Free to Fall by Lauren Miller Page B

and the end result wasn’t any better than what we were getting here. So I bought some sound software and some mics and started doing their stuff myself.”
    “But you seem so antitechnology.”
    He laughed. “Antitechnology? Hardly. Anti-handing-over-my-autonomy-to-a-two-by-four-inch-rectangle? Yes.”
    “So you don’t use one?”
    “A handheld?” He hesitated for a sec then shook his head. “I can’t use a Gemini without using its interface.”
    “And you’re anti-Gemini because . . . ?”
    “Because I know how it works,” he said, then switched off the lantern. The rain had stopped, but the sun was nowhere to be found. I felt my muscles twitch as the anxiety I’d been putting off rushed back in. I practically leaped to my feet.
    “I should go,” I said quickly, moving toward the entrance. “I didn’t realize how late it was.”
    “You still don’t know how late it is,” North pointed out.
    “Yes, thank you,” I said irritably, sliding just a little on the slick grass as I stepped outside. North caught me by the elbow, and my whole body felt it.
    “So I have to make a quick stop,” he said as we set off back toward the fence. He was keeping both his voice and his head down now, moving quickly and quietly. His caution only intensified my rising panic. What was I thinking, coming out here like this? I so easily could’ve gotten caught. Not to mention the mountain of homework I’d just blown off. On the first day of school, no less. The dean’s welcome speech came barreling back. Wisdom is not for the faint of heart, he said. Not all of you will complete our program. Not all of you are meant to.
    “You game?” I heard North say.
    “What?”
    “I asked if you wanted to come with me to pick up my hard drive. The shop’s just down the street from Paradiso. It’s cool, they have tons of old—”
    I cut him off. “I have to get back. I need to get my stuff and get back to campus.”
    “Ah. The nightingale returns to her cage,” said North.
    “Theden is hardly a cage,” I retorted.
    “I wasn’t talking about your school.” North made a little rectangle with his thumb and index finger and then jerked toward it, as if yanked by a magnet or a leash.
    I rolled my eyes, refusing his help as I climbed back over the fence, holding my empty cup with my teeth. A jagged link scratched a line down my forearm, but I didn’t react. He hopped over easily, landing lightly on the other side. I walked ahead of him as we made our way back downtown, in a hurry to check my phone. As long as no one had been looking for me, I was probably okay.
    “Well, thanks for coming with me,” North said when we reached Paradiso’s door. “I’d walk you back to campus, but—”
    “I’ll be fine,” I said quickly.
    There was an awkward second or two where we just stood there, looking at each other in the near-dark, North with his backpack, his thumbs hooked in his belt loops, me clutching my empty cup with both hands. My brain was yelling at me to get back to campus, but my feet were rooted in place. Then North smiled and started to say something, but I cut him off.
    “I probably won’t be able to hang out again for a while,” I told him. “Things are gonna get busy with school, and I need to focus. Theden is really intense.” I needed to say it, to remind myself, but as soon as the words were out, I realized how bitchy I sounded. “Sorry,” I said quickly. “It’s just that—”
    “I wasn’t aware that I’d asked to hang out with you again,” he said with a smirk. I felt myself flush. “But thanks for letting me know.” He turned and headed off down the sidewalk, whistling as he walked.
     
    Hershey was perched on my desk in our bedroom, waiting for me.
    “Where were you?” she demanded.
    “Library.” It was the obvious choice for an alibi, since there was no risk that Hershey had been there. I’d decided on my way back not to tell her where I’d been. She had her secrets. Why shouldn’t I