usual。 Not because she gushed about it or even waved
and winked or something。 No; she was back to avoiding me。 Shed say hi if we happened to
run into each other; but instead of being; like; right over
my shoulder anytime I looked; she was nowhere。 She must have ducked out back doors and
taken roundabout ways through campus。 She was; I
dont know; scarce。
I found myself looking at her in class。 The teacherd be talking and all eyes would be up
front … except mine。 They kept wandering over to Juli。 It
was weird。 One minute Id be listening to the teacher; and the next Id be pletely tuned
out; looking at Juli。
It wasnt until Wednesday in math that I figured it out。 With the way her hair fell back over her
shoulders and her head was tilted; she looked like
the picture in the paper。 Not just like it — the angle was different; and the wind wasnt
blowing through her hair — but she did look like the picture。 A
lot like the picture。
Making that connection sent a chill down my spine。 And I wondered — what was she thinking?
Could she really be that interested in root
derivations?
Darla Tressler caught me watching; and man; she gave me the worlds wickedest smile。 If I
didnt do something fast; this was going to spread like
wildfire; so I squinted at her and whispered; “Theres a bee in her hair; stupid;” then pointed
around in the air like; There it goes; see?
Darlas neck whipped around searching for the bee; and I straightened out my focus for the
rest of the day。 The last thing I needed was to be
scorched by the likes of Darla Tressler。
That night I was doing my homework; and just to prove to myself that Id been wrong; I pulled
that newspaper article out of my trash can。 And as
Im flipping it over; Im telling myself; Its a distortion of reality; its my imagination; she doesnt
really look like that…。
But there she was。 The girl in my math class; two rows over and one seat up; glowing
through newsprint。
Lyta barged in。 “I need your sharpener;” she said。
I slammed my binder closed over the paper and said; “Youre supposed to knock!” And then;
since she was zooming in and the paper was still
sticking out; I crammed the binder into my backpack as fast as I could。
“What are you trying to hide there; baby brother?”