Tell Me What You Hate About Me

21: Mosquito

Sierra laughed again. "Was that really the reason?"

"Well, I whined until he told me, but he's always trying to make sure I know that he thinks he's better than me." I shook my head. "I'm not stupid. I just don't care about anything except the talisman anymore."

"Well, maybe you should care a little bit about school since that's the reason you're here."

I smiled. "That's funny."

Sierra didn't reply to that. Instead, she sat down on her bed.

I didn't say anything to her. She wasn't going to change my mind, and I wasn't going to change hers.

"You know, instead of hiding what you're really thinking, if you wear your heart on your sleeve, people have fewer blanks to fill in for themselves with whatever information they want. It's easier that way," she said.

"I don't really care how people fill in the blanks of my personality. I know what's true about me," I said and rubbed my thumb over the branched pattern of the talisman. "That's easier than letting everyone in."

Sierra paused, and it was quiet enough in the building that I could hear her sigh. I had heard enough of those to know that she was disappointed in me.

"You want to go see if we can find anything else with the metal detector?" I asked.

"I should probably try to catch up on the material that I missed on the calc quiz," she said.

"The beeping noise when you find something is really satisfying." I smiled. "Come on, Sierra."

"The talisman doesn't like me, remember? Any time I got too close to where you and Jack found it, it rained."

"Then we won't go to the pond. There's nothing else there anyway. We checked," I said.

"Where would we go? People might see us just about anywhere else."

"They wouldn't find us in the woods beyond the pond."

"Can I use the metal detector?"

My heart dropped into my stomach. "What? No."

"Then I'm not going."

"You can use the shovel. That's fun too."

"Shovels don't beep, Lindsay."

For God's sake. "I'm aware of that fact. I just can't afford anything happening to the metal detector."

"You think I'll break it?"

"Well, you do have a history of taking my stuff and refusing to give it back until I specifically ask for it."

Sierra let out a long sigh. "Fine. I'll use the stupid shovel."

"Excellent. We'll stop by Dr. Reed's office first, and then we'll see what we can find."

"Dr. Reed's office? Why do we need to go there?"

"Just to check in probably. I usually just go in there and see if she has anything to tell me, really." I paused. "She only gets mad at me sometimes."

Sierra didn't argue with that, and with the metal detector in an unlabeled box and a trowel hidden in Sierra's jacket, we headed across campus to see Dr. Reed. The door to her office was already open with a smoky smell escaping from it, and I peeked inside to see her sitting at her desk with a cigarette.

"You here with the asthmatic kid?" she asked.

I shook my head. "Nope. Just Sierra."

She put out her cigarette anyway and waved us in. "Shut the door behind you. Ashley from across the hall always gets pissed when I smoke in here."