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feel good.
    “Thanks for that. What you
said to Paige.” She paused, sweeping her hair over her shoulder. “But don’t
underestimate how much trouble that girl is. Even for you.”
    “I appreciate your concern,
but I think I can handle it,” I chuckled. If Paige wanted to learn how tough I
could be, I was more than happy to show her. Girls like her made my skin crawl.
She had no empathy or feelings for anyone but herself.
    “Okay, if you say so.” She
smiled at me, her finger tracing the edge of my desk. I could feel my heart
begin to race, and I had no idea why. I refused to believe it was because of
her.
    “You shouldn’t be afraid to
stand up to her, Wrenn.”
    She looked up, surprised,
her eyes meeting mine. Then she shrugged, as if it were no big deal.
    “Standing up for myself
would just create more drama. I’d rather not have to deal with that. I’ve got
bigger things on my mind than Paige and her petty comments.” She smiled
wistfully. “I’d rather focus my attention on the people I actually give a damn
about. Does that make sense?”
    “Perfect sense, actually,” I
mumbled, rubbing my neck, her comments hitting a little too close to home. “So,
you’re from Washington, and you like horror movies. What else is there to know
about Wrenn?” I don’t know why, but I didn’t want her to leave yet. I wanted to
keep this conversation going for as long as possible, without seeming like a
complete creep.
    She made a face, looking
deep in thought.
    “There’s not much to know,”
she said truthfully. “I’m pretty boring, I guess. I love cars, and I hate
shopping. I love things that make me think, like a good book. I’m quite
opinionated, but I pride myself on seeing both sides of the argument. And I’ve
wanted to be a lawyer since I was little.”
    “Any particular area of
law?”
    “Criminal law. Prosecution,”
she answered immediately. She glanced down at her phone. “And I’m late for
class,” she added sheepishly.
    “I’ll write you a hall-pass
so you don’t get into to trouble.” I grinned, grabbing my pad. I scribbled out
the note and handed it to her. Our fingers brushed against one another, her
touch leaving me numb. She smiled at me, tiled her head down, and then walked
out of the room.
    Sinking back into my chair,
I tried to process what had just happened. What was I doing? Creating little
fantasies in my head over a student was just plain wrong. But there was
something about her, something different. Something special that made me
want—no, need —to know
more.
     

Chapter
Eight
    Wrenn
    I found myself looking forward to History classes much more than I should
have. After two weeks of Dalton being in my life, any chance I got to see him
was something I looked forward to.
    A schoolgirl crush? Maybe. I wasn’t sure.
    In class he always treated me the same as everyone else, but unlike some
of my other teachers, he didn’t sit back and ignore Paige’s snarky comments.
There was no special treatment toward me—perhaps I imagined a glance here
and a smile there, but nothing concrete. Out of class, he treated me like an
equal.
    It was something that would never go anywhere, but it gave me comfort to
think about him as being something more than just my teacher. I didn’t for a
second dream that my crush would be reciprocated. I wasn’t stupid. He had been
nothing but above board when he was with me, in and out of class.
    Still, I couldn’t stop myself from fantasizing about him when I lay in
bed at night, or imagining what it would be like to kiss him. As each day
progressed, I found myself thinking about him more and more.
    ***
    I practically skipped to class on Thursday, which earned me an odd look
from Kass. She never saw me this happy about school, so I didn’t blame her
skepticism.
    “What the hell is with you?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.
    Shit. I needed to settle down. Nobody was this excited about History.
“Nothing. Just feeling good today. Being almost the