Breathe. Just breathe, Genevieve. Don’t pay any attention to the drop-dead gorgeous boy that just walked into the room. Focus on something else. Think of something else. Just think—
Who am I kidding? I can’t. Right now, the only thing my mind cares about is that this boy is the most attractive human I have ever seen. His tanned skin glows with a brilliant radiance, and his short, light brown hair complements his eyes. His lips are red and vibrant, as if they were crafted onto his face, and his jaw line is sharp and defined. His neck is slender, but obviously strong. I can see the outline of his muscles beneath his skin, and I follow them down until they disappear under his gray V-neck shirt.
“He’s a cutie, isn’t he?” Katie whispers, as she leans over to me. “I think every girl in this room’s blushing—maybe even a few of the guys.”
“Yeah, he’s handsome,” I whisper. “And he’s probably a complete jerk.”
Katie giggles. “You’re just trying to find an excuse not to like him.”
“No.” Yes.
“You’ve joined us at the perfect time, Mister Saint Clair,” says Miss Hawthorne. “We were just about to do introductions after I finish up with roll call.”
Jensen scans the room with his dark brown eyes. I’m trying to examine him without making it seem too obvious. I’m shielding my eyes with my hand on my forehead, and glancing up just enough to catch a glimpse of him.
You must look absolutely ridiculous. Stop acting crazy.
“Why don’t you take a seat?” Miss Hawthorne points him towards an empty desk.
Wait. The empty desk is…it’s next to me!
Jensen nods and walks over. He drops his backpack to the side of the desk and slides into his seat, then turns to face my direction.
“Hey there,” he whispers, smiling at me with dazzling white teeth.
“I’m, uh, I’m Genevieve.” I pick up my pen and pretend to write something down.
I can see him smirking as he pulls out his own notebook.
I sit awkwardly, trying not to stare at him anymore than I already have, as Miss Hawthorne finishes the class roster.
“Okay, everyone. Why don’t you pair up with someone you don’t know, and introduce yourselves?” Miss Hawthorne claps and looks at me. “Miss DeWinter, correct? Would you mind working with our new classmate?”
“Um, sure.”
I try to control my breathing. Stop acting like an idiot. He’s just a new student. Sure, he’s good-looking, but that doesn’t define him. Appearance isn’t the measure of a person.
But he must be an exception to that adage.
Now that he’s sitting mere inches away from me, his sweet cologne wafts in my direction. As he reaches into his backpack, his biceps quiver.
I feel my stomach tie into a tighter knot.
Ugh, Genevieve…stop.
“So,” Jensen scoots his desk closer to mine, “Genevieve.”
If voices were fabric, his would be softer than silk.
“Hi,” I mutter.
He laughs. “What year are you?”
“I’m a senior. What about you?”
“Same. My family just moved here.” He frowns. “Still getting settled in.”
“Well, I think you’ll fit in just fine,” I murmur.
“What?”
My face flushes. “Oh, nothing. I just mean…well, I’m sure you’ll make lots of friends here.”
“Oh.” He pauses, but then looks at me and smiles. “Hopefully.”
“Okay, so where are you from? Why did you move here?”
“Father’s work.” He sighs. “We move around quite a bit.”
He speaks formally, his tone one I’m not used to hearing with my other friends.
“I’m sorry. I can’t imagine moving all the time. It must be awful to have no sense of what a secure home is like.” I see Jensen staring at me. “Oh, gosh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound rude or anything.”
Did I seriously just tell him how awful his life must be without having a place to call home?
“It’s okay. You’re fine.” A smile is still on his face. “I’m guessing you’ve never lived anywhere else?”
I shake my head. “No, I haven’t. And although the prospect of going to college excites me, I’m trying to block out that I’d be leaving the one place I’ve come to know and love—good, old Parma, Ohio.” I laugh. “Maybe it sounds silly. I don’t know.” I bite my lip. “So do you have a big family?”
“I have my mom and dad, older sister, older brother, and a younger brother.”
“I have a younger brother, too! How old is he?”
“Thirteen.”
“So is mine!” I act as if this were the rarest artifact ever to be discovered. “They should meet each other. Danny could always use some more friends.”
“Yeah, sure,” Jensen says.
I can’t tell if he’s just being polite.
“What about you?” he says.
“What about me?”
“Your family. You have a younger brother. Anyone else?”
“Just my dad.” I hesitate. “My mom died ten years ago.”
