“Usually I would apologize and beg her forgiveness until I melted her down enough to tell her that she was right and I was an idiot,” he said.
“Maybe you should try apologizing to Shaylee in the same way. It’s not as thought it could hurt your situation,” I suggested.
“Perhaps,” was his only reply and it was easy to see that he was lost in thought.
By the time we left his room, we only had a few minutes before classes started. Aaron and I went our separate ways. He still looked sad and hopeless, but I had a feeling there was just enough determination left in him to see him through the day.
The morning passed slowly. It was as though time slowed down whenever I wasn’t with Aaron or Shaylee. When we were together, I felt as though I could feel the clock ticking; counting down until Shaylee’s birthday, when our whole world would change.
I skipped lunch, wanting to get a short nap. Sleep was becoming harder and harder to come by. As Friday approached it was increasingly more important that I be alert to watch over Shaylee, but I also didn’t want to get caught off guard if I was too sleep deprived to notice a threat. I was also hoping to avoid any drama that might be happening between Aaron and Shaylee. I wasn’t sure I could sit there and not give away any lie that he might be telling her as he tried to apologize.
***
As I made my way to dinner, I realized that I had almost no memory of anything my teachers had said all day. I got into line and got food without paying attention to what was on my tray. It wasn’t until I was five feet from the table that I noticed Aaron and Shaylee chatting.
“Hey!” Shaylee said, sounding cheerful.
I noticed how close she was sitting to Aaron. Somehow, he’d managed to convince her to forgive him. I didn’t know how he’d managed it, but I was pleased to see that she was happy once again.
I sat down with a smile and began poking at the food on my tray as Shaylee and Aaron returned to their conversation. I stared at the window while I pushed food around, not really paying any attention.
“Jade, were you asleep when you were in line?” Shaylee asked, pulling me out of my reverie. “You hate meatloaf.”
I looked down at the food I was poking at, noticing for the first time that it was meatloaf, green beans, applesauce, and a brownie. I frowned. I should have paid more attention when I got my food. Shaylee was right; I hated meatloaf. I had a distinct dislike for green beans as well. I picked up the brownie to discover that it was rock hard.
“Perfect. Just perfect,” I sighed, holding my head in my hands.
“Here, eat this.”
I glanced up to see Aaron taking my tray and a nice salad sitting in front of me.
“I can’t take your food. You can’t really want to eat that meatloaf,” I said.
“Not particularly,” he agreed. “But I think you having a nutritious meal is more important than me suffering through this school’s version of meatloaf. After all, I had two other meals today.”
He smiled but I saw the double meaning in his words. As a Warrior, it was important for me to eat regularly to keep up my strength and speed. My body naturally burned a lot of calories and it would affect my abilities if I starved myself.
I began shoveling the salad into my mouth. I finished the salad in record time. I was so wrapped up in it that it wasn’t until I’d finished that I noticed that Shaylee had been silent for a long time. I looked at her and saw that she was staring off into space, a look of intense focus on her face. I followed her gaze and saw nothing there to explain her concentration.
“Shaylee?” I asked.
She continued staring at something that was invisible to my eyes. I looked to Aaron for help. He was still fully absorbed with the careful examination of his meatloaf. I kicked him under the table and nodded to Shaylee when he looked up.
“Shaylee, are you okay?” he asked, his immediate concern evident.
Again, Shaylee didn’t respond. Her eyes began to widen as beads of sweat formed on her brow.
“Shaylee?” he asked again. He reached out and touched her shoulder in an attempt to get her attention.
“No!” she screamed.
She jerked away from Aaron, causing her chair to fall backwards to the floor. The Dining Hall erupted into laughter as Shaylee got up and ran from the room. My gaze followed her until she was through the doors.
I turned to Aaron and asked, “What just happened?”
“I have no idea,” he replied. “A vision maybe. Sophia used to look similar when having one, but Shaylee shouldn’t be able to have one. I should go check on her.”
“Oh no you will not!” I exclaimed, grabbing his arm as he stood up. I pulled him back down into his seat. “She’s going to be really embarrassed by this. I need to be the one to check on her.”
He surprised me by nodding in agreement.
“You’re right. I don’t think she’ll want to see me right now,” he said. “You go.”
I swiftly left the Dining Hall, glaring at the rest of the room as I went. My message was clear. Shaylee was off limits. I just hoped she would tell me what had happened. Otherwise I wasn’t sure how I could protect her.
Chapter 13
Shaylee
I crawled into bed and pulled the covers over my head. My face was still burning with embarrassment. Once second I’d been sitting there watching Aaron chivalrously switch trays with Jaden and the next thing I knew a deep voice had been telling me to run. It got louder and louder until it felt like my head
