*This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.*
“Now we are going to talk about the chemical equation for Sodium Chloride. Anyone care to offer the answer?” My chemistry teacher, Mr. Anderson, rambled on and on about chemical equations. My eyes were glued to the back of Luke’s perfect head of hair. It seemed like every curl on the back of his neck turned upwards at just the right angle. How did he have such perfect hair? My hair barely did as it was told even after using the straightener.
“Penelope Watts?” Mr. Anderson’s voice startled me. All of a sudden, the pen quivered in my hand, attempting to pry its way out of my hand. Stop it! As if on command, the pen stopped moving and lay motionless. I crossed my fingers that no one saw that. Except Luke was staring right at me as if he had just seen a ghost.
“I-I’m sorry, sir. I don’t know the answer,” I muttered out. My cheeks were so hot. Luke was still staring at me. A few cheerleaders behind me snickered, whispering to each other. I did my best to ignore them although I knew this was going to be the cause of utter scrutiny later. Just my luck.
Mr. Anderson kept going on and on. Luke finally turned around, sitting up a little straighter in his seat. I held on tightly to my pen. As long as my powers didn’t leak again, I was fine. As long as Luke forgot about it, I was fine.
“We’re going to get into group to work on the worksheet. First row, turn back to the person behind you. Third row, turn to the person behind you. These are your partners for the day.”
I stopped scribbling in my notebook. Luke and I were going to work together. Alicia stabbed me with her pen, giggling quietly. This is NOT a good thing, Alicia.
“Cool,” I whispered and grabbed the worksheet from Luke. He cleared his throat, taking a look at the questions. His green eyes reminded me of the evergreen trees I’d seen in Lake Tahoe last summer.
“I think this is the solution to the first one. What do you think?” I didn’t even look at Luke’s sheet when he asked me. I was too worried he would ask me about what happened earlier with the pen.
“Yeah, totally,” I whispered. I glanced up at him when I felt his eyes on me. Stop being so weird. He’s going to think you’re more of a weirdo.
“How did you do that?” He asked me. I felt all the heat escape my body.
“What do you mean?”
“That pen trick. Do you study magic?” He asked me and his eyes grew in size. I chuckled, scratching the back of my head. Magic. HA!
“My dad taught me,” I mumbled. “It’s just an illusion.”
“I see,” Luke pursed his lips together and looked back down to our assignment. We continued in silence, writing answers and showing each other. I tried not to look at him too much. But the entire rest of class, my stomach was a bottled mess of butterflies and nervous jitters.
