Page 126 of Deviant

“Here. You can have some of mine if you want?” Chris says, handing me his half-eaten bowl of porridge.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure. I’m good with what I ate and we all have to keep our strength today, so you’ll need to eat, too.”

Okay, so maybe Chris isn’t that bad. He might have little tact, but at least his heart is in the right place—something I can’t say about his friends.

I take my bowl and sit down, my eyes scanning for Elias now that he has finished his own breakfast. I find him easily enough since he’s busy pulling down our tent and packing our stuff into our respective bags. Even mad at me, he still takes care of me.

“Oh man, you got it bad,” Harper says, plopping beside me on the log.

“Excuse me? I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I retort, preferring to play dumb rather than tell her the truth—that I’m starting to suspect that ‘I’ve got it bad’ doesn’t even cover it.

“You can deny it all you want, but you’d have to be blind not to see how you have gone gaga for that man. Not that I blame you. He’s all sorts of sexy,” she says, nudging me with her elbow.

I’m not sure how I feel about another woman looking at Elias like he’s a snack.

Scratch that.

I know exactly how I feel.

I don’t like it. Not one bit.

“Aren’t you like… dating Andy?” I ask politely, because asking her if she’s screwing Andy doesn’t have quite the same politically correct ring to it.

“Why? Did he say that?” she asks excitedly, completely forgetting about Elias and searching for Andy instead. When she finds him helping Abbie out with her tent, she bites her lower lip and sighs. “So did he tell you if we were dating or not?”

“Not really, no. But then again, we don’t talk much.”

“Oh,” she mumbles disappointedly, averting her eyes away from Andy just to pick up a rock from the earth and hurl it into a tree. “Wait… did he say anything about me to Elias?” she adds with a hopeful glint to her eyes.

“I’m not sure. We don’t talk much either.” In fact, the majority of the words he said to me last night revolved around ordering me to take his cock like a good girl. I’d rather not have to go into those specifics with Harper if I don’t have to.

“Can you ask him?”

I look over at Elias, who is walking in Andy’s and Abbie’s direction, probably off to ask them if they need his help, and frown. “Are you asking me to ask Elias if Andy has ever spoken to him about you?”

I mean, just because most of us went to high school together, doesn’t mean we should revert back to how we behaved there.

“I know… I’m being silly,” Harper says, her cheeks blushing in embarrassment. “It’s just that… and please don’t tell him I told you this… but… I kind of always had a crush on Andy since high school.” She sighs. “Have you ever watched that old show The O.C.?”

“No, sorry.” I shake my head regretfully, while also confused by where she is going with this.

“Well, you’re missing out. Anyway, that show introduced me to the delectable Seth Cohen, and after that, geek chic became my yum. Of course, in a town like Blackwater Falls that’smostly filled with brainless no-good-for-nothing neanderthals,” she tilts her thumb back over her shoulder where Chris, Big Mike and David are huddled together – laughing at something moronic, most likely – to prove her point, “I thought I’d never meet my Seth. That is until freshman year when I got placed in one of Andy’s classes. He checked all my boxes. He was cute as a button, funny, sweet, and a little bit nerdy, with the way he was always walking around school with a new comic book stuffed in his back pocket. What can I tell you? It was love at first sight. He was the Seth to my Summer, if Summer was a blonde, that is.”

“I’m really trying to keep up with you, Harper, but I’m getting lost with all these metaphors,” I explain apologetically again.

“Fine. The CliffsNotes version then. I’ve always liked Andy, and there was a time around senior year that I thought maybe he was into me too. But he never asked me out or made a move, so after we graduated and parted ways, I thought maybe I had lost my shot. Who knew being selected to the Harvest Dozen would give me a second chance with him?” she exclaims, her whole face lighting up with glee.

My stomach churns at the hope in her eyes.

Harper is so infatuated with Andy that she’s forgotten one major plot point in being selected forThe Scourge.Most everyone here will die, save for one. And that means the chances of her and Andy walking out of this alive and in love, are slim to none. Since I don’t have the heart to remind Harper of such a thing, I decide on kindness instead.

“Tell you what? If I learn anything about Andy’s true feelings for you, you’ll be the first person I run off to tell.”

“Really?” She beams. “Thanks, Rowen. I always knew you were a cool chick. I don’t care what Mackenzie and Ruby say about you.”

My friendly smile falls from my face the minute those names leave her mouth.

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