Equilibrium by Imogen Rose Page B

affectionate and his hands had been on my shoulders as we had walked into class. Christian had seen me throwmyself at David yesterday. He’d left David and me alone at the rink and now we were walking into class together. Yes, I could only imagine…not that it really bothered me. Or did it? It somehow did. The way Christian was looking at me, I felt a sense of guilt. Can’t imagine why. I hadn’t done anything wrong. David was my friend. I wished that I could remember our history back in Mountain View, but try as I had, I couldn’t. It was clear that David had known Arizona Darley for a long time. I had no idea how long though or if we were even friends. He treated me with familiarity and I felt comfortable with it.
    Last night, after his dad left, David had come back inside, plunked himself down on the couch next to me and turned on the TV. He had put his arms out for me to rest on and I had done just that, feeling no awkwardness whatsoever. Then he switched on True Blood , a favorite show of mine, and we sat and watched it. He knew me . I had fallen asleep sitting on the couch with him and had not stirred until Monica woke us this morning. It had seemed perfectly natural. He didn’t feel like a brother, but not a boyfriend either–I think–although I did find him very attractive.
    I glanced over at him. He was unbelievably hot. I noticed the other girls in class stealing looks at him, smiling at him. I didn’t like it.
    “Miss Stevens, do you think you could pry your eyes away from Mr. Skoog and pay attention? You’re not exactly acing this class,” Mr. Harvey said sarcastically. I could hear muffled giggling sounds all around me. Well, I thought to myself as I rolled my eyes at Mr. Harvey and got handed a detention slip, maybe I would pay attention if he could stop being such a mind-blowing bore. He had seriously killed biology and my promising career in medicine….not!
    I sat up and tried to concentrate through the rest of the class, but my mind kept wandering off. I needed to know if Kellan was okay. I was hoping that David would cut the next class to try to find out. I couldn’t imagine how, though. He still hadn’t told me how he’d come over. He was very cagey and clammed up every time I asked him. It didn’t make any sense. Maybe he came through another secret portal. After all, my mom’s couldn’t be the only one in existence. Imagine that, lots of portals around! If he had come through another portal, he could take me back! Is that what I wanted? To go back? I did want to go back to Kellan and I needed to know what was happening to Ella and Harry. If there was another portal, they may have been transported over as well. I felt sick. The thought of Ella suddenly waking up, all alone, not knowing where she was, made me tremble.
    “Arizona, are you all right? You look ill,” Mr. Harvey said from above me. I hadn’t even noticed that he had walked over to mydesk.
    “I’ll take her over to the nurse’s station, Mr. Harvey,” David said from behind him.
    “Thank you, David. Here is a hall pass,” Mr. Harvey said and stood aside, so David could get to me.
    I couldn’t help but feel the incredulous looks of my classmates. I was Arizona Stevens, not a flipping Barbie doll. I’d never been taken to the nurse’s office before. That’s for sissies. No, I lie. There was one time, after a spat with Benjamin when I had ended up with a split lip, but I had flattened him. So here I was, Barbie Arizona, off to the nurses’ station with–my knight in shining armor–David. Not cool. I had to get a grip on myself.
    “David, I’m fine. Let’s go back to class.”
    “You didn’t look fine in there, you were shaking. Probably best to have the nurse take a look,” David suggested.
    “No, I’m fine. I was thinking about Ella, wondering if she’s all alone and scared somewhere. This is petrifying. I can’t believe she’s missing! And Harry. Where could they be? David, did you come through another