I walked through the front doors of Eureka High School and gritted my teeth as a young boy with spiked hair and several rings in his face ran into me. The brief contact gave me enough time to connect with his life force. It happened instinctively, and I was shocked I’d connected to it at all. It usually took a little more time than that.
I sensed he was nursing a fractured wrist and a very bad sprained ankle. It felt like the injuries were recent. I wondered if a fight had broken out before I’d arrived, then noticed the skateboard in his hand. I did my best to smother the sympathetic emotions stirring within me. Now was not the time or place for a healing.
I forced myself to move away from him and carefully made my way down the hall. I bumped into several other students, one right after the other, and began to feel a bit overwhelmed by the pain that many of them were experiencing. Realizing I had managed to connect with several different life forces in a matter of seconds I froze in my tracks. I tried to hold perfectly still, not wanting to accidentally connect with anyone else. As soon as a pathway cleared I frantically rushed down the hall and into my first class of the day.
I stood in the doorway and leaned against the wall, feeling like I’d just passed through a war zone. My thoughts returned to Sarah’s comments about my powers growing.
It’s been such a lovely, abnormal morning.
I walked over to my desk and nearly slammed my knee into it when I saw Angie sitting at hers with a cat-like grin on her gorgeous face. Not only was she here a full day earlier than expected, but she was early to our mythology class.
Early wasn’t Angie’s style.
“Hey, I can’t believe you’re here. I thought you said you needed another day to recuperate. Are you better already?”
“I still feel a bit drained and achy, but I heard there was a new guy in school and that he’s totally hot. I couldn’t stay home lounging around my bedroom while some slut, a.k.a. Tanya Sedgwick, snatched him up before I did.”
I laughed, feeling relieved and happy to know that I had been right as far as Angie’s illness was concerned. I’d begun to wonder if something was wrong with me. Maybe I was sick. It rarely happened, and I didn‘t usually notice if I was because it was so easy for my body to heal itself. Sometimes, I would actually have to force my body to stop the healing process just so I could get sick occasionally like any normal human being.
It was not pleasant.
“Hey, Hope. HOOOOOOOOPE!”
Angie was waving her hands back and forth in my face.
“Sorry,” I said. “My brain damage has been especially debilitating this morning.”
“Wow, that word had a lot of syllables in it. I keep warning you that everyone is going to start believing you’re incredibly ancient.” She reached over and gave me an I-haven’t-seen-you-for-two-days hug.
I squeezed her back, thinking that her remarks about being ancient felt spot on. I was exhausted.
My stomach grumbled loudly.
Exhausted and hungry.
“Crap! I forgot to eat breakfast.” I sat down in my seat and pulled a three ring binder from my backpack. “So, tell me about this new guy. Wait, why didn‘t you tell me about him on the phone last night?”
“After you and I finished talking, I received a phone call from a very reliable source who claims that a new family has moved into town, and one of those family members just happens to be male, our age, and hawwwat!”
“Angie, your reliable source wouldn’t by any chance be your eighty-year-old, next door neighbor, Mrs. Potts, would it?”
“Exactly!” she said as if that statement alone proved the validity of her intel.
“Please, she’s a nosy gossip with absolutely nothing to do all day except make up crazy stories to report to the police. Don’t you remember that one time when she convinced the entire police department that a bomb had been planted in her front driveway?”
“That was pretty entertaining. She made like a million éclairs and kept feeding them to all of the onlookers.” She moved to the front of my desk. “I think she’s just lonely, personally.”
“She’s also blind as a bat.”
“I know. Crazy how she was able to see a hot guy across the street from her house, don’t you think?”
It was obvious Angie was purposely missing my point.
“What’s even crazier is that she would care enough to call and tell you. Wait, that means the hot guy lives like two houses away from you,” I said finally putting the pieces together.
“I know!” she squealed.
I tapped my pencil to my forehead in an effort to jump start my sluggish brain cells. I was really struggling this morning.
She leaned over the front of my desk looking ready to impart some big, juicy secret. I looked up at her and smiled encouragingly, knowing Angie enjoyed having an avid audience, even if it was just me.
“Okay, these are the deets. His name is Tie and he’s hot, hot, and hot.”
I stared at her as I felt the shock register on my face.
“That’s all you know? That’s all Mrs. Potts told you? This is completely unacceptable. Your investigative skills are getting rusty, Angie. You usually have a guy’s entire life history memorized within the first ten minutes of him showing up on your hot guy radar, and all you know about this one is his first name? You got a last name floating around there somewhere?”
