At lunch, Ash grabbed a green juice from the cafeteria and headed straight for the quad. That’s when she spotted him. She should have known Nate wouldn’t give up. He was standing near the football field, leaning against the fence, staring back at her. Ash wondered how long he had been there, whether he’d been waiting all morning just in case he might catch a glimpse. Nate caught her gaze and waved tentatively as though he were worried she might not wave back.

Even from this distance Ash could see Nate looked terrible. His clothes were rumpled, and his hair was greasy and hanging limply in his eyes. Her first thought was to run to him, wrap her arms around him. Then she saw Eli, bloodied and pleading for help. She remembered Nate carrying her away from him, away from the desperate cries. She balled her hands up in fists. Don’t lose your nerve, Ash. Stay strong.

“What are you doing here?” Ash asked, careful to keep a safe distance.

“I needed to… I needed to make sure you were okay.”

“I’m not okay. Is that what you wanted to hear? Not even a little bit. What happened to Eli was fucked-up, Nate,” Ash said softly.

“It looked worse than it was…”

“Hold up. That’s your defense? It wasn’t as bad as it looked? You can’t mean that.”

Frustrated, Nate ran a hand through his hair. “Okay, it was bad. I know that, and I’m sorry you had to see it. I swear it’s all been handled now. Vic took Eli to the hospital. They patched him up, and he’s moving down to Venice.”

“Smart move on his part,” Ash said sarcastically.

“Mo and Vic and the others… they’re not bad people. You know that, don’t you?” His voice cracked.

“All I know is what I saw, and what I saw was fucking brutal,” Ash said. She wouldn’t cry. The last thing she wanted was to give her classmates ammunition to use against her. She met Nate’s gaze. “I want to know what happened. I want to know why they hurt Eli. Why Mo allowed them to hurt him,” Ash said, knowing that nothing happened without Mo’s approval.

“It’s… it’s a sensitive subject. Mo asked if she could explain,” Nate said. “She wants to explain.”

Ash was ready to tell Nate that she didn’t give a shit what Mo wanted. He went to hold her hand, his eyes brimming with tears. “If Mo hadn’t found me, if the Tribe hadn’t taken me in, I wouldn’t have made it. All I’m asking is for you to hear Mo out. That’s it. If you don’t like what she has to say…” His voice cracked. “Then I’ll leave you alone.”

There was something so terribly broken about the way he was looking at her. She should have said hell no. That was what she missed about the old Ash. The old Ash didn’t let sentiment and emotion cloud her judgment. Not this Ash. She couldn’t walk away from him, not until she understood what went down. More than anything she wanted to make sure Nate would be safe. That Mo and the others wouldn’t take out their anger on him next time.