After I’d dragged out the process of taking my stuff out of my bag for as long as I could, I snuck a glance at Alex. He had on a black hooded jacket, and the color of his bright green eyes seemed to look a little darker today. Although it could have been from the death stare he was giving me

I amazed myself when I actually glowered back at him. I think I might have shocked him, too, because his death stare slipped into a look of puzzlement. I’m not going to lie, confusing him made me feel good.

Aislin acted the absolute opposite of Alex. Her smile shined almost as much as the diamond necklace she had on. “Hi, Gemma.”

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.