Page 29 of Finding Her
I stood up, my heart slamming in my chest as I squinted toward the tree line. The sound was getting louder, chaotic and mismatched, like whatever—or whoever—it was hadn’tfigured out how to move in sync. My brain scrambled through possibilities, none of them comforting. A bear? Deer? Really huge squirrels?
Then I saw him.
A boy broke through the trees first, running full speed down the trail. Tall, broad shoulders, floppy brown hair that fell into his eyes. Not the kind of bear I was expecting to come out of the forest, but I definitely preferred it to the alternative.
But he wasn’t alone.
A whole gaggle of girls—literal giggling, squealing girls—came charging out of the woods after him, like some kind of stampede. Their laughter echoed off the trees, and they were all clearly trying to catch up, some shouting his name, others seemingly just screaming for fun. Like it was totally normal to get up at seven in the morning on a Saturday to chase down a hockey player.
I blinked. Was this real?
Bear didn’t look back. He didn’t slow down. If anything, he picked up speed as his sneakers pounded the dirt trail. His expression was blank—no grin, no panic, just determination, like he was running for his life or trying to beat some invisible finish line.
And then his eyes flicked toward me.
For a brief second, they locked on mine. Dark brown, serious, and just the faintest hint ofhelp me.
I stood frozen, gripping my bag, unsure if I should do something or just… pretend this wasn’t happening. What could I do, anyway? Hand him the pepper spray? Wave down the girl-herd like I was directing traffic?
But before I could make up my mind, Bear darted past me, his pace never faltering. The girls slowed a little when they saw me, giggles turning to whispers. I wondered if any of them recognized me, either from the gym class or as the girl Clairehad made the bet with. I wasn’t sure how far news of that had spread. But even though they looked and whispered, none of them stopped.
I dropped my bag back down, feeling like an idiot for panicking, and sat back down. Of course it wasn’t a literal bear or a herd of deer or anything. I opened my book again to keep studying.
I didn’t see anyone else until Bear came circling around again. This time, running much faster and without an entourage. And to my surprise, instead of running straight past me, he collapsed on the ground next to me, breathing so hard that I was worried he might be having a heart attack.
“Where’s your adoring fan club?” I teased. He managed to lift his head just enough to glare at me for a second then dropped it again.
“I… think…” It took him another minute of gasping before he could finish the sentence and I smirked. Now he knew how I felt in gym the day we ran the mile. “I lost them.”
I was surprised by the words. Why would he want to lose them? Sure, I’d find it annoying to have a group of people following me around on my run, but this was Bear we were talking about. Hockey player extraordinaire, who was beloved by the whole school. Did he really hate it that much?
“Do you want some water?” I asked. I pulled my water bottle out of my bag and held it out to him. I expected him to say no, which I was sure he would have done if I offered it to him in gym class, but to my surprise, he nodded and swiped the water bottle from my hands. He squirted some into his mouth then made a disgusted face.
“What is in this?” He asked. “It’s like… fruit punch?”
“Oh, I put flavouring in it,” I said, internally cringing at how I forgot to tell him. “And it’s not fruit punch, it’s blue raspberry.”
He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head, but then drank some more. I guess he was really thirsty.
“Nobody over the age of five should have blue raspberry flavoured anything,” he choked out. “This is disgusting.”
“You don’t have to drink it,” I said. I tried to take the water bottle back but he held it away from me so I couldn’t, then took another swig. I guess it wasn’t disgusting enough to warrant not drinking it. He took one last gulp before handing the bottle to me. When I glanced at it, I laughed as I realized it was practically empty. “You liked it.”
He made a face. “Did not.”
I shook the bottle in front of his face, showing him the minuscule amount of water left that sloshed around the bottom. “You can’t lie to me. This was almost full when I handed it to you.”
He scowled at me. “Liar.”
“You liked it,” I said in a sing-song voice. Bear ignored me as he used both hands to brush some dark hair out of his face. “Have you been growing your hair out?”
“Not intentionally,” he said. His bangs immediately began falling back in his face. “I just haven’t gotten the chance to get it cut in a while.”
I watched him as he pushed it back again, then forced myself to pull my gaze away so I stopped being creepy. It felt like Bear and I were finally building some sort of friendship—or, at least, he didn’t outright hate me like he did when we first got partnered up—and I didn’t want to do anything to scare him off by watching him like some sort of stalker. I shoved my water bottle back in my bag, freezing as my fingers hit the soft bunch of fabric inside there as well. I glanced at Bear’s hair again. Was it possible that it was just long enough…
“Turn around,” I ordered.
He stared at me. “What?”
