Dark as the Night

69

While Odessa, Lydia, and Amanda were sorting out the details of their project, Tai was across the room, struggling to keep his cool with his partners. They were far more concerned with talking about the new addition to their class than their project.

Caleb, usually the less obnoxious of the two, asked, "So Tai, you spend a lot of time with her, right?"

"I'm her archery and hunting trainer, so yeah," Tai answered blandly. But Caleb was not to be deterred.

"I mean, you're her friend too, right? Even when you're not training you two are together a lot. I've often seen her eating with you and James."

Tai sighed in resignation. "Yeah, we're good friends. We hang out a lot. Is that what you want to know?"

"By 'hang out' you mean..."

"I mean we hang out as friends. It's like hanging out with James, only she's less irritating and smells better." And gets my mind thinking dirty things, he added silently. They absolutely did not need to know that little detail, or they would latch on to it like dogs with a bone.

Caleb laughed, oblivious to Tai's stony expression. Luke chimed in, hope lacing his voice, "So there's nothing going on between you and her? Or her and him?" He nodded toward the front of the classroom, at James.

Tai narrowed his eyes at the other boy in irritation. "No, there isn't." Yet, he again added to himself. He didn't like where the conversation was heading.

Luke clearly didn't notice Tai's glare. He sat back and rubbed his hands together in glee. "All right! That means she's up for grabs."

That last comment finally pushed Tai over the line from annoyed to pissed. "Don't be a dick. No one is up for grabs."

Caleb slapped his back with a placating smile. "Aww, don't be like that, bro. That's not what we mean. She's just gorge a.f. and we want to get to know her. She seems nice."

"You have things in the wrong order, there..." Tai muttered under his breath.

Luke's face lit up, clearly maintaining his ignorance of the other boy's rapidly worsening mood. "Maybe I'll make a trip to the med center, pretend to be sick, and get to see her."

"Idiot," Caleb chuckled. "She'll see right through that. If you can't talk to her without needing a pretense, you might as well forfeit the game, son."

"Who's forfeiting anything? I bet I can get her number before you can," Luke said with a cocky smirk.

He and Caleb bumped fists. "You're on, asshole."

Having reached his limit of idiocy, Tai snapped, "Now that we've established that you're both assholes, can we please get to work?"

---------------

Two hours later, after Physics with Mr. Lewis and Language and Culture with Mr. Sonder, the class was finally dismissed for lunch. Just as Odessa finished packing up her bag, she heard someone say her name. She looked over at Tai, who had just pushed his chair in and was walking toward her.

"Do you want to go down to lunch with James and me?" he asked, his tone light with the expectation that her answer would be yes.

Before Odessa could respond, Amanda popped up beside her, grabbed her hand, and started tugging her toward the door. "No hogging the new girl today, Bear!" she said with a wink. Lydia giggled and grabbed Odessa's other arm.

"She's eating lunch with us today, right, Dessa?" she said, sticking her tongue out at Tai, who just stood there, looking confused.

"Sure," Odessa answered, her voice breathless with surprise. She threw an apologetic look and a small finger wave over her shoulder and let the girls lead her away. As they left the room, she turned to Amanda with an arched eyebrow and whispered, "Bear?"