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Chapter One
Sitting across a small library table from Amelia Whitehall, Leo realized that he might have bitten off more than he could handle.
The experience might just kill him.
Fourteen-year-old males were not built to withstand this kind of torment. Amelia smelled fantastic. Her blonde hair was shiny and long, and her perky breasts pressed against her cheer uniform.
Then her eyes lifted and he was lost in the depths of the clearest brown eyes he’d ever encountered and stumbled over what he planned to say.
She smiled when he faltered but didn’t laugh. Amelia never laughed at him or anyone else he knew of. There was a high likelihood that she was accustomed to the reaction.
Amelia was the reigning queen of the popular kids. She had her pick of friends, parties, and dates but wasn’t stuck up. She didn’t act entitled.
While most girls her age were going through awkward growth spurts and body changes, Amelia seemed to breeze through puberty with a beautiful figure honed from hours of gymnastics, dance, and ballet.
Her clothes and accessories were always perfect: they were assembled by a personal shopper hired by her mother so she always looked exactly right.
Subjected to countless lessons meant to make her more marketable, she played the piano and acoustic guitar.
The first time Leo saw her was the first day of fourth grade. His family had recently moved to the United States after spending most of his life traveling between Madrid and Edinburgh. His new classmates laughed at his strange accent that was a blend of the places he’d lived.
Children in Spain mocked his Scottish tones while those in Scotland made fun of how he pronounced words with a Spanish lilt, and now children in America found it just as funny.
Amelia didn’t laugh. She’d smiled and told him, “I think it’s good to be different, don’t you?”
Her words changed everything for him about settling into a new home far from everything and everyone that was familiar.
From the start, Leo thought Amelia had an aura that was just beyond his ability to see it. She was his first crush, his first ever Valentine’s Day card, and the first girl he ever dreamed about.
“Leo? You okay?”
Back in the present, the smooth sound of her voice flowed over him and he knew he was in danger of embarrassing himself.
Taking a deep breath and squaring his narrow shoulders, he replied in the strongest voice he could, “Yes, of course. Just trying to decide which subject we should focus on first.”
From a long line of proud Spaniards on his father’s side and a long line of Scottish highlanders on his mother’s, he willed his body to obey him, not disgrace him.
“I believe you have the most missing work from algebra…”
She nodded and told him in frustration, “It’s the last class of the day. My-my mom always pulls me out for auditions and, you know, crap.”
Amelia had been modeling, acting, and winning beauty pageants for years but few people would even know if they hadn’t been to her house.
It was something he liked about her.
He’d heard that Mrs. Whitehall apparently blew up and displayed huge images of magazine covers and catwalk shots.
Leo had never been to Amelia’s home but stories of lavish parties given for her birthdays and every other occasion were the talk of the school every year.
“I miss at least one, sometimes two, math classes every week so I’m always behind. I-I keep trying to catch up but never manage to get there, you know? Right now, I’m still working on the assignments from last week and have several more days that have piled up since.”
“You’re smart, Amelia. We’ll get you caught up in no time.”
“It’s nice of you to say that, Leo.” She shrugged. “I’m not like you. To do well, I have to try really hard and if I miss the lesson, I’m lost.”
“You have cheer practice on the same days I have student government so we can meet here after. Is that okay?” She nodded happily.
Her smile sent a knife of pain into his groin. Battling his physical reaction to her, Leo breathed carefully through his nose and focused on the papers in front of him.
