Quickening

pte

mostly to make certain that her brown eyes hadn't gone wide in fear. Inside, she was quaking. Her mouth was dry and her hands wanted to shake. She hated speaking to groups, hated speaking to strangers, hated speaking to anyone really. It wasn't that she was overly shy, she wasn't, at

lunch and no one was particularly interested. 'Well accept me, ' she conceded. She always liked Geography, the way it made

rtain names seemed to call to her and she often found her fingers searching those places out as though they were magnets and her fingers metal. In her bedroom at home she had maps on the wa

rves. Her report was on the Amazon River Basin and she was actually quite proud of it. Concentrating on her own jitters, Cassie

ing it was better not to acknowledge them. She felt the foot connect with her shin, but didn't realize what was happening until it was too late and unable to stop her forward mome

l like bizarre snowflakes. She crashed into something softer than the ground and found Eric Ellingt

of the room. Eric flashed his friends a grin as laughter filled

ed. Concern, or maybe puzzl

ormally, Cassie wondered what she did to earn the rather single minded hatred of Kelly Larsen, head cheerleader, class president and nominal ruler of Elkdale High. Today she knew it was Eric's attention, no matter how generic, that put her on Kel

lirtations.' Or at least that was how it always seemed to Cassie. She wasn't exactly one of their inner circle and could only judge from a d

e podium without further incident and somehow stumbled through her verbal report. When she rattled to a halt, Cassie realized she cou

pathy reigned. Inwardly, she sighed with relief. Cassie looked to Mrs. Garner who gave her a small smile of generic encouragement and al

eport to Mrs. Garner as the bell to end class sounded. She let the others stream past her, filling the hallways with echoing noise before heading to her desk to gather her things rather than trying to fight

't face planted on the floor and, in addition, committed the mortal sin of touching Eric, remindi

n diverted and Cassie only had to deal with her about once a week. As today was Friday and Kelly left her alone all week Cassie f

the back. As was typical Kyle, John and Mike were comparing gaming stats, Carley was texting someone, her fingers moving at a blur and Sarah had her nose buried in a book. Today's book looked l

one, ' Cassie thought takin

ngers still moving at a frenetic pac

h. The two slices of bread were in one plastic box, the crispy, fried chicken breast in another box and the jalapeno slaw she brought to top it with was in a third container. Cassie assembled her sandwich, sliding the empty containers back in the bag

the cafeteria was serving today. Predictably, her entourage snickered on cue. Cassie thought briefly of correcting

ag filled with equally empty containers in with her books. Knowing the routine, Sarah sighed and added a bookmark to keep her place, putting the romance novel into her book bag. Carley likewise completed her texting marathon and as per school

she thought

contents on Cassie, soaking her sweater, skirt and the right leg of her tights with far more marinara t

ggerated sway to her hips, her entourage fanned out behind her like geese in the sky. Cassie bit her lip and headed for the girls' bathroom. She got sympathetic loo

ied, ' Cassie thought resignedly, pushing open the bathroom door and stepping into the hallway. Shivering in her damp clothes, Cassie saw the

al, Mr. Babbin call from behind her. Cass

red the vice principal a wan smile, the sight of the tusks she was pretending not to see curling up from his lower jaw to make half-moons of white i

ut tu

ed and slipped into her seat. Her heart was racing as it did every time she was forced to pretend not to see one of the things no one else seemed to b

them kno

rove it. Then of course they dismissed her back to her room and continued on with more adult conversations. They only got mad when she insisted her imaginings were real and caused them embarrassment. The only one who realized she wasn't actually making things up, but merely

ll he was scared and that in turn scared her. Grown-ups weren't supposed to be scared like that. Even though

make her look at them. She knew from experience that if she hadn't turned around to face him when he called her in the hallway, he would have called her over and made her look at him as he lectured her on running in the halls. With him,

she

he day is half over, ' she thought. 'And Kelly is not in any of my afternoon classes.' The thought w

locker. She pulled the books she needed for homework ov

ding there. This close she noticed his brown hair had a sheen of red highlights and his smile went all

plied. "And um, t

platter all over the classroom

prefer them i

d. "Hey, you going to Scott's party tonight?

by moving as fast as he could without actually breaking out into a run. She doubted anyone would stop him i

s if we're late, " he said in pas

e. "See you at Scott's then." He said favoring her with

of the football team, " she decided as she reached her car and unlocked the door. She shrugged as she got inside, tossing her bag into the passenger seat. It didn't really matter anyway. If Eric was go