It's really raining outside. For La Push, 'really raining' means chucking-it-down-don't-try-to-go-outside-or-you'll-be-swept-away-by-the-water raining. It's freezing too, but as a long-term La Push resident I know to come prepared and so I'm wrapped up in a sweater and a hoodie and a scarf, my coat slung over the back of my chair, dripping monotonously onto the nylon floor, and my hair's just about beginning to dry. Today is not a great day – I'm coughing and spluttering and my nose is perpetually running. And despite my many layers, I really wish they would turn the bloody heating on because it's freezing.

The bell rings to start class, and I continue to stare into space, occasionally smiling when people say 'Hey' as they take their seats.

I got bailed on this morning by my best friend, Lou, because today her new boyfriend gave her a lift. Lou pretty much has a new boyfriend every other week, so I'm used to the walk in and usually it's just a bit damp, but today, as we've established, it's really raining and that's why I'm slouched in this uncomfortable, squeaky chair, dripping.

Usually I like history too, but today's a weird day and I haven't had my coffee and I'm cold, so right now, history with Mr Blund is the last place I want to be. Condensation is dredging its way up the windows, which I really don't get because it's freezing, and Mr Blund's nasally voice is worming its way inside my head and I really don't feel well at all.

So I hug myself and pull my hoodie tightly around myself and hope this lesson will actually start on time so I can get out and go find Lou because she always has an extra flask of coffee.

Mr Blund pauses as the door gets shoved open, and someone drags their way across the classroom to collapse into the seat next to me. He chucks his spiral notebook onto the desk with a loud 'thud'. The chair strains under his weight. Jared Hall.

I've never really spoken to Jared Hall. Sure, I've noticed that he's a good-looking guy and he seems to be pretty popular and I've bumped into him a few times at parties and I've sat next to him in history for nearly two years, but I've never really spoken to him or really looked at him.

But even I can see that he looks exhausted.

He's been gone for two, nearly three, weeks, and no one's really sure where he went. Jared and his best friend Paul literally disappeared seventeen days ago, when they just didn't show up for school, and this is the first time I know of that anyone's seen either of them since.

Personally, I assumed they must have gone on holiday or something, maybe up to Seattle or even further, but in all honesty, I didn't have a clue where they'd actually been, and from the looks of it, Jared Hall had not been enjoying a relaxing vacation for the past fortnight.

He's also huge. I mean he's really bulked up and grown like a foot since I saw him last. I'm trying not to stare at him as he slouches and shuffles in his seat, but, wow, his muscles were already defined before but now they look like... like they're in 3D or something.

Mr Blund shushes the class, who have descended into almost stage whispers about where he's been. I feel like I'm in a teen television show, you know, like that show with that girl who runs like a rumour website or something?

Whatever, the point is, everyone's going crazy over Jared Hall's return, but he just looks pissed off and tired.

Mr Blund goes back to his monologue, and the class begins to settle down.

But all I can think about is the boy sitting next to me. More specifically, how all of a sudden it's nice and warm and I'm not shivering, because the boy sitting next to me is literally radiating heat. I swear down, if he's got some contagious disease and he's spreading it to me, I'm really not going to be thrilled.

Despite, the warmth, the hairs on my arms are standing on end. I'm hyper-aware of Jared Hall beside me, and every time he taps his finger or the desk, or exhales loudly, or yawns, I feel my insides lurch and I want to flinch away, or, even better, move closer.

I am so aware of Jared Hall, I can feel myself beginning to blush, because our arms are so nearly touching and I need to move away to be able to concentrate.

I peek at him beside me. He's staring at a poster about the Quileute legends, looking faintly amused but also a bit mad. I look at the inoffensive poster, that's been hanging there for years, and wonder what he's fussed about.

Mr Blund sets us some work and a question to discuss with our partner. I get my pencil and turn to Jared.

He's still staring at the poster.

'Um', I begin, not wanting to alarm the tired, moody and now beefy boy beside me. 'Hey, uh, Jared?'

He begins to turn to look at me slowly, before Mr Blund makes some announcement about a club or something, eventually telling us to get on with our assignment. 'Yeah, you got a pencil I could borrow?' He asks, opening his notebook.

'Yeah. Sure'. My voice is all croaky and ill sounding. Nice.

I hand it to him and he takes it. 'Thanks.'

He writes the title at the top of his page and looks over at me. His heavy breathing hitches and he drops the pencil I just handed him.

I begin some stupid ramble about the project and what he thinks and how if he wants he can copy my notes from the past two weeks, and he just stares at me. His mouth is hanging open and it's really off-putting. I pause mid-ramble.

'Are you alright?'

Nothing.

'Jared?'

He grins at me, and he looks a little less tired.

'Yeah, I-I'm fine. You're Kim, right?' He cradles my name as he says it.

I frown in confusion and sniff. Attractive. 'Yeah. You sure you're okay?'

'Are you ill?'

'I-what?'

'Your voice, it's really croaky. And your nose is all red. Are you ill?' He sounds genuinely concerned, and in all honesty I'm concerned for his sanity right now.

What the hell is wrong with him?

Why is he looking at my nose and commenting on its colour?

'I have a cold,' is all I say.

'You look gorgeous anyway,' he murmurs. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to have heard that, but I did, and that's so awkward and uncomfortable, but I feel my stomach lift and my heart practically skip a beat when he says it.

There's silence as he just stares at me, with his big, brooding eyes beneath his heavy lids locked on mine. My mind actually stops and I just stare back, completely transfixed by Jared Hall's mesmerised gaze.

And then I remember that we're sitting in Mr Blund's history class and Jared Hall is probably just feeling the effects of the steroids he's probably been taking to get him so buffed up. So I lean back, grab my pencil and underline my title about ten thousand times, waiting for him to stop staring so we can do some work. His eyes are trailing me, I can feel them burning into me, and I'm beginning to feel really self-conscious.

'Can we actually just do this please? I mean, I have to work tonight and I have a ton of homework left over from the weekend...' Like Jared Hall cares about my work load.

He just looks at me, his big brown eyes fixed on mine. He leans in slightly and pushes a piece of hair behind my ear.

I immediately raise my hand to feel the strand of hair, and our fingers brush as I do. His are burning.

'I don't wanna be a bitch, but can we get on with it?' I stutter slightly at first, unsure of what just happened, or is happening. 'Please?' I add when he says nothing.

'Whatever you want,' he says, his eyes not leaving my face.