Page 24 of Firestorm
Zephyr and I didn’t usually bother with politics or the news in general. Our lives were already so full of doom and gloom, adding to it just seemed pointless. But I was still aware of the government’s stupid decisions, even if we only paid attention long enough to see how much more danger I’d be in.
Silence descended across the room as the instructor entered and strode down to the front. He was an image of the stereotypically exhausted professor, even though today was the first day of class for the term. He carried a fashionable leather man-bag, containing several loose papers and his laptop. He was a little older, with gray beginning to streak through his dirty-blond hair, and his skin looked like he fell asleep in a tanning bed.
He blew out a breath and connected his laptop to the projector before taking a look around the auditorium for the first time.
“Welcome,” he said, sounding like he’d fall asleep at any moment. “I’m Professor Randall. This isHistory of Affinities. If you’re in the wrong place, leave now instead of right before the midterm.”
And that was the start of my newHistory of Affinitiesclass, which was completely useless to me. They would never discuss the forbidden subjects I needed to learn about. I’d already flipped through the textbook, and nothing stood out. There was absolutely nothing on Teles of any kind. And nothing on Healers.
I was heavily zoned out, letting my subconscious absorb the information even though I didn’t need it. I was in danger of falling asleep when I was nudged again.
I still didn’t react. I kept my breathing even and paused my doodling to stretch before taking another look around the auditorium.
The nudge came a third time, slightly more insistent now as if the nudger couldn’t believe I hadn’t reacted yet.
Good.
Allowing people to underestimate mewasone of my strengths, after all. I couldn’t appear unintelligent schoolwork-wise even if I tried, myridiculously high IQ made sure of that. But socially, it was beyond easy to play a dumb girl if it kept me safe.
Even now, no one was looking at me. The professor droned on while several students appeared to actually be asleep on their desk. Finally, my gaze slid down the row just in front of me, and if I hadn’t been so trained in appearing nonchalant, I would have frozen in place.
There at the end of the row, in the corner, a guywasstaring at me.
Our eyes met and I suddenly felt like I’d been zapped by electricity.
His eyes were a warm, reddish-brown. The light bounced off his fiery mop of ginger hair, which wasn’t carefully styled at all, just tousled and pushed around like he couldn’t care less.
His skin was sun-kissed in a way that told me he was outside often, maybe playing sports, the soft freckles across his cheeks only confirming the sun exposure. His gray t-shirt was tight across his broad shoulders while his athletic joggers were more relaxed. He was sprawled out in his chair like a king on his throne, one leg stretched out straight while the other was bent. One hand clutched the front edge of his desk while the other twirled a pen.
My perusal came back to his eyes, and one of his eyebrows raised slightly as he started to smirk.
Andfuck my life?He had dimples.
I offered him a slow smirk back, which threw him off. He sat up straighter, leaning over onto his desk to continue looking at me as I leaned back in my chair, further out of his line of sight.
My heart pounded in my chest.What the hell?I hadn’t openly flirted with a guy like that in my entire life. And what happened to staying under the radar? My libido was going to be the death of me.
I tried to continue my doodle, and my thoughts went back to whoever had tried getting into my mind. It clearly wasn’t the fiery guy with a jaw cut from glass, somehow I just knew that as a fact. I fought to keep my eyes from wandering over to him while the professor droned on, finally stopping when someone coughed loudly. He glanced at the clock and deflated.
“Alright, you’re dismissed for today. I’ll have the reading posted for next time.”
As I gathered my things, I let my mind wander. I brushed over theother students, quickly and carefully, trying to find whoever had nudged me before. Nothing caught my attention.
Whoever it’d been was gone.
I glanced up toward my fiery new crush –mentally kicking myself for that fucking thought– and then I wanted to kick myself for real when I realized he was gone, and a pang of sadness sank in my stomach.
My chest ached like it did whenever I thought about…
I shivered. I didn’t like allowing myself to think about Wyatt.
I was so distracted by my thoughts of stupidWyatt, I walked into a fucking brick wall.
Well, not really. It was actually a guy.
Abrick wallof a guy.
I craned my neck back to look him in his pale green eyes. He had dark shaggy hair, a hawkish nose and thin lips. He could have been handsome if he wasn’t snarling at me.
