Chase wasn’t nearly as swift on the ground as she was in the sky, but she knew how to maneuver. She caught Tristan’s arm when he bent to tie his boots and hauled him so hard and fast through a door that the cadets he’d been walking with didn’t even notice.
Once she was inside, she lost speed. She’d thought the room was a closet. Nope. It was a classroom. A big one. At least it was empty, although that just meant it echoed the slam of the door a little ominously.
“Hello, Chase,” Tristan said, rubbing the arm she’d manhandled him by. “Let me guess, you want to talk to me?”
Her mouth was suddenly dry, but she twisted the front of his uniform in both fists and pressed him to the wall. “What did you tell Tanner?”
“What?”
“I saw you talking to him. You were looking at me. I’m not an idiot. I know what you told him.” Tears spotted her eyes, but Chase only tightened her hold on his shirt.
Tristan looked even more boyish close up. “I didn’t tell him anything. He was telling me about you.”
“Wha…why?”
“Because I asked.”
Chase let go but not without a small shove. “Why would you do that?”
“Because you saved my life a week ago, and now you won’t make eye contact with me. It’s a little strange.”
Chase stared down his blue eyes pointedly, and something tightened in her chest. “Happy now?”
“Not really,” he said. “You look like you’re going to clock me.”
“Well, you can’t tell anyone…” She dug for the words but only succeeded in feeling the tears again. “What you heard…you can’t just tell people…” Oh God, was he going to make her say it?
“I wouldn’t.” Tristan straightened his uniform. “I know a life-altering secret when I hear one.”
“Um, all right.” She wrapped her arms around her chest. Could she believe him? “Tell me why you were eavesdropping in the hallway after the JAFA debriefing.”
“I wasn’t eavesdropping on purpose. I was waiting for you.” He unhooked his ponytail and finger-combed his hair. Chase thought it looked a lot softer than normal boy hair.
“Why were you waiting?”
“I wanted to talk to you. I didn’t know then just how hard that is.” Tristan showed his frustration a little, gritting his teeth when he swore. Chase found it strangely endearing that she’d gotten under his nerves. “I wanted to ask you not to tell anyone about how I kind of…went catatonic in the hallway. Remember?”
“I do.”
He pushed his hands through his hair, and Chase wondered why that was supposed to be sexy. It looked reckless. Like he needed to get a hold on himself and every other part of his body was unsteady.
“Oh. I know why you’re worried,” Chase said, blinking hard as if the sun were dawning over the SMART Board and right into her eyes. “You think they’ll take your wings. It’s an act, isn’t it? You want everyone to think you’re nice so you don’t get put on the Down List. That’s why you’re befriending everyone.”
“I happen to think I am nice, at least under normal circumstances. When I’m not mourning the death of some of my best friends.” Whatever light had come with understanding Tristan went out. He was warning her off, carefully choosing his words. “Maybe it’s cliché to claim revenge, but I won’t fail before the trials. I want my chance to face down Ri Xiong Di.”
Chase nodded. She could understand vengeance. “I won’t say anything, and I’ll even help you hide it from Sylph. She’s the person who you should be worried about. In exchange, you won’t say anything about my—about Tourn. Do we have a deal?”
His eyes narrowed in a way that made her look away. “You think we need to use something against each other?”
“I think it’s a smart way to play this. We’re opponents.” She paused and made herself look at him again. It was surprisingly hard. “I won’t say a word. And I hope you do the same. No matter how much you want to beat me in the trials.”
Chase started to leave, and he walked after her.
“Is that how someone would beat you?” he asked. She swung around, and the teasing smile he aimed her way was a bit of a surprise. “I was just planning to outfly you.”
She twisted the front point of her hair. “I’d like to see you try, Tristan Router.”
Chase paused at the door. Her plan had been to threaten Tristan and leave him too scared of her to tell anyone about Tourn. Now they were what? Flirting?
“We have class,” she mumbled, surprised she was holding the door open for him and even more surprised that she was apparently inviting him to walk with her.
On the way, she began to talk about the Star. She couldn’t seem to stop herself. “This class is for pilots in all the grade levels. We watch fighter flight tapes from as far back as World War I. It’s cool.”
“How many pilots are there?” Tristan asked. He walked as fast as she did, and she wanted to like him for it. Even Pippin couldn’t keep up with her went she hit optimum hallway speed.
“About a hundred. A tenth of the cadet population. The rest are in specialized training. Engineers, navigators, ground crew, what have you. Flyboys are in the minority. We try to stick together.”
When the conversation slipped away, Chase found herself close to a strange edge.
Ordinarily, she liked being around boys because they made her darker thoughts vanish. But she wasn’t getting that vibe from Tristan. He reminded her of JAFA—of her father’s dismissive words—and yet he was still looking down at her with an easygoing smile. Weird.
They passed through one of the glass tunnels that connected the buildings to the Green. Outside, the snow whirled like the wind was blowing three ways at once. Chase began to patch together a question that ordinarily she wouldn’t bring up—to ask Tristan if he worried about the other shoe dropping. About what might happen if Ri Xiong Di turned its foul intentions on the Star. Or her real question. The big one: did he blame her for what happened to JAFA?