Chapter Nine

Scrutinise

Scrutinise - examine or inspect closely and thoroughly.

When she awoke to the drizzle the next morning, Kim felt one overriding emotion – confusion. She had gone through such an emotional wringer in the past week that she wasn't at all sure how she felt or what she should do next. Part of her almost looked back wistfully to the previous month when her life had been Jared free and predictable. Life before Jared had been less eventful and felt safer … but it had also been without him and Kim wasn't sure whether she necessarily wanted to go back to her neat little life ...

She walked downstairs and ate her breakfast like a robot, utterly oblivious to her sister's increasingly frantic glances and gestures. Their mom chose to remain out of the situation, after having been given the low down by her husband the previous night and ushered her daughters quickly out of their house. "Designing mode", would undoubtedly be descending once again and she apparently wanted the peace and quiet of her own home to design her latest building.

Lucy got as far as strapping herself in before she unloaded on the robot-like Kim. Her questions flew thick and fast before her sister had even driven down their street and for her part, her older sister merely shrugged, her eyes fixed upon the road. This was thoroughly unsatisfactory to the 14-year-old and she told her sister so.

"You wouldn't have even known Sam Uley was at the door if it hadn't been for me!" she exclaimed as Kim approached the main road.

In the end, (maybe for peace of mind), Kim agreed to give her the lowdown after school and then was finally, mercifully, left alone in her car as Lucy got out, slammed her door and stomped into school. Kim for her part, took a few minutes to gather her scattered thoughts and eventually made herself get out and hurry to Home Room. She made it by two minutes and slunk into the chair next to Ruth. Her best friend raised a curious eye brow and was quick to pass her a folded note.

U ok? Why u so late?

Kim groaned inwardly and knew she'd have to respond.

Major update last night, I'll fill u in at lunch.

What about?

U know who.

OMG! RU serious?

Yes, I'll fill u in at lunch.

Ur not forgiving him ru?

At lunch!

Ruth pulled a face at this last note but nodded. Eventually they were dismissed and Kim hurried away from her BF's curious gaze to hide in Spanish. Of course, it didn't help that Paul seemed to have swapped seats with Hannah Leasling and spent the better part of the period distracting and teasing her (which mostly annoyed Kim, but also slightly cheered her up). She didn't know why but there was something infuriatingly endearing about Paul. He seemed to get a lot of enjoyment in working her up to the point where she wanted to hit him (and increasingly did). He would then make a great show of rubbing his "swore" arm, glaring at her the whole time before sniggering to himself.

By the end of First Period she practically ran to Chem and found a little bit of peace in her next three periods, only having to endure a wave from Embry.

Eventually though, lunch came and she walked as slowly as she dared to the cafeteria, knowing that Ruth was going to give her the grilling of a life time and wishing that she could do her usual library escape. But, after their notes of that morning, she knew that this would not fly with her best friend that day.

Ruth was practically bouncing by the time Kim had sat down. But before she could question her, Kim raised a hand.

"Let me tell it the way I want to," she stated before she took a large bite of sandwich. Ruth nodded reluctantly and Kim then slowly told her of the previous evening's events, up until Sam's offer to take her to meet Emily, at which point Ruth burst out with several exclamations.

"Wait, Sam Uley's on the council? Isn't he like … 22 at the most?"

Kim nodded, "It's weird isn't it? But why would he lie?"

Ruth was an confused as Kim had been. "And that's why Jared stood you up?"

Kim nodded again, "He took me to see Emily who backed everything up and offered to text me in Jared forgets his phone again."

Ruth was still confused, "So … it's all the truth?" Kim shrugged, "There was no bet and his feelings and genuine?" Kim shrugged again and took a large mouthful of carrot to avoid answering. "But … hang on … why are the Council getting involved in the love life of two high schoolers? Why do they care if you think Jared stood you up?"

"Well, he is working for them, and if it's their fault so I guess they're just being fair ..?" Kim suggested.

Ruth still didn't look fully convinced, but a little mollified. "So, I guess we need to call off Kaden then ..?"

Kim nodded for what felt like the hundredth time that afternoon, "Would you? I don't want anyone getting hurt …"

"Who's getting hurt?" They both glanced up to see Jared, Embry and Paul standing above them carrying loaded trays.

Jared looked hopeful, "Are we forgiven? Can we sit down?"

Ruth regarded them thoughtfully for what seemed like an overly long time to Kim before nodding (thing gesture was being wildly overused this lunch time in Kim's opinion). Jared grinned before seating himself next to her.

"Okay, I have to know, how did you losers get jobs with the Council?" Ruth demanded.

Paul smirked, "Excellent genes, sweetheart."

Ruth glared, "Call me sweetheart again, Lahote and it'll be the last time you speak in bass range for a week."

Kim flinched and Jared and Embry laughed as Paul held up his hands in defeat, "Apologies Ruth, I was just trying to loosen you up like Kimmy here, I didn't mean to annoy anyone."

"Why are you at our table?" Kim asked, "I thought you were going to wait until I gave you the all clear."

Embry pointed at Jared, "Your boyfriend, couldn't bear to be parted from you any longer."

Jared flinched at the same time that Kim stated loudly, "He's not my boyfriend!"

Ruth glared at Embry, "Do none of you idiots have a filter?"

