Hellhound (Supernatural #1)

14: Under the Cover of Mist

Fog, noun.

1. A cloudlike mass or layer of minute water droplets or ice crystals near the surface of the earth, appreciably reducing visibility.
2. A state of mental confusion or unawareness.

***

"Is this about the rumors?" Colton asked. It wasn't the first time he had asked. "Is this because of what people said and now you two are trying to prove them wrong? Because I think this is actually having the opposite effect."

I shot him a dark look. He didn't seem to notice and was about to say more. I beat him to it with two simple words. "Shut up." Then I bit into my sandwich and chewed on it angrily. Jackson tried to hold back a smile as he looked at both me and his best friend. I didn't see what was so funny. I bit into my sandwich again and glared at Colton a little longer. Then, I saw myself through Jackson's eyes and I realized how funny the whole situation must look. Me, chomping on my sandwich like I needed to punish it for something. Colton, looking at me like there was something I wasn't telling him. I suppose both were true. The sandwich was being punished for Tate being as stupid as he was. And I was keeping something from Colton.

Tate was across the cafeteria. He had definitely gotten the hint when I hadn't shown up to my locker. Oh, I had seen him waiting there for me. I had also seen him walk away and had taken the opportunity to grab my things for the entire day. No need to risk running into him there again. And then, in class, he had saved me my usual seat and I had deliberately taken the seat across the room. That crestfallen look on his face, in his eyes.

Yeah, he got the hint.

Right now he was sitting at the same table as Devin and Lucas, and the rest of the soccer team, all of which was probably one big wolf pack. Without looking in his general direction, I had noticed that he would look at me from time to time. He might have gotten the hint to stay away, but the second I would send him a hint it was okay to come back, he would also catch that one.

That was not going to happen anytime soon though.

I still felt so confused. There was so much to think about, so much to decide. When had my life become so complicated? When had my knowledge base exceeded high school gossip? What used to matter was who was going to break up and which break up I could prevent. I used to sit alone at my table and be completely happy about it. And then Tate came along and screwed it all up. This was why having friends was more trouble than it was worth. Having friends meant you needed to give and take; trusting Tate with 'secrets' and him trusting me with 'secrets'. But he had trusted me with way more than our friendship could handle. It was like trying to teach a Pokemon a move it wasn't strong enough to learn yet. Oh my god! All these references. I could definitely blame Tate for those.

"Just talk to us. Aren't we your friends?"

I paused in my chewing long enough to arch an eyebrow in surprise at Colton. Hurrying to swallow, I replied, "Since when are we friends? I don't have friends. I have a guy who comes to me when he thinks he can get information before everyone else gets it, and the guy who follows him because he is equally curious but has the decency to keep it to himself. Aside from that, I don't really interact with people, as you might have noticed."

Colton appeared to have missed the sarcasm in my voice. In fact, he appeared to have missed the hint I had dropped. Maybe I had been too subtle a way to ask him to leave. Jackson, who usually had no trouble catching things left unsaid, didn't make a move to leave either. Even less to keep his best friend in check. In fact, he seemed to have the decided the right course of action would be to help Colton get to the heart of the problem.