#thechildrenoftheforest

“It won’t be that hard to find her, she has to go to thesame college as us,” Will told him, seeing the guilt and chagrin on Mike’s face.Will sat across from him on the still absent roommate’s bed, as he and Mikestudied the contents of the suitcase in Mike’s dorm room (as hard as they’dtried, they hadn’t been able to get a dorm room together—Will’s room was eightdoors down the hall. Mike had counted).

“What makes you think that?” Mike said, his face almostburied in his hands, elbows on his knees.

“This t-shirt,” Will said, fishing a shirt from the pile ofhaphazardly folded clothes. It was bright red and had the phrase “Keep Calm andGive Blood” printed on the front in black letters, a silhouette of a “bleeding”jack-o-lantern in the middle.

Mike looked at Will in confusion, and Will answered hissilent question, “I have the same one. Remember last October, the blooddonation campaign? Everyone who donated got this t-shirt.”

“Oh, you’re right!” Mike said, perking up. He hadn’t gottenthe t-shirt, because he hadn’t donated blood. Needles frightened the hell outof him. The first and only time he’d tried donating blood in high school he’dfainted. Will was kind enough not to bring up the embarrassment, he simplyfolded the t-shirt and put it back.

“And we do have a name,” Mike said, picking up the stranger’sbook he’d set on his bed next to him. Inside the front cover, written in smallcursive handwriting, was the name El Hopper.

Encouraged by this information, the boys set off on theirinvestigation.

And quickly hit a roadblock.

There was no “El Hopper” listed as a resident at any of thedorms on campus. Not even anyone with the last name Hopper. They got the sameanswer when they found out who to contact from the blood donation campaign. Noone by that name had donated blood last October.

That same night, with Mike’s roommate still not back fromhis spring break vacation, Will and Mike settled on Mike’s bed to study thesuitcase’s contents further.

They’d turned up nothing useful besides that the owner was asize small, bought Herbal Essences hair products, and seemed fond of the colorpink—more than half of her clothes were a shade of pink, even the socks. Andthe swimsuit (“It’s a bikini, Mike. I know you’ve seen one before. You have twosisters.” “Shutup. This is different. Also you’re gay and I’m not.” Will wasstill smirking so Mike threw a pair of pink socks at him).

It was now nearly 10:00 and they’d ended up taking a “break”that was actually Will leaning against Mike’s headboard, reading El Hopper’sbook, Flight, while Mike rested hishead on Will’s stomach and played a game on his phone.

They both nearly jumped out of their skin when there was aknock on the door. Will and Mike exchanged glances, their expressions and theunspoken question in them mirroring each other. Who the hell could be knocking at Mike’s door at 10pm? Then—no way, it couldn’t be.

Mike shot up to answer the door while Will scrambled to closethe stranger’s suitcase. Mike peripherally saw Will scrambling back for thebook he’d left on Mike’s bed, before he turned back to open the door.

A girl stood there, and she looked to be about Mike and Will’sage. And there was no doubt—she had Mike’s suitcase next to her.

“Hi!” She said brightly, grinning at him. “Are you MikeWheeler?”

Mike blinked a couple times before he realized he was gapinglike a fish. He closed his mouth. “Uh, yeah.”

The girl glanced behind him, obviously seeing Will. Mikeglanced back too—Will was holding what had to be the book behind his back, hischeeks a cute shade of pink.

“I’m Jane,” the girl said, looking back at Mike, her smilefaltering. The guilt returned and Mike could feel his face reddening.

“I have your suitcase. The people at baggage claim said youmight have mine?” she said, tilting her head. She had dark shoulder length curlsthat framed her face perfectly. Mike’s face grew hotter.

“Oh, yeah! Yeah, we, uh, have it. I—um—Come in. Please,”Mike said, stepping aside so she could get past him.

She moved past him and sure enough, she smelled like HerbalEssences shampoo.

Mike closed the door, then made a realization. “You saidyour name was Jane?”

She’d stopped in the middle of the room, feet away fromWill, who stood in front of El Hopper’s suitcase as if guarding it, though hecontinued to look as guilty as Mike felt.

Looking up at him (she had to be nearly a foot and a halfshorter than him) Jane nodded. “Yeah, I’m sorry there was no ID tag on my bag.I’d never gone out of town before, it just slipped my mind.” She looked down atMike’s suitcase, then back up to him. Her grin was back. “They do look nearlythe same, don’t they?”

