His eyebrows skirt his hairline, but he says, “Deal? What do you mean?”
“I dunno. You’re kinda quiet, and a little weird,” I chuckle.
“I’m not a huge…people fan, I guess,” he offers.
I shift around so I can lean my back against the chain-link fence to the left of us and nod. “I totally get that.”
“You do?” he says, surprise painting his face.
“Uh, duh. Yes. People suck. Did you not just hear about Dominic?” I chuckle.
Colton snickers, glancing down at the sandwich in his hand.
“Can I ask you a question?” I say, shooting him another significant look.
He shrugs.
I take a quick beat, trying to decide what it really is I want to ask.
“Do you know why Dominic would have written ‘The Truth Shall Set You Free’ in Latin on my car? I tried to get it out of him just now in the cafeteria, but all I got was the runaround.”
Colton taps his lips, but nods.
“You do?” I say, tucking my legs in tighter so I can sit up straighter.
“Yeah. Everybody does,” he whispers. “Well, pretty much everybody.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I say, leaning closer.
He scratches at his left eyebrow for a moment before finally saying, “I dunno if it’s really any of our business, to be honest. It really should be something your…” His voice trails off.
I roll my eyes. “Not you, too. Your sister tried the same line of B.S. Come on, throw me a bone, would you? This is killing me.”
Colton’s eyes widen, but he clears his throat and puts his sandwich back into his lunch sack.
“How much do you know about the history here in Windhaven?” he finally asks.
“Erm, I know this school is a big deal and my dad lives here…” I pause, thinking. “Yep, that’s about the gist.”
His face tightens as he winces.
“Well, if I were you…I would start there,” he says, holding my gaze. The significance in this simple gesture makes the hairs on my arm and neck stand on end. “It will shed a new light on things. Then we can talk more.”
Exhaling slowly, I nod and pull my knees up toward my body. Wrapping my arms around my legs, I bite the inside of my cheek. “Fine,” I say, a bit more tersely than originally intended.
“I know this is all really confusing. I just don’t feel like it’s my place to—really, you should talk to your Dad… Or do some digging on your own. But don’t rely on Google. It won’t help. You’ll wanna go down to the county library if you’re going to look to external sources.”
I gawk at him. “I don’t even know where the county library is.”
“I can…uh, show you sometime,” he says, looking at his lap. “I mean, if you want.”
I nod. “Yeah, that would be great.”
Watching him closely, I can’t help but feel a certain amount of connection with him. He clearly has his own thing he’s into, but others don’t understand. It actually makes me want to get to know him a bit better.
“So, come on. Whatcha reading?” I ask, trying to get a glimpse of the cover.
Colton stares at me like a deer in headlights.
I narrow my eyes.
“Come on, it can’t be that bad,” I laugh, pushing my way around him.
After a little bit of a struggle, I pull the book from behind his back.
“Oh, Frankenstein,” I say, clutching the cover and sitting back down. “Well, I mean, sure—”
“Yeah, I’m—”
“I get it. You’re one of those kids,” I laugh, handing it back.
“And what kind is that?”
“The kind who reads ancient stories the rest of the school wouldn’t dream of touching, of course,” I laugh.
“Ah,” he nods. “Yeah, I guess I am.”
I shrug. “Yeah, me too. At least to a degree. I haven’t read this one, but I have seen the movie, obviously.”
“It’s totally different,” he says.
“Of that, I’m not surprised,” I say.
We sit in silence for a minute, listening to the sounds of birds and mostly peaceful quiet. It’s a blissful break when there are no kids outside. They’re all enjoying their lunches, or still in class. And for whatever reason, no one is using the field.
“You know, this whole move has been nothing but a weird, confusing mess. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I kinda like here better than I expected. But it’s just been so weird,” I say, talking to myself more than anything.
“Yup,” he agrees.
“How would you know?” I ask, chuckling to myself.
For the first time that I can remember, Colton actually smiles.
“Wow, he does have a grin,” I say, pointing.
He laughs quietly, “Yeah, well…don’t get too used to it.”
I snort, shaking my head. “In all honesty, you should do it more often. It suits you.”
For the briefest of moments, I swear Colton’s face flushes—but in the darker light under the bleachers, it’s hard to tell.
He clears his throat, grabbing his lunch sack, and pushing to a stand. He holds out his free hand to me. “Lunch is nearly over. I’ll walk you to your next class. You know, if you want.”
Nodding, I smile at him. “Yeah, I’d like that.”
I take his offering, and he pulls me to a stand.
Together, we walk back to the school in a strange, comfortable silence. Oddly enough, I’m overcome by this strange sensation, like I’ve known him forever. Despite barely saying two words to one another before today, there’s just something familiar about him. Maybe it’s because I’m already sorta used to his sister?
When we get to the doors leading inside, Colton turns to me and says, “You have Spellcasting Basics next, right?”
“Wow. Uh, how’d you know that?” I say, turning to him in surprise.
He runs his hand across the back of his neck. “I uh…”
I pull up short, “Have you been…keeping tabs on me?”
“Well, when you say it like that…” he begins.
My mouth drops open, “Oh my god, you have—”
“Really, it’s not as creepy as it sounds,” he says, waving his hands in front of his body. “I just know where Cat is and since she’s
