Crushing on the Geek(31)
“It's worth a shot,” Hayden nodded, “Do you think this is going to work?”
“I don't know for sure. I only had time to read like one paragraph of the book before the crow stole it,” Tamara admitted, “but I hope it works. If it doesn't I don't know what else we can do, besides moving to a different state and changing our names.”
“I don't know if that would work. Don't faeries have wings?”
“I was being sarcastic, but if it comes down to it, I might follow through.”
“Nah,” Hayden shook his head, “We'll figure something out.”
“If you want, today after school, I'm pretty sure I can fix your hair,” Tamara said, reaching out and touching a bright pink patch of Hayden's hair.
“As long as you promise not to turn it all pink,” Hayden laughed.
“I think it looks good on you, though,” she grinned.
Tamara felt a pair of tiny hands pressing against her shoulder blades. She dug in her heels and tried to reach the spot.
“You okay?”
Tamara couldn't answer, because it was taking all of her concentration not to be pushed forward, straight into Hayden. How the hell was a creature the size of a moth so damn strong? Tamara's foot slipped and she slammed forward into Hayden. He wrapped his arms around her and pressed his lips against hers.
When the kiss broke Tamara turned away from him and mumbled, “Sorry.”
“You don't have to apologize for kissing a guy,” Hayden laughed.
“I know,” she nodded, “So where do you want to meet up to fix your hair? We can't do it at my place. It's my dad's day off.”
“It's my dad's day off too,” he laughed, “but he won't mind. Actually, he'll be thankful not to have to keep looking away every time I walk into the room, so he doesn't laugh.”
“What did you tell him happened?”
“I told him I thought my shampoo interacted badly with the new conditioner he bought.”
“He believed you?”
“He's a lawyer, not a scientist, so he's not sure it could happen, but he's also not sure it's impossible either,” Hayden laughed.
The bell sounded, but Tamara didn't move.
“We should get going, before people show up and ask us why we're leaving bowls of milk and honey,” he chuckled.
“Yeah, you're right,” Tamara grinned despite the uneasy feeling that someone or something was spying on them. She grinned when Hayden took her hand and led her from the classroom. Tamara drew small circles with her thumb on the back of his hand, trying to calm her nerves.
The hallway was filled with the clattering and whooping of wings. Tamara bit her tongue and braced for another attack.
“You guys, knock it off!” a freshman girl yelled from the other end of the hall, “You leave that damn June bug alone!”
“We're just goofing around,” a guy ginned at her, holding up a June bug attached to a long piece of string.
“Come on,” Tamara said, tugging on Hayden's hand, “Let's go.”
Tamara dropped Hayden's hand and sprinted to the stairs. She shoved her way through the crowd of fellow students with practiced ease. Tamara could hear Hayden following on her heels.
“I'll see you at lunch,” she said when they arrived at the bottom of the staircase.
“See ya,” Hayden said before they parted in opposite directions.
Tamara peeked around every corner before rounding it on the way to her first period English class. When the final bell rang and the morning announcements began she was only half way there. Mrs. Kelly was so going to have her head on a silver platter surrounded by famous poetry written by dead guys.
“You're late,” Mrs. Kelly said.
Stating the obvious, isn't she, Tamara thought.
Aloud she muttered a simple sorry and slunk to her desk. If Tamara had known her first period English was only the first of eight classes she would be late to, she might have stayed home.
Three-fifteen found Tamara waiting outside of the school for Hayden and the others, gnawing on her already ruined manicure. Her eyes shifted every few seconds and laughter sounded in the distance. Tamara could no longer tell whether the laughter was just that of her fellow students or if the wee folk were having fun at her expense. Fortunately, Hayden didn't keep her waiting long. He arrived for before Amber, who usually rushed out, like she was breaking out of prison.
“You all right?”
“Yeah,” she said, shifting her weight from foot to foot.
“You remembered to call your parents, right?”
“Yeah, I called Mom at lunch. She's cool as long as she doesn't have to come pick me up.”
“Are you sure you're all right?” he asked again, this time entwining his fingers through hers.