The Resurrection of Aubrey Miller(11)

I roll my eyes so hard it hurts. I have no idea why he’s focusing on me so much. This freak getup is supposed to frighten people, not invite inquiry. Unfortunately with him, it seems to be having the opposite effect.
“I don’t have one,” I remark. “I skipped orientation.”
“So you need one then?” For once, his face is devoid of any sarcasm or laughter. Sincerity laces his expression as he rests his elbows on the table and leans forward, clasping his hands together in front of him.
I, however, have sarcasm coursing through my veins instead of blood. “Um, not really. I own a map and possess a brain. I can figure it out on my own.”
Not even remotely fazed, Kaeleb reaches his hand across the table. “Let me see your schedule.”
“What? No.” My face scrunches and I shake my head.
“YES! Do it Raven! We can all tour the campus together and plan out our schedules tomorrow!” Quinn screeches from beside me. Leaning far away, I stick my finger in my ear, wiggling back and forth a bit to try to lessen the pain of my now bleeding eardrum, while giving her a hesitant, wide-eyed stare.
Kaeleb, of course, just laughs.
Quinn’s face falls a bit with disappointment, forcing an incomprehensible emotion into my cold, dead heart known by others as caring. Dislodging my finger from my ear, I hold my palm up to her face before responding, “Okay. But, please…don’t scream.” She nods and claps, but makes no sound.
Scooping the handle of my backpack into my hand, I fling it onto my lap and open the second pocket to produce my schedule before handing it over to Kaeleb. I can feel Quinn as she eagerly bounds up and down next to me and I swear she’s about to explode as she attempts to contain her excitement. Without the release of a scream, I’m actually afraid she might.
Kaeleb casually peruses the paper and I’m a bit surprised when his eyes widen a fraction once he’s finished. It’s slight, probably not even noticeable to most, but I saw it. He hands the paper back to me and I immediately turn it in my hands to read over it again.

Peering back at him over the top of the paper in my hands, I ask, “What’s with the face?”
The corners of his mouth dip down slightly. “What face?”
“You made a face.” The heels of my hands hit the table as I lower the schedule completely so I can get a better view of him while he stares blankly back at me.
The standoff lasts a couple of seconds before he relents. “The Elements of Trust course threw me a bit, I guess. I wasn’t planning on knowing anyone in there.”
Surprised, my head jerks back. “You’re in that class? With me?”
He raises his hand and cups his jaw, running his fingers back and forth along the base of his stubble as he stares at the table. Once he lifts his head, our eyes meet and he grins.
“Yet another irony.” He releases a light-hearted laugh. “A trust-based course in which you’re forced to depend on random peers to ensure your safety while attempting death-defying, extremely dangerous activities.”
Clearing his face, Kaeleb leans across the table and his eyes fill with defiance as he once again drops his voice to a low whisper. “I guess, in essence, one could say that I will have to trust you with my life. Interesting turn of events, don’t you think?”
Cue annoyingly perfect smile.
After his point is made he stands quickly, the seat screeching across the floor as he rises and then steps away from the table, leaving me alone with Quinn and the realization that Linda absolutely screwed me when she made me sign up for the stupid course.
And although I’m rendered speechless, I make sure to mentally document twenty IOUs to the swear jar as I silently curse her in my head.


Chapter Six

The curses against Linda are mounting today, which will be my fifth time attending the Elements of Trust class.
The classes started off harmless enough. Eye contact exercises, proximity awareness, trust leans as a group, but today…today is no simple task for me.
Rappelling.
Are you kidding me?
And with Kaeleb as my anchor?
Dr. Palmer has f*cking lost his mind.
Oh, Dr. Martin Palmer. Plump and bearded Palmer. He seems to be genuinely caring as he guides me through the various activities. His kind blue eyes are always watching my interactions with the students, and it almost seems as though he’s monitoring me for some reason. Maybe I’m paranoid, but it feels as if he shows more interest in me than the others.
Or maybe it’s my freakish appearance that he’s drawn to.
Or the neon yellow contacts I’ve been sporting this past week.
Who knows? For whatever reason, it doesn’t really seem to bother me.
But today, I’m seriously questioning his sanity.
“Come on, Raven! Open your eyes! You need to see your progress!” Palmer shouts from about five-hundred feet below. Okay, not really. I don’t know how high I am because my eyes are sealed shut and my breathing is panicked as I hesitantly take a step and lower myself down the wall.
“Yeah, Raven!” Kaeleb yells. “I’m sure you can see the mountains from up there!”
My voice is shaky as I rappel a little further. “Shut up, Kaeleb.”
His laughter bellows from below me. “Just wait until we do the Leap of Faith!”
My body shivers with the thought of standing on a f*cking telephone pole and jumping off with nothing other than a cable and the people holding onto that cable to provide me safety. I can’t believe I let Linda talk me into this shit.
“Am I almost done?” I ask, sliding the rope between my hands and pushing off. I think I just flew down about ten feet.