“Okay, first of all, I’ve been out of commission so cut me some slack here, and second, that was pretty much all Mrs. Potts knew. There really wasn’t much to find, although I did happen to inadvertently get a copy of his class schedule, and I know he has folklore and mythology with us.”
“Ah ha. That’s why you’re here early. I was wondering.” I wiggled my eyebrows at her. “And you got his class schedule how?”
It was Angie’s turn to do some eyebrow wiggling.
“For your safety and security, I feel it is imperative that I keep my sleuthing skills to myself.”
“You totally made out with Mr. Peterson’s office aide, didn’t you?”
Her eyes widened innocently.
“It was a small price to pay for life, liberty and the pursuit of hotness.”
“Well, considering the fact that you probably just gave him your flu bug, I’d say the only one paying the price in this situation is the office aide.”
“And I know he’ll think it was so worth it!” She let out a naughty little laugh.
I joined in and couldn’t stop as other students started filing in. The bell rang, and the last of the students fell into their chairs while Ms. Chinatsu Mori, our Folklore and Mythology teacher, stood up and began to address the class.
I looked around the room expecting to see someone new and good-looking in one of the back seats, but the same old faces I’d seen since kindergarten stared vacantly past me. I looked to my left where Angie was sitting and raised my eyebrows questioningly. She just shrugged her shoulders, puzzled, and then turned forward pretending that her faulty intel and the price she’d had to pay to get it wasn’t as big a deal to her as it should have been.
“All right folks, since it is February and Valentine’s Day is right around the corner I thought it would be fun to discuss some folklore and mythology that centers around…love.” Ms. Mori said the word love as if she were some swooning teenager.
There was giggling and grumbling in equal amounts as she picked up her piece of chalk and walked over to the board.
“Off the top of your head who do you immediately think of?” she asked, chalk poised at the ready.
“Cupid,” yelled out a freshmen.
“Cupid, seriously?” Angie muttered under her breath. “Why do they let the little people in with the seniors. It hardly seems fair to the masses.”
“The masses meaning us?” I inquired softly.
“Of course I’m talking about us. Who else is as important?”
My lips quirked into a smile thinking that Angie’s statement was all the more hilarious because she was absolutely serious. Other s
tudents continued shouting out answers.
“Okay, so we have Cupid, Venus, who else?”
“How about Aphrodite?” Angie offered. “Wasn’t she a goddess of love and beauty or something like that?
“That is correct, Ms. Bellingham.” Ms. Mori wrote the name, Aphrodite, on the board in big flowing cursive.
“At last. A mythological being I can finally relate to,” Angie said in a relieved tone. I chuckled with the rest of the class.
“Isn’t Eros connected with Aphrodite?” asked another lowly freshmen.
“I think you students will find that these figures from mythology are all connected in some way. For example, Cupid is the Roman god of love, and his name comes from the Latin term cupido meaning desire. He was a winged creature capable of shooting arrows at people’s hearts in order to make them fall in love with whomever he wished.”
“Handy, that,” I whispered to Angie.
She scoffed. “As if you or I would ever need an arrow to make a guy fall in love with us.”
“I’d probably need a few,” I said under my breath.
“Eros, on the other hand was Cupid’s Greek counterpart. He was the Greek God of love, and his legend is pretty much identical to Cupid’s,” Ms. Mori continued.
“If Cupid means desire what does Eros mean?” asked another student who seemed to know the answer from the lewd look on his face.
Ms. Mori leveled her own look at him and continued on as if she hadn’t heard his question. Ripples of laughter erupted throughout the class.
“The most well-known legend of Cupid and Eros involves a beautiful woman,” Ms. Mori began. “She was a mortal princess, and her name was Psyche. She was so incredibly beautiful, men soon began worshipping her instead of the Goddess of love, which could be Venus or Aphrodite depending on whether we are talking about Eros or Cupid. You see how the stories and characters relate to one another?”
There were mumbles of agreement and a few nods as well.
“The Goddess of love and beauty was so jealous of Psyche, she instructed her son to make Psyche fall in love with the ugliest creature she could find, but when Eros tried to stick Psyche with his arrow he accidentally stuck himself, saw Psyche, and he fell in love with her. Soon they became lovers, but Eros forbade her to look upon him. He was afraid his mother would find out about the affair.”
“That is sooooo typical. Guys are always hiding me from their mothers,” Angie said to no one in particular.
“Wait, who is Eros again? I thought we were talking about Cupid!” said another freshman.