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” he says, and I can see genuine empathy in his eyes. “You must miss her.”
“Yes, I do,” I whisper.
It’s hard to believe she’s been gone for so long.
Okay. So he’s not a jerk at all. But he must have a flaw. No one’s perfect.
“Do you have a favorite thing to do?” He looks at my backpack, with a smirk. “I see you have several novels in there.”
I look down into the unzipped section and see my copies of Cloud Chamber, Things Fall Apart, and The Great Gatsby.
“Yeah, I love reading.” I pull out one of the novels and flip it around.
The feel of a book is always comforting to me.
“And writing, actually,” I say. “I’m planning to do something with that in college. Maybe journalism or English.”
“Oh, that’s awesome. What do you like to write?”
“Anything.” I laugh. “Poetry, short stories…whatever, really. I’m president of the Creative Writing Club. And I help out on the school newspaper.”
He grins. “You’re very cute.”
“Ha, thanks.” I blush, unsure if he’s teasing me. “What about you?”
“I enjoy running.”
“Oh, yeah? My best friend is on the track team.” I gesture to Katie sitting next to me. “Do you do cross country or track?”
“What do you mean?” He gives me a strange look.
“Oh, I just assumed you ran in school.”
He still doesn’t seem to understand what I’m asking.
“Exercise really isn’t my thing,” I say, after another moment. “I definitely got more of my father’s brains than my mother’s brawn. She was always doing things like skiing, climbing, and hiking. Although, she was just as smart, to be honest.”
“Sounds like a great family,” he says, in a warm tone.
I feel a hand on my shoulder and turn to see Katie smiling at us.
“Mind if I butt in?”
“Not at all.” I’m grateful for her coming to the rescue, as I felt like I was running out of things to talk to him about. “Jensen, this is Katie.”
“Hey there. Nice to meet you.” He waves. “So you two have been friends for a while, then?”
“Since birth.” Katie giggles.
I roll my eyes and laugh. “What Katie means is that both of our moms had us in the hospital at the same time.”
“That’s right,” she says. “Birthday twins. So May thirty-first is kind of a big deal around here.”
“Okay, class, why don’t we pause the discussions for a bit and start going over the syllabus.” Miss Hawthorne passes out stacks of paper. “There’ll be plenty of time to get to know each other better.”
“When do you have lunch?” Jensen grabs the syllabus from Miss Hawthorne.
“Fifth period,” I say. “You?”
“Same.” He smiles. “Maybe we can continue this conversation then?”
“Sounds good to me.”
I glance at Katie and have to bite my lip to keep from smiling too hard as I see her give me a thumbs up.
Good-looking, athletic, and nice. I glance at Jensen. And I thought guys like that didn’t exist in our world.
a
The rest of my morning classes pass by in a blur, and finally lunch period rolls around. I head into the cafeteria and buy my lunch, looking to see if any of my friends are already seated. Sure enough, I spot Katie sitting at a table in the back corner.
“Hey, Genevieve,” a voice calls, from behind me.
Without skipping a beat, my heart flutters into my throat, and I know who it is before the final syllable of my name even hits my ears. I turn around, and Jensen is standing just inches away from me. He has his backpack slung over one shoulder and is carrying his food tray.
“Hey.” I try to sound calm. “How are you?”
“Starving.” He flashes his white teeth. “Mind if I join you for lunch?”
“Not at all.”
We head over to the table.
“Hey, Jeannie.” Katie waves at me.
She sees Jensen walking beside me and her face brightens.
“Oh, hey, Jensen.”
I take a seat next to Katie, and Jensen sits on the other side of me.
“So how were the rest of your mornings?” I say. “Any first-day drama?”
“Hardly.” Katie sighs. “I’m starting to regret signing up for so many AP classes. But Jensen and I are in AP physics together. We chose each other as lab partners.”
“Ah, well, you picked a good one, Jensen.” I laugh. “Katie is extremely smart.”
“Yeah, I caught on to that quickly.” He grins.
“So is he!” Katie says. “We geeked out over our mutual love for chemistry. I think I may have recruited a new body for the Chem Club. Did you know he did an internship last summer at the NIH, with biomedical engineering?”
“Wow, that’s impressive.” I open my Coke Zero. “So you’re a genius, too.”
“I wouldn’t say that.” Jensen chuckles, rubbing the back of his head.
It’s cute to see him acting so modest.
