Breed

Chapter Eleven

"I'm still not sure why I'm here," Drake said nervously as they passed the smoking field.

"Moral support," Mikaela offered. "And because Demi had to work. And maybe to ogle high school girls."

"Or possibly be exploded by ultimate Frisbee shrapnel."

"Hey, you knew the risks going in."

"I didn't. I'm pretty sure you made me think we were getting a pretzel, not strolling leisurely past a Vietnam War reenactment."

"We just had pizza."

"I had left-overs."

"Which you didn't even finish."

"I'm in college. If I don't have at least a few slices of pizza in my fridge at all times, I freak out the way my Great Depression surviving great grandmother did whenever there was an empty space on the shelf of her walk-in pantry. And a pretzel sounds good. You got me to leave the warmth and comfort of my apartment by hinting we'd get one."

"We will. This is on the way to the pretzels."

"You might think that, since you're still new here and maybe don't have a good grasp on the geography. But it's not even kind of true."

"Hush." Mikaela said as they approached Lincoln, who was standing on the sidelines and shaking his head. "Did we miss the Fourth of July?" she asked.

"Some of the running starters got a little... enthusiastic," turning towards her. "But I'm glad you're here."

"You are?"

"Mikaela, right?"

"Yeah, how did you?"

"Tucker mentioned you. As did Rox. And the Dean."

"The Dean?"

"He mentions everybody, at one point or another. He's very hands on with the student body... that came out so much more wrong than I meant it. But it's a smaller group that comes mid-year like this, so students that catch his fancy tend to get a little more attention."

"That's all kinds of creepy. And it also doesn't tell me why you're glad I'm here."

"Tuck mentioned you might be coming by, and there's somebody I wanted to meet you. She's a little old, to hand off to Roxy and the other running starters, and I thought, or maybe I hoped, that she'd be a better fit for you. She's an exchange student, from Japan. My exchange student, technically, as I'm her sponsor. But it's... different. I'm older enough than her that, while I'm perhaps a good mentor, there's plenty about the college experience that's as foreign to me as this whole country is to her."

"So, uh, what would I..."

"I just want you to talk to her, maybe show her around, a little. I know you're new, but that will help, because it's all still fresh in your mind. And of course, I can see you've already got your own support system. I'm Linc, by the way," he waved at both her and Drake. Then he pulled out his phone and checked his messages. "As luck would have it, we were going to get coffee in a bit, so she's on her way, now. Speak of the little Oni," he said. She was just starting up the path that cut through the field, down by the snowed-over tennis courts. "I don't want to impose, and I know there's, uh, more of a ticking clock than is probably polite, but I'd be happy to buy all of you coffee, for your troubles. Presuming you don't have some place to be."

"No," Mikaela said. "Here was the place we had to be." She suddenly felt a little guilty, and glanced over at Drake. "Though, pretzels, may be a part of our agenda."