Page 19 of Bound By Earth (The Nature Hunters Academy 1)

The weather was nice.There was a little chill in the air as the last bit of winter attempted to cling to the morning, though it was expected to be warm and sunny this afternoon. Still, it wasn’t too cold to walk. Carol was asleep, having worked another night shift, so Tara didn’t say goodbye but left a note on the counterinstead.

The walk to school was uneventful, and Tara sighed as she trudged up the front steps and paused at the front doors. She wanted to stay outside in the sun. She needed to listen to the rustle of the leaves and smell the grass, rather than be surrounded by the four walls of the classroom, the droning of the teacher, and the overwhelming smell of too much body spray and sweat from the guys who had morning practice … or who simply thought a quick shot of body spray was an adequate substitute for ashower.

“Hey,Tara.”

Tucker’s voice caused her to pull her hand back from the handle. She turned her head to find her recent admirer staring down at her with a crooked smile. He really was handsome. Why couldn’t she be attracted to him on a level that made her want to do more than stare and sigh? “Hey, Tucker,” she said and smiled in return. “How areyou?”

His smile grew, and there was a small playful glint in his blue eyes. “I’d be better if a certain beautiful girl would finally say yes to a date with me.” He glanced down her body and then back up to her face. “You look ravishing today, by theway.”

Tara’s face instantly got hot as her skin flushed. She might not desire the guy, but it was flattering nonetheless to have his attention. “Tucker, we’ve had this conversation, multiple times. I don’t want to date you, and you don’t really want to date me. You simply see me as a challenge. I promise the fascination would wear off after one date,” she said and finally looked up at him when he didn’t reply. His eyes searched her face, and she wondered what he saw. She didn’t give him a chance to tell her. “You seem nice enough, and it’s only natural to be curious about someone you don’t really know,” she said. “But I’m just…” She faltered, unsure of what she was,exactly.

He leaned close. “You’re just something special, Tara. Not going to lie, I wish I was the lucky guy your special was meant for. I guess you just haven’t met your soul mate yet. And you’re wrong. I don’t want to date you because you’re a novelty. I want to date you because I’m attracted to you and find you engaging andinteresting.”

Her eyes widened at his words. What guy talked like that? Soul mate? Did he really believe in that crap? Did she? And engaging? Please. The first time he’d asked her out she’d told him hell would freeze over and she’d go ice skating there before she’d go on a date with him. He’d continued to pursue her, and she’d tempered her responses because he really did seem nice, and it was hard to keep being bitchy to someone who seemed genuinelykind.

He chuckled, obviously amused by the look on her face. “Not all guys are shallow. Some of us do have a littledepth.”

“I’m not an idiot. Of course, some guys have depth,” Tara said, feeling defensive, even though she had sort of mentally implied that a guy shouldn’t be able to emotionally process the things Tucker had just verbalized. “It’s just that you don’t hear eighteen-year-old guys talk about soul mates or imply he wants to be yours. And why on earth would you even think I’d want a soul mate? People require energy and effort. I’m fresh out ofboth.”

“T, you’re a riot,” he said good-naturedly. The nickname was something he’d heard Shelly call her and had taken the liberty to start calling her.“Who doesn’t want a soul mate? Someone who will cherish you and desire to make you happy and see youthrive.”

“You sound like a Hallmark card,” Tarasaid.

“Is that a badthing?”

“It’s a weird thing. Eighteen-year-old guys are supposed to tell you they think you’re hot. Not go on a tangent about soul mates and seeing you thrive. Are you sure you’re eighteen? Did you fail freshman year like ten times and you’re actually closer tothirty?”

Someone cleared their throat behind them, and Tara remembered they were standing in front of one of the doors that entered into the school. She had no idea how long they’d stood there having the weird conversation, but she felt it was way past time to move on. “Okay, well, this was … peculiar,” she said before she could stopherself.

Tucker pulled the door open and motioned for her to enter. “A little,” he admitted. “But everyone needs a little bizarre in life. It keeps thingsexciting.”

Tara started off for her locker but stopped when Tucker said her name. She turned to look athim.

“You really are beautiful,” he said a little louder than she would have liked, considering the catcalls from the peanut gallery filling thehall.

Tara, by sheer force of will, kept from blushing and, instead, held up her hand and flipped him the bird … because she was feeling super mature. Tucker winked at her with a big grin, knowing he’d just ticked her off. She was finding that he really did enjoy poking her. Tara sighed and turned. She held her hand high in the air to the rest of the students who were whistling and catcalling and gave them her flipped-off greeting as well. They could all suck it. Was she being ridiculous and overreacting to his stupid declaration? Yes. Did she particularly care at that moment? Not a bit. She might feel a tiny bit of remorse later, but she’d cross that bridge when she gotthere.

She focused on getting to her locker without tripping over her feet or the flat floor. She wasn’t naturally clumsy, but it just seemed like something that would happen after having one of the best-looking guys in the school flirt with you in a very public way and then flipping him off. And yes, she knew her life wasn’t a romance novel, but she read so much she often related her life to what she found in her books.That’s pathetic. She mentally kicked herself. Tara sincerely hoped that whatever came after high school would come with less need to kick her own ass and the possibility of maybe kicking someoneelse's.

When she reached the row of lockers where hers was located, she saw Shelly had beaten her there and was grinning like a kid who’d just been given the keys to a candy store with no admonition as to how much she couldeat.

“Why are you smiling like that? It’s creepy. Stop or I’ll be forced to smackyou.”

“Wish I could, and we obviously need to have another heart to heart about how violence doesn’t fix things, but I feel like a proud mama. I’ve worked so hard to teach you all the knowledge and here you are, grown-up and using it to turn the heads of every boy inschool.”

Tara frowned. “All the knowledge? You realize that isn’t correct grammar,right?”

Shelly sighed. “Don’t be a grammarNazi.”

“Then don’t give me a reason to be a grammarNazi.”

Shelly held up a hand. “Let me bask in my moment. I mean, damn, you fill those jeans and that shirt. Where have you been hiding all”—she motioned to Tara’s entire body with her hand—“that?”

“I haven’t been hiding anything,” Tara said, frowning as she walked down the row to locker #150. “Just because I don’t wear things that mold to my every inch of flesh doesn’t mean I’m hidinganything.”

“When you have fleshthatworthy of being molded to, it’s a crime not to get tomolding.”

“Why do our conversations always veer into bizarre territory soquickly?”

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