imperfect (28 page)

“
I trust you not to give
the information out freely.”

“
That’s a lot of trust to
put on someone who you have barely known for a couple of
weeks.”

“
I trust my
instincts.”

For some reason, Troop
had
expected Chelsa to be the most
talkative and vivacious member of the group. However, he was soon
proved wrong. Jaiden seemed to be the only person who could coax
the ghost of a smile out of her.

Ghost, the leopard, seemed
to share his owner’s sudden mood change and would often disappear
for long stretches of time.
Not that I
mind if Ghost leaves for a while.
Troop
found the creature’s intelligence to be unnerving.

“
Aren’t you happy we’re
getting closer to finding Finn?” Troop asked Chelsa. “Less than
fifty miles left—and we haven’t seen any bandits or met any other
trouble along the way.”

“
Yeah, I guess,” she
replied. She sounded a bit gloomy, if not downright depressed.
“I’ve just been thinking a lot.”

“
How does thinking make
you morose?”

Chelsa shook her head. “It doesn’t
matter.”

He knew she was lying,
thanks to Darrel’s advice.
If a girl says
something doesn’t matter, then it probably does.

“
Well, here’s some good
news that might cheer you up: we should reach Oppidum in two days
at most,” said Kristi.

Chelsa didn’t react with joy to that bit of
news; instead, she appeared even more somber.

chapter
twenty-nine

[ Kristi ]

“
Want to go for a walk
before we bed down for the night?” Chelsa
asked.

Kristi wasn’t expecting this offer; Chelsa
usually spent her free time with Jaiden.

“
Sure, if that’s what you
want to do,” Kristi said.

“
Yes it is.”

“
Alright then.” Kristi
called to the two boys, “Jaiden, Troop, we’re going for a quick
walk. Be back soon.”

“
Okay, don’t get eaten by
a bear,” Jaiden called back.

Kristi let Chelsa choose the path of their
walk. They walked the first ten minutes in silence; Kristi absorbed
the soothing sounds of nature all around her. The further south
they journeyed, the warmer the temperature got. Back in the North
Region, the ground would be covered by snow during this time of the
year.

The girls reached a flat slab of rock poking
out from the ground and Chelsa scaled it rapidly. Kristi scrambled
after her, sitting cross-legged besides Chelsa at the top.

“
Troop really likes you,”
Chelsa said, breaking the quietness.

“
Oh?”

“
I don’t think you should
keep on pushing him away. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but he
has been following you around like a lost puppy.”

“
Is this what you wanted
to talk about?” Kristi asked dubiously.

“
Partly. Why do you keep
on rejecting Troop?”

Kristi sighed. “First of all, he’s a jerk.
Second of all…” She couldn’t think of another reason why she kept
on distancing herself from Troop aside from him being a bully at
school.

Chelsa acknowledged her lack of reasons and
continued on speaking, “I understand that you didn’t get the best
impression of him, but I truly believe that he has changed his
character. Well, in the first place, I don’t think he had a nasty
nature to begin with. I think you’ve been a good influence on
Troop. He’s a different person from when you first met him. I guess
all I am saying is that you should give him a chance to at least
befriend you.”

“
Are you
serious?”

“
Yes,” Chelsa said. After
a brief moment of hesitation, she asked, “Have I ever told you how
Alex died?”

Once again, Kristi was unprepared for
Chelsa’s erratic behavior tonight.

“
Well, you told me you
killed Alex,” she mumbled.

Chelsa looked off into the distance, “It all
started when Alex started dating me. The other students couldn’t
believe anyone could see any beauty in me—who would want to
befriend a girl with no genetic tweaks when there are several other
literally perfect girls to date? I was already used to getting
hassled, but once Alex and I started going out, the bullying got a
lot worse. I wouldn’t have minded except Alex was getting his fair
share of harassment as well.”

Chelsa bit her lower lip, then continued on,
“One day, some of the kids at the school decided to throw my
backpack into a nearby river behind the school. It was during
spring, and the snowmelt had caused the river to swell and increase
its current. Nevertheless, I tried to retrieve my backpack because
it contained my electro-slate and most important, a baby leopard.
Alex had just given me Ghost a few days before and I had kept Ghost
in my backpack. I used a fallen branch to snag my backpack and
somebody decided to push me into the river.”

Chelsa took a shaky breath and then met
Kristi’s eyes for a second. She rapidly blinked, as if holding
tears back. Kristi laced her fingers through Chelsa’s hand and
listened with rapt attention. She felt Chelsa tighten her grip.

“
I was immediately pulled
under the icy water. I’m not a bad swimmer, but the current was too
fast and too strong. Several of the students began to worry that
the prank had gone too far, but nobody tried to help me. Just then,
Alex came by and saw the commotion. He jumped into the river to
rescue me since he was an excellent swimmer.

“
Together, we were able to
stay afloat as the rapids carried us downstream. But Alex was
holding onto my backpack since he knew Ghost was held within it,
and that sapped a lot of his strength. By the time the rescue team
arrived, my entire body was numb from the frigid water. The doctors
told me I was extremely fortunate to have survived for such a long
time in freezing water with only hypothermia.”

Chelsa lowered her eyelids, letting the
events of the past wash over her. “But Alex wasn’t so lucky. He was
dead by the time he arrived at the hospital. Somehow, Ghost managed
to survive the whole ordeal; he’s one fortunate leopard.”

A moment of silence enveloped the space
around them. The only sounds to be heard were the cicadas
chirruping and the breeze teasing the foliage.

“
Why did you tell me you
killed Alex? You never did such a thing,” Kristi stated.

“
If I hadn’t dated Alex in
the first place, none of this would’ve happened. The other students
would’ve left him alone.”

