You Are the Shell to My Tortoise | ✓

58

"Hey! No running in the hallways!" someone—probably a teacher—yelled, but then we turned a corner, and the rest of his shouting became mostly unintelligible.

"I don't want to talk!"

"Why? At least give me a reason!" I was full-out sprinting now, and I'd never been more thankful that my stamina had increased so much over the past several months. "Nolan!"

"Quit shouting!" His voice was hushed and angry, but I simply rolled my eyes.

"Why? You act like you can't hear me when I'm trying to talk to you normally, anyway!" I continued, undaunted by the looks other people were giving us. "You totally ignored me all day!"

"Maybe I was doing that because I wanted you to leave me alone!" He wasn't exactly doing a fantastic job of keeping his voice down, either.

"Yeah, but why? I just want to talk to you!"

We raced past classroom doors, hurtled down the stairs, and sprinted past several locker sections.

My lungs were burning, and my legs were aching. I was almost out of gas, but Nolan hadn't broken a sweat yet.

We turned the last corner before the main building entrance. I noticed him picking up the pace even further. There was no way I could keep going like he obviously could. If I didn't do something fast, he would leave me in the dust.

"At least hear what I have to say!" I yelled, and then I reached out and grabbed his arm with both hands.

My feet stuttered on the ground for the next few seconds as he inadvertently pulled me along, but Nolan soon slowed to a stop.

"What are you doing?!" He stared at my hands with wide eyes, which was the most reaction I'd gotten out of him all day.

"If you want to continue running, you're going to have to drag me along!"

Despite not glancing around, I could sense eyes on me. Murmurs floated down the hallway, but my focus on Nolan made it difficult to make out any of them. We were probably causing a huge commotion in the foyer, and I absolutely didn't care.

If this was what would get Nolan to slow down, then I'd take it.

"Are you insane? All of this, just to talk to me?!" he whispered, scowling hard at me.

"It's not like I had a choice," I said, returning his scowl with an equally fierce glower. "Up until five minutes ago, you were acting like I didn't exist!"

"Then you should've taken the hint!"

The urge to pull at my hair was overwhelming. "What is wrong with you? We were fine just a few days ago, and now you're treating me like I'm your enemy!"

"Because a few days ago you—" He drew a deep breath and peeled my fingers off his arm. "You want to talk, fine. As long as it gets you off my back."

The words stung, but I stubbornly refused to let it show on my face. "Fine! If you still don't want to talk to me after that, that's fine by me too!"

If I was being honest, that wasn't alright for me, but I couldn't exactly force him to stay my friend.

"Fine," he said stonily.

Without giving a second glance at our little audience comprised of captivated and nosy schoolmates, Nolan turned around and practically stomped down the hallway. I followed him, trying not to give too much thought to the giant upheaval in my stomach.

We walked and walked until he eventually led me up to the same staircase landing where I'd confronted him about entering the forest several months ago.