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see him sitting on the tabletop, half in the shadows a few tables away.
     
    “I’m just wondering who you are, and why I feel strange around you.”
     
    “Strange how?”
     
    “Strange like...I don’t know. Like I should be afraid but I’m not. I trust you but I don’t even know you.”
     
    “What if you did know me? Would that help things?”
     
    “Would you still come to me when I closed my eyes?”
     
    “Yes.”
     
    “Then I don’t know. I guess I’d feel like I was cheating on my boyfriend. I shouldn’t be thinking about other guys.”
     
    “But it’s not real, right?” he said and his tone indicated he didn’t believe it.
     
    “Why does it feel so real?”
     
    He ignored my question and asked me one.
     
    “Why are you so sad?”
     
    “What?”
     
    “The sorrow...it’s pouring off you.”
     
    I sat down on the table top like him, but I was still a table away.
     
    “My parents died not too long ago. I’m not over it.”
     
    “I’m sorry. That must be tough.”
     
    “It is. Or it was. It’s not so bad now I just miss them. I live with a really great family.”
     
    He seemed to absorb that answer. Then he spoke again and leaned back even further in the shadows.
     
    “I wish I could take it all from you; your sadness, your sorrow. I’d want you to never feel pain again if I had the say in it.”
     
    “Thanks, but everyone has to feel those things at some point. It’s what makes us who we are...makes us human.”
     
    “You are a remarkable person. I can’t wait to get to know you. I want to know everything about you.”
     
    “Everything?” I laughed. “There’s not much to know. So, are you.... are you going to scare me again, like last night?” I asked and felt bold and blunt. I wanted to go to him but knew there was some unspoken boundary there.
     
    “No. No more scaring. That was a mistake, one I regret and apologize for. Had I known then what I know now, things would have gone differently.”
     
    “What do you know now?”
     
    “That I am completely and utterly taken by you. I can’t function without you invading my mind, day and night.”
     
    “I have a boyfriend,” I said though I knew he knew.
     
    “Yes, I know. But can he invade your subconscious?” he said and I heard the smile in his voice.
     
    “No,” I whispered. “Can I see your face?”
     
    “Does it matter what I look like to you?”
     
    “No, but I want to know the face to look at in my mind when I remember this later.”
     
    He chuckled.
     
    “One day,” he promised. “There are a few things I have to take care of first.”
     
    “What’s that?”
     
    I didn’t hear or see him move but I felt his breath on my neck and his voice in my ear saying, “All in good time, Clara.”
     
     
     
    ~ ~ ~
     
     
     
    The next day was a repeat of the first, minus bullies on the way to Menendez. Tate let Eli walk me to class and it was all fine. He talked to Bishop about it and he said it wasn’t his problem. So, begrudged, Tate asked Eli to walk me to class everyday if he didn’t mind.
     
    We all met at the school that night for another match. Dee, Megan, Sarah, Eli, Mike and I sat in the bleachers and watched as the guys warmed up and sparred in preparation.
     
    Dee worked overtime to get Eli’s attention as he and Mike talked about our football team and how Eli should sign up. Eli avoided her a lot more and once, he leaned forward to put his elbows on his knees while he watched the first match start and she rubbed his back. He shrugged her hand off and turned to look at me. It was like he was telling me he was done pretending with her. His case was made and he was waiting on me.
     
    But all was forgotten soon when Tate started acting funny. Even if you didn’t know him you could see something was wrong. He was shaking his head from side to side furiously when he took his stance and his face was as red and twisted as I ever seen it.
     
    I heard Eli take a deep startled