“I’m not leaving you behind, Ari,” Jackson spits out, glaring at me like I’ve said something horrible and ridiculous, like we should both throw ourselves off the cliff.
“I’m just slowing you down!” I say, throwing out my hands for emphasis. “Seriously, if you hadn’t back-tracked for me, you’d be like, finished now –“
“I didn’t backtrack for you,” he mutters, still staring at me, “I backtracked for –“
“Your mate, whatever,” I sigh, rolling my eyes. “Either way, it’s not fair. I’ll find my own way up the mountain, it will be fine.”
“It will not be fine,” he says, reaching out to grab my arm. “Do you think I want to do this without you!?”
“What?” I ask, suddenly baffled.
“Not…not this, Ari,” Jackson says, waving the map around at the darkening forest. “Not the Examination. I mean, the
