“Good. Do you think it’s helping you any?”
“I don’t know.” But I’ve found comfort in its presence, if only because of who gave it to me. “It’s been kind of a stressful week. Not the best for a trial run, you know?” I twist my neck but all I can see is the top of Leo’s head, his windblown hair close enough to graze my forehead.
“Because of your parents or because of your boyfriend?”
“Both,” I admit.
“I’m sorry about what happened.”
“With Zander?” I’m glad we can’t see one another’s faces.
“Yeah.”
“It’s not your fault.”
He sighs his disagreement. “Is he—can I ask—are you safe with him?”
My face burns hot. “Yeah. He’s never laid a hand on me.”
“Okay, good. I just needed to know that.”
It’s hard for me to swallow around the huge wad of emotion stuck in my throat. I picture Leo standing firm against Zander’s threats, refusing to leave until I assure him I’ll be okay. I think he might genuinely care about my well-being.
He asks, “What happened with your parents?”
“Nothing major. Just your usual stuff. They want things for me I don’t want, blah, blah, blah.”
He laughs softly. “Parents are the same everywhere, aren’t they?”
“Are Pennsylvania parents as bad as Virginia parents?”
“Maybe even worse.”
“Why? What’s going on with yours?”
I feel him moving and tip my head back to see him sitting up.
“It’s my father mostly,” he says. “He doesn’t like the idea of his son being a scholar.”
“Really?”
He shrugs. “Yeah.”
I push up onto my hands and spin on my rear end. “My mother’ssort of the same way and it makes no sense. Don’t all parents want their kids to do well in school?”
“I suppose not.”
I take off my glove to feel around for the amethyst, wincing when my icy fingers touch my bare neck. Leo gives me a sympathetic smile. As I spin the pendant around to my chest and drop it back under the collar of my coat, I tell him about the fight between Liv and her parents, normal parents who care about their child’s academic success.
But it’s not the parent-child relationship he focuses on. “You felt the tension?”
Did I mention that? I suppose I must have.
“Yeah. It was thick. I felt like I needed a machete to get down the hall.” I curl one leg under me and let the other dangle over the side of the tree trunk. “Was that clairsentience, or was it empathy? I’m still struggling with the difference.”
Leo props an elbow on his upraised knee. “Well, you didn’t know the source of what you were feeling, so yes, I’d say that’s clairsentience.”
“But I guessed it almost as soon as I felt it.”
