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Inspiration had better come soon.
Chapter Eight
I couldn’t wipe this wide grin off my face. People were starting to stare at me in the halls. I was pretty sure it was because I hadn’t slept for more than four hours last night.
As I’d suspected, the answer to all of my problems came to me in a dream. It was a fuzzy one that I was pretty sure involved a unicorn at one point and me flying over the mountains like Super Girl, but the thing I could remember most clearly was seeing Mason and Polly together. And Mason had the biggest, most sincere smile on his face. He looked happy. Genuinely happy.
At that point, my brain started churning. I shot straight out of bed to scribble in the dream journal I kept on my nightstand. Ideas flowed from my fingers and onto the pages like water. I was on fire. I was brilliant. When six o’clock rolled around and my alarm went off, the adrenaline rush was just starting to wear off.
By the time I marched into Research Methods class that afternoon, I had two energy drinks under my belt and a matcha protein cookie from Mandy’s secret stash. My body was practically buzzing. And when I plopped excitedly into the seat across from Mason, he shot me a concerned and grumpy expression.
“You’ve got crazy eyes,” he said, rubbing his forehead.
“Not crazy.” T
he words tumbled out of my mouth in a rush. “Just totally and fantastically excited because I’ve got an amazing project idea but it won’t work unless you agree to it.”
His eyebrows scrunched in confusion. “I didn’t catch a word of that. How do you talk that fast?”
“It’s the caffeine. I needed the energy.”
“You on caffeine is scary. I’m pretty sure you’re going to explode into a billion pieces of glitter or something. You’re a walking hazard. The whole town should be evacuated.”
I shot him an even wider smile and tossed my notebook on the table. As I leafed through the pages, I didn’t miss the teasing smirk he directed my way. Nothing he said at this moment could dampen my enthusiasm. Ignoring him, I found what I was looking for and then turned the notebook for him to see.
“This is going to be my project,” I said, stabbing the page with my index finger.
He squinted at it, his lips forming a frown. “Project Happiness?”
“Yep.” I bit back an excited smile. “I got the idea from a Harvard study that said how happy we are depends on our relationships to the people around us. The stronger our relationships with friends and loved ones, the happier we are. Makes sense, right?”
“Yeah.” He crossed his arms over his striped blue sweater and shot me a look. “I guess so.”
“So, I’ve decided that I’m going to put together a prototype of a research project that would study teenagers and their relationships with those around them. See what it takes to increase their happiness. There’s no way I could do it on a grand scale, but I figure I could do a test run with a single subject to show the panel how it works.”
Mason nodded his head and hummed. It thrilled me to see that he hadn’t rejected it yet. “Sounds a lot more impressive than my idea to improve free-throw accuracy on the court. Who’s going to be your test subject?”
I drummed my fingers together like an evil villain in a cartoon and grinned. Excitement coursed through my veins.
“I’m looking at him.”
There was a long pause that followed my declaration. For a moment, Mason just looked confused. But then, understanding seemed to enter his eyes and he waved his hands in front of his chest.
“What? No way.”
“Come on!” I slid off my seat and rounded the table toward him. His dark eyes followed me suspiciously. “You’re the perfect subject for this. It has to be you.”
“Why?” He crossed his arms and his frown deepened. “Why can’t you just ask one of your friends?”
“Because, neither of them have recently broken up.”
Disbelief washed over his face and his hands fell to his sides. “Wait — what does that have to do with anything?”
I shook my head, smiling softly. He didn’t know it yet, but this was going to benefit both of us. Not only did it give me the perfect research project, but I would also get to help him get back with his ex. It was all in my notes and part of the brilliant plan I’d concocted last night.
“I need to study how your relationship affects your happiness,” I explained slowly. Mason was giving me a look that said I might spook him off if I spoke too quickly. Now was not the time to screw it up. “We’ll do some assessments on your current level and then once you’re back with Polly, we’ll see how much happier you are. It’s easy.”
“Easy?” He was looking at me as if I’d gone crazy. “Did you forget the part where she dumped me? We didn’t work, Trina.”