Mike nodded mutely, then looked over to see Will staringpointedly at him. He looked at Jane, who was also staring at him. Curiously.Why did she look at him like that?

“This is Will,” Mike said, nodding toward Will, who gave atight smile and shook Jane’s hand. They exchanged nice-to-meet-you’s and thenJane added, “Are you Mike’s roommate?”

“Boyfriend.” Mike and Will spoke in unison.

“Oh, cool,” Jane said, smiling, not at all awkward orforced. Mike could literally see the stiffness go out of Will’s shoulders.

“Um, we were trying to find you,” Will said, holding out thebook Flight to her. “But the name inhere says ‘El Hopper’. Is she a friend of yours?”

Jane took the book, laughing and shaking her head. “No, no,El is me. El is my nickname. Middle name, really. I guess,” she said,shrugging. The way she said it made Mike think there was more to it, but hewasn’t going to press.

Will turned to pick up Jane’s—El’s—suitcase and hand it toher, and seeing Will was about to offer some sort of explanation, Mike quicklysaid, “We were trying to find clues. To find you. Um. That’s why your stuff isgonna be kind of…”

Jane was looking at him, her brows raised in question. Hewas rubbing the back of his neck, all but sweating now. He floundered, tryingto find the right word. Will remained unhelpfully silent.

“…Disorganized,” Mike finished lamely.

Jane’s mouth quirked. It was not the response he expected.She glanced between him and Will.

“It wasn’t that organized to begin with,” she said, laughterin her voice.

There was a few beats of silence while Jane replaced herbook in the front pocket Mike had found it in. Mike blurted out, “Is your lastname Hopper then?”

Jane’s eyes snapped up at him, this time looking genuinelysurprised. Then even more interesting—her expression became guarded.

“No, it’s Ives. Jane Ives,” she said. There wasn’t even ahint of a smile on her face anymore. Mike bit the inside of his cheek,wondering how much he’d screwed up.

Will cut in, “So that’s why we couldn’t find out if you livedin any of the dorms. We thought we could find you that way.”

Jane looked at him and nodded. “That makes sense. I haven’thad the last name Hopper for a few years. It’s a long story,” she said, hereyes moving down and away. Then she shrugged again. “I live in the dorm rightnext to you guys actually.”

“Cool! You guys have the better dining hall,” Will said,smiling at her. She smiled back, and Mike felt a pang in his chest. He wouldn’trecognize what it was until later, and then he’d be furious with himself.

“Want to meet there for lunch sometime? Mike and I havesimilar schedules, we’re free after two most days,” Will said, adding on, “Iwant to ask you more about Alexie. I started reading it, he seems really good.”

Jane’s eyes brightened. “I love all his work. I’lldefinitely rec you more of his stuff,” she said, then glanced at Mike, bitingher lower lip. Mike only had time enough to hope he didn’t look as idiotic ashe felt.

“Are you guys free after two on Wednesdays?” Jane asked,directing her question to Will.

“Definitely,” Will said.

“Okay! Well, I’ll see you guys then,” Jane said, walking tothe door, pulling her suitcase behind her. She opened the door, then beforewalking out, made a show of checking her bag. Then she gave that same grin,directed at both of them. “Had to make sure,” she said. She winked and gave alittle wave, before shutting the door behind her.

A couple beats of silence passed. Mike grew hot with embarrassment,and turned to see Will grinning diabolically at him.

“Did you just make a lunch date…for me?” Mike said, noemotion in his voice.

“Kinda had to, you were making cow eyes at her the wholetime, I had to do something,” Will said, pulling Mike’s suitcase across the roomand lifting it onto his bed.

“You’re my boyfriend,”Mike almost yelled.

“Yeah, that’s why I’m chaperoning.”

“Chaperoning?”

“Jane seems pretty cool, I want to see her again too, y’know,”Will said, unzipping Mike’s suitcase. Still not looking at him.  

Mike huffed, not replying. He couldn’t think of what to say.Will was right. Jane did seem cool. He definitely wanted to see her again, too.But why?

Then Mike saw something that made his stomach drop.

“Will, goddammit,” Mike said.

“What?” Will said, turning to him.