Page 8 of I Was Always Yours (RCA: Royal Crown Academy)

He pushes a strand out of my face as he whispers, “You put up a good fight, wild girl.”

My stomach clenches at the compliment and the new nickname, my foolish little lovestruck heart doing happy somersaults behind closed doors.

The last three months have done nothing to dull my obsession with the boy next door, in fact quite the opposite.

It’s only grown stronger in its ardor.

It’s impossible to try to move past this crush, especially when I see him every waking moment of the day. Since September, we’ve also been going to the same school where we share many of the same classes.

When the bell rings, we burst through the school doors and ride our bikes home together. When I expect him and Astor to turn left towards their house, they turn right towards mine or vice versa.

We play together into the long hours of the evening, on weekdays like we do on weekends, never growing tired of each other’s company.

While I’d argue that I’m closer to Astor, that of the two he’s my best friend, Phoenix is the one who occupies my thoughts. He’s the one who can steal my attention with barely a couple uttered words and a weighted look in my direction.

Astor might be the sun, but Phoenix is the eclipse.

He easily blocks the sunlight and envelops my world in a darkness that I’m powerless to resist. Not that I’m actively trying to.

While my obsession grows daily, I’m not sure he even notices me. I know we’re friends, but I don’t think he would ever see me as more than that when we get older.

At school, he’s just as popular as Astor, if not more so. The other girls are always staring at him from a distance, giggling ostentatiously, hoping that he’ll speak to them.

When he does, they titter like the harpies I read about in my Greek mythology books and all I can do is grit my teeth and watch as he easily pulls them into his irresistible aura.

The annoyance I feel at those memories brings me sharply back to reality and I narrow my eyes up at him.

“Did you count to a hundred?” I ask him suspiciously, because how did he find me so quickly?

He squeezes my wrists as he keeps me pinned to the ground. “I did.”

“Then how did you find me so fast?”

“Maybe I know exactly how you think, wild girl.”

God, I hope not. If he has access to my thoughts, then he must know most of them are about him.

“Je crois pas, non.”I don’t think so. “Maybe you’re a cheater.”

He releases me and stands, extending a hand to help me up. I take it, his warm hand closing around mine and pulling me to my feet in one swift move.

“Don’t be a sore loser, Six.”

“I’m not.” I answer with a sniff, brushing some of the dirt off my backside.

He lifts a disbelieving brow at me and when I shrug, he brings two fingers to his mouth and whistles resoundingly, alerting the others that he found me.

“Come on, let’s go find the others. It’s your turn to be the seeker.” He says before taking off running towards the slope. He doesn’t slow as he approaches the edge and then he leaps, jumping into the void and disappearing from my view.

Of course, it’s not that massive of a jump, but to my ten-year-old eyes it feels like the bravest thing I’ve ever witnessed.

Alarmed, I rush to the edge and look down. I find him standing and smiling confidently back up at me.

There’s something about that smile. The way he directs it at only me, the way it’s pleased and conceited and so self-assured that I can’t look away.

He doesn’t wait another second before he takes off, leaving me to scramble after him.

I slide down and run across the stream and up the other side of the slope after him. When I stumble again, he grabs my hand and tugs me after him.

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