“Freshmen are such a disease!” Angie muttered as she picked at her fingernails.
“Cupid is Eros’ counterpart, remember?” I said to the bewildered freshmen in the seat beside me.
He looked at me gratefully and snuck a terrified look at Angie before sinking backward into his seat.
“As I was saying, Eros, or Cupid if you will, ended up leaving Psyche after she unmasked him and saw who he really was. Psyche went searching for him, and the Goddess of love tried to destroy her by making her accomplish dangerous tasks in order to find her lost love. Eventually, Eros discovered what was going on and rescued Psyche from a sleep induced coma brought on by an item from the underworld.”
“Huh? When did she go to the underworld?” asked the same clueless freshmen.
Angie sighed dramatically. “It was one of the tasks set forth by Venus you tiny worm.”
“Isn’t Venus supposed to be Cupid’s mother? I thought we were talking about Eros now.”
The look Angie gave the kid was close to apoplectic. “Are you still speaking?” she asked in disbelief.
I put my hand on his arm and eased him back in his seat where he was out of Angie’s line of vision.
“I’ll give you my notes after class,” I said to the bewildered boy.
He again looked at me gratefully and avoided eye contact with my best friend.
“Aphrodite was so impressed by the love that Psyche had for Eros, she made Psyche immortal, gave them her blessing, and Psyche and Eros lived happily ever after,” Ms. Mori finished.
“Really? I always thought these legends ended tragically,” I said before I could stop myself.
“Well, Ms. Fairmont, some of them do. Do you have one in particular you would like to share with us?” The intense, almost probing look Ms. Mori was giving me made me feel uncomfortable.
I wondered why I had decided to participate at all. I couldn’t think of one single, tragic legend with everyone staring at me expectantly.
“You said that the Roman and Greek gods and goddesses are counterparts to each other. Do other cultures have a god or goddess of love?” I asked hoping to turn the attention back to Ms. Mori.
She smiled at me as if she knew something I didn’t.
“Let’s talk about Freya, the Norse Goddess of love and beauty. She was so beautiful, in fact, that she had many suitors and an infinite amount of lovers even though the only man she truly loved was her husband Od.”
“That is odd,” said a senior football player.
The room once again erupted into laughter.
“She loved him so much, when he was transformed into a sea monster she stood by his side and comforted him instead of turning away from his hideous form. Are you guys beginning to see a theme or pattern here?”
“I’m still trying to figure out how Cupid ties in with sea monsters,” whispered the freshmen seated next to me.
My smile grew. He was beginning to remind me of Kirby.
Angie raised her hand to address the class. I wasn’t sure why she bothered. She usually just blurted everything out.
“Okay everyone, I think the theme we are discussing here is that love conquers all. Am I right? When you love and care about someone you’ll go anywhere, do anything to find the person you’re supposed to be with, and once you have them you’ll fight to the death in order to keep them with you always.“
Whoa! I gave Angie a puzzled look, trying to figure out how such a serious answer had found its way out of her mouth.
“That’s exactly right, Ms. Bellingham,” Ms. Mori agreed, seeming a little taken aback by her outburst as well.
But Angie wasn’t finished.
“I also think that love, if it’s true love, is totally blind. I mean it’d have to be if you were willing to sleep with a sea monster. That Freya chick was in need of some serious Lasik surgery.”
And there it was.
The laughter seemed to fill up every available space in the room.
“What other culture has a god or goddess of love?” asked another student in the back.
“My culture does,” replied Ms. Mori.
“The Chinese?” asked my clueless freshmen.
“Idiot,” Angie said to herself. “Any fool can see she’s Korean.”
“I’m actually Japanese, and in my culture the god that is pertinent to this particular conversation is Musubi-no-kami, the god of love and marriage.”
My head began to feel heavy at the mention of that particular deity’s name.
“Musubi was a god who delighted in bringing young lovers together and encouraging their happy union. Musubi’s legend occurs in the province of Mimasaka in a small town called Kagami where a shrine and temple exist solely to pay homage to Musubi-no-kami. If there was ever anyone who wanted a blessing placed upon their marriage, it is said that these people traveled to the temple and knelt before the shrine asking blessings and favors to be poured out upon them.”
“What did the shrine look like?” I asked. I felt this strange desire to know every detail.
Ms. Mori’s eyes alighted on me with that same knowing look.
“The shrine was a Holy Cherry tree. If Musubi felt it was in a person’s best interest to pursue the one they pled for, then he would appear out of thin air and hand them a single cherry blossom. This not only signified his blessing, but it also ensured that the person receiving the blossom would fall madly in love with the giver of the blossom.?
