Something About You

SHAY

If my seven o’clock calculus class had been any indication of the rigor of the school work I’d be receiving at Cranmore, bring it on. I sat in the front row of my physics class with my laptop fully charged, and my brain ready to absorb every bit of information Professor Raymond was willing to share. I lived and breathed science and math. It never got old and always required my mind to work overtime. I thrived on the challenge. I yearned for it.

“How’d you sleep?”

My head shot to my right.

The mean guy from next door slid onto the stool beside me at my table with a cocky grin.

Despite his crisp arctic scent wafting its way through my senses, I scooped up my things in one arm and hopped down from my stool. “Not a chance.” I walked to the opposite side of the room, taking a seat beside a girl who was typing on her laptop. No way I’d be sitting next to him for an entire semester. Not when I knew what lay beneath the good-looking exterior.

“Okay, ladies and gentlemen,” Professor Raymond said as he walked into class and dropped his briefcase down on the front table. “This is Physics 101. If you’re in the wrong place, you best run now because if not, you’re in for a hell of a trip.”

I smiled as a few students ducked out quickly.

For the next hour, I was in my zone, feeling very much at home amongst terms I knew and knowledge I couldn’t get enough of.

“I’ll see all of you on Wednesday,” Professor Raymond announced as he shut off his presentation. “In the meantime, read pages twenty through fifty in the textbook. There’ll be a quick quiz at the start of class, so be on time.”

Everyone collected their things and moved to the door. I took my time, hanging back so I could speak to the professor. I approached him once the room cleared out. “Professor Raymond?”

He looked up from his phone. He was younger than he seemed from my seat, the slight gray in his goatee telling me he was probably in his late thirties or early forties. “Yes?”

“I’m Shay Miller.”

A smile spread across his face. “You’re Ms. Miller?”

I nodded.

“Mike Wilson called me about you.”

I smiled, knowing my high school physics teacher had made the call.

“He said you’d like to volunteer, maybe in the lab or something,” he continued.

“Yes! It’s my dream to work in research. I’ll even sweep floors if it gets my foot in the door.”

He laughed. “We have custodians for that.”

“Right.”

“Let me think about it,” he explained. “I’m sure I could find a role for you.”

“Awesome,” I said, feeling for the first time that I was right where I was supposed to be.

***

I shot up from a sound sleep that night. The incessant banging on my door had my heart racing and my eyes jumping around my dark room. Kendall’s bed was empty. She must’ve forgotten our door code. I grabbed my glasses and pushed them on, noting it was after midnight on her alarm clock. I climbed out of bed and pulled open the door.

Mean guy stood there with his hands grasping the door frame. “Seriously?” he said.

“What?” I asked, totally confused by his question.

“You didn’t want to sit next to ~me~?”

My lips parted. “You woke me up for this?”

“Yes.”

“This is about your ego?”

He dropped his arms from my door frame and crossed them across his chest. “No.”

“It is. You can’t believe someone doesn’t want to be near you.”

“Not true.”

“Then why the hell are you here?”

“Because I wanted it noted that I was doing you a favor by sitting next to your geeky ass.”

“My geeky ass? Is that term used widely or just in your small-minded circle of friends?”

His eyes dropped to my blue footy pajamas. “If the term fits.”

“Listen. I can see you struggle. But, let’s see if you can understand this.” I grabbed hold of my door and slammed it in his face.

I expected him to bang on it. To yell through it. To get mean girl to have his back. But he didn’t do any of those things. So, I crawled back into bed and closed my eyes, letting thoughts of mean guy drift from my brain.

And, though I didn’t think it was possible, the music that switched on next door was even louder than the night before.

Asshole.