Chapter 5
I stopped in my tracks in the middle of the parking lot.
“Are you coming, or what?” Kaden called out, annoyed, as he unlocked his Jeep.
That’s right. His Jeep. This guy owned a huge, brand spanking new, steel gray Jeep Wrangler.
As Kaden started it up, the motor roared so loudly that I flinched.
I ran around to the passenger seat and was barely inside when Kaden drove off and turned onto the main street.
“There are CDs in the glove compartment,” he said.
I didn’t need any encouragement in that department, and I was amazed at what I found there. There were some groups I didn’t recognize, but I also found a few of my absolute favorites.
It almost felt like a test: Could I find the right soundtrack for our road trip? I continued rummaging through his collection until I found a few burned CDs at the bottom of the pile.
“What’s this K-Mix?” I asked grinning, and held up a disc whose cover was decorated with hearts.
I regretted it immediately. For a split second there was a bitter look on Kaden’s face. But just as fast, his emotion disappeared and I was looking at a hard, impenetrable mask.
“Take it out and give it to me,” he said, strangely calm.
I swallowed hard and did as he asked, though I didn’t feel so good about it. In the blink of an eye he’d cracked and broken the CD with one hand. Then he threw the fragments on the backseat.
I guessed a former girlfriend had given him this heart-covered CD.
“Now that you’ve let your anger out, we can listen to this one,” I offered after a concerned pause. I held out my favorite album by Thirty Seconds to Mars.
He took it from me without looking and shoved it into the narrow slit in the CD player. I hit play on one of my favorite songs.
As the tune came on, I felt Kaden’s eyes on me again. “I took you for a Taylor Swift fan right away, but you don’t look like someone who still listens to Thirty Seconds to Mars.”
For a moment I returned his intense stare before I turned my head and looked out the window again. The landscape was too beautiful to miss. The weather was perfect: Sunlight streamed between the peaks of the nearby mountains and bathed everything in bright light. “Someone like you should know that prejudices are to be enjoyed at your own risk.”
He emitted a sound not unlike a grunt. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I am pretty sure that people sometimes don’t see you as you are. People tend to draw hasty conclusions.”
“Including you, right?” asked Kaden. Now I had to look at him again.
One arm lay casually on the edge of the open window; his eyes were fixed on the road ahead. With his baseball cap on, he looked like a different person.
“What do you mean?” I asked, interested. I’d always judged people by their appearance before. This kind of superficial behavior was the norm in my parents’ circles. But since I’d arrived in Woodshill, I’d been trying to kick this habit.
“You took one look at my tattoos and right away wrote me off as a bad boy,” he reminded me, and turned his baseball cap around so the visor was in back.
“Whatever,” I answered. “I didn’t do that because of your tattoos, but because you have such a strong presence,” I explained.
The corner of Kaden’s mouth twitched. “I have what kind of presence?”
“Come on, Kaden.” I raised one eyebrow snidely and turned to look out the window again. Jared Leto was singing about the truth running free, and as usual his voice gave me goose bumps. The music got under my skin.
“No, really. What do you mean?”
I sighed. “I’m not going to smear anyone with honey if they don’t need it.”
Now he laughed. It was a deep laugh, and mingled with the music.
We spent the rest of the trip in amicable silence. It was nice to see more of Woodshill. At some point the road became less even, and thick trees lined our way. Kaden stopped in a parking place whose sign revealed that several hiking trails ended here.
Kaden had put on his sunglasses. He held a plastic bottle in his right hand. Great. Apparently he was allowed to bring things along.
I hopped out of the car and buried my hands into the pockets of the sweater.
I looked around and ran to check out the signs on the wooden hut, to get some orientation. I probably wouldn’t need this, since I was with an experienced guide, but it couldn’t hurt to look.
“Should we take this route?” I asked and pointed to a blue line that was one of the easier trails. I turned toward Kaden, but was already on his way.
“Hey!” I shouted after him.
He’d started out on a trail and was a few yards ahead. I looked back at the map and then back to him. “Where are you going? We have to decide which trail to take!”
Kaden ignored my question. “Less talking, more walking,” was his response.
Of course it was asking too much to choose a beginners’ trail where I could introduce myself to mountain hiking and get in shape. No, Kaden had to go full steam ahead on a path with an estimated 100 percent gradient. I was already having problems keeping up with him—though there weren’t even fifty yards between us. By the time I made it, I had already slipped a few times. I really would need good hiking boots if I wanted to do this more often.
