Page 58 of Hateful
Just saying. They’re distracting to say the least.
I eye Heath a little more closely, not trying to hide it this time. “You’re acting weird.”
“I’m not,” he quips back, a little too quickly.
I raise my eyebrows at him. He balks a little and turns his head away. Heknowshe’s acting weird, and I know something’s up. What is it? Why won’t he tell me?
“All right,” I say patiently, shoving my hands into my hoodie pockets. “You want to cut our break short, then?”
“Yeah. Sounds good.” He turns on his heel and takes off again.
I’m caught off guard, but I manage to wrench my hands out of my pockets and follow him for some more awkward, silent running. Normally he’s shooting me looks. Normally he’s behind me. Normally I set the pace.
I go to veer toward the longer route we’ve been taking lately, but Heath sees me out of the corner of his eye and stops. “Where are you going?”
I point down the trail, hesitating only for a moment.
He shakes his head at me. “Let’s just do our old route. We’ve been practicing every day, anyway. Don’t want to tire our legs out.”
I stare at him for a moment. “Okay,” I say slowly. “I could probably use the extra practice, though, so I’ll go this way, and you can cut your run short.”
He shakes his head more fervently this time. “You can’t be by yourself. Wolves, remember?”
“Have you seenonewolf?” I ask exasperatedly. “Besides, I was running this trial for ages before you forced yourself on me.”
He balks a bit at my words, but he doesn’t take the bait.
“No, but I’ve definitely seen tracks,” he replies, sounding a bit more like himself. “And I don’t exactly want you to get attacked out there in the woods.”
“So what happens if we get attacked together, hm?”
“Then I protect you,” he says firmly.
I clamp my mouth shut. I have no idea what to say to that. He beckons me to follow, and wordlessly, I do, my mind still reeling. He’llprotectme? What the hell? Where didthiscome from?
It’s not like he’s ever made a move to protect me before. Not from Beck, anyway.
We follow our old route, the short one where we do a single loop around the trail and head back. It’s boring and unchallenging, which isn’t helped by the fact that Heath seems to want to stay ahead of me, so I have to hang back. We end up at the first bend in even less time than usual.
“You wanna tell me what’s up?” I ask as we arrive.
“Nothing.”
I stare at him suspiciously for a little while longer. I can’t think of any more ways to ask him what’s going on. I watch him fidget in front of me.
“Why are you lying to me?” I ask finally.
“I’m not lying,” he replies defensively.A sure sign he’s lying.
I roll my eyes. If he’s just going to keep lying like this, then there’s no reason for me to ask him any more questions.
“Okay. Fine then. See you at practice tomorrow.”
I turn and head off the same way I usually do, running directly toward the school and its courtyard. I don’t know what’s gotten into him, but it gives me a pit in my stomach.
* * *
I thoughtI was finished with Jasper, but it seems not.
