Dreaming Awake Read Online Free PDF Page B

me.
    “Of course it is.” She tugged my sleeve. “What kind of friend do you think I am? I saved your seat because I knew you would be back.”
    When class began, I opened my book and tried to follow along. Unfortunately, while I was a good student, I had just missed too much to pick up that day’s lesson. Which meant that instead of concentrating on the law of tangents, my mind went off on a tangent of its own.
    As always, my daydreams circled back to Haden. He’d found me between classes after first period and made it quite clear to anyone who saw us together that we were a couple. It wasn’t like it was an extreme display of public affection either. It was the way he looked at me when he held my hand—as if I were the sun in his orbit.
    Just thinking about him made me warm all over and I blinked myself back to the land of trig equations reluctantly. It was then that the sensation of being watched hit me again. I tried to ignore it, but the tension grew each minute like a balloon gathering more and more air. The feelings were overwhelming. The balloon was going to pop from all the pressure.
    The heat grew over my right ear and I finally whirled in my seat to send a scathing look to the rude starer. Two rows away, Mike Matheny’s eyes grew wide before he cast them down quickly to the open book in front of him.
    Towards the end of class, we were released to work together on the next day’s assignment. Brad Wickman approached my chair.
    “I thought you might need this,” he said shyly, handing me a spiral notebook.
    “What is it?” I asked.
    “Trig notes. The ones you missed are towards the end.”
    My brows knit together. “You’re giving me your trig notes? Don’t you need them? We still have a final coming up.”
    “I’ll be okay.” He smiled.
    “Brad, I can’t take your notes—”
    “Wick,” he interrupted.
    “Excuse me?”
    “Everyone calls me Wick.”
    “Erm . . . well, thank you, Wick. It’s very sweet for you to share your notes, but I would feel really bad about keeping them. How about I copy them in the library and give you back your notebook tomorrow?”
    He blushed a little. “That would be really great. You’re the best, Theia.”
    Before I could respond, he bolted back to his seat. The tips of his ears were bright red. I knew a thing or two about blushing, but it was a strange experience to be on the other side of the flush. Had I made him nervous? Me? Perhaps he was embarrassed to be seen talking to the notorious girl on campus.
    The bell rang and we all scattered to my next least favorite place on campus—the cafeteria. Maybe that was an exaggeration. There was nothing wrong with the cafeteria; in fact, I quite enjoyed the pizza and Tater Tots, since I didn’t get that kind of food at home. I just wasn’t in the mood to be in an enclosed space with everyone in the school and their gossip.
    Amelia had to retrieve her cell phone from jail—her first-period teacher was well-known for confiscating them—so I went on to the lunchroom without her. I threaded my way between the tables in the cafeteria with my tray and waited for my friends at our old table. Mike Matheny, Amelia’s unrequited crush and somewhat rude starer from trig, joined me. His presence was unexpected. For one thing, most of the school had always preferred to ignore me rather than acknowledge my existence. For another thing, he seemed to prefer to ignore
Amelia
rather than acknowledge
her
existence, and she was really the only thing we had in common besides our math class.
    “Hey, Theia,” he said. His tray was filled with what must have been two lunches.
    “Hello, Mike.”
    Mike wore what most of the male population of Serendipity High sported in the late spring—board-length shorts and a T-shirt with a sports logo. Somehow, even though Haden shopped in the same stores, the clothes looked different on him. Mike, however, blended seamlessly into the fabric of our school.
    He looked at me intently, as if he