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go away. Austin smiled, and she gave
an involuntary sigh. What was with that? She needed to stop that
immediately. Should she smile or feign indifference? With a head
toss and a ramrod-straight back, she strode into class.
Indifference it was.
    The murmurings of “Zach”, “Brittany”,
“dumped” and “text” as she walked to her seat weren’t unexpected.
Neither were the looks and snickers. That didn’t make them any
easier to take. Her books hit the desk with a dull thud. A
high-pitched buzzing filled her head. She stuck a finger in her ear
and ground her teeth. A metallic taste crept along her tongue. The
buzzing vanished.
    “Done,” Rafe said.
    Why were the other students in the class
smiling and saying hi to Austin, Rose, and Rafe as they wandered
behind her? The three of them had never gone to Socrates. She
opened her history book to the list of Egyptian emperors she’d
hastily scrawled and sat, pencil poised. She would ignore these
three or die trying.
    “I’ll sit with Rafe.” Rose tossed her
ink-black hair, which hung in a plait past her very shapely behind.
Where Rose’s face was delicate and fair, Rafe had a washed-out,
pasty complexion with a nose a little too big for his face. His
gangly, skinny frame was at complete odds to him being able to lift
a bus. His dirty-blonde hair had a wave to it, and his mullet was
certainly impressive.
    Rafe’s excitement at Rose sitting with him
reminded Cate of a small puppy. As he wriggled in his chair, she
pictured him wagging an imaginary tail. His ears practically
pricked up at the sound of Rose’s voice. Those two had a strong
unrequited-love vibe going on.
    Rafe had changed out of his outrageous
Hawaiian shirt. Wait a minute. “How come
you’re all wearing school uniforms?” Cate demanded.
    Austin gave her a quizzical look. “They’re
compulsory.”
    “But you weren’t wearing them this morning.
And they’re only compulsory if you go to Socrates.”
    “Like we do,” Austin replied.
    “No! You don’t.” It was infuriating he could
lie so effortlessly.
    “The fact I’m wearing the Socrates uniform,
in history class, at Socrates Private School, does seem to indicate
I’m a student here.”
    Brittany wiggled her fingers at Austin from
across the room. She made an L sign on her
forehead and pointed at Cate and then her mobile phone. Her posse
of friends burst into fits of laughter.
    She had a finger she’d like to show that
boyfriend-stealing whore. “Brittany doesn’t know you! She’s never
met you. You’ve never gone to this school.” She heard desperation
in her voice.
    “She waved hello.” Austin stretched his arms
over his head. “I’m not trying to be antagonistic, but that
supports she knows me.”
    “Antagonistic?”
    “You know, aggressive, hostile, deliberately
opposing someone’s point of view.”
    “I know what it means,” Cate seethed.
    Austin scanned the classroom. His fingers
tapped the table as he jiggled a knee. Each time someone smiled or
nodded hey to him, Cate’s irritation ratcheted up a notch. She
glanced his way more times than she would ever admit to anyone.
Austin had...charisma. That was the right word. It radiated from
him. He gave off a ready-to-party vibe, and his scars were
intriguing. Butterflies fluttered in the pit of her stomach.
    The teacher called on her four times to name
different emperors. Each time she failed. The fact Austin answered
them all correctly irritated the crap out of her. According to her
teacher, “he was a fabulous student she could learn much from.” Whatever .
    “So...” Austin’s voice broke into her dark
mood.
    She looked his way before her brain
remembered that was exactly what she was trying not to do. Look! Don’t look! A private little war
raged in her head. He smiled that infectious smile and she sighed.
She pulled some hair from her bun and twirled it around her
fingers.
    The sighing and hair twirling simply had to
cease immediately. She yanked her hand away