Wicked Hunger

Wicked Hunger Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Traitorous Mouth

Zander hands me the drinks with barely a word and walks away. Not far, but far enough that I can’t hear anything he’s saying. It doesn’t stop me from seeing the odd expression on his face. Troubled would be an understatement. He’s trying to hide it, but I know my brother too well. No doubt Ivy is the source of his strangled mood.

“Are you going to give me one of those, or what?” Ketchup says.

I jump at the sound of his voice. I hadn’t noticed that he’d come up behind me. Without taking my eyes off Zander and Ivy, I hold his soda out to him. He takes it with a grumble, which I ignore. My attention is focused on my brother. He held her hand half an hour ago, but now he is back to keeping his distance. An impenetrable buffer of at least three feet separates them at all times.

“Your slushy is melting.”

Annoyed, I turn and glare at Ketchup.

“What? It is,” he says. “What’s your deal with Ivy anyway? One minute you’re ready to punch her teeth out, the next you’re chatting with her at lunch.”

I look around the area, and ask, “Where is Laney?”

“She got mad that I wasn’t listening to her and went to get some nachos.” Ketchup shrugs, showing how little Laney's whereabouts mean to him. That’s one thing he and Zander have in common. Neither one of them can stand talking to Laney for more than five minutes.

“Maybe I should go find her,” I say. I turn toward the concession line, but before I can get a good look, Ketchup hooks his arm around my shoulder and jerks me to his side. I look up at him, startled. “Ketchup, what was that for?”

Just then, a few of Zander’s teammates plow through the crowd like a pack of wildebeests. Not a one of them are paying attention to what’s in front of them. They knock a few others down as they charge forward. When I look back at Ketchup, he smirks at me. “You’re welcome.”

Throwing his arm off my shoulder, I wrinkle my nose at him and stalk over to a suddenly vacant bench to sit down. Ketchup follows, of course. He plops down on the bench and leans against the fence as he takes a drink. I do the same. The lightly carbonated slushy tickles my throat as it slides down. Usually it can make me smile, but not now. Not with Zander and Ivy chatting it up like everything is normal.

“I’ve seen you do some cool stuff, Van, but I seriously doubt Ivy is going to spontaneously burst into flames just because you keep glaring at her,” Ketchup says.

That thought brings a smile to my face. Ketchup laughs and elbows me in the side playfully. “Really, what do you have against Ivy?”

I’m about to burst with the need to talk to someone about Ivy. I’ve tried handling it all on my own, keeping the details and possibilities straight. There’s just too much going on to keep everything separate and orderly. When Noah and I were talking between classes, I tried telling him some of my concerns about Ivy, but he thought I was just being overprotective. I can’t keep this all to myself anymore. Ketchup stuck by me when I started talking about strange, phantom tastes. I cross my fingers that he won’t bail on me after this.

“I think Ivy is hiding something, and I think Zander is going to get hurt because of it.”

Ketchup’s eyebrows rise as he takes another long draw from his soda. His lips slide off the straw thoughtfully, drawing my attention. I turn away from him quickly. “You think she’s playing Zander?” he asks.