Page 19 of Outcast’s Return

“Yeah.”

Clement shuffled forward. He craned his head over the pan.

“You’re clearly very hungry,” he said. “That’s enough to feed two.”

I shrugged.

“I’m a growing boy.”

My best friend stared at me with his tired eyes. I could hear my pulse louder than the sizzle of the pan.

“Fabien, you’ve been acting strange since the end of the semester.”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Yes, you have.”

It was like he was about to figure it all out. Jolie. Me.

She was in there. In that cupboard right behind him.

He was so close to unraveling everything.

“Maybe I’m just excited to finally beat you at poker,” I remarked, desperately trying to do anything to stop the festering investigation.

Clement beamed. At the mention of poker, he suddenly didn’t look tired at all.

“Like hell you will,” he declared.

“Tomorrow night,” I replied. “You, Baptiste, and me. Let’s play.”

“It’s on.”

Clement reached over, picked up a grilled cheese directly off the pan without caring how it might burn him, and bit into it. A half-melted cheese string dropped from his lips.

“Shit, that’s good,” he remarked. “Definitely better than anything my sister could make.”

Little did he know how close his sister really was at that moment.

Something in me was crying out to be ballsy.

“How is Jolie?” I asked. “I’ve only seen her, like, once since we got back.”

Clement rolled his eyes, still chewing.

“I don’t know. Like you, she has also been acting strange. I’m guessing she’s met some boy at her school and is somehow trying to keep it secret. I know my sister, and I know when she’s hiding something. I’ll figure it out. The boy won’t know what hit him.”

I chuckled.

Shit.

“Good luck.”

“She hasn’t said anything to you?”

“Like I said, one time since we got back. We’ve barely said hello.”

Clement nodded.