APOV

I sat in my room, books all over the floor, papers lying in piles meaningless to anyone but me. I loved to do homework. Don't know why. I was working on my biology homework. There was a complicated problem and I thought I would call someone for help.

I picked up my phone and looked through my contacts, then realized something. Who was I going to call? I don't know anyone.

That's a lie. You know someone. Someone friendly.

I shook my head, throwing those thoughts away. I didn't want to seem overly friendly and scare him away. He might think I was weird.

Why do you care what he thinks?

I thought about it. I didn't know why. All I knew was that I did care about what he thought. I would find the answer someday. I didn't have his number anyways.

I threw the biology papers aside, closed my book, and grabbed my sketch pad. I started to sketch out the form of a beautiful woman then added some clothes to her perfectly formed body. I frequently did this for fun, but this time it was actually for a reason. I needed a design for Design class. That was one of my favorite classes of all time. I also took Cosmetology. The only thing that creeped me out about that was the fact that we had two heads to work on. With real human hair. Creepy, but useful.

I worked on my drawings, finished up what I could of my Bio, and my APUSH notecards. I looked at the clock.

"11:30! Ugh." I fell back onto my floor and laid there, suddenly feeling the force of exhaustion. I closed my eyes for one moment.

"Alice, get up!"

I forced my eyes open to the sound of my mother's voice. I looked up at her from my position on the floor. "What?"

"You're going to be late for school. Why the hell aren't you ready?"

I jumped up and quickly got ready. I didn't get to do my normal routine, so I looked different. I dreaded what some people would say. I was lucky, the bus ride took longer than expected and I got to finish putting my make-up on and doing my hair, so I looked normal. Great actually. I smiled to myself as I got off the bus.

"Hey, Alice!" a deep, male voice said as I walked in.

I looked up. Blonde, curly hair. Blue eyes. Jasper.

"Hello, Jasper." I smiled at him.

He put his arm around me. "How's it goin'?"

My smile widened at his accent. "I'm fine, thanks. Tired."

"How come?" General concern showed in his voice.

"Because I was up late last night trying to finish my Bio homework. There was this one equation I couldn't balance."

"Isn't that Chemistry stuff?"

"Yes, but we are in the Biochemistry unit, so we have to make sure everyone knows the basics of Chemistry. Thank goodness we are doing that, because I had no idea about anything dealing with it."

Jasper laughed, a sweet, carefree sound. It rumbled deep in his chest even though it was a light laugh. I grinned stupidly.

He poked my cheek. "You have dimples."

I giggled. "Yeah. I also have a nose, two eyes, lips."

His eyes moved from mine, ever so slightly. I couldn't help but think they were staring at my lips.

Maybe you're just flattering yourself, Alice. Maybe he's looking past you.

"I have noticed. Your lips are very smooth."

Maybe not...

I got excited, tried to squelch the feeling. "Thanks?" I laughed nervously.

He half smiled at me. "Have I made you nervous?"

How did he know that? I just looked at him and shook my head. "No."

He looked at me, knowingly. "Of course."

I laughed. "Okay, yes, you did. But it's not because of what you said."

"Then what, would you say, made you nervous?"

"Just you in general, I think. You make me nervous. It kinda feels like you're some big agent studying an actress, me being said actress. And then I notice as you're studying me that I am making a huge mistake, one that will ruin my chances at getting a job from you, and I just realized my mistake, so I'm going to fix it." I shut my mouth.

He laughed. "What was this mistake that you magically fixed?"

He laughs a lot. Good. "Oh, just me, rambling. Making a fool out of myself."

"I don't mind your rambling. I like your voice. Sounds like high, tinkling bells."

We just stood there, staring at each other like idiots for who knows how long. And I loved it. Every moment.

I shook my head. "Uh, weren't we talking about something?"

"Your Bio homework? Uh, some equation you couldn't balance, I think. Let me take a look at it."

I took out my Biology folder and pulled out the packet. I showed him the equation and pulled out the notebook paper with all my work on it. "This whole two thirds of the page is for that one equation. I tried it so many times."

He studied it with an expert look for about a minute. He smiled. "I know your problem."

"What did I do wrong?"

"You tried it."

"Oh. Great. Remind me not to do that next time. I'll let Mr. Ulrich know that you said that's what we should do. Not try it."

He shook his head, still smiling. "No. You tried to balance it. It doesn't need to be. It's already balanced."

"Oh." I slapped my head with my palm. "Why am I that stupid?"

"You said you have never learned this before?"

"Nope."

"Then you are doing great for this being your first time learning it. This is our second year in a row learning it and some of us still don't get it. You're an exceptional student."

I smiled and opened my mouth to speak again, but was cut off by the bell. One long, loud, piercing ring. That's a dumb bell. whatever happened to the actual bell?

"Well, you had better get to class," he said.

"I suppose."

"Where are you headed?"

From my purse I pulled my schedule out. "Uh, it looks like...Publication Arts? What the hell?"

He chuckled, another sound deep in his chest. "That is Yearbook. I'm on the Yearbook staff as well. It's a load of fun. If you do your work on time. If not, Spano will get all over your ass. Come on, I'll show you."

"Do you have this class right now, then?" I sounded a bit desperate, a little too excited.

"Yes, I do. I have the pleasure of sharing three classes with you so far. Lucky me." Not a touch of sarcasm in his voice.

"Cool." It seemed so anticlimactic in my head. 'Cool' was all I could come up with? I felt like my insides were going to explode with joy.

What are you smoking Alice?

I shook my head and ignored my thoughts. You're stupid, Alice, very stupid indeed.