pressed against me, pausing when he was so close I could only see his eyes. They were more gorgeous than ever. Shades of green sparkled from the center outward and a deep violet streaked from the edges inward, creating a tie-dye affect. His thick, dark lashes fluttered over them when he blinked and the tiny wrinkles by his eyes seemed too soon for his age. He let out a breath of cool sweet air and closed his eyes. Slowly he pressed his lips into mine. I kept my eyes open in shock, closing them when his kiss grew slightly more passionate. I traced my fingers through his messy hair down to his neck and pulled him closer – the warmth of his body taking my body temperature up a degree. When I opened my eyes again, he was looking into them. Pressing his lips to mine one last, short kiss he slowly pulled away. Smiling gently, Luke took one hand off of my face to brush a few stray hairs out of my eyes.
“In a thousand years, I couldn’t match the words you just spoke. Like a coward, all I could do was kiss the lips those words escaped from and hope they would kiss me back,” he whispered.
I smiled and leaned in to kiss his cheek.
“I promise you will know everything soon. Just give me time, that’s all I ask,” he finished.
“I can do that,” I whispered.
“One more thing,” he said, as his grin grew.
“Getting a little greedy aren’t we?” I joked.
“We need to get to class – shall we?” he asked as he dropped his hands from my face and jumped out of the car, leaving me breathless.
I pulled myself together and stepped outside. Jack and Jesse were giving Luke a hard time. They may not have seen our exchange through the darkly tinted windows, but a small part of me felt like they knew. Luke waited for me to catch up while his brothers led the way. The closer we got to the building, the tenser I felt and the three of them encircled me when we stepped through the doors as if they were bodyguards at a club. They waited outside the front office while I went in to get my schedule.
The women at the front desk dropped her mouth when I approached. She looked me up and down more than once before grabbing a piece of paper and stepping to the counter. Maybe I had overdressed?
“You must be Logan Keller,” she said.
I smiled and nodded, though I didn’t think she was asking. I wasn’t sure if she knew who I was because she’d seen me in magazines or if she knew because she didn’t recognize me at all and it was such a small school. She handed me my schedule, a map of the school, and proceeded to mark where we were and my first class. Behind the sheet was a parking pass form.
“I don’t know the plate numbers on my car,” I said when I finished, filling in the other blanks.
“Oh, don’t worry, dear,” she said, taking the form from me and reading it, “I can run outside and get it…,” she trailed off, as her finger stopped on the make and model of the car. She tried to hide her surprise, but her silence spoke loudly.
“Lemme see your schedule,” Jesse said, soon as I walked through the door. He snatched it out of my hand before I could answer, Luke grabbed it back, and together they studied my classes against their own. Each one was in at least one of my classes, proving how small Sheridan was. I never had any classes with Lindsey.
“I have first hour with you, I’ll show you the way,” Jack offered. Luke briefly touched my arm before Jack whisked me down the hall.
My first class, Calculus, drug on as did most of my morning. I hadn’t met anyone yet, but they all knew who I was. Every single one of my teachers made me get up in front of the class and introduce myself. Since I’d already missed a week of school, I had also missed everyone else’s introductions. One of my teachers, Mr. Harsh, informed everyone I was the only new addition to their senior class as if I were a novelty. He finally let me sit back down,
Maggie Brendan
Barbara O'Connor
Jan Washburn
Terri Blackstock
Norah Simone
Barry Kemp
G.P. Taylor
Alan Cumyn
Linda Barnes
Lisa Jackson