The Education of Hailey Kendrick - Eileen Cook [16]
“Hey!” A voice yelled out. My brain snapped into place. I was kissing Joel. What was I thinking? I yanked back, breaking contact with his lips. I started to spin around, and a flashlight clicked on, blinding me. I threw my arm up in front of my face to shield my eyes.
“What the heck are you kids doing?”
I felt so guilty that it took me a second to realize that the voice in the darkness was talking about the statue and not the fact that I was kissing my boyfriend’s best friend. I tried to see who was past the light. It had to be one of the Evesham security guards. I wasn’t sure how I was going to explain what had happened. No one would believe that the arm had just fallen off while we happened to be there making out.
Joel grabbed me by the wrist. “Run.” He took off, lightning fast, dragging me behind. It took me a few steps to get my feet moving in the right direction. Every time I nearly fell, Joel heaved me up by my arm and kept me running. It felt like my arm was going to tear out of the socket. He wove through the trees, staying away from any of the trails, to make it harder for the guard to follow. I could hear the branches snapping as we crashed through the woods. Behind us the guard stuck close at first, the beam of his flashlight bouncing as he ran. We were running faster, though, and I thought that Joel should have gone out for track. It was all I could do to keep up with him. After a few minutes the guard fell behind. Joel kept running long after I would have stopped. A thin branch smacked my face, stinging my cheek. I sucked in my breath. That hurt. My free hand reached up, and I felt blood.
Joel stopped quickly, and I ran into his back. We were both breathing fast. I bent over so I could suck a few deep breathes into my lungs. I rubbed my wrist where Joel had been holding me.
“I think we lost him,” Joel panted.
“I can’t believe we ran away.”
“I don’t think he’ll be able to identify us. It’s dark, and with all the mud, how much could he see? I don’t think he could have gotten a really good look.”
“We should get back, before anyone does a room check.” I couldn’t look directly into his eyes. Before he could reply, I started walking back toward the main part of campus. Joel walked behind me. He was so quiet that I had to fight the urge to turn around and make sure he was really there. That it, he, wasn’t a dream. The whole situation seemed surreal—the statue, the kiss, getting caught. It was as if I had crawled through a portal and ended up in an alternate universe. I wouldn’t have been surprised if a unicorn had wandered past to give us a ride.
When we got back to the dorms, we stood under my window. “If I boost you up onto my shoulders, do you think you can pull yourself in?” Joel asked, looking up to survey the height. “Otherwise we could try tapping on one of the lower windows and seeing if someone will let you in,” he suggested. Both of us knew that option meant involving someone else in what had happened. I quickly decided that the last thing we needed was a witness.
“I think I can do it. Don’t drop me, though, okay?”
“Look, about what happened . . . ,” Joel began.
“It’s no big deal. If the security guard identifies us, I’ll talk to my dad. He can buy a new knight for this place.”
“I didn’t mean the statue.” Joel looked serious; his face was set into hard lines. He wiped a smear of mud off my cheek and saw the cut. His eyebrows drew together in concern. “You’re hurt.”
“It’s nothing. Just a scratch. Don’t worry about it—or, you know, what happened. It didn’t mean anything. Must have been all the endorphins from tearing the arm off that guy. Thrill of the hunt. You hear about that kind of thing happening all the time in battle.” I looked away quickly, and hoped he couldn’t tell that I was blushing.
“Yeah.” Joel’s voice was flat. “It was just an accident. I would never do anything to hurt Tristan. He’s my best friend.”
“I know. I don’t want to hurt him either. Don’t worry. I won’t say anything. We can pretend the whole thing never happened.”
“Is it really