hoped it wasn’t Blakely. Once she started talking it was difficult to remember what peace and quiet
sounded like.
He slid his gaze to the side, hoping he could catch his mystery partner’s reflection in the windows
before committing to the partnership, when his gaze caught on the girl beside him.
Kate Fallow.
His eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
Despite having been in the same grade since toddler primaries, he doubted that he and Kate had
spoken more than fifty words to each other their whole lives. He didn’t think it was anything personal.
Their paths just didn’t cross much. As evidenced at that moment, she preferred to sit in the front of the class, whereas he did his best to end up somewhere near the back. Instead of coming out to sporting
events or school festivals, Kate always seemed to rush straight home when classes where over. She was
at the top of their class and wel liked, but by no means popular, and she spent more lunch hours with
her nose buried in her portscreen. Reading.
This was only the second time Carswell Thorne had stopped to ponder one Kate Fallow. The first
time, he had wondered why she liked books so much, and if it was similar to why he liked spaceships.
Because they could take you somewhere far, far away from here.
This time he was wondering what her math score was.
There was a thud as Carswell settled his chair legs back on the floor and leaned across the aisle.
“You probably know who all these artists are, don’t you?”
Kate’s head whipped up. She blinked at him for a moment, before her startled eyes glanced at the
person behind her, then back to Carswel .
He grinned.
She blinked. “Ex-excuse me?”
He inched closer, so that he was barely seated on the edge of his chair, and dragged the tip of his
stylus down her screen. “Al these dramatists. You read so much, I bet you’ve already read them al .”
“Um.” She fol owed the tip of his stylus before… there it was, that sudden rush of color to her
cheeks. “No, not al of them. Maybe…maybe half, though?”
“Yeah?” Settling an elbow on his knee, Carswel cupped his chin. “Who’s your favorite? I could use a
recommendation.”
“Oh. Well, um. Bourdain wrote some really great historical pieces…” she trailed off, then
swallowed. Hard. She lifted her eyes to him and seemed surprised when he was still paying attention to
her. For his part, Carswell was feeling a little surprised, too. It had been a long time since he’d really looked at Kate Fal ow, but she seemed prettier now than he’d remembered, even if it was the kind of
pretty that was overshadowed by the likes of Shan or Elia. Kate was softer and plumper than most of the
girls in his class, but she had the largest, warmest brown eyes he thought he’d ever seen.
Plus there was also something endearing about a girl who seemed entirely floored by no more than
a moment’s worth of attention from him. But maybe that was just his ego speaking.
“Is there a certain type of drama you like?” Kate whispered.
Carswell tapped his stylus against the side of his mouth. “Adventure stories, I guess. With lots of
exotic places and daring escapades … and swashbuckling space pirates, naturally.” He followed this up with a wink and watched, preening inside, as Kate’s mouth turned to a smal , surprised O.
The Professor Gosnel cleared her throat. “This is supposed to be individual study, Mr. Thorne and
Miss Fallow. Twenty more minutes, and then you can partner up.”
“Yes, Professor Gosnel,” said Carswell without missing a beat, even as the redness stretched to
Kate’s hairline and a few students snickered near the back. He wondered if Kate had ever been
reprimanded by a teacher in her life.
He slid his gaze back to Kate and waited – five seconds, six – until her gaze darted uncertainly
upward again. Though she caught him staring, she was the one who instantly turned back to her desk, flustered.
Feeling rather accomplished, Carswell took to scanning through the names. A few sounded familiar,
but not enough that he could have named any of their works. HE racked his brain, trying to remember
what, exactly, he was supposed to be doing for this assignment anyway.
Then Kate leaned over and tapped her stylus against a name on the list. Joel Kimbrough, United
Kingdom, born 27 T.E. His list of works spil ed down the screen, with titles like Space Ranger on the Ninth Moon and The Mariner and the Martians.
Carswell beamed at Kate, but she had already returned her attention to her own screen, without
any sign of her blush receding.
The next twenty minutes were spent scanning through Joel Kimbrough’s extensive body of work,
while his mind churned through different scenarios in which he could get Kate Fal ow to help him with
his math homework – preferably, just to let him copy of her so he wouldn’t need to put any more time
into that wasteful venture.
When Professor Gosnel finally told them to choose a partner, Carswell scooted his desk closer to
Kate’s without hesitation. “Would you like to work together?”
She gaped at him again, no less surprised than the first time. “Me?”
“Sure. You like histories, I like adventures. Match made in heaven, right?”
“Um…”
“Carswell?” hissed a voice behind him. He glanced around. It was Blakely behind him after all,
leaning so far over her desk that her nose was practically on his shoulder. “I thought you and I could be partners.”
“Er-one second.” He lifted a finger to her, then turned back to Kate and plowed on. “Actual y,
there’s something I’ve kind of been meaning to ask you for a while now.”
Kate’s jaw hung as Carswell feigned a sudden onslaught of uncertainty and scooted his chair a bit
closer. “You know how we’re in the same math class?”
She blinked, twice. Nodded.
“Wel , I was thinking, if you’re not busy, and if you wanted to, maybe we could study together one
of these days. Maybe after school?”
Kate could not have looked any more stunned if he’d just proposed that they move to Columbia
State together and become coffee bean farmers. “You want to …study? With me?”
“Yeah. Math, specifically.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not doing that great in it. I could
real y use your help.” He added a drop of pleading to his expression and watched as Kate’s eyes widened
and softened simultaneously. Those pretty, enormous brown eyes.
Carswell was surprised to feel a jolt behind his sternum, and suddenly, he was almost looking
forward to his studying time with Kate Fallow, which was a rather unexpected twist.
Because, of course, she would say yes.
Although it was Blakely who spoke next. “Carswell. We should get started on this assignment, don’t you think?” There was an edge to her tone that Kate must have noticed. Something that hinted at
jealousy.
With a glance back at Blakely, Kate looked more flustered than ever. But then she nodded and gave
an awkward shrug. “Sure. Alright.”
Carswell beamed. “Great. And also – I hate to ask this – but would you mind if I took a look at
today’s assignment? I tried to do it last night, but was completely lost. All those equations…”
“Mr. Thorne,” said Professor Gosnel, suddenly hovering between him and Kate, “this is literature