an all-time low. I normally latch on to this kind of information, but I’m already late; I have no choice but to hang up on her and head to class.
When I walk into Social Sciences, there’s a new guy sitting right where I normally sit near the windows. His face turns to me, and his eyes are the first thing to catch my interest. They’re dark like chocolate and filled with shadows. His lips move into a flicker of a smile, and a piece of his dark hair falls across his forehead. He makes me think of mysteries and secrets. In short, he sums up every single thing my mom tells me to avoid. So I sit down in the empty seat next to him.
“You’re late, Piper.” Mr. Kaiser’s already started class.
I pretend not to look at the new guy and drop my backpack onto the ground. “My mom called.”
I wait for the idiotic crack from Randy Conner which I know will come. He doesn’t disappoint. “Making sure you got between classes okay?”
The class snickers, and I shoot Randy my best glare. But my peripheral vision catches the new guy, and my heart tightens into something resembling a Gordian knot; he’s staring right at me.
My face heats up, and I wish I could fade into invisibility. Jokes about my mom’s over-protectiveness are rampant at school. It’s not until I turn back around, get my tablet out, and Mr. Kaiser starts lecturing that I feel the new guy’s eyes shift off me.
“Global Heating Crisis.” Mr. Kaiser prints
I chance a sideways look at the new guy and catch his mouth curve into a smile when he sees me looking.
“How was your weekend?” he says. His voice pulls my thoughts away from Mr. Kaiser and the Global Heating Crisis, and my heart pumps into overdrive. It pushes its way through the filters in my brain and stirs up images of freedom and fun. And darkness.
Breathe. Must remember to breathe. Okay, so he’s perfect, but if my mom finds out I actually talked to a guy like this she’d probably yank me out of public school and homeschool me for the rest of the year. She’s completely over the top when it comes to guys.
“I hung out with my mom all weekend,” I say.
He smiles, and I know it’s a good thing I’m already sitting because, with the blood pumping out of my legs and into my heart, I’d never be able to stand.
“Seriously? You should have asked to go out or something,” he says.
At this, even with my reluctant vocal cords, I actually let out a small laugh. There is just no way he has any idea what living with my overprotective mom is like. It took me running away one weekend for her to ever let me go to public high school in the first place. I was fourteen at the time, and I’d tried everything. Not eating. Not doing my homework. But it was only when I resorted to running away that she finally let up a little.
“That would be pointless,” I manage to say. I glance at Mr. Kaiser, but he’s busy writing the top ten reasons global warming will kill Earth on the board. It’s interesting that his number one reason is the disperser missile because it’s my mom’s top reason, too. She claims the chemicals used to puncture the bubble strip layers from the atmosphere.
The new guy leans in and lowers his voice, and the classroom seems to fade around us. “So you go on, feeling like you have no control? That doesn’t seem fair.”
I stare at him because I have no idea how to respond. He’s looking into my soul and seeing my exact thoughts. It’s like he knows me. But I have no clue who he is.
“Piper?”
I turn at Mr. Kaiser’s voice, remembering where I am. “Yes?”
“I asked how long Earth has been in an official catastrophic state.”
It’s an easy question—the same amount of time I’ve been alive. The same amount of time everyone in this room has been alive with the exception of Mr. Kaiser who’s ancient. “Eighteen years.”
Mr. Kaiser smiles, and I notice out of my sideways vision the new guy isn’t looking at me anymore. He’s looking out the window at a gym class on the soccer field. Misters spray cooling gel into the air, forming a green haze under the UV shade coverings, but the thermometer outside the window is clocking in at one hundred and seven. The new guy watches the game, ignoring Mr. Kaiser. And ignoring me. I vow that the next time I’m in a conversation with the hottest guy on the planet, I will actually say something more engaging. In all fairness, I haven’t had much practice.
Mr. Kaiser picks on a couple of other kids, and then goes into some lengthy explanation of atmospheric stripping. I’ve heard it all before from my mom, so I sit back and let the new guy enter my daydreams—the one place I know my mom can’t get to. I convince myself his eyes still look my way. I imagine he asks me to go out with him, and I even smile when my mom agrees—ignoring the absurdity of this. That’s the nice thing about daydreams—even the impossible can happen. I wonder what it would be like to kiss him, what it would be like to be with someone who understood me. I can almost feel his lips on my mouth. I want to savor the moment forever.
“Did you have a fun birthday?”
I snap back to reality and peek over. At least this time, he’s whispering.
“How did you know it was my birthday?” I ask. As far as I know, he’s never seen me before today.
“You told me last week,” he says.
I stare at him and try to form coherent words because this is ridiculous. I’ve never spoken to him in my life. “Do I know you?”
He looks at me like I’m crazy. “I’m Shayne. Remember?”
I shake my head because he must be messing with my mind. “Not really.” But I decide to play along with it.
He gives me the cutest little smile like he’s got a secret he’s dying to tell me. Like we’re co-conspirators in a plot to take over the world. And I believe for a second we are. He flips a stylus in circles over his fingers—a skill I’ve tried a hundred times and never been able to master. He makes it look easy.
“We’ve been sitting by each other all year,” he says.
I glance around the room and notice half the girls in the class staring at him. But he either doesn’t notice them or doesn’t care. It’s like he only has eyes for me.
“So what’s my name?” I whisper back, and this time I manage to smile at him even though my throat feels like it’s about to lock up.
“Piper,” he says. When it comes out of his mouth, it’s like he’s trying to taste it.
“Mr. Kaiser just said it,” I say, realizing it wasn’t a very good question.
“That’s true.” And then his eyes meet mine, and I see red specks inside the brown irises. They almost seem like they’re moving, but it’s just the fluorescent lights from overhead playing tricks.
I swallow and hold his gaze. And something creeps through me from my ears all the way to my little toes, stopping and settling around my middle for so long I know my heart’s about to thump out of my chest. It only takes me a second to name it. Desire. Like I’ve never felt before. Like I’d do anything for him. Which makes absolutely no sense; I’ve spoken all of three sentences to him—well, at least as far as I remember. But yet it’s there.
His hand moves like he’s about to reach over and set it on my desk. But then he bites the side of his lip and stops. “Don’t let your mom get you down. You have a whole future ahead of you.”
Can he know I dream of a future without my mom?
I try to respond but find I can’t open my mouth. I tear at my mind, wishing brilliant words would form there, but I come up empty. And Shayne seems content to let the conversation go and sit in the awkward silence. After a minute, I force myself to break his eye contact. My mom will kill me. I should get up and move somewhere else. My mom would want me to change seats. She’s told me a million times that guys can’t be trusted. But he seems convinced I’ve been sitting by him all year, so what’s the harm in one more day?
I look back over at Shayne. He smiles, and the red specks are gone from his eyes. I blink a few times, but they’re still not there. I must have imagined them. Just like I’ve imagined not knowing him. He turns back to look out the window and starts flipping the stylus again on his fingers. Mr. Kaiser drones on about the conspiracy theories behind global warming which range from normal things like people not recycling plastic to the more absurd ideas like carbon dioxide being pumped into the atmosphere by an alien race trying to take over Earth. I sit
