Take Me Tomorrow

Chapter Seven: I Know You're Trouble

"Thanks for taking care of these for me." Lily hugged me, then shoved pink homecoming fliers into my hands before sprinting off.

She was volunteering at the State Academy for Young Ladies again, which—despite its formal name—was a correctional institute designed to institutionalize girls who'd been lost in the cracks of society. At least, according to my father. According to rumor, the place was a shithole. But, hey, it looked great on college applications, hence Lily's gold-plated heart. Meanwhile, I had the responsibility of taping the posters around campus.

"Just to remind everyone of this Friday,"Lily had explained—as if anyone could forget. Our school revolved around the homecoming dance. It was one of the only days a year boys and girls could intermingle without teachers finding excuses to push them apart. And yet, Lily somehow managed to convince herself that students would forget. I would never understand her intensity.

I held the last flyer between my lips as I tied my long brown hair into a ponytail. It was hot. Too hot. But nothing unusual for August in the State. All we had this time of the year was stifling, summer heat. My only concern was the forest; it could get dry enough to cause a fire. By this time, I should've already been home, checking the acres for risk spots, but my dad was home for once. He would take over the task, and Argos would accept him as a temporary fill-in while I was absent.

I let my ponytail fall against my neck, and I breathed as a rare gust of wind blew by, cooling my heated skin. It had been a long day, and I had a feeling it was about to get much longer.

Closing my eyes, I listened to the familiar sounds of the town, hoping to feel a sense of normalcy, but I couldn't forget the night before. Broden was involved with tomo. On top of that, Miles was somehow involved, and I wondered if Lily was too—if everyone in my life was. The question made me nauseous.

I shook my head, desperately trying to dislodge my memories, and then lifted my hands to grab the last flyer. As soon as my fingertips brushed it, the wind pulled the paper out of my grasp. It flipped through the air, twirling and spiraling, the glossy color glowing like pink fire. When it swooped to the ground, it smacked into the leg of a tall man dressed in a sage uniform. A soldier. Suddenly terrified, I rushed after it, apologizing profusely as the soldier leaned down to grab it from the ground, his fingers uncovered by shooting gloves. A military student, then.

"Do you need this?" he asked as he straightened up. His voice was as deep and calm as his eyes. But every alarm in my body went off.

At first glance, he appeared normal—a standard military student about my age—but up close, details changed. One moment, his eyes looked to be a deep brown, the next the sage color of his uniform brought out the green hiding behind colored contacts. And his dark hair matched the color of his eyes too perfectly. Hair dye.

I studied his familiar features. This guy had brown hair, brown eyes, and a sage uniform. Not blond hair, green eyes, or a black T-shirt. But I was positive. Absolutely positive.

"Noah?"

He squinted, irritated. "Nate," he corrected, then glanced down at the pink flyer. "Nate Harper."

I was right. It was him.

"Right. Nate." I curled my hands into fists, trying to control my nerves. "Where'd you get the uniform?"

"Stole it from the lumberyard," he answered nonchalantly, too focused on the flyer to care about the people walking around us. He was probably memorizing it.

Nauseated, I realized our situation had completely flipped.

In the forest, I had stolen his information. Now he had mine, and I wanted to attack him just as much as he probably wanted to hurt me back in the woods. Still, I remained calm. I couldn't do anything dramatic with everyone watching, not when Broden was involved, but not everything called for dramatics.