Page 17 of Broken Ties
GABE
Keeping the Shift under control around my Bond borders dangerously on impossible and the effort almost kills me.
If the situation were any different, I think I’d still struggle with it, at least a little, given how much interest Oli attracts, but the way she mouths off at me the second I’m close to her only amps it up to unbearable.
I’ve never felt this way before.
Vivian starts calling out instructions for the obstacle course, relief flooding me that my Bond will be getting a taste of the courses on the easiest one. I think I would pass out in fear if I had to worry about the pond bitch right now. Martinez jostles me as we step up to collect our armbands, grabbing the blue the moment I take a red one. He’s a dick through and through, hated me from the moment our moms stuck us in the same playgroup along with the rest of the Top Tier kids, and his determination to provoke me into Shifting is honestly a little impressive.
Five years have passed since I first lost control and Shifted, yet he still hasn't given up.
I’m too busy eyeballing the asshole and refusing to back down to notice what color Oli has chosen until Vivian questions her about it. He’s either unaware of how much interest she isgetting from the rest of the student body or, more likely, doesn't care about petty crap like that, because he doesn't attempt to lower his voice at all as he calls her out in front of the entire class.
“You’re at a disadvantage here because everyone else has done the course before and knows their way around it. I’ll pair you with your Bond just this once, so he can get you through it.”
My Bond surveys the rest of the room with a bored look without bothering to glance in my direction. “I doubt he wants that. It’s fine. If I die, then at least I don’t have to do this again.”
My bond writhes beneath my skin at the mere suggestion of her death, distracting me from her blatant rejection for half a second before that humiliation sinks in. My chest tightens, my skin prickling uncomfortably as though desperate to split open and reveal the pelt of a predator, and when the whispers start up again around me, I start to fantasize about breaking Martinez’s jaw.
Vivian glances over Oli’s shoulder at me, but there’s no way for me to protest without making an absolute idiot of myself in front of the class.
Finally, he shrugs at her. “Suit yourself, I don’t get involved in Bond bullshit. There are three other people in the class with low-level Gifts, they all do fine, but they all have their Bonded with them and are in better shape than you are.”
She nods and walks back over to me without a care in the world, completely unfazed by the show she’s giving to our entire community, and I fix my gaze to the scuffed-up toes of my sneakers as I mutter under my breath, “Fuck, I wish you’d never come back.”
It's not the first time I've said such a messed up thing to her, words that would break anynormalCentral Bond, but she pretends not to hear it, or at least not to care. Still, I feel sick withguilt and have to swallow around the lump in my throat as the doors open and we’re let into the course.
The red team always takes the right side, and as we funnel into the waiting area, I stay toward the back of the group to keep an eye out for my Bond. She stays behind me, but I’m close enough to hear what’s happening around us both, so it’ll have to do.
Zoey and one of her friends, Megan, both scoff at me as they pass, already muttering insults under their breath about me slacking over a Bond that just declared me worthless. Whether I like it or not, I’m stuck in this gut-wrenching, humbling experience and I can't force myself to leave her behind, no matter what her own opinions are.
At the front of the group, Martinez and two of his friends start elbowing each other, snarking and ribbing the other guys about their achievements on the course. I have to hold back a groan when I realize all three of them are wearing blue armbands. They're all notoriously competitive, and if Oli is the reason their team doesn't win, she'll be the target of their bullshit in TT for weeks to come. There's not much I can do about it now that we’re on opposite teams, nothing except to stick close to her and stop anyone from messing with her, but I was already doing that.
The girls directly behind me start gossiping about how ripped the guys on the football team are compared to everyone else, thanks to our training schedule. I roll my eyes at their ego stroking, but when I glance back at Oli, she’s actually taking notice of them. Nothing they usually say catches her attention, but in this moment, I think I see a flash of irritation on her face.
Pushing her limits, I wink at Tammy, but even as the other girl giggles annoyingly at my obvious baiting tactic, my Bond ignores me. I return back to the course, hating myself a little more for deluding myself with wishful thinking. She wasprobably irritated that we’re in such close confines or that she's having to hear anything about me at all when she loathes me so much.
I really need to start believing my Bond when she tells me she hates me, it's the only way I'll survive this.
The buzzer sounds and the doors open before us, nothing out of the ordinary, except that I want to puke and it has nothing to do with the warm-ups or the task ahead. If I don't get out of her presence, I'm going to either lose my lunch or Shift, so despite my plan to stick close to her, I sprint ahead to burn off some of the shame clinging to my skin. I should know better by now; no amount of sweat can wash it away.
Crossing the river up ahead will help. It might not be able to do anything about my situation, but the frigid water should serve as a distraction at the very least. I've done this course so many times, I could do it in my sleep at this point.
Though it's technically not available to anyone but Draven students and the faculty, Gryphon started training me the moment we found out we were in the same Bond Group. I was a freshman in high school, a third of the size that I am now, and I had no control over my Shift. Within six months, I could make it through any of the courses without using my Gift. By the end of the first year, I could face the pond bitch without breaking down in a fit of shakes or puking at her effects.
I started freshman year at Draven at the top of the class and Martinez fuckinghatesme for it.
He's always been an arrogant dick, most Top Tier families are full of them, but his Gift and years of hitting the gym means that he hasn't been thrown out of TT yet. It doesn't stop him from riding a dangerous line of recklessness, and as I work my way through the icy rapids, keeping to the left side and away from the dangers hidden by the fast pace of the water flow, he chargesstraight through the middle. The idiot almost drowns himself in the sinkhole just to get ahead of me.
Pushing the gross feeling of my drenched feet to the back of my mind, I jog to the line of trees alongside the others at the front of the group, but I barely breach them before I’m slowing to a halt. I hate myself, and her for doing this to me, but I stop and turn to wait for my Bond.
Groans and muttering from my own teammates sound around me, and Ryan snaps viciously at my so-called pathetic display, but I keep my eyes on the other side of the riverbank where my Bond watches the crossing keenly. No one attempts to stop and speak to her or offer her any guidance, she is as blind to them as I am.
Oli waits until the last of the students makes it across before she makes a move. Tipping her head back, she lets out a sigh so deep I see her shoulders dip with it, but when she steps forward into the water, she doesn't hesitate to trudge across it confidently. I should get moving the moment I see she’s taking the same safe path that I did, but there's no way my bond would ever let me leave her now.
As Oli reaches the riverbank and stops to pour mud and slime from her shoes, Matt and Hannah both shoot me sad smiles and understanding looks as they jog past me. I feel a little guilty for dismissing them as dickheads along with the rest of the students in my head. They're Bonded, both wearing the same armband colour as I am, and I've always gotten along with them both. Taking a deep breath, I turn on my heel and sprint to catch up with my teammates now that I’m sure my Bond is safe.
Another quarter mile, before we reach the barbed wire crawl. It's definitely my most hated obstacle, mostly because Martinez rolls his way through it like it's nothing while I'm forced to slice open my hands and knees sliding through the rocks and muck.