“You read too many vampire books.”

She was right. My fictional track record left me wide open for that one. I felt like the boy who cried wolf.

“Or…” she continued. “Maybe Batman was coming to save you!”

Claire was cracking herself up, flapping her arms above her head while we were stopped at the traffic light. I shook my head and stared out the window. The looming shadow of Carver High School suddenly couldn’t be close enough. And then it happened. My stomach lurched into a series of somersaults when I recognized Garreth’s Jeep as we pulled into the school’s parking lot.

By the time Claire parked, my insides had tied themselves into a gigantic knot. An incredible rush of excitement, eagerness, and panic swept through me all at once, like the first day of high school all over again. I could scarcely will my feet to swing out of Claire’s car.

I scanned the campus for any sign of Garreth, my eyes raking over the fellow students I was forced to be herded with day in and day out, but he was nowhere in sight.

Trembling, I walked to homeroom alone.

The morning dragged on endlessly, though it was only just past second period. Anticipation bled into a twisted combination with all-too-familiar disappointment as I fumbled with my locker, and I decided to take on a more reasonable way of looking at the obvious.

Maybe I was a crutch to get him through his first day?

No, no. He seemed so sincere.

Could someone that gorgeous really be that nice?

Why am I such a moron?

My thoughts turned to panic as I mentally jumped from one scenario to the next. I made it down the hall to third period. I was feeling claustrophobic with all the possibilities and nonpossibilities jumbling themselves in my head, and still he was nowhere in sight.

The bell rang. Fourth period.

I felt jittery. English class passed by in a blur thanks to my elaborate doodling of wings in the margins of my notebook. It was sheer luck I was never called on.