My eyes followed the flow of students to their buses, to their cars. The afternoon had proven to be beautiful after all and the sun was shining down gloriously. That is, until I spotted Brynn and her friends a few yards away. As usual, Miss Wonderful was smiling. What didn’t she have to be happy about? She had the power to ruin everyone else’s life. But hers? Hers was just dandy. She appeared to be flirting and I rolled my eyes.

Of course all the boys thought she was incredible. She was leaning over, practically falling into the open window of a gray Jeep where she was most likely spilling an obscene amount of cleavage. And then, as Sage Fisher and Emily Lawrence shifted places, I realized whose window she was spilling her cleavage into. It was Garreth’s.

“Teagan.”

I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the two of them. I couldn’t stop staring.

“Teagan.”

“God, what?!”

A dark shadow flew at me the second I turned around, resembling exhaust but more substantial somehow, and in an instant I couldn’t breathe. An invisible hand clutched my throat and my eyes began to water. The world around me blurred. A thunderous flapping of wings rang in my ears, as if a large bird had taken flight directly overhead, but it was coming from all around, bouncing off the pavement, bouncing off my skin. And then I lost my footing, my ankle twisting off the curb as if an unseen hand literally reached down and yanked on it.

Something warm and secure caught me by the arms, lifting me, steadying me. Seriously winded, I managed to focus on who seemed so concerned, on who had just saved me from toppling into the bus lane. Blue eyes looked back at me, inches from my own face.

Garreth.

He steadied me and I realized I was now standing on the sidewalk, a good six feet from the curb. The buses were slowly pulling up for the students, creating their usual formation,12A, 4B, and so on. The bustle around me appeared unchanged, as though no one had seen my little mishap. No one showed any concern except Garreth, whose hand still lingered on my elbow, reluctant to let go.