“How did you end up getting that position?” I say.
“My father knows a lot of people, so that helped.”
“What does he do?” Katie says.
“He works in politics and government stuff. You know, it’s complicated and boring.”
“Um, not boring,” Katie says. “Fun fact—my dad is the superintendent for this school district.”
“What she’s trying to say is that there’s nothing her family can’t do.” I giggle. “I’m lucky to have her as a friend.”
“Aww, well I can say the same.” Katie rests her head on my shoulder. “Genevieve is like the sister I never had.”
“To which I reply, she’s more than welcome to take my brother for as long as she wants if she’s looking for a sibling.”
“Hey, I’ve grown used to the only-child life. I can’t complain.”
“Katie?”
A tall, lanky boy with glasses thicker than Katie’s is standing next to us, holding his lunch tray. His shaggy blonde hair sits on his head, curling at its edges. His Legend of Zelda T-shirt is a size too big for his skinny frame, but his jeans are too short for his height, exposing several inches of his pale ankles, a stark contrast to the bright red Converse he wears.
“Floyd!” Katie flushes. “Hey, what’s up?”
“Not too much. Just got done with choir practice.” He pauses. “Can I join you guys for lunch?”
“Sure!” She pulls over her sandwich to make more room for him.
“Hi, Floyd,” I say.
“Hiya, Genevieve.” As he sits, he knocks over his water bottle, but picks it up before too much spills. “Oh, shoot!”
“Here.” Jensen uses a napkin to clean up the spilled water. “I got it.”
“Thanks,” Floyd grins, his cheeks turning red. “I’m rather clumsy.”
“It’s fine. I’m Jensen, by the way.”
Floyd nods. “Nice to meet you.”
“So how’s your first day?” Katie says.
I always love how awkward the two of them are together. They’ve had a thing for each other over the last couple years, but still haven’t officially started dating.
“It’s been pretty good.” His eyes brighten. “You’re in BC calculus with me this afternoon, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right. I’m excited.” Katies blushes. “I mean, I think it’s gonna be a good class.”
Jensen and I exchange smirks.
“Well, I wanted to talk to you about something.” Floyd adjusts his glasses. “I was thinking that maybe on Friday we could go see a movie together…if you’d like.”
“Oh! That sounds like fun.” Katie turns to me, clearly signaling with her eyes for me to intervene.
She always gets so nervous at the idea of being alone with Floyd.
“Could Genevieve tag along? I already told her we could hang out this weekend.”
This girl is such a bad liar.
“Oh, yeah, sure. I’d be happy to see a movie. Would you like to come with us?” I turn to Jensen, my heart racing as I wait for his reply.
“Yeah, that’d be great.”
I can’t contain the smile that spreads across my face.
“Oh…okay, yeah,” Floyd says. “I mean, I thought maybe it could just be you and me. But, um, yeah, that would be fun. I’ll look forward to it.”
“Are you going to do Book Club again this year with me?” I say. “I’m hoping we can get some more recruits.”
“Duh.” Floyd laughs. “I already have several novels picked out.”
“What are you reading now?”
“I finally started A Game of Thrones. I had to get on the bandwagon.”
I laugh. “Well, I beat you to it. I fell in love with the series a couple years ago. It’s completely different from the show.”
Floyd’s cell phone buzzes from his pocket.
“Oh, crap!” He jumps up from the table. “I forgot the robotics team was meeting now. I have to get going. I’m sorry.” He turns to Katie. “I’ll see you in math.”
“Likewise,” she says, as he rushes off.
“Likewise?” I giggle. “What kind of a reply is that?”
“Gah, Jeannie! I don’t know.” She clasps her hands to her head. “You know I always get all flustered when Floyd’s around.”
“I don’t understand why you guys aren’t dating yet. You’re perfect for each other.”
“I’m just going to wait for him to make the first move,” Katie says, her eyes downcast.
“Uh, I know I don’t know you guys that well, but I’m pretty sure trying to get you to go to the movies with him alone was a move in itself.” Jensen laughs. “Although, I’m more than happy to go on a double date.”
“Date?” My stomach ties into knots. Did he just say this was a date?
“Whatever you want to call it.” He grins. “It’ll be fun, regardless.”
The warning bell sounds for our next class, and all I can think about is that at the end of the week, I’ll be spending my Friday night with Jensen Saint Clair.
Jensen.
Oh, the sound of his name…