Read The Secret Trinity Unearth for Free Online Page A

had been holding my breath staring at him. I relaxed and let out a sigh of relief. Thank god he was saving me the embarrassment of trying to climb over him in a skirt. As quietly as I could I sat down, letting my backpack lean against the chair in front of me. I turned and mouthed “thank you” to my hero of the day.
    With that, he looked at me and mouthed back “you’re welcome,” flashing a gorgeous white smile. My breath caught in my throat. He quickly redirected his attention forward, but I was frozen, staring at him. He was even more handsome up close.
    “Aria Darwin…do we have an Aria Darwin here?” The professor called out my name from below. I was so distracted by my neighbor I had barely heard her.
    “Hmm, sorry what?” I said, abruptly turning my head forward reacting to my name. Our eyes met and she squinted at me confused.
    “Does that mean you are Aria Darwin?” Her tone had turned slightly annoyed.
    Great, she was already on the D’s in roll call, and my space cadet behavior had become evident on the first day. In my experience teachers did not like it when their students daydreamed during class instead of listening.
    “Oh. Yes, present.” Trying to recover too quickly, the words had come bumbling out of my mouth and low snickers echoed through the lecture hall. The professor moved on and I sunk into my seat hoping I could disappear into it altogether.
    When I leaned back, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed my breathtaking neighbor was failing to suppress a grin. He must have realized that he was the reason I had been mentally preoccupied. I had officially hit my humiliation threshold for the day and the next forty seven minutes dragged on into an eternity.

Chapter 8: Tongue-Tied
     
     
    The first day of school had gotten off to a rocky start. On Tuesday I made sure not to hit the snooze button again. My classes on Tuesday were all dance classes which went much more smoothly than my embarrassing catastrophe in Music Appreciation.
    I waited anxiously for my second chance, and today I made the extra effort to get up early, blow dry and straighten my hair. I did not want to look like I was trying too hard, so I kept my make-up simple. I argued in my head that I wanted to look nice in order to make up for my poor first impression with the class. If I was being honest with myself, it was all for one particular classmate, but I preferred denial.
    What was I doing? It had only been a few days since I made the pact with the girls and I was already getting glammed up for some random guy. I need therapy. I told myself it would only be for today; it was consistent with my growing denial. I arrived at the lecture hall early. There was hardly anyone there. I took a seat in the same spot as Monday and waited anxiously.
    After our initial roll call on Monday, Professor Barklin passed around a seating chart to fill in and told us that we would remain in those seats for the rest of the semester. That announcement had given me an excited rush of butterflies. I remained in denial about why I had that reaction.
    Consumed by my thoughts, I was suddenly jerked back to reality by someone tapping on my shoulder. Ouch, I winced; my bruises still hurt. I scrunched up my face and clutched my shoulder as I looked up. Meeting his gaze, there he stood, Liam McKenna.
    When the seating chart was passed around, I had made a mental note of his name while kicking myself for doing so. He was not smiling at me today. His dark eyes were filled with confusion as he spoke to me for the first time.
    “My apologies. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I was just trying to get your attention. I am sor--” “Oh, no, no.” I cut him off before he could finish.
    “You didn’t hurt me. My shoulder is just sore. Don’t worry about it. It’s nothing.” I shrugged it off and gave him a small smile to hide my inner frown.
    Great, I think I am officially zero for two on making a good impression. He was staring at me in silence as if trying