Chapter 7

Everyone was sitting in the dining hall eating their dinner...everyone except Squib and Adena.

I wonder where they are...Every three seconds Cody was looking at the entrance door hoping to see them come in. At the same time, the last thing she wanted to see was the two of them coming in together. "Hey Cam, do you know where Squib is?"

Cam looked up from his plate and replied with a mouth full of mashed potatoes "yeah, I think he went for a quick hike up to the cliff before dinner. I guess he's running a little behind." Cody sighed a breath of relief. Well at least he's not with Adena.

Rick pushed his way onto the bench, squeezing between Tanis and Cody. "Are you talking about Squib and Adena?" he asked as he placed his tray of food down on the table.

Cody moved down the bench a little bit to give herself some more room. "No" she answered coldly, "no we're not."

Rick didn't seem to notice the atmosphere shift after Cody said this because he went right ahead and blurted out "Oh okay. I saw them walking into the forest about 40 minutes ago". Everyone stopped eating and turned to face Cody and Nate to see their reaction. Cody remained still eating her salad, but Nate got up from the table and took his half eaten dinner tray straight to the trash bin.

"Natester! Where you goin'!" Rick called out after him.

Nate focused his eyes on the ground and said quietly "I'm not hungry anymore." And turned around and walked out of the dining hall.

Minutes later Squib and Adena burst into the hall and ran straight for the dinner buffet. "Oh my God! I'm so freaking hungry right now. Why the shit did I let you take me on that walk? To think I could have missed out on these beautiful mashed potatoes." Squib said as he scooped as much food as he could on his tiny tray.

Adena just rolled her eyes. "You know..." she said as she looked over at all her friends plus Cody sitting at a table, "I'm not very hungry. I think I'm going to go read in my cabin" and she walked out the door.

Cameron's jaw dropped. "Holy shit! Did you know that Adena could read? Why didn't anyone ever tell me this? Tanis did you know that Adena could read?" Tanis eyed him carefully and then punched him in the arm.

"You're an idiot Cameron." The whole table minus Cody said in unison.

In Cabin H, Nate sat on his bed flipping through the latest McSweeney's issue while listening to "Something of Value" by Yellowcard on his Discman.

There was a quiet knock on the door as Adena poked her head into Nate's cabin. "Hey dude" she said as she stood in his door way.

Nate shot up pulling his headphones out of his Discman. "Adena..." He said quietly. He couldn't believe she was there. What happened to her and Squib? I bet she's here to tell me that they're going out or some shit. God I'm so stupid! Why did I think I could ever be good enough...His mind was going crazy.

Adena walked over and sat on his bed motioning him to sit down next to her. She picked up his Discman and laughed – "Seriously? You still have a Discman? It's the 21st century!" Then she popped the CD Player open and looked at what he was listening to. She nodded in approval "Yellowcard's One for the Kids album. Not bad Bates."

Nate sat down cautiously. Why couldn't she just come out with it? She's torturing me. "Uh yeah. They were one of my favourite bands when I was at my old school."

Adena continued to look at the CD. "I was never really a huge fan of their newer stuff. But my favourite song of theirs is definitely Cigarette". She began humming the song softly to herself.

"Listen. Adena, I'm really sorry about what happened. I had no idea..." Adena put her hand in the air.

"No, Nate listen – I really like you. But I think it's better if we're just friends right now" she took Nate by the hand and gave it a quick squeeze. Nate shook his head furiously as Adena got up to leave.

"You're wrong you know" He said without looking up. Adena turned around to face him. Nate lifted his head slowly and made eye contact. "That thing about just being friends; it's not better. There is something special between us and you know it. You're just scared of it." He stood up and took a couple steps closer to her, "I will wait for you".

Adena smiled, "if you will wait for me".