Perception Read Online Free PDF

crew.
    I opened my notebook to a blank page and positioned my pen, ready to take notes on the wonders of physics. My neck tickled a bit and I rubbed it and gave an involuntary shiver.
    Someone was watching me.
    I glanced to my right, but Brooke was busy fiddling with her mechanical pencil. I turned left, nonchalantly peering over my shoulder, and solved the mystery.
    Justin sat in the back row, in his usual seat. His eyes wereon me, and when caught, he smiled and gave a little wave. I was about to wave back, but Mr. Rylander startled me with an unnecessarily loud opening to his lecture.
    “Magnets!”
    I faced forward and grabbed my pen.
    “Today we’re going to discuss magnets, attraction, repulsion, action at a distance, ferromagnetic material, diamagnetism, and more. It will be on the quiz Monday, so I suggest you all shake out those Friday cobwebs and pay attention.”
    One person moaned, a few others sighed.
    Brooke leaned close and whispered, “Kendra thinks he’s cute.”
    My mouth turned down. “Mr. Rylander?”
    I looked up at him while he droned on about north and south poles. He paced back and forth, stopping now and then to push his big black hipster glasses up as they slipped down his nose. His brown hair was disheveled, and he wore jeans and Vans with his shirt and tie. Maybe he would be dorky cute, if he weren’t trying so hard to be everyone’s friend all the time. Like his mission in life was to be “the cool teacher.” He was young. He mentioned his age — twenty-three — at least half a dozen times in class. But, in any case, he was a teacher, which made thinking about him that way gross — even for Kendra.
    Brooke raised one eyebrow. “And I don’t disagree with her.”
    Apparently, bad taste was contagious.
    “What are magnets used for?” Rylander asked.
    Some jock answered, “So my mom can hang my A-pluses on the fridge!”
    “Anything more likely?” Rylander responded, eliciting a couple laughs.
    Brooke raised her hand. “My credit card has a magnetic strip.”
    “Good. Anything else?” He looked at me.
    “A compass?” I said.
    “Correct, Clare. Very good.” He came around from behind his desk with something in his hands. “Now we’re going to do a little experiment showing the principles of magnetism. Let’s have Clare come up.”
    I sighed inwardly. I hated getting up in front of the class with everyone staring at me. My only hope was that most of the kids were in daydream comas by now.
    “And,” Rylander continued. “Let’s see.” His eyes scanned the room. “Justin. Please join Clare up here.”
    Justin popped up from his seat, dashed up the aisle, and stood next to me. I gave him a kill me now look with my eyes and he grinned. He knew how much I hated stuff like this.
    Rylander stood between us and opened his hands. In each one was a bar magnet. Justin grabbed one, and Rylander offered the other to me.
    “Magnets are curious objects,” he said to the class. “What’s rare about them in the world of nature? Anyone?” After a few moments of silence, he gave up and continued. “They can wield power over other objects without touching them.”
    He went on for a minute or two about the principles of magnetism, attraction, and repulsion. I stared at the ground and willed time to move faster.
    “Okay, Clare and Justin, hold out your magnets.”
    I tried to forget about the fact that twenty people were staring at me, by focusing on the magnet in Justin’s fingers.
    “Try to push them together,” Rylander said.
    Justin and I shuffled closer together and tried to make our magnets connect. It wouldn’t work. As much as I pushed it, an invisible force kept them apart.
    “They don’t want to go together,” I said.
    “Correct,” Rylander said. “They repel each other.”
    I looked up into Justin’s eyes. They were sad, and I wondered if he was thinking about all the terrible things I’d said to him over the past few months. Things I only half meant. Things I