Free Project ELE by Rebecca Gober, Courtney Nuckels Page B

down. Now I have time to think and I don't feel like thinking.
    "What? I'm only on number four. This is taking forever! As if I don't have enough issues with directions, my GPS keeps acting up. I swear that I've passed this same hall four times now trying to find the medical station. I think it's broken again."
    I feel bad now that I just told him I was done. I definitely didn't want him to feel like he's doing anything wrong by how long it's taking him. "Hey, I can help you if you want. I know where the medical station is."
    His dark eyes brighten just a bit. "Really? That would be great Willow. Thanks."
    "No problem at all. I've got nothing to do." I say. After all, the library can wait.
    I lead Connor to the medic station and then help him on several more assignments. We don't really talk much along the way but it's not awkward or anything. It would probably be with anyone else, but there's a type of comfort level between Connor and I. It's one that comes with having something in common: loss.
    "We were only messing around, you don't have to get your panties in a bunch!" A high pitch girl voice calls out from a room down the hall. Her giggling sounds like a Hyena.
    "Yeah sorry, we were just having a little fun with you runner girl! What, you didn't think it was funny sugar?" A guy adds, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
    The Hyena girl giggles annoyingly again. I hear a sniffle sound coming from the room.
    I look to Connor and he nods back to me. I don't even have to say it out loud. We both start towards the room where the harassment is coming from. We don't make it far before Claire, the one who sat next to me in class, comes barreling out of the room slamming the door behind her. Her hair is still in front of her face and it must have obstructed her vision because she plows right into Connor. The force of their collision pushes him back half of a step.
    "Sorry." Claire sniffs. She tries to move to work her way around us but Connor grabs her gently by the arms.
    "Hey, what's wrong? Did those people hurt you?" Connor asks seriously. His face is a mask of concern.
    She looks up at him and behind all of that white blonde hair covering her face you can see her tear filled frosty blue eyes. Something in my chest pangs knowing that someone who looks so fragile and innocent is hurting.
    "Did they hurt you?" Connor asks again a little stronger this time.
    "No." She whispers then turns her head and starts wiping at her eyes.
    "What happened?" I ask in a soothing voice. Maybe staying calm will help her open up.
    She looks at me with a look of surprise. It's that look again that asks, are you really talking to me? I wonder what would make this beautiful, yet really strange, girl so skittish and self-conscious.
    "It's okay, you can tell us." I say again gently.
    Connor is still holding onto her arms so he takes this second to carefully let her go. He seems ready to catch her if she tries to dart though.
    "They were playing a trick on me." She said.
    "A trick?" Connor asks, his eyebrows rose in question.
    She looks to him and then back at me. "Yes, they were messing with my GPS. They kept re-routing me here."
    "How did they mess with your GPS?" I ask.
    "Anything can be hacked." She says while wiping her eyes one last time. This time she looks at me with a bold certainty I wouldn't have thought she'd have. "They think I'm stupid; that I wouldn't know what they were doing. I am not stupid!"
    I don't know Claire that well, but I like this side of her. She should show it more often instead of hiding behind all of that pretty hair. "Of course you are not stupid." I say matter of factly.
    "How did you know that they were messing with you?" Connor asks pleasantly surprised by her short show of confidence too.
    Claire looks at him and blushes again, looking down at her shoes. "I know a lot about computers and stuff. When I circled this block for the third time, I heard them laughing in the computer lab. I put two and two together and knew that