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He cleared his throat, the flush of colour in his cheeks deepening. “I didn’t mean to be weird the other day, by the way.”
I laughed. “I thought I was the one being weird. I was just tired—and lost—and I spaced out.”
He brightened. “So you don’t have a field fetish then. Excellent.”
“Not at the moment, no. I’ll let you know if my circumstances change. Aside from field watching, what else is there to do around here?”
He leaned against my locker, sinking until we were eye level, although he didn’t have to go far—he wasn’t that much taller than me. “There are classes in the community centre, sports at the weekends, a cinema and bowling alley right outside town, stuff like that.” He rubbed the back of his short brown hair, suddenly looking sheepish. “Actually, there’s this—”
“Is he bothering you?”
I looked around. Two girls I had noticed in a couple of my classes—mostly because I’d notedtheyknew how to contour—were standing in the middle of the hallway, glaring at the boy. It was the first time either of them had directed any conversation toward me.
“Not particularly,” I said, curious at the hostility in their eyes. I looked back at the boy. He didn’t seem bothered, a lazy half-smile hovering on his lips.
“You don’t want to get stuck with his kind,” the blond girl said.
I raised my brows. “His kind?” Where was I, the Twilight Zone?
“Yeah,” he said with an amused laugh. “You might catch different. If you’re lucky.”
I pointed at my white eyelashes. I’d stopped making an effort to hide them, deciding to own my uniqueness instead—or at least try. “I’ve my own kind of different to worry about.”
“What?” The brunette focused on me. “We’ve seen you around. We’ll walk you to lunch. Make sure you don’t get bothered again.”
“Hey, come on.” The boy’s tone remained neutral, but his gaze hardened in a way that made me want to step back. “I’ve never done anything to you. Besides, I just wanted to say we’re having a party.”
“A party,” the blonde said, her voice rising in its interest. “At your place?”
“There’s gonna be a bonfire and everything,” he said, reeling them in. “I thought you might want an invite, but if you don’t…”
“Maybe we’re interested,” the brunette said, folding her arms across her chest. “We’ll see if we can make it. New girl. Lunch.”
I bit back a smart remark. I was supposed to be making an effort. So instead, I followed the two girls.
“Hey,” the boy said.
I turned back, closing the space between us, pleasantly surprised when I didn’t choke on the eye-watering amount of cologne that the owners of the locker next to mine seemed to find normal.
“So,new girl,” he said with a grin. “I think you should come to the party.”
He kept staring at me as though I were something to be studied, but that was better than the constant gaze-dropping I was used to. “Maybe I will. But only if I run out of fields to check out.”
“It’s a deal. It’ll be tough, but I’ll work on making the party more interesting than an empty field.”
He was so perfectly deadpan that I couldn’t help grinning.
He inched closer. “What’s your name anyway?”
“It’s Margo.” I winced. “I know. It’s an old lady name.”
His smile widened. “It’s not that bad. Some idiot called me Dorian.”
I couldn’t resist a soft chuckle. “Oh, man. That’s terrible.”
“I’ll see you at the party,Margo.”
My lips twitched. “Like I said,Dorian. Maybe.”