??
I felt my throat close up at the mention of cherry blossoms. They had been my mother’s favorite. My father and I had accompanied my mother to every cherry blossom event known to man. At least that was how it’d felt to me. I hadn’t been to one single festival since my mother’s passing.
“One day, a beautiful maiden came to the Holy Cherry Tree because her father wanted her to find a husband. When she arrived, she saw a handsome man holding a cherry blossom. He disappeared quickly afterwards without giving her the blossom in his hand.”
I felt pressure building in the back of my head. What in the world was wrong with me?
“The maiden went home and found out that her father had arranged a marriage for her, but she was unable to forget the young man she had seen earlier. She later discovered the man whom she loved was no mortal, but a god. The god of love and marriage.”
The pressure began escalating. Sharp, needle-like pains shot from my jaw to the roof of my skull. I was certain my head would burst if I didn’t leave the room as soon as possible.
“Her betrothed found out that she loved another and sought to fight him, not realizing it was a god he would be challenging. He attacked Musubi when he appeared at the Holy Cherry tree again. Musubi disappeared, and the priests of the temple were angry for her betrothed’s interference. The legend then goes on to say that the maiden refused to marry her father’s choice of husband and dedicated herself to a life of celibacy as a nun in the temple of Musubi-no-kami. At least, that‘s what the text books say,” Ms. Mori finished cryptically.
“You mean, that’s not what really happened? Did Musubi love the maiden in return? Because if he didn’t and she became a nun for him then that’s totally messed up,” Angie replied as she pulled out a file and began hacking away at her manicured nails.
“What do you think really happened, Hope?” Ms. Mori asked.
I knew I’d been asked a question, but I couldn’t respond. The pressure had come to a head, and all of a sudden I felt this popping movement like a bubble bursting within my cranium, and a bright, white light blinded me to everything else. I wasn’t in the classroom anymore, but in an entirely different place altogether.
The room I stood in was large and rectangular. It looked like some kind of receiving room, but was much more ancient in its structure. There were several different paintings strategically placed along the wooden walls. Each painting held different oriental looking men in light robes and topknot hairstyles. There were several ornate looking statues painted in shades of gold, green, and a sort of coppery color. I looked down at myself and saw folds of sea green silk encircling my body.
A middle-aged Asian man entered the room and walked over to me. His air of authority was unmistakable. Without understanding why, I immediately bent forward from the hip into a reverent bow and stayed like that until the man lifted my chin with his finger. He then embraced me as if he knew who I was and began speaking to me in a language I had never heard before.
I understood everything he was saying!
“You will meet him this evening, my child. Your engagement ceremony will bring joy and happiness to our people. Of this I am certain. I am proud of you young daughter. Fulfill your duty and your destiny.”
I stared at him blankly.
What is happening to me?
A loud voice broke into my confusion, pulling me backward and away from the man standing before me.
“Hope? Were you going to answer the question?”
I was immediately thrown from the oriental looking room back into my hard, uncomfortable chair. I had no idea what had just happened, but the term “losing it” didn’t even come close to how I was feeling at that very moment.
“What does it matter whether it happened exactly that way? Haven’t all of these legends been changed over the centuries anyway?” asked Angie.
I glanced around the room trying to figure out if anyone had noticed my brief absence. My classmates’ faces were exhibiting a broad spectrum of expressions ranging from slightly sleepy and bored to comatose. It looked as if others had finally succumbed to unconsciousness. I felt relieved and figured that I was simply having more hallucinations which, in reality, wasn’t something I should have been feeling relieved about.
“That is true, Ms. Bellingham, but despite the different variations you may find in all of these myths and legends there seems to be similar patterns and themes connecting them all together. Don’t you think?”
“Well, in each situation there are gods of love who get people to love one another through different objects like arrows or cherry blossoms,” said Angie. “What about Freya, though? Did she have something that made people fall in love with each other too?”
“Actually, there are some similarities there as well. Freya acquired a necklace that was made by four dwarves. This necklace was called the Brisingamen, and some have referred to the necklace as the necklace of desire. There isn’t much folklore that supports my own theory on what the necklace was capable of, but I’ve always suspected that it symbolized Freya’s abilities to bring young lovers together in much the same way that Cupid’s arrows and Musubi’s cherry blossoms did.”
“But it isn’t actually bringing people together. It’s forcing them to love each other mindlessly,” I said in disagreement.
“Interesting, Ms. Fairmont. Please continue,” Ms. Mori said, eyes shining.
