I blushed, looking down at the floor. “I do not.”
Grace rolled her eyes. “You know you can’t lie to me.”
“Fine. Maybe I like him a little bit.” It felt odd that I finally admitted it out loud to someone. And who better than Grace? I knew she’d never say anything to anyone and she probably would have some good advice.
She clapped her hands together. “I knew it!”
I pushed the checkers off of the board and started putting the game away. “I wouldn’t get so excited about it. It’s not like he has the same feelings.”
Grace leaned in close. “Are you freaking blind? He’s always staring at you. And whenever you’re around, he always tries to find an excuse to talk to you.”
I put all of the checker pieces in the box and closed the lid. “That doesn’t mean he likes me,” I began, “He does that same stuff with a lot of the girls around here too.” Colin never struck me as a loyal type of guy. He was way too charming and did way too much flirting with other girls.
Grace stood up and extended her hand to me. “You still don’t get it, do you?”
I took her hand and stood up. “No. I don’t. And besides, why would he want someone like me? There are girls that are way prettier than me down here.”
We walked toward the door and hung a left. Grace’s families quarters were right across from the infirmary—which was on the other side of the mess hall. Grace nodded toward me. “I think you underestimate yourself, Georgie. You’re a lot prettier than you think you are.”
I smiled. “Thanks.”
Grace went on, “And I also think Colin flirts with those girls to get your attention.”
My mind went back to the time I caught him with Ana. He didn’t seem like he was trying to get my attention. He acted like I interrupted him. “Maybe.” I wasn’t going to disagree with her. Even though I knew what she was saying wasn’t true, I didn’t feel like talking about Colin anymore. All I wanted to do was go back to my room and get some sleep.
After I said goodbye to Grace, I walked back to my room, lost in my own thoughts. The meeting still loomed in the back of my mind, but I’d blocked it out thinking of Colin. Damn him. He was always distracting me.
I couldn’t help but let my worry drown me. People like Grace were fine with being kept in the dark about certain things. But not people like me. I had to know what was going on. Perhaps it would have been better if Frankie would have kept her mouth shut and not said anything at all.
Out of nowhere, I felt an arm wrap around my waist. I opened my mouth to scream, but before I could even utter a squeal, a warm, moist hand covered it. I couldn’t get a look at my attacker. They came at me from behind. In attempt to free myself, I extended my arm back and elbowed the person in the face. Whoever it was, growled out in pain as they pulled me into a dark room.
The person shoved me backwards, slamming me into the cold, damp dirt wall. Breath caught in my lungs as I felt the wind being knocked right out of me. I flapped my arms wildly, trying to slap the person away. Keeping my mouth covered, they pressed their body into mine. I reached out, hands sliding up their shirt, feeling the muscled torso of a man.
A match sparked and Colin brought it to his face as he grinned. “You’ve got spunk, Georgina. I like that about you. ”
I shoved him backwards as the match went out. “Colin! You jerk! What the hell were you thinking, sneaking up on me like that?” My emotions were torn. Part of me wanted him to hold me and another part of me wanted to slap him across the face.
He hovered over me, arms placed on the wall above my head. “Hey now, you’re not the one who got elbowed in the face.”
I raised my voice. “I thought you were attacking me!”
He looked over his shoulder. “Keep it down, nobody can hear this conversation.”
I ducked from underneath his arms. “I don’t want to be a part of this conversation.” I headed straight for the doorway.
Colin caught me by the wrist and pulled me back toward the wall. “You’re going to want to hear this,” he murmured, his deep voice hushed.
I glowered. “You sound awfully sure of yourself. What’s the topic of this conversation?”
He leaned in close, his warm breath caressing my ear. His lips being only an inch away from my neck made my spine tingle. “The meeting.”
“Oh yeah,” I snapped. “What about it?”
“You know how you said you had a terrible feeling about it?”
“Yeah, so?”
“You were right. It’s going to be bad.”