Deeper We Fall by Chelsea M. Cameron

sharing Harry Potter references.”
    “And?”
    “And, she’s really nice.”
    “That’s great.” He was less-than enthusiastic. I was totally stringing him along.
    “She’s got long legs.”
    “You don’t say,” he said, and I could almost feel him getting more interested. Will was a leg man. It was only mildly disturbing that I knew that.
    “And long dark hair.” Will was also a hair guy, especially if it was straight.
    “Keep going.”
    “And she seems smart. She warned me against dementors.”
    Will snorted and shook his head.
    “A hot dorky girl? Those are hard to find.”
    “Thanks, Will.”
    “You knew what I meant.”
    “Sure.” He gave me a leading look. “Yes, I will casually mention you the next time I talk to her, if it’s not creepy.”
    “I just have one favor to ask you. Please, I beg you, don’t do that thing where you ramble and tell all sorts of personal information. Please.”
    “So you don’t want me to tell her about the time in kindergarten when you got lost going to the bathroom and peed your pants?”
    “Christ, Lottie, keep your voice down.” He glanced right and left, but everyone was too busy with their own crap to notice.
    “Or how about the time you tried to burn you report card and ended up setting the kitchen on fire? Oh, how about the time –“ My word flow was dammed by Will’s hand. I reached my hand out and got him in his ticklish spot. The hand vanished from my mouth as he fought to get away from me.
    “Duckling! Duckling!” He yelled as he thrashed and got a hold of my thumb. That made me laugh, which gave him an opening to get the upper hand.
    “I surrender, I surrender,” I said, letting go of him.
    “So,” he said, pretending to dust himself off, “how long are these legs?”

 
     
    Chapter Ten
     
     
    Zan
     
    I almost skipped bio, but at the last minute, I decided to go. I knew it was going to be hard finding a seat, but I had no idea I’d be looking for an empty seat and find her. Not just her, but Will too. I immediately went for a seat that was as far from them as possible, and forced my neck not to turn to glance back at them. That didn’t stop me from feeling their eyes on me, especially Will’s. If he could have punched me via eye contact, I’m sure he would have.
    It was harder being in class with Charlotte than I thought it would be, and I bolted through the first door I could find.
    I also kicked the first trashcan I could find before punching the first thing I could find, which turned out to be a wooden sign.
    Not the brightest thing I’d ever done, but I didn’t know how much longer I could deal.
    “Shit!” I screamed after I realized I’d probably broken my hand. The sign remained intact. Miss Carole wasn’t going to be very pleased. Ignoring the horrified faces of my fellow college students, I went back to my room to bandage my hand.
    It was swelling pretty badly by the time I got back, but I wrapped it with some tape and grabbed an ice pack from the freezer. As long as it didn’t turn black, I was probably okay.
    My hand was hurting like hell, but I was going to make myself feel it.
    My brother had left me a message saying that he was busy with Katie, but he wanted to hang out at some point. Zack’s idea of hanging out was getting as shitfaced as possible and passing out wherever he fell. It usually meant me dragging him into bed and turning his head so he didn’t choke on his own vomit. The only person that was fun for was Zack.
    I zapped some chips and cheese in the microwave and dragged out Gramps’ records and thumbed through them, looking for something to soothe my mood.
    My fingers found Leonard Cohen’s Various Positions. Perfect. I put the record on and set the needle. I waited while the pops and static disappeared into ‘Dance Me to the End of Love’.
    I munched my snack as I started my calculus homework. The numbers floated in front of my face, and I couldn’t make them settle. I kept thinking about