But anyway…

My last class of the day was a big crap-fest. I was called on three times, which has never happened to me before. But for some reason—who knows, maybe Alex’s touch had left my skin glowing or something—I was the very opposite of invisible. At least to Mr. Montgomery, my seventh period English teacher, who continuously called on me to answer his questions.

Gemma, can you tell us what one of the major themes is in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet? Gemma, what is the significance of the poison in the play?  It wasn’t like I didn’t have the answers to his questions. I loved literature and everything, but I hated being put on the spot. And I hated the fact that I stammered all of my answers.

To top it all off, my locker got jammed, and in the middle of kicking the crap out of it, a teacher strolled by and scolded me. By the time I sank down into a chair at library, I was in no mood to deal with any more crap. Really, I probably should have skipped out on the meeting, since Alex had the tendency to get under my skin.

But I didn’t.

I don’t know why.

I also had a major headache. My brain felt like it was boiling inside my skull. God, I was going to have to take up yoga to deal with all the stress.

I rested my head on the table. The wood was cold against my warm skin. It felt nice. I massaged the sides of my temples, and let my eyes drift closed. I took a slow breath and tried to bury all of my problems deep, deep down where it would take them forever to resurface.

But as a current of electricity weaved its way up my spine, I remembered that burying your problems was only a temporary solution. I groaned as my endeavor at relaxing flew right out the window.

Alex dropped his bag on the table. “Headache?”

“Yep,” I replied snippily. And it’s sitting right next to me.

“Gemma, what’s wrong?” The voice belonged to Aislin.

I raised my head up. She was standing on the other side of the table, a pink purse draped across her shoulder, her forehead creased over with concern.

“She has a headache,” Alex answered for me.

“I’m fine,” I told her. “Really. It’s not a big deal.”

“Hold on, I think I have something.” She dug around her purse and retrieved a bottle of Tylenol. “Here you go.”

I took the bottle gratefully, poured two in my hand, and gave it back to her. “Thanks.”

She smiled and tossed the bottle back in her bag. “No problem.”

I tipped my head back, plopped them into my mouth, and forced them down my throat with my spit. Hopefully they’d kick in quick. If I was lucky, maybe they’d also numb out the electricity along with the headache.

Hey, a girl can hope, right?

Aislin sat down. “Okay, so does anyone have any ideas on what we should do for our project?”

“Whatever’s easiest,” Alex said. Then he glanced at me and added, “And takes the least amount of time.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Alex,” Aislin said, like it was the most absurd thing she’d ever heard. “We need to do a good job. I for one would really like to get an A. And I’m sure you would too. Right, Gemma?”

Typically sure, but right now…hmm…not so much. In fact, all I wanted right now was leave.

“I don’t mind if we do something easy.” I flicked a glance in Alex’s direction.  “And short.”

“Good, then its settled.” He leaned back in his chair and rested his hands behind his head. “We’ll pick whatever’s easiest.”

Aislin scowled at him.

“So, what I was thinking,” he continued on, ignoring Aislin’s scowl, “is that we could just make a galaxy map and type up a report to go with it. That way we wouldn’t have to spend very much time working on it together.”

Okay, that’s it. I’d had enough of his snide comments and jabs at me. “Great. Sounds good.” I got up, my chair tipping backward on two legs, then falling forward on all fours again. I snatched by bag off of the table and turned to leave.

“Gemma wait.” Aislin leapt up from her chair. She put her hands on her hips and pinned Alex with an angrily look. “Don’t you think that project is a little too easy?”

He waved his hand in the air, brushing her off. “It’ll be fine.”

I did a mental count to ten while I waited to see if they’d say anything further. When they didn’t, I left.

Outside, a ghostlike fog blanketed the parking lot. I made my way in the direction of where I hoped my car was, but it was hard to tell in the low visibility. I was still all riled up over how Alex had made it clear that he wanted to see as little of me as possible. I was also kind of mad at myself for not telling him off.

I was in the middle of figuring out whether or not I was walking around in circles, when I was hit with the feeling that someone was watching me. And suddenly, I became hyperaware that there wasn’t a single sole in sight.

I picked up my pace, my black DC sneakers thudding against the ice. It was the only sound that filled the air until a crackle rose over it. I glanced down at the ground. The ice looked like it was moving. Yes, moving, right along with the pace of my footsteps. My heart stuttered as my nightmare flashed through my mind. Me running. The monsters chasing me. Ice moving after me.

I ran, but not very fast since the ground was one big accident waiting to happen. I kept telling myself that nightmares don’t come true. Glowing-eyed monsters that kill people with their death chill aren’t real.  But as I felt the air abruptly descend to a bone chilling temperature, I full-on freaked out.

I searched franticly for car, slipping all over the ice like I was trying to be part of the Ice Capades. But I couldn’t spot my car anywhere. I desperately strained my eyes against the thick fog, and that’s when I saw it; not my car, but a flicker of yellow.

My heart stopped.

Everything stopped.

I gasped as the prickle traced the back of my neck. I’d felt fear before, but this was a whole new level of fear. A run-for-your-life-or-you’re-going-to-die kind of fear.  Which was exactly what I was going to do. I spun around, preparing to make a mad sprint back to the school and wait there until the fog lifted. Except, before I could work up a run, I slammed into something hard and warm and static charged. I stumbled backwards, frenetically scrambling to get my footing.

“What the heck is wrong with you?” Alex asked, his voice a mix of irritation and concern.

I regained my balance and stood up straight. “Nothing. I wasn’t doing anything.”

His dark brown hair was damp from the fog, and tucked underneath his arm was a book. “It doesn’t look like nothing. You look scared.”

My heart drummed violently in my chest. Scared. I was scared. I glanced back over my shoulder. Nothing but fog.

“Gemma.”

I turned back to Alex. “Huh?”

“Are you okay? You look a little…lost?”

I was lost. And confused. And terrified. And a million other different things.

The air was starting to warm back up. It was still freezing and everything, but a normal freezing instead of a deathly freezing. ”I um…” I swallowed hard, choking on the image of the yellow lights lurking not too far away from where I stood.  Had it really been there? I hadn’t actually seen the cloaked figure, just two little lights shaped as eyes. Or at least they looked like eyes. Without the overload of adrenaline pounding though me anymore, I wasn’t so sure.

Alex’s gaze wandered over my shoulder. “What were you looking at over there?”

“Um…nothing.” There was no way I was going to tell him what I thought I’d seen. “I just thought I saw…a dog.” I did a mental eye roll at myself. A dog? Really Gemma? You can’t come up with anything better than that?

He eyed me over suspiciously, and then his eyebrow arched up. “You’re afraid of dogs?”

“No,” I responded automatically.

“You were scared, though,” he pointed out. “So scared you ran into me.”