Earth (6 page)

Staring or zoning out and happens to be
looking my way?
I asked skeptically, trying to ignore the twist
in my gut. Jodi turned again on the pretext of closing her bag to
take a second look.

Totally looking. And he just realized I
caught him doing it and he looked away really quickly!
I tried,
unsuccessfully, not to grin at that – after all he was cute and I
didn’t have a boyfriend. Jodi bent her head over her paper and went
back to working the problems, giving me an un-obstructed view of
the new guy.

He had wavy, chestnut colored hair that was
just a little too long, letting a wayward lock fall forward over
his forehead as he bent to his copy of the problems. He had a
light, creamy complexion that no one would dare call pale. His lips
were full and soft red but not in any way feminine like Steven’s
could sometimes be. He had a narrow, straight nose and dangerously
sharp, high cheekbones. From my first glance I knew he was at least
three or four inches taller than me and I could tell his
lightweight sweater hid a well-muscled chest and arms, but lean,
not meaty. I was aware of an excess of saliva in my mouth and
forced myself to swallow, trying to not blush when I heard Jodi
snicker quietly next to me.

Jodi and I passed our papers to the front of
the row just as the dismissal bell rang shrilly. We quickly shoved
our binders into our bags, pulling the zippers closed and slinging
our bags over our shoulders almost in perfect sync with each other.
We stepped into the aisle and blended in with the other students
making our way to the door. I was trying with all my effort not to
glance around. I had to be careful to keep my face neutral and not
look like I was trying to watch the new guy and at the same time
not look like I was trying not to watch him. It was a delicate
balancing act that girls have been trying to perfect for
generations. Some girls are better at it than others.

Luckily, because he hadn’t been staring at
Jodi during class, she was free to look for him almost as obviously
as she wanted without fear of embarrassment. I saw her glance over
her shoulder so many times it looked like she had some sort of
nervous twitch. Her eyebrows shot up dramatically as she neared the
door and I caught the faintest of nods. She had spied him watching
me again, making his way to the door. As casually as possible, I
grabbed the sleeve of her jacket and shoved her out the door and
rushed away.

“What’s the matter?” Jodi asked, unable to
keep all of the laughter out of her question.

“Be less subtle, Captain Obvious!” I answered
sarcastically.

“Dude, trust me, he was so fixated on you he
would never have noticed me looking, even if I was two inches from
his face.” She glanced passed me and grinned again, skipping off to
class. I didn’t have to wonder what made her suddenly so giddy for
long.

“Who was fixated on you?” Steven’s voice
sounded over my shoulder almost immediately.
Damnit, Jodi.
I
sighed heavily and turned to face Steven and walk with him to Chem.
I filled him in on the new twins at school, trying very hard to
explain the looks I got in math as a no big deal situation. But,
just like Jodi, he launched into immediate gossip mode and began a
rapid fire of questions ranging from the tilt of his head to the
possible innuendos even the slightest eyebrow arch could mean.

When the bell rang for lunch, we made our way
to the door. Sitting in the last row always made us the last two
out. Steven stepped out before me and I nearly broke my nose as I
crashed into him after he came to an abrupt stop and gasped, eyes
going round.

"Is that him?" He whispered over his
shoulder. I lifted up onto my toes to see over his shoulder and
knew immediately this was the twin that Jodi had seen in her first
class. He was the same height, had the same velvety hair but rather
than lean muscle his shoulders and chest threatened to tear
the seams of his simple black sweater. And the razor sharp nose and
cheekbones I had admired earlier were softer with a slight
roundness to them.

I shook my head and said, "No, that must be
the one that Jodi saw first; he's burlier than the other one."

"Mmmhmm burlier. Now that’s an adjective you
don’t get to use too often." Steven bit down on his lower lip and
let his eyes follow him until he turned the corner and disappeared
from sight. "Mmm! Love to watch him go!"

"Oh. My. God! You are such a cliché!" I
covered my eyes and shook my head.

"Only on Mondays, darling."