It really was weird how she kept waiting for me to have some kind of strange epiphany.
“Well, Cupid is shooting arrows at people to make them fall in love with each other. He wasn’t even in love with Psyche until he was stupid enough to stick himself with his own arrow. And Musubi is playing with fate by handing out cherry blossoms to people who will then turn around and give them to the person they desire, forcing that person to fall in love with them. How is that love when it isn’t even your choice?”
“So you believe that love is a choice? Surely you’ve read books and watched movies where people fall in love with someone and wish they hadn’t, as if they could choose to stop simply because they wished it.” She looked like she didn’t agree with my opinion.
“I’m not talking about stopping once you’ve already started. I’m talking about not being forced to fall in love with someone in the first place. What if you love the wrong person? What if the person you are supposed to love isn’t the person you end up loving all because some stupid over-privileged god thinks he has the right to shoot you with an arrow and change your fate completely?” I was getting upset, but wasn’t sure why. It was weird to feel so passionate about something I’d never really thought about before.
“Do you think you could actually be forced to love someone if those feelings weren’t already buried deep within you? I’ve always assumed that Cupid’s arrows and Musubi’s blossoms merely brought out the love that humans are afraid to confront and explore. They ensure a happy ending. If your destiny is your soul mate then why fight it?”
For some reason I felt like I’d had this argument with her before.
“All I’m saying is this: forcing someone to love anybody isn’t doing anyone any good.”
“So you think the arrows and cherry blossoms are actually symbols of blindness, stripping one’s ability to choose.”
“Yeah, I guess I do.” I realized the class had become very quiet during the last few minutes.
“I think they symbolize second chances, personally,” said a new voice directly behind me.
For some reason it felt as if time was slowing to a halt. My insides ignited and my heart lurched within my chest, beating like it never had before, as if it had been dormant for a while, but had found a new reason to awaken. I slowly turned myself around and saw a pair of cold, calculating eyes looking at me with a surprising amount of familiarity. Not to mention an uncalled for amount of hostility. His eyes were ice blue, his hair was golden blonde and his demeanor was chilly. His tanned skin deepened the color of his eyes and his square jaw jutted out proudly. He was an absolute Ad
onis.
In all honesty, I was having trouble looking away from him, but from the way my body was reacting to him it was clear that I needed to. I was hyper-aware of the effect he was having on my beating heart, and the smug, knowing look on his face made it obvious that he knew it and wasn’t at all surprised by it.
“Hello Tie,” Ms. Mori said.
I spun around to face my teacher, feeling relieved that her voice had managed to break the spell he had cast. How did they know each other?
“Hey Chinatsu. I’m sorry I’m late. I had a few things to clear up concerning my class schedule.”
His voice seemed to be gently gliding across my body. I needed to focus on something else before I started to hyperventilate. My reaction to him was not only completely unexpected, but entirely unwelcome. I hadn’t had a crush on anyone for years. In fact, I couldn’t remember if I’d ever had a crush on anyone before. I’d always been too busy navigating the murky waters of Angie’s twisted and convoluted love life.
“Class, I’d like to introduce you to our newest student, and a close friend of my family. This is Tie Hart. He’ll be joining us for the remainder of his senior year.”
I turned to Angie in a panic. She was drooling just as much as the rest of the females in the room. She was going to be no help at all.
The guys noticed him simply because Tie’s presence upped the level of competition. By the end of the day every female at the school would be drooling as much as Angie was; as much as I was, now that I thought about it.
“Now then, what were you saying, Tie?” asked Ms. Mori happily.
“I think the arrows and blossoms are symbols of second chances,” he reiterated. “Women are always falling in love with the wrong guys. Drug addicts, wife beaters, adulterers. I’d like to think there’s a god of love out there who is capable of helping people, women especially, fall in love with the right person. The guy who would actually be worth sleeping with even if he had turned into a sea monster.”
All the girls in the classroom giggled vapidly. I thought I was going to hurl.
“Monster, being the key word here,” I muttered.
“What was that?” Tie asked innocently.
“If the guy is a monster on the outside he’s probably a monster on the inside too.”
“Not necessarily,” he said shifting in his seat. I cringed inside, knowing I was aware of every move he made. I fought the urge to look back as he spoke to me.
“I think the sea monster is more of a reference to ugliness on the outside but beauty on the inside. You know, like beauty and the beast. It always makes me happy to see an ugly guy with a beautiful girl. Nine times out of ten she’s with him because of how beautiful he is on the inside and how good he is to her.”