“
But still,” Kristi
argued, “
you
didn’t kill Alex. It was an
accident
.”

Chelsa shrugged. “There are several angles
to look at this tragedy. Ever since Alex’s death, I’ve learned to
stand up for myself. I can’t bear the thought of other people
getting hurt because of me. Yeah—I’m still an outcast from society,
but at least I’ve learned to deal with it.”

They sat in a silence. Kristi’s brain
struggled to digest all that she just heard.

“
Kristi?”

“
Yeah?”

“
I really think you should
give Troop a chance. I know he likes you and I think you have
feelings for him as well,” Chelsa said.

Do I like Troop?
Kristi wondered.
I
suppose I am a bit attracted to him. His personality does seem to
have changed, now that I think about it. I guess I have been so
occupied trying to distance myself from getting to know him that I
am missing the big picture.

“
You never know when
you’ll lose someone you care about,” Chelsa said, interrupting her
thoughts.

“
I’ll try to be more
amicable towards Troop.”

Chelsa flashed her the first smile she had
seen on her face in a while. Then she checked her watch.

“
Goodness—we better start
walking back. It’s been almost an hour.”

Kristi woke up relatively
early
the next day, though Troop was
already starting a fire by the time she ducked out from the tent
after pulling her hair into a messy bun.

“
Morning,” she
yawned.

Troop looked up in surprise. “Jaiden and
Chelsa still asleep?”

“
Yep.”

He handed her a bowl of oatmeal topped with
brown sugar.

“
Thanks. Did you eat yet?”
Kristi said.

“
Yeah.”

She warmed her cold hands against the warm
bowl and spooned a large bite of gooey oatmeal into her mouth. She
felt the warmth of the oatmeal travel down her throat and into her
stomach. Even though the temperature was reasonably warm during the
day, the air was still crisp in the morning.

“
Something bothering you?”
Troop asked.

“
Just thinking how I
should say something.”

“
I’m surprised you didn’t
tell me to mind my own business.”

“
Troop,” Kristi said,
fighting to find the right words to convey her thoughts. “I’m sorry
if I acted rude to you. I know I kept on refusing your help when I
could’ve used it.”

“
Well,” Troop said, “I
wasn’t expecting to hear that from you.”

“
What I’m trying to say is
that I’ll try to stop acting so unfriendly towards you,” she
finished awkwardly.

Troop ran his fingers through his dark hair
the way he did when he was trying to think of something to say.
“Does that mean you’re willing to befriend me?”

“
I guess. I judged you
harshly because you didn’t exactly make a good
first-impression.”

“
I’m actually a nice
person once you get to know me, believe it or not,” Troop
said.

Kristi flashed him a half-convinced
look.

“
Is there anything I can
do to convince you I’m not a jerk?”

Kristi thought for a moment than cracked a
smile. “As a matter of fact, yes. There is something you could
do.”

“
What is it? I’ll do it
right now.”

“
I want you to send an
instafication to every person you have harassed and apologize to
them.”

Troop faltered for a split second, and then
pasted a determined expression on his face. “If that’s what it
takes to gain your trust, so be it.”

Kristi expected him to have a huge list of
kids to apologize to, but a little part of her hoped Troop wasn’t
the jerk she thought he was. She looked over Troop’s shoulder and
onto his electro-slate where he was typing the names of the people
he was going to call. In total, there were eight names.

Troop activated the instafication app on his
electro-slate and walked away from the camp for some privacy.
Kristi followed him.

“
I’m coming with you to
make sure you’re not instaficating your friends,” she
said.

“
You don’t trust me? I
always keep my words.”

“
Tough luck.”

“
Fine. Don’t interrupt me
though.”

“
Don’t worry, it’ll be
like I’m not even here.”

She sat cross-legged on the grass. Troop
dropped down beside her and connected to Lilly Trusk, the first
name on his list.

“
Hello?” asked a girl’s
voice.

“
This is
Troop.”

Lilly’s voice immediately took on a
defensive tone when she replied, “What do you want? Is this a prank
call?”

“
No, it’s not. I just
wanted to apologize for hiding your electro-slate on the school
roof a few months ago.”

There was an awkward stretch of silence, and
then Lilly said, “Are you serious? Is this some sort of sick
joke?”

“
No, I really regret
throwing your slate onto the school roof.”

“
You do realize I had to
get a new slate after you threw my old electro-slate, right? The
screen got cracked when it landed on the roof.”

“
I didn’t know that,”
Troop said. He sounded distraught. “You should’ve let me know that
I broke your slate—I could’ve bought you a replacement.”

Lilly let out a nervous laugh. “No, you
would’ve laughed in my face and told me to suck it up. At least
that’s what the old Troop would’ve done. I don’t recognize the
Troop who is talking to me right now.”

Troop caught Kristi’s eye and shot her a
quick smile.

“
I’ve changed a lot,
Lilly. I really want to offer my sincerest apology for my immature
actions. Do accept my apology?”

“
If you really mean it,
then yes.”

“
So are we
cool?”

“
We’re cool. Where are you
anyways? Your mom said you were away on some family
business.”

“
I suppose you could say
that.”

“
Alright, I have to go.
Bye.”

“
Bye.” Troop ended the
instafication.

“
See, that didn’t go so
bad,” Kristi said.

Troop rolled his shoulders and replied, “One
down, seven more to go.”

“
Go get ’em.”

Troop finished all of
his
calls before Jaiden and Chelsa joined
them outside. Some of his instafications went smoothly, like with
Lilly. Others didn’t go so well. Some students heard Troop out and
left on good terms. Some students disconnected as soon as they
heard his voice; at least he tried.