We made our way out to our spot at lunch,
Jodi following just a minute behind. Steven reached up and pulled
Jodi down into the grass as soon as she stepped next to him,
launching into a debate about the likelihood of which team Mr.
Muscles played for. I pulled out my copy of the Almanac and tuned
them out as much as I could. I read the same line five times before
I realized I wasn’t taking in a word of it, unable to see past the
image of perfect ocean blue eyes. I finally gave up, throwing the
book back into my bag and nudging Jodi's foot with mine.

"Hey, did you see Tracy in band?" Tracy
played second chair flute.

"Oh yeah." She shook her head sadly, "Nick
walked her to class.” Then she perked up said, “His arm is in a
sling. He won’t be playing for the rest of the year." She perked up
at the end.

"Aw, poor boy," Steven said
sarcastically.

"Seriously though? Nick walked her to class?"
I asked, a little too aggressively.

"Yep. And gave her a kiss good-bye, so I
guess everything’s perfect for them," Jodi said. I fumed quietly,
knowing I shouldn’t expect things to change overnight but sometimes
you just can’t help but hope. "That means we'll probably pass him
on the way to English..." She let the sentence trail off.

"So?" I asked.

"So, maybe we should go first and make sure
the coast is clear?" Steven finished her thought.

"No way. I am not scared of that
Neanderthal!" My voice rose of its own accord. "If he so much as
breathes in my direction, I'll snap his other collarbone and say it
was self-defense." I felt heat rising in my cheeks as I spoke. Jodi
and Steven shared a knowing look and a second later I thought I saw
Steven's hand move away from Jodi's. I had a funny feeling I missed
something.

“Did you give her the crystal?” I asked
trying to ease the tension between us. I didn’t like that they were
worried about me and my tempter.

“Oh yeah!” Jodi’s voice lightened with the
subject change. “She took her jacket off so I dropped the heart on
the floor near her foot at the same time and picked it up and told
her I thought it fell out of her jacket.”

“And she bought that?” Steven asked.

“Well, it’s a pretty trinket, isn’t it? And
Trace is pretty girly. She kinda smiled at it and said thanks and
took it.”Jodi looked proud that her little trick had worked.

“Hey, aren’t you worried she’ll think Nick
slipped it to her?” Steven asked me, nudging my foot with his.

“Not really. It doesn’t matter who she thinks
gave it to her, so long as she keeps it,” I shrugged.

“But say it works, right? And they break up,
and she thinks Nick gave it to her, what if she gets rid of it?” He
pressed.

“So she gets rid of it,” I said dismissively.
“They’ll only break up once the spell is complete and then she
won’t need it anymore.”

“But what if--” Steven started to argue
again.

“What if she gives it back to Nick?” I asked,
anticipating his question. Steven nodded. “Then maybe he’ll say he
never gave that to her and she’ll keep it, thinking it was lucky
Jodi gave it to her or maybe she’ll think she has a secret admirer.
Either way, does it matter? No matter what, it’s a happy
ending.”

“Unless she thinks Jodi’s the secret
admirer,” Steven and I laughed as Jodi rolled her eyes, wadding up
a piece of paper and throwing it at Steven’s head. Just then the
bell rang and we gathered up our stuff. I caught Jodi and Steven
sharing a secret look, knowing that I’d missed something again.

I brooded over the possibilities of running
into Nick all through my Teacher’s Assistant elective before
English, hardly noticing that I gave a paper a B when really it
deserved a C. I wasn’t scared, just full of pent up energy waiting
to be expended. I felt like a ball of wound up springs. After class
I waited for Jodi and Steven to find me instead of heading to class
by myself and meeting them there, knowing that would make them feel
better.

We walked to class in silence; I was
clutching a book to my chest, holding it high and close to my chin.
I couldn’t do anything to relax my face. I felt like a surly
five-year-old but I didn’t care. We came around the corner and saw
Nick leaning over to kiss Tracy good-bye. As he straightened up he
caught sight of me over Tracy's head and I saw his eyes narrow and
his jaw working while he ground his teeth, but he simply finished
saying good-bye to Tracy and walked off to his class. Tracy turned
a confused face in our direction and then her face lit into a smile
when our eyes met. She gave me a little wave and turned to go into
the classroom. If she didn’t want to acknowledge Friday night out
loud, then I wasn’t going to bring it up.

