A lot had happened with her work since she’d last seen him. Just an hour ago, she’d pulled Judith aside, and told her she’d liked the way she’d turned around the situation with Darcy last night. Presently, Alice recalled their conversation with a combination of irritation and bemused satisfaction.
“Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?” Judith had asked stiffly, referring to the note Alice had left last night. Her attitude wasn’t quite as defensive as it had been last night, but it wasn’t exactly welcoming, either.
“Yeah, in part,” Alice agreed. “As you probably know, the counselors are expected to choose a student team leader this weekend.”
“So?”
“After watching you with Jill all week, and after seeing how you managed to get past your pride last night and say something meaningful to Darcy, I was considering making you team leader. The kids respect you, grudgingly at times, given your attitude, but they do. They’d follow you.”
Alice might as well have dropped a bomb. Judith looked that stunned.
“You’re shitting me,” Judith stated flatly.
“No.”
“What about Noble D? Everyone says he’s been team leader the past two years.”
“He’s the obvious choice,” Alice said matter-of-factly. “You’re the right one.”
“You think so?” Judith bristled.
“Yeah. I think so. And that’s what counts,” Alice said with more confidence than she felt. “So, do you want the job or not?”
Judith blinked and shook her head, half dazed and half cynically disbelieving. “Me, lead this bunch of losers?”
“If you agree to do it, you’ll have to stop calling them losers. They’ll be yours, Judith. Yours to care about. Yours to protect.”
“Is that the real reason you’re picking me?” Judith asked, her nasty attitude making a flaming reappearance.
“Maybe,” Alice replied edgily. She noticed Judith’s extra-offended expression and exhaled, silently begging for patience. “I’m asking you to do it because I think you’d be fantastic at leading. If you can ever come off that damn pedestal and stop playing the lone bitch, that is.”
“Quit calling me a bitch, bitch,” Judith seethed, taking an angry step toward her, fists bunched tight. Alice stepped in just as aggressively.
“I’m not calling you a bitch. I’m saying you act like one sometimes,” Alice grated out, now eye-to-eye with the girl. “I think you can do this, Judith. But you’re going to have to sacrifice the pedestal and show the kids the humanity I know you have. In spades. So what’s it going to be? Are you going to take the easy route and back down from this? Or are you going to accept the challenge?”
“I’m not afraid. I’m not gonna back down.”
“Good. Then I’ll make the announcement. You’re the Red Team’s student leader. Don’t disappoint me, Judith,” Alice warned with a pointed glare before she turned and walked away.
In reflection, it hardly seemed like the joyful event she’d first imagined when she’d heard about her role in bestowing the honor on a student. It’d been more like the prelude to a fistfight. Just the memory of the volatile exchange got Alice worked up all over again, her adrenaline pumping, primed for a fight.
Alice knew firsthand that warm, fuzzy expectations only earned her a slew of disappointment. In reality, things had gone exactly as they should have, given Judith’s issues.
Given Alice’s own.
As she walked through the sunny pasture and all these thoughts swam around in her head, she realized she was perhaps girding herself for her meeting with Dylan … defending herself against more rainbows and sunshine fantasies. There was nothing that created a stampede of wild anticipation and unrealistic expectations than the topic of Dylan Fall.
After he’d told her about his mother being a prostitute, and how he didn’t know the identity of his father, it was like another dimension had been added to how she felt about him. And how she felt about him was already complex enough as it was. No matter how far he’d left that vulnerable boy behind to become the powerful man he was today, it couldn’t have been easy for Dylan to admit that to her. She could only imagine the bravery it would take to speak something like that aloud.
She could only imagine, because Alice herself didn’t possess the courage to speak of a shame like that.
Stepping into the shadow of the thick woods a moment later, she sighed in relief. It was a sunny, humid day. Peering around, she stole deeper into the canopied forest. She’d broken a sweat even during the relatively short walk from the camp. Wiping the moisture off her brow, she squinted, adjusting her eyes to the dimness.
At first, she thought he wasn’t there. Disappointment flooded her. Then a flicker of movement caught her eye.
She started.
He leaned against a wide oak tree, completely still save that movement she’d caught—a lifting of a thumb on the hand that rested on his thigh. Had he made the movement to betray his camouflage and draw her attention? One long leg was bent, one booted foot and his ass resting against the bark of the tree. She went nearly as still as him, her gaze seeking him out in the shadows. Even her heart seemed to go motionless for a split second. She made out the glint of his eyes as he watched her.