Leuthold Preparatory | ✓

Chapter Twenty-Five: Part II

His answer left Noah anxiously waiting as Hannil tapped his cigarette case and seemed to debate whether or not he wanted to smoke. Eventually, he did not and ended up tossing the box toward their shoes and leaned his elbow onto his knee and put his hand over his lips. 

He moved his hand to his jaw, his eyes fixated on the tent. "I can't give you much more information, Noah," Hannil softly spoke. 

Noah shifted on his ankles, his eyes pinned to the end of the tent if only because it was in front of him. Hannil wasn't looking at him, yet Noah's eyes kept drifting to him again and again. 

Hannil sighed. "Can't you just tell me what you're thinking so that I can dispute it?"

Noah licked his lips, he tried to bite the skin from his lower lip but stopped and sighed on his own. "No," he answered.

"If you won't tell me, I won't know what you're thinking."

"That's fine."

Hannil took in a sharp breath, "Can you simply," he sighed, "let me know?"

"Why does it matter?!" Noah met his eyes.

"Now you're angry with me." 

Noah looked over him at the side of the blue tent before he rubbed his eyes. "I'm not—I'm not angry."

"You are."

Noah shook his head as he continued to rub his eyes, a sudden tiredness about him.

"If it's about Berg," Hannil spoke cautiously, "or Mi Na or Spears or the rest of them—"

"How did they ask you to keep me at Leuthold?"

"What?"

"How?"

Hannil hesitated, "Are you asking me how they asked it of me?"

"No—yes." Noah slumped, "I'm asking how they wanted you to keep me at Leuthold. Hanna said that Mi Na was trying to keep her there. That she kept distracting her and," he stopped, unable to speak his anxieties.

"They asked me to, as your friend, tell you that nothing happened. To convince you to stay. That things weren't as weird as they were. To ignore what weird things you saw. To distract you."

"How?"

"Which part?" Hannil gave a breathy laugh as if there were too much information to tell.

"How," Noah pulled on his fingers, "How did they ask you to distract me?"

Hannil shrugged, "Mostly? Keeping you busy."

Noah looked down to his hands, "You know, Hanna told me that Mi Na was distracting her. I know that Mi Na said that she is a lesbian—I thought you were straight until yesterday," instead of finishing he shrugged.

Hannil rubbed his temple, he closed his eyes and looked both puzzled and annoyed."Noah," he breathed, "I did not confess to you because I wanted to distract you!"

"Well, it was distracting!"

"You're the one that asked why the expression!"

Noah took in a deep breath, "I don't...I don't know that."

He tilted his head, a concerned look overtook him. "You don't remember?"

"I mean I don't know that you even care about me!"

"Why would I do any of this if I didn't care, Squeak? Why?" His concern faded as quick as it came. 

Noah hesitated, it was the only real thought his mind could stop his anxiety on. Hannil, like Berg, had no reason to be hunting him down. Yet Berg was doing it anyway, he sent Mi Na well into France. Aneish and Tipp to the edges of it. He was surrounding them. But Noah still didn't understand why. It made as much sense to him as to why Hannil would have any interest in him.