We're outside the main building after lectures, Hayden, Mason, Miles and myself are sprawled across the steps. Mason’s eating something out of a paper bag that he won't share with anyone. Miles is pretending to read something on his phone and failing because he keeps looking up to respond to things. Hayden is beside me, close enough that his arm is pressed against mine, his legs stretched out in front of him, and his head tilted back slightly in the sun.
He looks relaxed today. The last few days he’s looked stressed. I noticed he's been quieter. I haven't said anything, but I’ve noticed. Right now, in this moment, he looks like himselfthan he has done for so long. He looks like the boy I loved before all of this ugliness happened. So, much has changed with his life, and I want to know everything.
"I'm just saying," Mason says, pointing at Miles with whatever he's eating. "If you had to fight one of us, who would you pick?"
"I wouldn't fight any of you," Miles says without looking up.
"Hypothetically."
"Hypothetically, I still wouldn't, because I'm not an idiot."
"Olivia." Mason turns the point to me. "Who would you fight?"
"Out of the four of us?"
"Yeah."
I look at Hayden. He raises an eyebrow, waiting.
"Miles," I say.
Miles looks up from his phone in shock. "Excuse me?"
"You seem like you'd be reasonable about it."
"That's—" He pauses. "I don't know if that's an insult or a compliment."
"Little bit of both."
Mason chuckles, and Hayden's mouth twitches. He reaches over without looking and tucks my hair back where the wind has pushed it across my face.
"What about you?" I ask him. "Who would you pick?"
"Mason," he says.
"Bold," Mason says, not even slightly offended. "I respect it."
"You'd be easier to feel bad about afterward."
"That's—" Mason stops. "Wait, is that an insult?"
"Little bit of both," Hayden jokes.
From what Hayden has told me, Mason is the one who doesn’t care when he has to fight. Even said I should watch him fight, just so I can see for myself.
I glance over at the other students going about their day, and then I see Jen walking this way. I’ve not seen her since Hayden and I’ve been got together, mostly because I’ve been trying to stay out of her way.
She's crossing the courtyard toward us. She's looking directly at Hayden with an expression I can't quite read from here, and then her gaze slides to me and I can read it perfectly.
Oh crap, she’s coming for me right now.
"Jen," he says.
She stops a few feet away. "Hayden." She glances between us. "Didn't realize you'd be out here." Then, to me, like an afterthought, "Hi."
"Hi," I say.
"Olivia, right?" She tilts her head and smirks at me, she damn well knows my name. "I've heard about you." A small pause, loaded. "Everyone has, I think. Hard not to, given the history."
