Her step faltered for a split second at the higher-than-normal amount of venom in his tone. But then she squared her shoulders and clenched her jaw in determination, and jogged after him again.

"I just wanted to see how you were," she said, putting on a smile as she fell into step beside him. "Oh, and also to give you something," she added, and then proceeded to dig through her bookbag until she pulled out a little bright red silk pouch that was full of sweets she'd brought back from the holiday and separated into bags for her friends. She offered it to him. "Here," she said. "It's just sweets, it's not going to hurt you!"