By her overly cheerful tone, I could tell she was feigning being nice to me. I decided to play her little game and politely smiled back at her. However, I think it came off more twitchy and nervous than I wanted. Evidently, I sucked at being fake cheerful.
Aislin, however, was a pro, her smile never faltering. “How was your weekend?”
“Great,” I lied, sounding grumpy.
“Alright, everyone,” Mr. Sterling said, clapping his hands together to get everyone’s attention. “Let’s get started.”
And that’s the last thing I heard. I tuned everything out as the electricity ignited and preoccupied almost every inch of my concentration. To make things even more distracting, Alex started staring at me, and continued to do so until the end of class. It sucked big time and made me squirm around uncomfortably in my seat.
At last, the bell finally did ring and class was dismissed. I quickly collected my things and hastily shoved them into my messenger bag, feeling thankful that Mr. Sterling had been in one of his discussion modes and had left no time for group time.
I stood up, ready to bolt for the door right as Mr. Sterling decided to make an announcement.
“One more thing before you go,” he said. He waited for everyone to settle down before continuing. “As a group, I want you to complete a project. It can be any topic of your choice, just as long as it relates to astronomy. It’s worth thirty percent of your grade, and you’ll have to spend some time out of class working on it.” He ignored the moans and groans that filled the room. “I will need you to tell me a basic idea of what your topic is going to be by tomorrow. There are more specific instructions in this.” He held up a packet of papers. “Make sure you pick one up as you leave class so you can start brainstorming ideas of what you’re going to do. That’s it. Class dismissed.”
Group project. Great. I swung the handle of my bag over my shoulder and made a dash for the door, not slowing down until I’d made it safely to my corner of the library.
I couldn’t find the book I’d been reading—the one about the girl that had a super power. After searching for several minutes, I finally spotted it lying sideways in front of the Encyclopedia’s, which were on the top shelf. Now I was tall, but not tall enough to reach it. Even on my tiptoes, with my arm stretched out as far as it would go, I still came up inches short. I was just getting ready to make a jump for it, when an eruption of electricity riled up my back.
My skin tingled as I jolted backward.
“Need some help?” Alex asked, watching me with patronizing eyes.
I had to collect myself before I spoke so that my voice would come out even. “No. I’m good.”
He stepped closer and nodded at the shelf. “Which one are you trying to reach?”
“I—that one,” I stammered, pointing at the book. Then I rolled my eyes at myself. Get it together Gemma.
He reached over my head, the scent of his cologne fluttering the air. In height, he had me by about four or five inches and grabbed the book effortlessly. “Here you go.”
“Thanks.” I took the book from him, being extra careful not to let my fingers touch his skin. If just being near him made my body buzz, I could only imagine what touching him would be like.
Without saying bye, I weaved my way through the maze of bookshelves until I was back at my normal spot. I was very aware that Alex had followed me, but was trying hard to ignore him.
I sat down on the floor next to my bag and got comfortable.
He stared down at me, clearly irritated. “I didn’t just come here to get your book for you.”
I opened my book up. “Then why did you?”
It got quiet, the only sound coming from me flipping through the pages as I searched for the page I’d left off on yesterday. But my brain had blanked out, and I couldn’t seem to find the right one.
“Aislin had me track you down,” he said suddenly. “And since you seem to like hiding back here so much, I figured I’d find you here.”
And there it was. The thing I’d been waiting for—for them to say they knew I’d been eavesdropping on their conversation. That they knew I’d heard all the bizarre things they’d been talking about. Much of which included me.
Totally dumfounded on what to do or say, I kept searching through the book, the pages fanning my face with a cool breeze that felt nice against my heated skin.
Alex stole the book out of my hands.
“Hey.” I grimaced.
He snapped the book shut. “Aislin wants to know if you’ll meet us here after school so we can come up with an idea for our project.” He spoke every syllable slowly, as if he thought I was slow.
That was it. That was all he wanted. No accusations. No explanations. No nothing.
“Well, can you?” he asked impatiently.
I wanted to tell him no because I really, really didn’t want be around either one of them. Well, okay, that was kind of stretching the truth since, right at this moment, every nerve in my body was magnetizing toward him. But that was because of the electricity, not me. The stupid, obnoxious, make-your-mind-go-all-fuzzy electricity.
