The Zodiac ✓

chapter ³³

"What are you doing?" Cade asked from behind me. I'd been so busy with my hair that I almost forgot he'd been sleeping.

"Cutting my hair."

"Can I see?"

"Yeah, I just finished."

He walked over to me and his hazel eyes widened at the sight of my new hairstyle when I turned around.

"What do you think?" Gauging his reaction, I added, "You like the bangs?"

"It's, uh, different." He was clearly at a loss for words.

"Is the back even? I'm scared it's lopsided."

"No, you did a good job. What made you cut your hair now?"

I shrugged, "It's hard managing long hair in this place and I wanted a new look. You don't like it, do you?"

He hesitated but didn't meet my eyes, "I didn't not say I didn't like it."

"So does that mean you do or you don't?"

"No, I don't not dislike it."

"Hey," I smacked his arm while letting out a small laugh, "You know I'm not good with triple negatives."

He smiled and tried to sweep my bangs to the side but they shifted back, "I like it. I really do."

"Well, it doesn't matter if you like it or not because it's already done."

"Then it's a good thing I'm telling the truth."

"Ohmygods, you have to get ready for work!" I pushed him backwards and he sighed. As he got dressed, I cleaned up my hair and put it in a trash bag.

"Do you think Thom would notice if we both called out sick?"

"We've been over this everytime you want to sleep in."

"But what if we really sold it?"

"Come on, Cade, we both know he'd come up here and drag us out of our sleeping bags. He made Hunt work in the orchard even though he had a virus, remember?"

"Who's Cade? That's not my name." He looked around the room and I was so tempted to throw my bag of hair at him.

"Sorry, Jaymie. I still don't get why I can't use your real name when we're alone."

"Because we need to get in the habit of using our fake names if we want to have a real life."

"I hate when you're right."

Today I was paired up with Farrah. She was just as private as Gary but at least had more personality than a shoe. Unfortunately, I was stuck doing the same thing as the week before. I tried not to complain but I needed to let it out.

"Have you worked in the quarry before?" She asked as we loaded the large rocks into the wheelbarrow. It was a struggle hauling such heavy rocks up the incline. My back was sore and even though my hands were gloves, they were still dry and cracking.

"It's the only place Thom puts me." It was so unfair. Cade got the easy jobs like fishing and feeding the livestock.

"He only assigns the people strong enough to do this job."

"On one side I'm flattered but on the other I'm kind of mad because my match doesn't have to do manual labor like this."

"If it makes you feel any better, he usually starts you off doing the hard stuff. He likes finding out what you're good at."

"Well, Thom, I've suddenly lost all of my strength and am very terrible at digging rocks!" I was sweating like mad and completely drained.

She cracked a smile, "He can't hear you. Trust me, I've tried."