Eliza doesn't want to hear this. She discovered him with Mckenzie. Why is he bringing back up? Eliza decides that inviting Sebastian was a bad move. Why did she invite hm? She isn't even sure.
He continues. "When you found me with Mckenzie..." His voice is strained when it trails off.
Eliza turns to face him. What is so hard for him to say?
He takes a shuddering breath and tries again. "Mckenzie was blackmailing me."
"What?" Eliza is astonished and confused. "Why?"
"She's jealous of you; your natural beauty and making you feel hurt must have made her feel better because of how poor her family is. She used me to hurt you."
"How was she blackmailing you?"
"She found out that..." His voice trails off again. He looks away.
Eliza grasps his hand. "It's okay, you can tell me."
He meets her eyes again. "I'm an orphan. I moved to town when I was adopted."
"What? That's it?" Eliza starts to feel hot headed. Why would he hide that from her.
"I was embarrassed."
"You mean prideful." She snaps. "Was it worth it? Was your pride worth losing me?"
He looks shocked by her response. "No! No, it wasn't." He moves his hand out of her grasp. "I'm sorry."
Eliza stares at the floor. She is relieved that Mckenzie isn't around anymore to hurt them, but she takes no joy in the fact that she is dead because every death in the arena haunts her.
How can she forgive him? Then she closes her eyes and blocks the world out as a thought comes to mind. Kalea would. She sighs and opens her eyes again.
"Do you forgive me?" His voice is timid.
"Yes," she replies raising her eyebrows. At least, I want to.
Sebastian leans back on the bench. " What are we then?"
This is what Eliza was afraid to hear. She doesn't know. Either way she can't mention Clay. It was hard for her to "play it cool" when they passed him on their way out of the cafeteria.
She decides to reply diplomatically. "What do you want us to be?"
He shrugs. "I want to hear what you want."
Crap! He didn't answer for her. "I think... that we should just be friends." She doesn't look at his face to see his response. Now, Eliza has her mind made up. "We should head back to dinner."
YOU ARE READING
Republic of Omisha
Science FictionSet in the future, after war has demolished entire continents and the survivors flock to the Americas. People no longer wage wars or fight about frivolous things, like race and nationality. As far as they are concerned, there is one race, the human...
