Flawless Read Free

imagination.
    When the bell rings at the end of class, he stretches back, raising his arms above his head. Even from where I’m sitting, I can see the bottom of his T-shirt rise just above his hip-hugging jeans. I’m struck speechless when the muscles in his arms bulge under the thin weight of his plain gray T-shirt.
    An Adonis has arrived and I’m here to worship him.
    â€œSo what’d you think, Rock?” Kristen purrs … again. I can’t decide if I want to slap some sense into her or copy her every move.
    â€œStimulating,” he says, turning to give her a grin that I totally wish was meant for me.
    â€œYou took the words right out of my mouth,” she answers back with a come-and-get-me grin. I’m mesmerized by the sex-kitten transformation taking place in front of my eyes. Kristen’s had lots of dates and even a few serious boyfriends, but she’s always been … well, Kristen. Funny, a little ditzy, and raring for a good time. Not sexy, smitten, and shameless.
    Rock pulls a folded schedule out of his back pocket as he stands. “Fourth period, American lit. Where are you girls headed?”
    There is a God and he likes me. He really, really likes me.
    â€œSame as you,” I say, a smile spreading across my face. “I’ll show you the way.”
    â€œGet out!” Kristen narrows her eyes at me, like I created his schedule. Like I could ever compete with her.
    â€œIt’s okay,” Rock says, misinterpreting her minitantrum as sympathy. He leans in close to Kristen’s ear and whispers loud enough for me to hear. “Don’t tell anyone, but I actually like literature.”
    He’s gorgeous and he likes literature?
    Okay, it’s official. I might be in love.
    â€œEww.” Kristen turns up her nose as if someone just told her they like eating sheep eyes for breakfast. “Seriously?”
    â€œ ’Fraid so,” he says, shaking his head in mock embarrassment. He turns his attention to me with a wink. “Ready?” he asks.
    Maybe it’s out of habit from answering Kristen’s exact same question for four years, but I answer without thinking. “Born ready.”

    If you think your life can’t change in the blink of an eye, you’re wrong.
    If you think people don’t care who you’re friends with, you’re wrong.
    If you think walking down the halls of your high school with someone like Rock doesn’t change the way people look at you, you’re wrong.
    Dead wrong.
    If I were alone, the stroll to my next class would be a repeat of every other first day, where I would walk quickly and pretend to ignore the occasional whisper and stare. Instead, Rock and I get the old double take, heads whipping, mouths gaping, minds reeling.
    I know what they’re thinking. Who’s that hottie? And what’s he doing with her ? It’s not like I blame them; I’m wondering the same thing.
    â€œNeed to stop at your locker?” Rock’s voice forces me to pull my attention from the spectators lining the expansive hallway leading to Mr. Jacobi’s musty classroom.
    â€œThat’s okay. I can put my things up after lit.”
    â€œYou’re the boss,” he says, giving me a goofy little salute. Who knew goofy could be sexy?
    â€œHere we are,” I announce inanely, like he couldn’t figure that out by reading the big banner stretching across the top of Jacobi’s door that reads LIT’S FOR LEADERS .
    Rock places his fingertips on my back just above my waistband, sending my senses into overdrive. “After you,” he whispers near my ear.
    I fight the habit of sitting in the front row and take a seat in the middle of the classroom. When Rock takes the seat behind me, I mentally kick myself, wishing I’d sat behind him so I could spend another class period studying him unnoticed.
    I turn in my seat to face Rock, whose eyes are taking in the room around