You Are the Shell to My Tortoise | ✓

51

It was to my great relief when the bell for lunch finally rang. I'd been waiting for it to ring since the lesson started.

"I'm so hungry!" I said, throwing my pencil case into my backpack. "Hurry up, let's go!"

Nolan yawned as he stood up. "I thought you ate breakfast this morning."

"Yeah, but it's lunch now," I said, tapping my feet on the floor. "My French toast was already gone by second period!"

"You have the biggest appetite I've ever seen in anyone," he said, following me to the door of the classroom.

To be fair, it had gotten bigger after I started putting in real effort during gym class. I wanted to keep myself in decent shape so that I wouldn't have to rely too much on Nolan while we were in the forest. Despite knowing that it was a natural result of regular practice, I was still amazed that I could actually run for a longer period of time before getting out of breath now.

Nolan fell into step beside me as we went out into the hallway.

Trying not to look at his laidback gait felt impossibly difficult. Even the way he walked was attractive. I didn't want to get carried away and accidentally stare too much.

"I'm putting the food to good use," I said, frowning at him. "My brain needs the fuel!"

"Of course, whatever makes you feel better about it," he said, nodding.

All he did was smile back at me when I narrowed my eyes at him.

He let out another yawn. "I think I'll be sleeping at the table today. I probably won't be eating."

"Oh, are you tired?"

I was kind of surprised that he wasn't planning on going to the library to take his nap, but I decided not to remind him of that option.

"Yeah," he said. "I'll still study with you guys later, though. I'll be okay if I just nap a bit during lunch and the other classes."

I'd been totally prepared for him to tell me that he couldn't make it later, so his reply came as a surprise. I didn't exactly want to discourage him from spending time with me, but he did seem pretty exhausted.

"Okay, if you're sure," I said. "You don't have to push yourself if you're too tired."

Yawning again, he rubbed at his eyes. "Yeah, I'm sure."

---------------------------------------------------

"Am I hallucinating?"

My curiosity was piqued at Ashley's question.

"What is it?" I said.

She blinked hard as she stared down the hallway we were walking through. We were heading back to the dormitories after dinner. Several feet behind us, Derek and Melissa were arguing over something I hadn't bothered to pay attention to.

"Do you see that?" She pointed to the left, where there were a couple of students strolling in the same direction as us.

"Um," I said, squinting my eyes, "not really? Do you know those people?"

An exasperated look crossed her face. "Not the people. That—on the floor."

"The floor?"

I followed her as she took a few steps towards the alleged spot.

Now that I was standing a little closer, I could see what she was talking about—there was a small dark shadow on the ground, touching the wall. It kind of looked familiar. I shuffled a little closer to get a better look.