Page 6 of Torn

I nodded vehemently. “I asked my dad what the men were doing there once, because a few of them were digging in the ground with a big machine. He said they were searching for a huge treasure.”

“That’s awesome. Do you know what it is?”

I had no idea, but I didn’t want to lose his attention. “I think it might be something left by pirates.”

“Pirates? Here?”

I nodded. “They came here.”

“Right.” He laughed and skipped another stone across the water. I saw him glance to the side for a second, and I wondered if he was thinking about returning to his parents.

“Do you have a girlfriend?” I asked, figuring it was now or never.

He flashed me an incredulous look. “A girlfriend?” He shrugged and grimaced as if I’d asked him to lick the mud off my shoes. “I guess there’s a few girls I hang around after school sometimes, but that’s it.”

My courage deflated and my shoulders sagged. Mason obviously wasn’t keen on the subject. Maybe he didn’t like girls yet, even though he was much older than me. Elena once told me that boys matured slower than girls. She also told me that sometimes, they never liked girls at all. Only other boys. “Oh,” I said softly.

“Why?” he asked, cocking his head to the side. “Are you asking to be my girlfriend, little Jolie?”

My spirit leapt. “Do you want me to be?” I asked, widening my eyes.

He tipped his head back and laughed uproariously. I suddenly felt cold and hollow, like he’d reached inside and scooped my heart right out.

He noticed the stricken look on my face and abruptly stopped laughing. “Oh, I’m sorry, Jolie. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“Do you think I’m ugly?” I asked in a small voice.

He rubbed his jaw and sighed. “Oh, fuck… no, it’s not that,” he said. He briefly touched one hand to his mouth. “Sorry, I forgot you don’t like bad words.”

“It’s okay,” I whispered.

He reached out and tilted my chin up, forcing me to look at him. “Trust me, you’re a very pretty little girl. You’ve got really nice eyes. Do you know how rare green eyes are?”

“No,” I said glumly. Why did that matter?

“They’re very rare. I bet a lot of boys are gonna look at you one day and think ‘wow, she’s gorgeous, check out those eyes’,” he said, staring down at me. “Don’t worry. It’ll happen.”

“But not with you?”

He grinned, but this time I knew he wasn’t mocking me. His eyes were twinkling, and I could tell from his soft expression that it was a kind smile. “You’re cool and all, but you’re a little young. If I was gonna get a girlfriend, I’d want her age to be in the double figures.”

I perked up again. “So when I turn ten you’ll be my boyfriend?”

He chuckled. “You’re persistent, aren’t you?

“My mom said girls have to be twice as strong and persistent to get half as far as boys in our world, because a lot of boys are mean and try to push girls down,” I said, staring out at the rippling pond before turning my gaze back to Mason.

He studied my face carefully. “Your mom sounds like a smart woman. I bet that’s where you get it from.”

“Get what?”

He tapped my head playfully. “Your brain. You’re a smart kid, Jolie. Smarter than most other little kids I’ve talked to. One day you might run the whole country.”

I furrowed my brows. “Oh, no. My father says that’s not a woman’s place. He says we’re better at nurturing and caring. We aren’t supposed to be in charge of things.”

“He says that, huh?” He cocked his head to the side. “Honestly, kiddo, I think you should listen to your mom more than your dad.”

“But he’s a genius,” I insisted. I moved closer to him and spoke in hushed tones. “Only our church members are supposed to know this, so don’t tell anyone I told you, but he gets messages sent to him directly from our God. He chose him because he’s so smart.”

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