“Do you have a spare notepad?” a deep voice whispered close to her ear.
“Huh? Sure, hang on.” Reaching into her bag, she whipped out a few sheets of paper and handed them to him over her shoulder. Her hand lingered as he took the papers, and their fingers touched accidentally.
Suddenly, a delicious heat filled her palms and zinged through every cell in her body. It spiraled over her shoulders and tingled down her spine.
“Oh!” she exclaimed. A blue flame licked over her skin in that instant, and she turned around to face him with wide eyes.
“Are you all right?” The new boy looked at her with concern. “What just happened?”
“I’m sorry, it’s nothing. Just, um, static electricity, I guess,” she stammered.
He studied her face for a moment with sharp blue eyes. “Don’t worry. It’s probably the shoes you’re wearing. The soles generate friction when you walk. You should get thicker soles like mine.” Without warning, he lifted his boot for her inspection. “I used to shock people all the time until I got them.”
She stared at his long leg as he brought his foot back down to the floor, before dragging her gaze back to his face. “I’ll remember that the next time I’m shopping.”
“My name is Dylan, by the way.” He smiled, displaying pearly-white teeth.
“Aspen.” Her face burned again, and she looked away abruptly.
“Class,” Mr. Wright announced, “open your books to page thirty-nine and we’ll start.” He stood in front of the chalkboard and waved a textbook in the air. “Dylan, please share with the girl in front of you for now. I’ll arrange a book for you tomorrow.”
Her heart pounded—he was going to sit right next to her. With a discreet sniff in the direction of her armpit to make sure she smelled fresh, she angled her thick ponytail over her right shoulder.
Dylan’s chair legs scraped loudly on the floor as he dragged his desk next to hers, then dropped into his seat. His shoulders were broad and she was too scared to touch him. What happened if she felt the same burst of heat again? It was like nothing she’d ever experienced before. He looked at her expectantly, so she pushed her textbook over the edge of her desktop so it overlapped his, then pointed out the place on the page.
He kept his distance and after a while, she relaxed in the chair and tried to concentrate on the lesson. The classroom was hot and stuffy. Tiny beads of sweat dotted the back of her neck, but the new boy seemed completely unaffected by the heat.
Thirty minutes later the bell rang, and she closed the book and shoved it into her bag. Rather than move his desk back, he stared at her meaningfully, as though she should recognize him.
“Um, do I know you?” Her voice croaked and she cleared her throat self-consciously.
A weighty look followed by a short sigh was all that she got.
“I’ve got calculus next,” he said instead, and stood up to drag his desk back into place, then held out a schedule to her. “Do you know where I’m supposed to go?”
Carefully, she took the paper from him and studied it.
Students milled noisily around them as they filed out of the class, and someone bumped her from behind.
“Watch out!” Dylan scowled at the offending boy.
She steadied herself and then continued to look at the piece of paper. “Mmm, looks like you’re in all my classes. You can walk with me. I’ll show you where to go.”
As he retrieved his schedule, she looked up and her stomach did a tiny somersault at the megawatt smile lighting his face.
“Lead the way.” His outstretched hand urged her forward.
The new boy towered over her tiny five-foot-two-inch frame and he followed her to Mr. Preston’s calculus class in a comfortable silence.
“Ah, a new student,” Mr. Preston commented as they entered his class.
“Yes sir.” Dylan straightened his shoulders. “If you don’t mind, sir, could I sit with my friend and share her book until I have my own textbooks?”
Mr. Preston regarded him for a second before he nodded his blond head and pushed tiny glass frames up onto his nose. “I don’t see why not.”
Dylan smiled broadly. “Thank you, sir.”
Once again, he dragged the desk from behind her until it sat right next to hers. He dropped his bag under his desk and slid into his chair, leaning so close that he almost touched her. The clean fragrance that she’d smelled earlier enveloped her again.
Blood pounded in Aspen’s veins and her heart began to race. What was wrong with her? He made her feel light-headed. Even though she battled with static electricity and would shock anyone close to her, she’d never felt this way before. It was best not to touch him. She balled her hands into fists to avoid contact and shook her head, wondering how to keep away from him.
“Is something wrong?” Dylan asked, interrupting her thoughts.
She looked up into his eyes and her stomach flip-flopped again. “With what?” she asked.