Difference Between

Chapter 10 - The Distance Memories Create

By the time I reach the steps to the main entrance, August is already there. He smiles at me, stopping a few steps above me.

"Hey," he says, adjusting his backpack. He takes me in for a moment. "You feeling any better?"

I shrug. I can't help but glance across the courtyard where Don is still talking to Marcus. They're laughing about something right now. Socrates runs through my head a little more intensely this time. But maybe that could actually apply to Tobias, too, with his relationship with Marcus... Not that I want to apply any historical figure to Tobias now. He's just Tobias, and that's enough for me to know exactly what to expect from him.

"Ashlyn."

"Hmm...?" I turn back to August. There's a crease between his eyebrows as he frowns at me. I reach up and run my hand over the bone carving we made together - or really that he made. "Sorry... What were you saying?"

"Just asking if you're okay."

Oh, right. "I'm better." Thanks to Tobias. "Anyway, what did you want to do?"

"Just walk around. Talk. Do whatever."

I nod, indicating for him to lead the way. He walks around the side of the building to the football field. There isn't any practice today, but we don't sit on the bleachers. August takes me beneath them, and we sit in the shade.

"So..." August begins, shrugging his backpack off. "Don't you usually help your mom grade?"

"Yeah, but Tobias wanted to talk to me." I shrug my backpack off, too, and bring it around to my lap. I wrap my arms around it and rest my chin on top of it. "So he convinced her to let me skip grading for now."

August sits back on his hands. "What did Tobias want to talk to you about?" I glance up at him. I'm pretty sure he could come up with the answer himself, so I wait. Eventually, it clicks, and he nods. "How'd that talk go?"

I cross my arms and rest them on top of my backpack. "Better than if it was with Socrates."

I don't mean to say that out loud or so aggressively, but I do. And August narrows his eyes. "Why do you say that?"

"No reason. Just that Socrates will always be Socrates with me."

August arches an eyebrow and sits forward. "I feel like I should know what that means by now, but I still don't."

I smile. "What do you know about Socrates so far?"

"Pretty standard things." He lists facts off his fingers. "Greek philosopher. Was executed. Was bisexual and had a thing for some guy named Alcibiades--*" August cuts himself off when he sees my expression. "Am I close...?"

I nod slowly. "A little bit."

August narrows his eyes, studying me. I smile, watching him try to connect the dots. But the way he's looking at me so intensely also makes me think about what Tobias said about August having feelings for me. And figuring out that I have feelings for him. I feel my face heat up, and I avert my eyes, pulling at the grass. If I keep reacting this way, I'm gonna murder Tobias for making me think about this so much...

"Wait, wait, wait," August gasps, holding his hands up. "You said that Socrates was executed for corrupting the youth, right?" I nod, still not really looking at him. "So Socrates corrupted Alcibiades?" I nod again. I can't tell if he's heading in the direction he's supposed to, but it's cool hearing his thought process, so I keep quiet. "Did Socrates have a family? Or any kids that he corrupted?"

I try to bite back my smile. "He had kids."

August knits his eyebrows together and stares off into the distance. "But did he corrupt them?"