Now it was Embry's turn to look embarrassed, "Sorry, I was just trying to answer Kim's question."

Kim sighed, "Fine, Ruth does believe me, though neither of us understand why you guys are working for the Council."

"It's because our families have old tribal blood," Jared explained, "It goes back generations to a really old treaty and only certain families can be employed to do the work."

Ruth looked at him, "So weird," she muttered.

Jared nodded, "I know, we don't get it either, you know? But the Council need us for this work and you don't say no to them, do you?"

For once, Ruth agreed with him. Her Mom was a direct descendant of Taha Aki so she understood better than most. "I get it," she agreed, "I never wanted to let my Nonna down and learnt every dance and song for her. It's a family thing isn't it?"

Jared smiled, "Yeah, you just can't refuse can you?"

Kim found her first smile of that lunch period and internally sighed in relief. She had been dreading having to explain to her friend why she still trusted Jared and very much wanted him and the rest of the strange group in her life.

Eventually, Ruth went off to find Kaden and explain the situation to him, which made Kim feel a great sense of relief and also gave her twenty minutes alone with Jared and the others. It was only once they had moved on to basketball for five minutes that she remembered her Art project and flinched.

"Kim, are you okay?" Jared asked instantly, far too intuitive to Kim's emotions as always.

"I need to finish my art piece for the cultural exhibit this week," she moaned, "I still have to finish the threat in my painting. I always leave the difficult bit until last."

"What threat?" Jared asked.

Kim then went on to describe her art piece, the dark forest clearing and the large wolf-like monster that had lingered just out of sight, only revealed by a pair of glowing yellow eyes. To her surprise, Embry and Paul stopped their conversation to also listen.

"Are you guys interested in art?" she inquired dubiously.

"No," Paul replied immediately, "But I'd like to see the photo. Have you told your dad?"

"No," Kim replied, "My mom thought it was just a raccoon or something. I'd need to go to my locker and find it." In the end, all three boys came along and stared at the photo. Kim also took a look at it before concluding that the eyes couldn't be a raccoon's.

"Look how far they are off the ground," she stated, "It has to be something much bigger."

"Unless it's sitting on a low branch," Jared suggested, "When did you take this?"

Kim shrugged, "About a month ago. I was out with one of the dogs and desperately trying to find inspiration for the project."

All the boys agreed that it was a raccoon and Kim admitted defeat. She was just pondering how long the piece would take to finish when the bell went for English. With a sigh she stuffed the photo back into her locker and followed Jared to their lesson. The rest of the afternoon passed peacefully and she was thrilled to remember she had a spare period Lesson 7.

After forty five minutes, Kim found that she had happily escaped from her turbulent emotions of the day. Writing an essay about narrative voice in To kill a Mockingbird shouldn't have been therapeutic but … it was. Maybe it was the consideration of the authenticity of Scout's perceptions, but Kim couldn't help becoming lost in her ideas as she picked apart Harper Lee's prose. She was just finishing a section describing Calpurnia, when she felt a touch on her shoulder.

To say she jumped was an understatement. Kim flinched so hard that her notebook was knocked to the floor.

"Sorry, sorry," she turned to see Jared picking up the notebook, his cheeks pinking. "I didn't mean to scare you, sorry."

She hid a smile at his confusion, "It's okay, I get very distracted when I become invested in my writing."

He glanced at the notebook, "Lit homework?"

This time it was Kim's turn to turn pink, "I have no excuse, I just find it … interesting."

Jared grinned. "So you're a nerd?"

Kim shrugged, "I guess, about books anyway."

Jared's smile spread, "Well at least I'm not the only one." She glanced at him with such speculation that he laughed. "I have a passion for Marvel," he added, slightly embarrassed himself this time.

Kim's grin was a warm one, "Glad I'm not alone at the nerdy table."

He smirked, "Table for two."

"How are you here?" she asked, "Aren't you supposed to have Gym?"

Jared grinned, "Doctor's appointment, I have to leave school early and wanted to see you before I left. Are you and Lucy hanging out tonight?"

Kim nodded, "We're probably heading to the diner before heading home. I'm going to be painting late."

He nodded, "Send me a pic of the painting when it's done, or better yet, can I come over to see it after school tomorrow?"

Kim considered, "I don't know. I don't usually let people see my art."

He put on a decent impression of a puppy dog expression, "Please Kim?"

She laughed, "You do not play fair, Jared Cameron!"

He laughed, "Never said I did, Kim Connweller."

"You'll have to charm my Mom," she stated, "She thinks you broke her daughter's heart."

Jared looked at little uncertain before the grin returned, "I'm sure she's a reasonable woman. When she's heard the whole back story she'll have to forgive me!"

Kim rolled her eyes, "Well, good luck with that and the doctor."

Jared smiled before leaving her with a squeeze of the shoulder.

Kim shook her head as he left, marvelling at the weird, beautiful boy who seemed to have entered her quiet little world and utterly shaken it up. Privately, she was starting to realise that maybe that might be a very, very good thing!

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Author's note:

They're back on good terms! This isn't going to be the longest story, I'm not sure how many more chapters there will be, but thanks for all the favourites and alerts. Please tell me what you think, I'd love to know what I could improve it a couple of reviews.

Thanks as always,

Breeze.