Don't give up on me ✓

[26] Growing Apart

'You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous thing' -E.B. White (Charlotte's Web)

Chapter 26: Growing Apart

My back was pressed against the bark of a tree and I felt rope tied around me.

Then, I waited. I heard him bring someone else to the tree next to me and listened. Waiting.

"Count to five minutes before you do anything."

The blindfolds were ripped off our faces and the sun blinded me.  It beamed down on us, through trees. I stared up at the forest around us. 

Mohan ran off, disappearing, and leaving us stuck.  I looked around. Hugo, Nate and Zander were tied up to random trees around me.

We all started counting.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The other boys managed to slip out of their bonds one by one. I tried copying what they were doing but it didn't work. I tried rubbing the ropes against the back of the tree but I just kept getting blisters. It was exhausting.

As each of them escaped from their bounds, they ran off.

The sun was high in the sky now. I was thirsty.

And I was the last one here. Tied up in a forest. What a joke.

Mohan left me for hours. What kind of training was this? He was hanging me out to dry. My legs almost gave out, before he finally finally came back. The boys were behind him.

"Did you even try?" Mohan asked me.

"Yes," I said, my mouth dry, from lack of water.

I was starting to see dancing blobs in the air behind him.  I was almost hallucinating and it wasn't even dinner time.

"What would happen if this was real life?" he asked.

Why all these questions? I know. I get it. I suck.

"Is this not real life?  Because it feels pretty damn real," I muttered.

Hugo smirked at that. Zander was still scowling – I don't think I've ever seen him smile – and Nate was barely looking at me. He probably felt like this was a waste of time.

"But OK.  If I had been captured and tied up by our so-called mysterious enemies... I'd be screwed," I said.

There.  My confession.  As far as superhumans go, I suck.

Mohan sighed, "Fine. Untie her."

And just like that, my hands were released. Blood rushed back into them and I clutched my wrist.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

I came back home and walked straight into Jesper's room.  He was lying on his bed without a shirt.  

"How did it go?" Jesper asked.

"Not well," I answered, showing him the red lines on my wrist.

He didn't have to come on these training trips with us since he is human. Though I think he would have done better than me on all these challenges. 

I have noticed that he spends way more time in the gym now. The weaker he felt, the more he worked out.

"You'll do better next time," he said supportively, "You just need to work on it."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

At school, I was seeing Jesper less and less. We were being pulled our separate ways. Since I had to train with the boys, I started driving to school with them.  I made them drop me off at the corner, so that people wouldn't see us together.  I was back to my dodgeball strategy after Holly actively killed the Nate-and-me rumor.