“Which route are we taking now?” I held my hand up to block the blinding sun from my eyes.
“Now? We’re staying on the black trail,” he answered. He wasn’t out of breath at all. Of course not.
The sun and the steep slope made me sweat, and with each step I regretted more and more that I’d always rejected cardio training.
“The black route wasn’t the easy one, was it?” I asked as I tried to keep up. Goodness, the guy must have motors in his hiking boots.
“The blue route is for seniors.” There was something disturbing in his tone. “Now stop blabbing and get a move on, Bubbles.”
Bubbles? I ignored the stupidest nickname of all time, and stopped. “This is the hardest route, isn’t it?”
Kaden turned around to face me, but kept on walking—backward. I kind of hoped he’d trip over a stone and roll back down the mountain. That was the only thing that came to mind when I saw his mean grin. “Less talking, more walking,” he said again, turning back to face uphill.
My prayers were not heard.
I had no idea how long we were hiking.
At some point Kaden had left the marked trail. When I looked at him questioningly, he just said, “Trust me, it’ll be worth it.”
Trust me. Not funny.
I would never do anything with him again. Never. Again.
He led me over the nastiest roots and thickest undergrowth. I fell twice, and he didn’t offer to help.
“You’re almost there,” came Kaden’s voice from about two years above.
He’d been saying this off and on for the last couple of hours. And I didn’t believe him this time, either. I was so upset that the only thing that kept me going was the idea of pushing him off a cliff once we reached the top.
I shifted my weight and pulled myself up on a massive boulder. When I made it, I gasped for breath. For God’s sake: This was it. Covered in sweat, I sat on the rock and was about to lean back to stretch my painful muscles when Kaden grabbed me under the arms and lifted me to my feet again. I wobbled for a second before he turned me around and guided me a few steps farther.
And then, breathing suddenly became unimportant.
I grabbed Kaden’s arm, because I suddenly felt so incredibly small.
Below us lay the world.
No image on the Internet could have captured this view. We were so high up on the mountain that we could look down on the huge treetops.
I took a deep breath and felt only one thing: clarity.
Up here the only sound was the light rustling of branches, the chirping of crickets and birds. It was so … peaceful.
At this moment I could not only imagine the freedom that I’d been longing for—I felt like I had achieved it, like it was filling me. The energy of life tingled through my body; I didn’t even feel my muscles ache anymore. A slight breeze tickled the ends of my hair. I was breathless.
“You’re not going to start sniffling again, are you?” Kaden asked with a hint of disgust.
I couldn’t answer. I had no words. Even my fantasy of pushing Kaden off the mountain had melted away. Instead, I released his arm and wiped my eyes with the sleeve of the sweater. It took a few seconds before my voice returned. “The sun is just blinding me.”
“It’s okay,” he said. He settled down on the rock behind me.
Carefully, I did the same, leaning back on my stretched out arms.
“The first time I came up here, I was just as blown away.”
“Did you get sun in your eyes, too?” I joked.
Kaden snorted. “In case you forgot, I’m a man.”
“Oh, really?”
“You mean you didn’t figure that out yet?” Kaden’s voice was so close to my ear that I could feel the warmth of his breath. Startled, I opened my eyes as he added, “Do you need proof?”
His sonorous voice triggered my goose bumps again; it had nothing to do with feeling cold. I swallowed hard. He was so close now that I could see every wrinkle around his eyes and the turn of his lips as he smiled.
“Is that what you always do up here? Give girls proof?” I asked and looked away. Damn Kaden, with his damn presence and his damn confusing comments.
“I’ve only ever been here with Ethan and Spencer. This was just your entrance exam,” he explained, sinking back on his elbows. He tipped his head back and turned his face toward the sun.
“And?” I asked, wrapping my arms around my knees.
He raised his chin a little. “And what?”
“Did I pass the test?”
Kaden’s expression was impenetrable. “I don’t know yet.”
We sat in silence for a while, and I let the beautiful view over the valley sink into me. I was proud of myself. Not just because I’d made it up the mountain, but in general. Because I’d made it to where I’d wanted to be for so long. This outing represented everything that had happened since I left home.
“Thank you,” I murmured. My eyes were burning again, but this time I could blink the tears back in time.