“If you guys want, you can just pick a topic without me,” I offered, hoping, upon hoping, he’d say yes.
He shook his head. “Nope. Were supposed to work together as group.”
I raised my eyebrows accusingly. “I’m guessing you probably really don’t give a crap whether we work on it as a group or not.”
“Oh, I don’t,” he assured me. “But Aislin does.”
I narrowed my eyes at him as I got to my feet. “Fine. I guess I’ll be there then.” I stuck out my hand. “Now please give me back my book.”
He pressed his lips together, took an unnecessary step toward me—totally invading my personal space—and placed the book in my hand. As he moved his hand away, one of his fingers brushed against mine. Accidental or not, who knew? But the smug smile on his face was making me think he’d probably done it intentionally, perhaps to try and torture me to death. And torture it was. Not the chain-you-up-in-the-basement-without-any-food-or-water kind of torture, but more like the want-it-so-badly-lose-your-mind-because-you-know-you-can-never-have-it kind.
My hand shook as I fought to stay calm. I knew the worse thing to do was to let him see how much of an affect his touch had on me. On the inside, however, my body was going wild, my heart erupting, my blood racing. At that very moment, I wanted nothing more than to be close to him.
Yep, I know, I’m pathetic.
For a split second, I thought I saw Alex’s eyes widen, building my hope that maybe the touch was having the same affect on him. But it happened so quickly, I couldn’t be certain it actually happened. And before I knew it, he turned his back on me and left without saying another word.
What did my life used to be like? That was the question that ping-ponged through my brain during the rest of the school day. What had my life been like before I’d been able to feel? Before Alex had come along? Before the electricity had shown up? Oddly enough, even though the majority of my life had been spent without all of this, it didn’t feel like it. In fact, my pre-feeling, pre-Alex, pre-electricity days seemed like such a long, long time ago.
Then again, what was life without feeling, really? Nothing. And maybe that’s why I was having a hard time remembering.
But anyway…
My last class of the day was a big crap-fest. I was called on three times, which has never happened to me before. But for some reason—who knows, maybe Alex’s touch had left my skin glowing or something—I was the very opposite of invisible. At least to Mr. Montgomery, my seventh period English teacher, who continuously called on me to answer his questions.
Gemma, can you tell us what one of the major themes is in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet? Gemma, what is the significance of the poison in the play? It wasn’t like I didn’t have the answers to his questions. I loved literature and everything, but I hated being put on the spot. And I hated the fact that I stammered all of my answers.
To top it all off, my locker got jammed, and in the middle of kicking the crap out of it, a teacher strolled by and scolded me. By the time I sank down into a chair at library, I was in no mood to deal with any more crap. Really, I probably should have skipped out on the meeting, since Alex had the tendency to get under my skin.
But I didn’t.
I don’t know why.
I also had a major headache. My brain felt like it was boiling inside my skull. God, I was going to have to take up yoga to deal with all the stress.
I rested my head on the table. The wood was cold against my warm skin. It felt nice. I massaged the sides of my temples, and let my eyes drift closed. I took a slow breath and tried to bury all of my problems deep, deep down where it would take them forever to resurface.
But as a current of electricity weaved its way up my spine, I remembered that burying your problems was only a temporary solution. I groaned as my endeavor at relaxing flew right out the window.
Alex dropped his bag on the table. “Headache?”
“Yep,” I replied snippily. And it’s sitting right next to me.
“Gemma, what’s wrong?” The voice belonged to Aislin.
I raised my head up. She was standing on the other side of the table, a pink purse draped across her shoulder, her forehead creased over with concern.
“She has a headache,” Alex answered for me.
“I’m fine,” I told her. “Really. It’s not a big deal.”
“Hold on, I think I have something.” She dug around her purse and retrieved a bottle of Tylenol. “Here you go.”
I took the bottle gratefully, poured two in my hand, and gave it back to her. “Thanks.”
She smiled and tossed the bottle back in her bag. “No problem.”
I tipped my head back, plopped them into my mouth, and forced them down my throat with my spit. Hopefully they’d kick in quick. If I was lucky, maybe they’d also numb out the electricity along with the headache.