Odd One Out

CHAPTER 13

Bailey
Tuesday, October 21

I knew Ellis wanted to make me feel better, but since the moment Naya asked the question it all brought me back to the events I had been trying so hard to forget. Even though she had asked this question days ago, it was still tugging at me, keeping me up at night. It was as if everything started crumbling right beneath me, as if the foundations I'd spent so much time on to make sturdy were suddenly not good enough.

I wasn't good enough.

I was a horrible, horrible person for what I'd done.

"You good?"

His voice was like a trademark I had now memorized; I knew exactly who was at my side without having to even look his way. The next breeze that swept by us suddenly felt warmer, but perhaps that was only my reaction to having Viktor less than two feet away from me.

"I always am."

No. You never are.

"Are you...waiting for someone?"

I quickly glanced at my phone to check if Kaitlyn had texted me back. She had not.

"Supposedly."

It was like he wasn't even cold. His jacket hung from his pointer finger over his shoulder, and his hair was freely swaying with the high winds. This weather was almost made for him.

I wasn't usually the type to feel this way about some guy, so much that I was genuinely surprised with the excitement he caused in me. The last time this happened was in seventh grade with Guppy Garner during the science fair. He was so smart, and cute, and respectful...but my rival.

Yeah sure, he built a generator from scratch with enough power to light up a single light bulb, but I learned how to purify water with charcoal. My project had the potential to help those in need but no, Gavin "Guppy" Garner had to stroll in with his stupid board set up and his stupid light bulb and stupid colored hair.

I deserved that blue ribbon.

"Hey," Viktor suddenly blurted out, and I finally snapped out of my raging thoughts to realize he was staring directly at me. For a second, I thought about turning around to check if there was someone else he was calling out to, but it was hard to imagine him talking to anyone else when his eyes observed me so carefully. Besides, it's not like he talked to many other people to begin with.

"Yeah?" I managed to choke out, shaking away the thoughts of Viktor's eyes and Guppy's hair and that gorgeous blue ribbon I deserved.

"I never really thanked you."

"For?"

He shrugged, turning his head to face the empty parking lot for a second, as if the words he wanted to find would be parked in an empty slot.

"For...getting me out of there. That night. Y'know."

He still wasn't looking at me, and somehow that pissed me off. I bail him out of the worst situation of his life and he can't even look at me when he says 'Thank you'? And why the hell had it taken him a few days to thank me? Why didn't he just do it the night I bailed him out? Or even on Friday, when we had our meeting?

Incredible.

"My pleasure," I answered, biting back the bitterness that threatened to roll out from my tongue.

For a few moments there were only the strong winds whistling past us, and now they didn't seem so warm anymore. They were cold and harsh and better off on their own way, traveling at twenty miles per hour without a care as to where they ended up. At some random hill? In a jail cell? Didn't matter.