The Kids Aren't Alright

Chapter 53: Finn

Ronan doesn't speak another word until we're back in the tent and zipped up safely in our sleeping bags. There, he tosses me a roll of gauze tape and says, without any preamble, "I stole this from Owen. Wrap your arm up before that cut gets infected."

I do as he says, even though I hate taking orders from him. So far Ronan has proven that he's way more on top of things than I could've ever imagined. Not only did he manage to trick the boys into a wild goose chase, but he also rigged the tent zipper so that if any of them decide to return for round two, his metal water bottle will topple over, alerting us to their presence. And, in case things get physical again, he has his flashlight hidden underneath his pillow, and I have a stick from the woods stashed away in my sleeping bag (the perfect size for whacking).

I always knew that Ronan was good at planning shit, but I never thought he was this good. He's like some kind of modern Sherlock Holmes. "How'd you know what Clancey was gonna do?" I wrap the bandage slowly around my arm, watching my blood seep through the white gauze. "You seem so... prepared."

"I saw him stealing the knife this morning," he replies simply, reaffirming my theory that he's some kind of evil genius. "After that, I just put the puzzle pieces together." 

"So... you knew that Clancey was going to come at us with the knife, and you didn't try to warn me?"

"It was for the best if you didn't know about what was going to happen. If I told you the truth, you would have just freaked out or tried to tell a counselor, and then Clancey would have resorted to taking you out in a more discreet way. Dude. Don't give me that look. You know I'm right. Filling you in would have only made things worse."

"Thanks for that, Ronan. I love being called a little bitch by my own roommate."

"I never said that you were a little bitch. But hey, if the shoe fits...."

I chuck the roll of tape at his head. He ducks, and it hits the tent flap instead.

He demands indignantly, "Need I remind you that I just saved your life?" 

"Yeah, after Clancey literally had me standing on the edge of a cliff!"

"I wanted to know if he was actually going to make you jump. He might have just been trying to scare you. I needed to hear what he had to say first."

"Wait a minute— scare me? Shit, Ronan, he wanted to kill me. He said so himself!"

"People lie."

"He wasn't lying. I could see the look on his face; he hated my guts with a passion. You wouldn't understand. You weren't there until the very end."

Ronan narrows his eyes at me. "I was there the entire time, you moron. You just couldn't see me. I was hiding in the trees. Stealth mode." 

"Then why didn't you intervene sooner?"

"I already told you why! I knew that Clancey was going to do the whole supervillain monologue thing, and I wanted to hear what he had to say."

"I could have died."

"Well, you didn't. So stop whining about it."

"After everything I've been through tonight— no thanks to you, by the way— I think that I've earned the right to whine about things. Less than thirty minutes ago, Clancey had a knife to my throat and was pressuring me to jump to my death."

"If you were so sure he was going to kill you, then why didn't you try to shout for help? Or were you so convinced that your knight in shining armor, Becca Fisher, was going to save you?"