War of the Sexes

Chapter 24

“What’s up with you two?” Clayton asked the next morning once everyone had awoken. We had packed up and we making our way to the Lightplane.

                I couldn’t believe that we had to walk the rest of the day there all because the stupid Craft had broken. Curse my luck…

                I remained silent, leaving the answer to John. He simply shrugged, walking quite a distance from me.

                “John didn’t hit you or anything while I was asleep, did he?” Clayton asked only loud enough for me to hear. I shook my head, staring at the ground.

                “You being honest, Ellie?” Clayton asked.

                I nodded, unable to look at him. I felt dirty, rotten, sick, disgusting, horrible. I was at a lose for words to describe just how bad I felt. I felt like I had cheated on

Clayton, yet I knew I hadn’t. I felt like I had done the ultimate sin by kissing John.

                I felt like a whore.

                I knew I was.

                The entire morning had been one awkward mess. John and I went out of our ways to avoid each other, which seemed no different than normal. I wasn’t

entirely sure what Clayton saw that was different about us, but he quickly noticed.

                I was trying to act as normal as I could, but I couldn’t bring myself to say anything to him.

                Luke was torn between who he wanted to follow. Eventually, he decided with John, seeing as Clayton hung around me. Every now and then I would catch my

puppy looking at me with unsure eyes. It broke my heart even more.

                It had to have been around noon when the silence finally ended.

                “I’m hungry” Clayton announced.

                I licked my lips, sweat dripping down the side of my face. I was thankful Clayton had said something—I needed to stop soon or I would pass out.

                And I was in less clothes than the guys had on.

                I didn’t look up from the ground to see what they looked like, focusing intently on my feet. John was making sure that we stayed away from towns where I

could be seen. That was probably the reason as to why this trek was so long. A majority of it was uphill.

                “We’ll stop at the top of the hill” John said without emotion. I never thought he had any to begin with, but I was mistaken. It had definitely been there because

now it wasn’t.

                “Got it” Clayton said, slightly out of breath. I wiped the back of my hand across my face, feeling exhausted.

                We still had most of the journey ahead of us too.

                I could hear the crunch of the leaves under my feet. The silence was still something I hadn’t gotten entirely used to. It was just four breathes out of an entire