BORROWED [Watty Awards Finalist/NEWLY EDITED!]

Chapter Thirteen

|Skyscrapers|

The mass of Borrowed gather eagerly outside near the gate, watching two buses enter the facility parking lot, stopping with a loud screech from the breaks. Beyond the gate, desert stretches for miles, cities and towns nowhere in sight. I stand off to the side, secluding myself from the elated girls.

"Excited?"

I turn around and find myself staring up at Kyler. "Wish we had more time." My eyes flicker to one of the buses. "Will you be riding with me?"

He nods, partially closing his eyes against the bright sun. "I will be with you the entire time."

"Oh..." I say, my face clearly exuding disappointment as Kyler clears his throat loudly.

"Don't sound too excited." He laughs, brushing his fingers through his cropped hair.

His tanned skin has been kissed by the sun, both his cheekbones rosy from a sunburn. I take note of his eyes, how they're a softer brown today. He catches me staring and smiles. I turn away from him, pinching my arm inconspicuously for being caught.

"They're getting on the buses," I say, hoping to alleviate the awkward moment.

"May I?" he says, holding out his arm.

I shake my head. "This isn't a date, Kyler."

"Who said it was? Apparently you're thinking too far into this, Iris," he teases, giving me a poke in the arm. Rubbing the spot he just touched, I shove him away and walk toward the bus.

"I don't handle rejection well," says Kyler, settling next to me at the back of the bus. He shifts his body to face me, leaning his back against the window. I thought sitting by the isle way would be a nice escape route.

"We can't be friends," I say point blank, staring straight ahead.

"Why?" He grabs my hand. I try to pull away, but fail.

"You know why, stop being this way," I answer, looking around, hoping no one is watching.

I scan the bus, seeing the rest of the Borrowed sitting next to their assigned escort. Some girls stare out the window, too shy to speak, and others chatter, flirting willingly. Maybe the flirtatious girls do this for a reason, one in which I will never understand.

"I'm sorry about your friend," says Kyler, pulling me from my trance. "I tried to get her released today, but if I had tried any further, they would become suspicious of my actions. So, I'm really –"

"I heard you the first time," I butt in, wishing that I had chosen the window seat to get lost in the desert landscape. Kyler looks out the window than back at me.

"Do you want to sit here?"

"I just want..." I stop, contemplating what to say next. "Can we just sit in silence for a while?"

Something in the way he's looking at me changes, like a switch on a lamp – light to no light. Before, he was kind and worried, but now, his eyes have darkened. I examine the way his mouth no longer holds a slight turn upward at the corners. Lips pressed in a tight line, he turns his whole body away from me and stares out the window.

The left side of the bus stirs with Borrowed and Borrowers pressing their faces and hands against the windows, gaping with awe at something on the other side. My curiosity pulls me up, leaning over a short, stout girl's shoulder. She looks up at me in annoyance, rolling her beady eyes.