Chapter 21: Bloodthirsty Little Red Riding Hood
The School Library
"Something wrong?"
Juno asked casually, glancing down at the large book open in front of her.
"Ha." Adam had been watching from the corner of his eye and laughed awkwardly. His reason was telling him to let it go. His curiosity had other ideas. "Why are you reading a medical textbook?"
"Interest." Juno looked up with a slight smile. "Maybe we'll both end up as doctors someday."
"We?"
Adam's expression shifted.
"Isn't that the plan?" Juno's eyes crinkled. "Becoming a doctor — isn't that your goal?"
"How did you know that?"
He had never told anyone. Not one person.
"I guessed," Juno said, blinking innocently.
Adam stared at her.
"Okay, honestly." She tilted her head. "I'm good at observing people. You know how it is."
He did know, actually. That was the problem.
She had almost certainly been watching him long before she'd ever spoken to him. He hadn't told anyone about his plans, but he hadn't been particularly careful about hiding his research either — medical school requirements, target universities, prerequisite coursework. If someone was paying close enough attention, the picture wasn't that hard to assemble.
Juno was always paying close enough attention.
Adam forced a neutral smile and looked back down at his textbook.
"Aren't you curious why I'm reading this particular one?" Juno pushed the medical book directly in front of him.
Adam looked at the page it was open to and immediately wished he hadn't.
It was a surgical diagram. Detailed, step-by-step, and absolutely not from any introductory text.
"That's not a beginner's book," he said carefully.
"It's not that advanced either," Juno said cheerfully. "Plenty of people around the world learn procedures like this without any formal training. Don't you think there's something kind of fascinating about it?"
"Fascinating isn't the first word I'd use."
"Think about it practically," Juno continued. "Wilderness survival, first aid, emergency response — these are exactly the kinds of skills organizations like the Boy Scouts should be teaching. Self-sufficiency is important. And honestly, boys especially should know how to look after themselves. There are a lot of strange people out there."
Adam nodded slowly, and quietly shifted his chair a few inches to the left.
If the daily wisdom points weren't so valuable, he would have been significantly further away by now.
Juno was impressive. Genuinely, remarkably impressive. She could also, on a fairly regular basis, make his skin crawl a little. Both of those things were true simultaneously.
After the final bell, the school split into its after-school routines — sports teams out to the fields, clubs gathering in their rooms, the general population dispersing toward buses and bikes.
Adam, Juno, Emmett, and Sheldon were heading toward the parking lot to ride back to the Duncan house for band practice when someone stepped into their path.
Gretchen. Sports car keys in hand, looking like she'd walked off a magazine cover.
"Hey, Gretchen!" Emmett materialized at the front of the group instantly.
"Hey." Gretchen gave him a brief, polite glance, then looked directly at Adam with a full smile. "Want to come over?"
"Did you think it over?" Adam said.
Sheldon looked confused. Juno's expression shifted sideways in a way that was hard to read. Emmett looked like a man who had been personally wronged.
"I did," Gretchen said, nodding.
The previous night, Adam had been straightforward with her about where he stood on relationships. She hadn't loved hearing it. She'd spent most of the night annoyed about it, actually. But somewhere between midnight and morning, something had shifted. She'd started thinking about what he'd said rather than just reacting to it.
She'd come to a conclusion. Vanity was a limited game. There were more interesting things available to her if she was willing to reach for them.
Studying, for instance, might actually be one of them.
"I've got band practice," Adam said, glancing at her sports car parked at the school gate. "Later works better."
He said it pleasantly but clearly. Getting into that car in front of the entire school was not something he was going to do.
Gretchen's expression flickered for exactly one second, then reset into a smile. She turned, walked to the car, opened the door, and said over her shoulder: "I'll be waiting."
She drove off.
Emmett watched the car disappear and then turned to Adam with an expression of profound grievance. "You did nothing, and she's inviting you over. What exactly happened last night?"
"I'm tutoring her," Adam said.
Emmett stared at him. "Tutoring."
"Yes."
"Gretchen Venus. Whose family owns half the real estate in this county. Needs tutoring."
"People change," Adam said seriously. "I didn't used to care about school either. She wants to make an effort and we should support that."
"That is absolute nonsense," Emmett said. "She is into you. Everyone within a hundred yards can see it. Nobody on earth is buying the tutoring story."
"I believe him," Juno said, pleasantly.
"Thank you." Adam nodded at her and started walking toward his bike. "Band practice, everyone. Let's not waste the afternoon."
Emmett fell in beside Juno as Adam rode ahead.
"You don't actually believe him," Emmett said.
"There are many kinds of courses," Juno said easily. "American high schools offer quite a variety."
Emmett thought about this for a moment.
"That is not what I meant and you know it," he said.
Juno smiled and kept walking.
End of Chapter 21
[Reader Support Milestones]
500 Power Stones → +1 Chapter
10 Reviews → +1 Chapter
Enjoyed the read? Leave a review.
20+advanced chapters on P1treon Soulforger