When I got there I wasn't quite paying attention to where I was going, and considering the fact that Odd didn't have his phone I couldn't just call to ask which part of the forest he was in. I sort of just wandered around, scanning the path. The shadows and eerie sounds of the insects and night birds always tended to make me a bit paranoid. My mind was wandering in that direction so when I suddenly heard a twig snap behind me I spun around, raising my foot up to kick the intruder. I managed to send Odd stumbling backwards. He fell on his ass and I lowered my foot.
"Oh, shit!" I exclaimed. "Sorry about that, Odd. Are you okay?" I asked him, helping him up.
He shook his head, "I'm fine Actually I'm glad you're alert. I know how creepy it can be out here at night. Besides, I kind of deserved it… I need to tell you something."
"You know I didn't kick you on purpose… well yeah the kick was on purpose but if I had known it was you I wouldn't have done it…" I rambled. "Anyway, what's wrong?"
"I didn't go to see Yumi to help her with a project," he started and I cocked my head, confused. "I met with someone. She made Yumi call me over or she would have come to Kadic to find me."
"Who?" I asked, getting worried.
"An ex-girlfriend of mine," he stated and I was even more confused.
"Someone who doesn't go to Kadic?" I asked. He shook his head.
"She lives in the south of France and her family can't afford for her to come to Kadic so she goes to a public school system down there. Anyway, she is in Yumi's grade and she was at her school today for a sports competition and started talking to Yumi and demanded to see me. She can be a bit possessive so Yumi agreed, figuring it would probably be best if she didn't come to Kadic," Odd explained. "Anyway, she kind of ambushed me when I got there. She started by acting like we were still together and when I told her I'm dating another girl she kissed me and acted as if that would make me change my mind."
I stopped him, "and you let her kiss you? And Yumi let her kiss you?"
"No! Yumi for one wasn't even in the room. I pushed her off me but she wouldn't let me leave. Yumi finally came back in and told Sam that her bus back home was leaving so I could escape. I feel so bad about it..."
I was silent for a minute; I wasn't sure what to make of this. He neer told me about any non-kadic girls. He told me he dated every girl in our grade at school, but never an older girl from the south of France. Should I be mad? Sad? "You knew you were going to see her?" I asked him. "When you left the studio?"
He nodded, "Yes. I didn't want you to worry."
I felt like I wanted to kick him again, "you wanted to see her," I concluded. "And whether or not you feel bad about it, you still lied to me… After we promised to stay completely honest with each other."
"I know. Like I said, I felt really bad about it… and I decided right away to tell you about it. Does that count for anything?"
I thought about that. "Yes, I guess so… but to be honest, I'm still kind of hurt… how serious were you two?"
"We dated on and off for about a year. I knew her through skateboarding and music and we went to some of the same concerts and competitions. She almost got me expelled in 8th grade because she wanted to steal a school laptop, and then she jeopardized a mission by not passing a note from Ulrich to me because she wanted me to herself. After that I decided she was just too much trouble so I stopped the relationship. She's not one to take no for an answer though," he told me and I nodded.
"Well, next time she's in town, I'd like to talk to her. Maybe she'll lay off if she sees how much I care about you," I said with optimism. "And I might kick her ass if she tries kissing you again. Only I'm allowed to do that," I said and did just that.
"We're still okay, right?" Odd asked nervously.
"Always okay," I said to him. I wasn't totally okay just yet but I was really glad that he came to me right away. "Let's go back to Kadic and do some studying, I don't know about you but that physics test tomorrow has me worried."
"Really? You got a higher grade than Jeremie, Herve, and Aelita in physics last year. I'm pretty sure you could almost teach the class yourself," Odd said as we started walking back to the school together.
"I want to keep it that way," I said cheerfully.
"Such a nerd," Odd said, sounding fake disappointed. "I thought I'd shaken that out of you by now but I guess not."
"You definitely got a B on the last test we took," I retorted with a laugh. "I think I'm having more of an effect on your academic lifestyle than you're having on mine."