Astrid POV


    The way he filled the doorway of the bathroom, I felt like there was no escape. As our gazescked, his lips curled up in a panty-dropping, knee weakening smile. What the hell was going on, because my whole skin was heating up?


    I fore my


    my gaze from him and looked outside, silently asking him to step away. But he didn’t. “Are you joining the Cedar Academy tomorrow?” he asked.


    “Yes!” I replied in a breathy voice. I really wanted to go back to Briana and Nate and stand with him at the same time. This strange attraction towards him was enough to drive me insane. “But how did you know?” I asked, amused.


    “Loverheard,” he shrugged. “Besides, this is a small town. Everyone knows about everyone.”


    D a m n. I nced at my cousins. “I need to go.”


    “Sure,” he replied, still blocking my way. Did he just lean closer and sniffed? Surely, I was imagining,


    mess of my “Umm… you are kind of blocking the door,” I added, rather croaked as i stared into his dark eyes. S h i t. I was in deep s h t. Before I made a emotions and revealed to him that I loved hispany, I needed to exit and break whatever s t u p i d attraction I was feeling for him. Also, I was sure that this wasn’t the first time he was trying to charm a girl. For G o d’ s sake, he had a steady girlfriend, Tracy.


    His expression turned somber, and he pushed away from the doorframe. I literally fled from there because I didn’t want to get between him and Tracy. Breaking a rtionship wasst on my agenda and after my parents’ death, I had more in mind than to focus on a football captain,


    “See you tomorrow,” he called out as I walked towards my


    table.


    He closed the bathroom’s door and walked past my table, leaving me flustered as he gazed at me all the time. Whatever happened between us was stranger than fiction. Cliché? I know, but it was.


    “OMG! The G o d of football approached you?” Briana said in a low, excited voice, fangirling over him.


    Nate rolled his eyes and picked up a French fry.


    “Nothing happened, okay?” I replied rather curtly.


    Briana chuckled. “You know, it’s better that nothing happened. Because if Tracyes to know, your life is going to be a hell in theing days!”


    “I know,” I said, lowering my head. “And I’m not ready for all that after mom and dad…”


    “Heyyy…” Briana hugged me. “Don’t go there…”


    I remained in her warm hug and closed my eyes. I think I made the right decision toe to my uncle’s ce. My cousins were super-amodating and amiable. Where were they earlier?


    We went on to talk about the various ces one could visit in the Cedartown. Briana also mentioned that the boys had their own vi, and that they had regr parties over there.


    The dinner was superb, and I was surelying back here for more burgers. Nate and Briana told me more about the academy on our drive back home. Aunt and uncle were in the living room, watching a si. Bree smiled at me and went back to watching it with her legs on my uncle’sp.


    “Would you like to have coffee?” Briana asked as Nate wont to his room and banged the door close.


    “No, thanks Brin,” I said. She smiled when I called her by her nickname. “I want to sleep and organize my bag for tomorrow, And really Cedartowns a nice ce.” Those words reminded me of my encounter with Kaql-his dark eyes and his panty-dropping smile. Feeling a thousand shades Mustered, 1-


    walked to my room. I busied myself with arranging my bag. My schedule was avable online and so I checked it on theputer, taking time to read more about the academy and the advanced courses it offered.


    Once my eyes couldn’t see the screen anymore, I shut down theputer and walked over to the window where I stared out into the darkness of the night. Did someone really jump in the windowst night? Was that Kael? I m n t a l l y smacked myself. He had a girlfriend, and it was wrong of me to even


    think about him.


    As I stood, staring at the moon that hung over the trees, I heard wolves howling, I should’ve felt scared, but I felt… drawn. Strangely, I felt Kael’s presence somewhere near to me. Was he watching me? I whipped my head to the right and left, narrowed my eyes to pierce my vision through the woods, but there was no one. Once again, I smacked myself-this time physically, and went to the bed without closing the door. Sometimes, dreams turn into reality, don’t they?


    I stayed awake for a long time waiting for my mystery man. and then fell asleep. In the morning when I woke up, I found myself covered in a nket with a rose and a note on my table. I gasped, surprise coursing through me, and reached for the note while staring at the red rose. With my heart pumping madly, I read it.


    “I know you left the window open for me.”


    OMG. My throat went paper dry. So the mystery man was a mystery, but he was there in my roomst night. Was it Kael?


    S h i t h t S h i t.


    Aunt Bree was humming to herself as I walked into the kitchen. Nate and Briana were already there, eating pancakes with honey.


    “Astrid! How did you sleep?” Bree said with a grin as she served pancakes to me.


    I blushed because it reminded me of the rose that was now in my bag. “Nice. I slept like a log”


    “Great.” She stopped and ced her hands on her hips as she studied me. “The fresh air in the countryside is clearly having a positive effect on you.”


    1 smiled, and she poured coffee for me. “You all are being very-”


    “Uh-huh. Stop right there, youngdy,” Bree said, making me giggle. “Just finish up and go. Today is your first day, and I don’t want you to bete.”


    The three of us were on our way to school in fifteen minutes. As Briana parked the car in the parking lot, I noticed how kids milled around. The ce looked normal and inviting. Briana took me to the notice board where I checked my schedule and then went to the principal’s office, Principal Henson was a man in his early filties with a face that spoke of wisdom. He had salt and pepper hair. It was his pudgy stomach that made him cute.


    “I looked at your records, Astrid,” he said. “They are perfect. In fact, Fred highly rmended to me that you should be offered advanced biology in our academy.”


    My uncle rmending me was a surprise “Thanks,” I said.


    “But we would like e to see your grades for now,” he added.


    4know what that meant. “Sure!”


    “Good, you can go to your


    ss now.”


    The corridors were empty, so I rushed to my first ss of the day, history. My teacher waved for me to sit at the back and as I made my way towards that side, I saw Kael along with his brothers. My breath hitched when my gaze locked with Kael’s. A blush must have crept my cheeks. I snapped my eyes away from him and saw a beautiful brte with amber eyes sitting right next to him. And she was ring at me.N?velDrama.Org owns this text.


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