The room seemed to breathe out one huge collective sigh as Tie weaved his mind-numbing spell over every female present.
Was this a teenage boy speaking? What guy, drop dead gorgeous mind you, discussed the superiority of an ugly man dating a beautiful woman? Didn’t a gorgeous and conceited teenage boy’s lack of maturity forbid such adult musings?
“So you think the arrows and cherry blossoms of this world are righting the wrongs of mistakes made by misguided women who aren’t capable of choosing for themselves?” I asked spinning around to face Tie directly. Big mistake. His cold eyes froze me with their intensity, and he actually looked slightly angry.
“I suppose it would be better for someone to fall in love with a total jerk instead of having a life full of true happiness?” His tone was caustic.
“That’s not what I’m saying. I just think that these little toys those gods are playing with take away a person’s options. With no will of your own you can’t possibly be master of your own feelings.”
Tie appraised me coolly.
“I can think of other things that take away a person’s ability to choose. For example, arranged marriages don’t give anyone the opportunity for a person to love who they were meant to.”
“Tie,” Ms. Mori warned.
I looked at her quizzically, wondering why she wouldn’t have wanted Tie to say that. I knew he was referring to the maiden in the Japanese tale, but for some reason I got the feeling his words were also directed toward me. They filled me with a strange sense of deja`vu. I heard a buzzing in my ears and felt lightheaded. Nothing like this had ever happened to me before, and all the while I felt Tie’s intense glare skewering me to my seat.
“There are a lot of things that could take away a person’s ability to decide who they want to be with.” I spoke stiffly now. I was afraid any show of emotion would lead to another show of emotion much more embarrassing.
“Wouldn’t you rather have a god who knows what’s best for you, direct you to the one who would give you the most happiness?” He was getting very defensive.
“I’d rather leave my fate in my own hands,” I shot back. I was feeling vulnerable and a bit out of sorts. I couldn’t account for my own feelings and decided to blame everything on Tie since he was the only inconsistency in my very predictable high school career. This was the part of my life that was normal. I didn’t want any of that being turned upside down.
“As if you or any other human being could choose better than a deity,” Tie scoffed condescendingly.
What was with this kid?
“I know if you were a god I’d let you choose for me any day,” yelled Tanya Sedgewick from the front of the class effectively breaking the tension between Tie and myself. I heard people snickering, and the school bell rang.
“We’ll continue this discussion tomorrow, class. Don’t forget to read chapter five for your homework. I want you to be prepared when you get in here tomorrow.” Ms. Mori kept her eyes glued to me as I slowly raised myself out of my hard, cold chair. I was definitely feeling a bit dizzy, but the pressure in my head had diminished somewhat.
I went to take a step forward, but must have been more lightheaded than I’d realized because my traitorous knees buckled under my own weight. An arm shot out in front of me and caught me before I hit the floor.
I knew who my savior was and looked up apprehensively. Tie wore an amused expression on his face.
“If you want to be in charge of your own fate, you should start by standing on your own two feet.”
I decided right then and there that I did not like this guy.
I amazed myself by moving forward and closing the distance between us. I brought my face directly in front of his. Okay, so I had to look up a few inches. Still, I was pretty close. I felt an electric buzz start at the place where Tie’s hand was holding my arm and panicked as it began sliding up towards my shoulder. I was almost certain he felt it too by the quick flicker of surprise on his face.
“Thanks for catching me, Tie was it? I think I can take it from here.” I moved to walk past him, but his hand on my arm prevented me from getting very far.
His puzzled expression was almost comical.
“What? Did you need something?” The heat from his hand was burning through my long-sleeved shirt. I schooled my face to show no emotion, simply polite indifference.
He let me go looking slightly disappointed. I felt pretty disappointed myself.
I exchanged a look with Angie who was giving me a not so subtle thumbs up sign while fanning herself with her other hand. Okay, so he was hot. So what?
I turned around and had almost left the room with my best friend right behind me when Tie stopped me with a question.
“You are Hope Fairmont, right?” It was the first time he’d sounded unsure of himself since barging in on my classroom.
“Yeah. How do you know my name?” I asked bewildered.
Tie’s uncertainty faded a bit as he walked toward me. He stopped a few inches away, taking me in with those frigid eyes of his.
I felt like I should say something, but at this point any attempt at a witty remark was beyond me.
Tie leaned in, and for a second I thought he was going to kiss me. Instead, I felt his warm breath
next to my ear.
“That’s for me to know and for you to find out…eventually. See you soon, Hope.”