"And then you find the cube root of pi and plug x into the equation. Take out your graphing calculators and we can practice these easy trigonometry functions before we get into the good old calc-" Mr. Salé stopped talking as a boy I had known for the majority of my life strode in.

The whole class seemed to stop talking and their whispers simmered down as the temperature of the classroom rose. It was visible that someone special had entered when the girls began blushing.

Aaron Paul. That boy could command a sea of sharks with just one look.

"And you are?" Mr. Salé asked as Aaron shoved his hands into his pockets. Mr. Salé was significantly shorter than Aaron; the only thing he held above him was authority. I noticed Aaron wasn't wearing a backpack which wasn't odd considering he rarely did his homework- he just copied the answers from his many, many friends.

"Aaron Paul." His voice was a mix of husky and smooth, a shudder rushed through me for no apparent reason. Even his voice was attractive. He had changed a lot and the wimpy kid he used to be was gone forever. This was one of the many times I had a class with him since high school began and it was still crazy to hear how much his squeaky voice had turned so masculine.

He moved his hand from his pocket and into his hair, his fingers grazing his scalp before the impossible seemed to happen and I was harpooned into sparkling, deep gray eyes. He looked majestic in his simple long-sleeved T and plain jeans. I couldn't pull my eyes away.

"Right Mr. Paul. I would tell you to take a seat but the bell rings in a few minutes. However, class we still have a few minutes so just write down the pages of your homework." He turned to Aaron, "Have a seat beside Ms. Veowsalot over there." He pointed directly at me and I immediately glanced away and blushed.

"Sure thing," Aaron smirked like he had planned this out and slid into the empty seat beside me.

As soon as he did so, the bell loudly fired off its alarm and I hopped out of my seat. I felt his eyes follow me hotly staring at my back as I made my way out.

Of all the empty seats in the classroom, Mr. Salé had to place me beside the biggest cheater in the school.

I never thought he was smart. In fact, I believed him to be a total jock-headed idiot who would eventually go on to work at a gas station. He didn't deserve what he had and I wasn't the only one to think so. My best friend Stacy Marks also fell for his insignificant looks years ago. He had blossomed at the end of our eighth-grade year and almost seemed to have grown two full feet during freshman year. He had suddenly gotten hot and so had his GPA. He challenged me intellectually to get the highest scores on tests and he always somehow scored higher than me. I often wondered how many hours he spent studying aside from all the parties he went to.

I had always wanted to ask him how he studied, but I never got around to it. Whether he was surrounded by his fan girls or his teammates, there was never a chance to ask.

The rest of the day went by smoothly as lunch slithered in. I found Stacy waiting for me at our table. We dropped our backpacks off like we had done last year to save our seats and went to wait in the lunch line.

Typically, the first week of school was filled with decent food, but the going went downhill from there. The school had created a salad bar and the line for that was also unbelievably long.

I tapped my fingers impatiently against my thigh. Stacy Marks was unbelievably mean, I never would have befriended her if we hadn't gotten stuck together one day at lunch and we sort of just clicked. We sort of just came to a consensus to tolerate each other until the end of high school.

I was overly kind and apologetic and she could kill a bird with one look. But I could be that way too sometimes and I appreciated that she said things like they were. I like straight-forward people, it avoids the annoying awkwardness of beating around the bush.

"Stop tapping your finger V, it's getting annoying." She tossed a glance in my direction as I continued to tap.

Stop tapping your finger V, it's getting annoying. I mimicked, picturing the Spongebob meme as I laughed to myself. Across the room, I couldn't help but notice gray eyes focused on me and a smile on his face. Had I suddenly become some sort of interest to Aaron Paul. I highly doubted he would take an interest in me other than asking me for the homework answers.

I glanced away as the line slowly moved forward and we got our lunches.

"Aaron Paul is in my calculus class." I complained to Stacy as we sat down.

"And?" She asked, rolling her eyes, "he actually showed up to school, that's new." She muttered almost to herself.

"And he sits next to me. Mr. Salé..." I was rudely cut off by a lettuce chewing Stacy.

"Good, there's an opportunity to get to know him. If I were you, I would jump at the chance of sitting next to Aaron, he's hot and has good grades so he's going somewhere in life and might end up rich. If not, you can marry him and mooch off his parents," Stacy laughed, "I wouldn't mind getting in on some action with him. Hey, I've got a great idea. You should offer to tutor him and just make out." She chuckled, biting into the celery stick and staring at me vividly. I swallowed my disgust before glancing at her.

"That sounds really cliché. Besides, I'm not one to go after guys and you know it."

"Then how are you getting into Aaron's pants?"

"What makes you assume that's what I want?"

"Suit yourself. But if I were you-"

"You're not me." I hissed, "Sorry," I finally said, hoping I didn't offend her with my attitude. "But, I really don't care for him. Honestly, he's hot, but he's a huge player. He doesn't know what a relationship is and he seems to basically know everything about everyone."

"I wouldn't mind a guy who knew what I liked."

I didn't reply, I didn't know what to say to her obvious sexual innuendo. Aaron Paul was not someone I wanted to talk about while I ate, my appetite immediately disappeared and I tossed my salad into the nearby trash bin.

The bell rang and I walked to my last class of the day. I groaned.

He was in this one too.

********************

https://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Read-Minds-ebook/dp/B08RYV11F2/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=veronica+Soliman&qid=1609863783&sr=8-3

(Link will be available in the coming weeks)

(Link will be available in the coming weeks)

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