my mom and my past.

"I could ask you the same thing!" I shot back, blowing onto my freezing fingers.

"I asked first."

"Ugh, you seriously played that card?" I sighed with disappointment, backing up again. "Anyway, I'm cold so I'm just gonna go take a quick jog around the place to warm myself up. Good talk. Bye!"

Again, I was so amazing at lying and changing the subject. CIA, hire me already!

I kept in pretty good shape actually, so I had good stamina and speed. I was about to dart off, when Jason grabbed my elbow gently.

"If you want, you can come with me into my car," he offered, letting go of me and folding his arms. His muscles bulged out. "The heat's on."

I stared at him for a moment, in disbelief.

"Nuh-uh. No way. I am not going into your car because I just met you yesterday. You could be some psycho-killer-stalker guy." I folded my arms too.

He laughed. "I promise I'm not a psycho-killer-stalker guy."

I didn't respond.

"Come on, Emma. I'm not going to let you freeze to death out here. Either you come with me, or I carry you to my car."

"Only if you can catch me."

I smirked, turned around, and made a run for it, determined not to let him catch me.

I didn't want to go into his car, for the reasons I had stated, but also because I had to keep my life a secret. One of my bruises could show, which would basically be the end of the world for me, and I couldn't let that happen.

My hair flying out behind me, I threw a glance over my shoulder. Jason was sprinting after me, gaining quickly. I almost tripped – his eyes had turned darker, if that was even possible .

Or maybe it's just the lighting, I told myself.

I poured on the speed, arms and legs pumping.

But, it turned out that the inside of his car wasn't that bad after all.

•≈•

It was finally lunch time.

I sat at a table able to seat twelve in the cafeteria, but I only ate with Nicole, so ten of the seats were usually unoccupied. Well, at the moment, eleven were unoccupied, since she hadn't arrived yet. I played with my yogurt and cookie, not wanting to eat them just yet. My stomach growled, but if I ate them too quickly, they'd be gone and I'd have nothing to munch on for the rest of lunch.

A few minutes later, she entered the cafeteria and approached the table, her brown bob seemingly frozen in place as she moved. She smiled at me and sat down, unpacking her lunch.

Nicole knew my secret. She knew how abusive my mom was, but I swore her to secrecy with a pinky swear – the most sacred vow in the world.

So, Nicole always packed something extra for me in her lunch box. But, as usual, I always declined it – I felt guilty, and I didn't want charity. Today, Nicole had brought a chocolate chip cookie that smelled tantalizingly good.

"Come on," Nicole wheedled, waving it in my face. "Have just half of my cookie. Please? For me?"

"No," I said forcefully, shooting her a tired look and smile. "But, thanks."

Suddenly, the scent of pine wood and peppermint drifted up to my nose. I stiffened, feeling someone approach me from behind, knowing it was Jason. Without any hesitation, he slid into the chair in front of me, eyebrow raised as he regarded my lunch. I could've sworn concern flashed over his expression.

"Is that all? A pitifully small cookie and a childish tube of yogurt?" Jason asked, not unkindly.

I rolled my eyes.

"I'm serious," he pressed. "What, are you dieting or something? What you're eating isn't health–"

I shot to my feet, cutting him off.

My hands clenched, trembling. I didn't need him to tell me how pathetic my lunch was, because I already knew.

No matter how handsome, muscular, and handsome he was... he didn't have the right to talk to me about this. And I had the right to not want to listen to it.

"Just leave me alone."

Tears pricked out of my eyes and I ran out of the cafeteria.

Just as I passed the last table in the cafeteria, Daisy's voice called something out, making me freeze in place.

"Ha! Is poor wittle Emma crying? Jason probably told her how she should leave him alone, and that he would never, ever, ever like someone that looks like her!"

Daisy's friends snickered.

I whipped around, my glassy blue eyes blazing. I glared at her with as much hatred as I could muster. "Oh, I think you might be looking in the mirror!"

With that I turned my back and ran away to the bathroom.

I managed to make my way down the hall. The overflowing tears blinded me, flooding my vision. I pushed open the door to the girl's bathroom and stumbled inside.

I wiped my tears away, looking around as I walked slowly inside.

Wow, did the bathroom get a remodel? I wondered, not recognizing the layout.

Then, I stopped dead. My eyes bulged out of my face, my jaw dropped, and I gasped.

In front of me were a row of urinals.

Startled, I jumped, twisted around, and ran out as quickly as I could.

I stood at the door, trying to process what just happened. It's a good thing there was no one in there! At least now I knew the answer to my question,: were there actually those blue disks in the urinals like you see in movies?

I burst out laughing at my idiotic mistake. Holding my aching stomach, laughing and gasping for breath, I only stopped when I heard someone clear his throat. My eyes flew open to see Jason leaning against the wall next to the door of the boy's bathroom, watching everything with a raised eyebrow.

Surprise and embarrassment flooded through me at him seeing that. Without thinking, I turned around and tried to escape by going into the bathroom.

I stopped with my hand on the handle.

"That's the boy's bathroom..." I muttered, the blush on my cheeks probably like a cherry.

I spun around and ran to the other side of the hall, the girl's bathroom, and my forehead slammed into the door. I had forgotten to open it first.

Surrendering, realizing the gods just wanted me to talk to Jason, I turned around to confront him.

I awkwardly forced a laugh. "You totally didn't just see that, right? Totally didn't see me go into the boy's bathroom.... Didn't see me laughing like a dying seal..." My cheeks hurt from trying to suppress my grin.

"Do you need to learn the difference between the boy's bathroom and the girl's bathroom?" He had a tiny smile on his face, so small you could barely notice it.

"No, thank you! I know the difference now that I've seen them both!" I rolled my eyes at his stupidity.

And stopped dead with embarrassment at what I had just said.

"Um, I–I gotta go... Um.... Bye!"

Without waiting for his reaction, I ran away back to my lunch table, heat still flooding my cheeks.