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rests. She relaxed her fingers and moved her hands to her lap. When was she going to drop this tough girl act? “ Here.” I held the gum out to her. “ Your ears will probably pop when we take off. Chewing gum helps.”
    She looked at me suspiciously, but took a stick. She un wrapped it but inspected the gum carefully before folding it into her mouth. Did she think I was trying to poison her?
    “Why are you being so nice to me?” she asked.
    “Hmm ?” I asked, chomping down on my own stick. “How am I supposed to act? We’re partners, right?”
    She stopped chewing and looked directly at me. Her eyes were the softest shade of blue, with hints of gray around the edges. “Yeah, I guess,” she said. She resumed chewing her gum. Why was I watching her mouth? I looked back up at her eyes. I could tell she was getting creeped out by me. I turned to fa ce forward. “I just figured you’re probably used to people cateri ng to you — you’re Matt Parker ,” she finished.
    “And you’re Zoey Marshall ,” I said slowly , unsure of where this was going , but she didn’t elaborate . “I was just trying to help. I don’t really like flying either .”
    Instead of answering, s he turned her head to look out the window an d tuned me out . I put in my headphones and leaned back, closing my eyes to relax to the sounds of gongs and chimes. Man, this was going to be a long week.

 
     
    Chapter Nine
    Zoey
     
    When we reached our cruising altitude , I leaned back from the window and relaxed into my seat. It was both terrifying and kinda cool watching the takeoff. My stomach felt jittery and my ears had popped, just like Matt had said .
    I’d settled into my calculus homework for the next hour or so until I was pretty sleepy. But bonus, I had finished all the problems in chapter seven.  I stretched and tried to get more comfortable, but settled for leaning my cheek against the window, even though it was straining my neck. What I wouldn’t give for one of those little neck pillows I’d seen Amanda Hughes with.
    And while I was on the topic of Amanda Hughes, I guess now was as good a time as any to finally face the fact that I was rooming with her in the hotel. I’d ignored her all semester, even after we found out we’d be sharing a room. I could tell she wanted to talk about everything and coordinate outfits and toiletries before we left, but I kept blowing her off and disappearing from class as soon as the bell rang. And thankfully now I was sitting three rows behind her. She wasn’t that bad, just abnormally perky for someone with such a smushed in face. I didn’t know what she had to be so freakin happy about. I closed my eyes and hoped to get some sleep to pass a few hours of this flight.
     
    *****
     
    When I woke up, my mouth was all dried out from hanging open. I swallowed and opened my eyes, wondering how much time had passed. My head was resting on Matt’s shoulder. Crap !
    I sat up in my own seat. Maybe he was sleeping too and didn’t notice. Nope, he was definitely awake. And now he was looking at me.
    “Sorry. I fell asleep I guess.”
    “It’s fine.”
    “How long was I out?”
    “Um, about an hour, I guess,” he said, glancing down at his watch.
    “You could’ve just shoved me off you,” I said.
    “It wasn’t bothering me,” he said, glancing over at me.
    Our eyes met momentarily, and it felt too intimate in the close confines. We both looked away. O ut side the window, t he sun was bright in the sky , so I was probably sleeping longer than an hour .
    He’d been writing in his notebook, holding it close to his lap rather than pulling down the little fold down tray, like he didn’t want anyone to see what he was writing. He closed the notebook and tucked it in the seat pocket. My eyes lingered on his hands. His nails were clean and trimmed, his fingers long and slender . I blinked away the sleep in my eyes and straightened up.
    “So now that you’re up, should we talk about our