Fire Scarred

Chapter Eight

     "You ready for a little field trip after school?" I asked as I slid down into my seat.

     Raylynn's eyes widened. "He said yes."

     "Yeah."

     Noah asked, "So what was the mysterious signal?"

     "He put a skunk in our cabin. That's why Mom had me leave dinner early. He put a freaking skunk in our cabin!"

     "So what'd you do? It doesn't smell like you got sprayed."

     "Do y'all still have it?"

     I looked at Georgia. "'Do y'all still have it?'"

     "I hear skunks taste good," she defended. "Is it still there?"

     "No. We took care of it."

     Josh repeated, "'We'? Your mom stayed here. Who helped you? Your dad?" Everyone leaned in to hear well. Anticipation danced in their eyes.

     "I made Leo help me. He was the one who put it in there after all." Noah tensed beside me, but I pretended to not notice. "He was finally able to get it out, but it kind of sprayed us first."

     "But you don't smell," Josh interrupted.

     I gave him a look conveying my irritation at him for cutting me off before I continued. "My dad has a spell that got rid of the smell. I am smell free. But who knows about Leo." I shrugged. "He was on his own there."

     "How'd it all go down? Give us every detail!" Ray demanded. Not needing much encouragement, I told my friends the real story of how it all happened. By the time the bell signaling the end of lunch sounded, I was completely talked out. We rose from our seats to head to our afternoon classes with the rest of the stampede. I reached for Noah's hand and pulled him to my side. His hand laid limp in mine, not grasping me, but not pulling away.

     I asked, "What's wrong?" Without a word or glance in my direction, he drifted away from my confused statue like a boat on a calm windy day. I stared after him, totally and completely baffled.

     "What's his problem?" Georgia glanced towards the disappearing Noah.

     "I wish I knew."

     Alone, I walked to the large cabin that housed the classrooms just off a path to the left. My feet moved on their own accord; my mind was far away. What was up with Noah? My eyes found him up further on the path laughing at something Josh said. Ray and Georgia were trailing behind, so his problem only seemed to be with me. 

     I hated feeling like I had done something wrong, but not knowing what. What this meant for us, I wasn't sure. Was this his way of saying he didn't want to be with me anymore? But up until this point in time he had acted normal. My thoughts lingered on this all throughout my remaining classes. When the last wasted hour sitting in a dank room supposedly learning ended, I set out to find Noah. My stomach did nervous somersaults as I walked down the path. As I turned the corner into the clearing, I was suddenly surrounded.

    "Hey!" Raylynn was nearly bouncing up and down.

     "We're ready to go meet and greet," Georgia piped in.

     "Hold on a sec. I need to find Noah."

     Josh informed me, "I think he went back to our cabin."

     "Okay. Great. Thanks." I smiled. "Go on to the clearing where we had the bonfire. I'll meet you there."

     I sprinted to Noah's and Josh's cabin as fast as I could. The door was unlocked, as always, so I let myself in. Noah sat at the table with his books spread out around him. He looked up to nod at me before resuming his work.