Spiraling Read Online Free PDF

out of the corner of my eye. His close proximity irritated me. He either didn’t understand the concept of personal space or had no problem violating it.
    Taking my bag out of my locker, I shut the door and turned toward the boy, intent on telling him off for his rude behavior. When I realized his full size, however, my resolve was replaced by the urge to run away. He was tall. Maybe not Jeremiah Turley tall, but a lot bigger than me. My heart rate increased as I found myself staring at a wall of black. Timidly, I looked up, biting my lip to stop it from quivering.
    The second my eyes landed on his face, my fear dissipated. He was gorgeous. His fair skin was flawless aside from a scar above his eyebrow that ran across the left side of his forehead and disappeared into his hairline below his temple. Dark blond stubble adorned the gentle curve of his jaw. When he looked down at me, his ash blond hair fell into his gentle, deep blue eyes.
    “Hi,” he said.
    I didn’t realize until I tried to speak that I was holding my breath. I exhaled audibly and blushed as I clumsily replied, “Hi. I…I’m Tori.”
    “Devon.”
    “Are you new here?” It was an obvious question and I felt like an idiot for asking it, but I couldn’t think of anything else to say.
    “Yeah,” he answered. “First day.”
    “How… How do you like it so far?”
    “It’s not so bad. Looking better by the minute.”
    He gave me a charming smirk that caused my heart to skip a beat. I smiled back and bit the side of my lip. Before I could say anything else, however, Joy nudged my arm.
    “Are you ready to go, Tori?” she asked.
    I looked at her, but my brain wouldn’t process the words she’d spoken. “What?”
    “Are you ready to go?” she repeated.
    “Sure,” I said. Then I turned back to Devon. “See you tomorrow?”
    “I hope so,” he replied.
    I slung my bag over my shoulder as Joy prodded me to walk away. Devon followed a few seconds later, joining Jeremiah Turley and a few other boys beside the vending machine. I glanced back at him a few times before he was out of view. The last time I looked, I caught his eye. He smiled at me. My cheeks reddened and I turned away, giggling.
    “Tori.” Joy shoved her elbow into my arm.
    I looked at her. “What?”
    “What are you doing?”
    “Nothing.”
    “That’s not nothing,” she said. “Why are you flirting with that guy?”
    “I wasn’t flirting,” I replied. “I think we need to talk about what flirting is.”
    “I know what flirting is. You were flirting with that guy. You like him, don’t you?”
    “No.” I shook my head.
    “I saw the way you were looking at him.”
    “Get real, Joy. I just met the guy. I mean, sure, he seemed nice.”
    “He didn’t seem nice to me. He looks like a vagrant.”
    “Well, he didn’t smell like one.”
    I took in a breath, remembering the scent of his cologne. It was reminiscent of a cool spring morning after a nighttime thunderstorm. I loved the way the air smelled after rain. Some mornings, before the sun completely broke the horizon, I’d sit on the porch swing taking in the damp, clean scent and listening to the last notes of night’s symphony as it slowly transformed into the noise of day. Those still dark moments just before the light were always my favorite. There was never anyone else around and I could clear my head of all the stuff people told me to think.
    “ Sure , you don’t like him.” Joy chuckled. “Just remember you have a boyfriend.”
    “I know.”
    “And besides, did you see the people he was talking to when we left?”
    “I saw them.”
    “They aren’t exactly the nicest people,” she said.
    “And?”
    “And if he’s hanging out with them, he’s probably a druggie.”
    I stopped walking and looked at her. “My brother hangs out with them sometimes.”
    She got quiet. For the rest of the walk home, she avoided saying anything about the guy in the hall or the group of boys in the commons. When we got to