Page 75 of Bound By Earth (The Nature Hunters Academy 1)

“We’re going asfriends.”

“A friend date is still adate.”

“No. He probably won’t even read it. He never responds to my texts,” Tara said with asigh.

Shelly looked as if she was about to speak when Tara’s phone chimed again. Shelly’s smile got even bigger, if that were even possible. “Apparently, hedoes.”

Tara read the text and decided to throw Shelly a bone and read it outloud.

Areyou and Shelly goingtogether?

“Oh man,you better offer him a pole because he’s fishing and you’re the lure,” Shelly said as shecackled.

“Clever,” Tara said as she texted himback.

Yes,we are. Tucker asked me to be his date, and I agreed but only as friends and only if Shelly camealong.

She stared at the screen,expecting there to be an immediate writing bubble pop up … but there wasnothing.

Shelly bounced up and down in her seat, literally. “What’d yousay?”

“I told him that we are going together and that Tucker asked me to be his date, and I said I would be but only asfriends.”

“Oh dear, we are in trouble,” she said in her best Filch voice. The bouncing continued as she asked, “What’d he say? It’s good, isn’t it? It’s got to be good.” The words were spoken more to herself than toTara.

Tara stared down at her phone,waiting.

“Tara,” Shelly said, and Tara could see from the corner of her eye that her friend had stopped bouncing. “What did hesay?”

“Nothing,” she finally answered. “He didn’trespond.”

“Yet. He didn’t respond yet,” Shelly said. “Because he will. Maybe he had to set his phone down and get back to work with their dirt emergency or whatever it is they do. I’m still not clear onit.”

“Dirt emergency?” Tara asked, as she tilted her head and eyedShelly.

“You’redeflecting.”

Tara shrugged. She totally was deflecting and trying to distract herself from the fact that Elias still hadn’t responded to her news about Tucker asking her to go to the prom.What had I hoped for?Had she secretly been hoping he would lose his mind and beg her not to go?Maybe.

By the time Shelly pulled into Carol’s driveway Tara was thinking of all the ways she could distract herself to keep from looking at her phone every five minutes, as she had done the entiredrive.

“Hey,” Shelly said before Tara could climb out of thecar.

“Yeah?”

“How’s the whole superhero thing? Is your hymen stillimpenetrable?”

Tara rolled her eyes. “If something that major had changed—and I don’t mean related to my freaking hymen-—I mean if my body were suddenly capable of being injured, don’t you think I would have mentioned it toyou?”

“Maybe,” Shelly said. “But it took you five years to even tell me that you had a superpower. The trust is fragile, Tara-bear. It has to be rebuilt, youknow?”

“Oh, absolutely,” Tara said, nodding vigorously. “The trust is definitely fragile. We should probably spend some time apart in contemplative, personal, reflective meditation. We need to be looking inward at what we can do to build the trust. In fact, we should plan to be apart for the next couple of weeks so the healing canbegin.”

Shelly was staring at her as if she’d grown a nipple on her forehead. “Are youdone?”

Tara tapped her chin. “For now. I’ll text you if I have any more thoughts on how we canheal.”

“Fantastic,” Shelly said. “But more importantly, you will let me know when yo’ man texts you backandwhat he has tosay.”

---