"I think I saw him breathe your way, doll
face," Steven snickered at me.

"Shut up, Flamer," I snapped at Steven. Jodi
laughed loudly; obviously happy the tense moment was diffused so
quickly. As we walked in all three of us were stopped in our tracks
again seeing both twins standing at the teacher's desk. I felt my
stomach flip again and my cheeks grow warm. Gently, but forcefully,
I pushed Jodi forward to remind her to keep walking and we took our
chairs, each in front of the other, just like in French class. The
late bell rang and everyone fell silent. The twins were still
standing by the teacher's desk and Mrs. Grant came to the front of
the room.

"Ok guys, looks like we have two new students
today," she indicated the boys with her right hand. "This is Ian,"
she gestured to Mr. Muscles, "and this is Jensen," she gestured to
the other. I looked at Jensen when she said his name and to my
surprise he was looking across the room, directly at me. My stomach
would never unknot at this rate. Steven sat in front of us in this
class and Jodi behind me. I felt her fingers slide through the ends
of my hair and press into my shoulder blade.
Dude... he is
doing it again...
she sounded almost in awe.

It almost creeps me out.

Sweetie, take a compliment. I wish Jay
looked at me like that.

He does, you're just too close to his
face to notice.
I felt her smile before she broke the
connection, taking her hand back.

"Ok everyone, you know the drill, family
can’t sit together." There were a couple of pairs of cousins in the
room whom Mrs. Grant had immediately separated on the first day of
school. "So, who's willing to give up their seat for
Jensen and take one of the free ones in the back next to
Ian?"

"I will!" Steven's hand shot up into the air
like a rocket. I heard Jodi snort behind me and then quickly try to
cover it with a cough, but I was caught up in the liquid movement
of Jensen's confidant stride as he came closer and closer to the
seat in front of me. I would kill Steven for this later.

Rather than focus on the knot in my stomach
that was getting tighter with every step Jensen took towards me, I
watched Steven make his way over to Ian, who had beat him to the
desks first. Steven slid into the chair next to Ian with a sly
smile and arched eyebrow. I laughed quietly, turning back to the
front of the class. Jensen was sitting now, just inches away from
me. He raked his fingers through his hair trying to get the wavy
locks to stay off his face. The most intoxicating scent came back
to me, a combination of musk, cinnamon, and something sweet I
couldn’t put a name to.

It was an incredibly short class; I had no
idea what the subtext of Dante’s
Inferno
was that James, Tracy, and Crystal had rambled on about for the
last forty-five minutes. I had less than a second when the bell
rang to compose myself before Jensen stood and turned to leave or
he would have caught me staring.

“Ugh, like trying to talk to a statue!”
Steven complained as we joined him at the door and started off for
History.

“What?” Jodi asked.

“Mr. Muscles, or should I say Mr.
Cold-Shoulder!” Steven pouted.

“Ha! I told you he was straight!” Jodi beamed
and searched around until she saw both twins walking together about
twenty feet ahead of him. “Mmmm.”

“Jay…” I reminded her a little sternly.

“I’m only looking,” she muttered.

“Yeah, at least you have a boyfriend.
Besides, you’d be wasting your time; he was staring at Tracy
through the whole class,” Steven said.

“What!” Jodi and I cried in unison.

“What?” Steven said a little scared.

“How could you not tell us that immediately!”
I said, lowering my voice and grabbing Steven’s arm and pulling him
around to face us. Jodi and I both had stopped short at this piece
of news.

“What’s the big deal, she was giving a
presentation?” Steven shrugged.

“Ok, sweetie, think very carefully,” Jodi
said. “Did he look at James or Crystal at all? I mean, even once?”
Jodi had grabbed Steven by the shoulders and turned him to her to
stare eye-to-eye, trying to impress the importance of this.

“Ummm…” He hesitated, clearly scared to say
the wrong thing.

“Steven,” I said as calmly as I could, “try
to remember.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Not even once?” Jodi pressed.

“No, when she finished talking and went to
the side to let Crystal say her part he kept staring at Tracy.”
Jodi let Steven go and turned to me. We held up both our hands and
gripped them together, interlacing our fingers, smiles spreading
over our faces.