Supernatural Summer by Skye Genaro

worked to calm me down, I doubted it would hold any sway with the nurse. I tuned into the girls sitting next to me to find out their stories. Even though the tele-chaosing made my life miserable, I found some value in the other ability I'd gained from the fall, the ability to read auras. Right away, I could tell the girls faked their illnesses. Their energies reminded me of diving into a swimming pool. Crisp. Clean. Effortless.
    The kid that just exited the office was definitely ill. His aura clogged the hallway with its dense, depressing weight.
    My headache was back, but just barely. I wasn't a good enough actor to convince the nurse I was in any real pain. I listened to the girls next to me—they decided to go with a migraine, a sore throat and a stomachache.
    Migraine Faker flashed me a death ray look. "You got a problem?"
    I smirked at her and she looked away.
    Before I could settle on a symptom I realized I had another dilemma. If the nurse set me free, who would pick me up? My dad was away on business. Kimber would be at the Rose Club, lunching and getting a massage. If she found out I was sick she'd break land speed records to get here. Then she'd hover over me with noodle soup and a thermometer, and search WebMD until she attributed my symptoms to either schizophrenia or pneumonia.
    I dragged myself off the nurse’s bench, choosing phantom hallucinations over an overbearing stepmother.
    The rest of the day, I alternately watched the clock and obsessed over the phantom. He'd looked familiar, like someone I'd seen in a movie, or a student that I passed every day but never really noticed. I thought back to my Seattle neighborhood, and mentally ticked through the faces of all the people I'd known. None of them resembled the vision I saw in Physics.
     
    *****
     
    On our way to the parking lot, Becca pulled a glass vial from her backpack and chucked it in the garbage can.
    "What was that?" I asked.
    "Failed potion. HunkaLove Number Two. I've been wearing it all day and not one guy talked to me. The next batch, though, that'll be one. Help me out and try it when it's ready?"
    Just thinking about going on a date made me feel so… normal . But dating wasn't a luxury I could afford as long as my energy broadcasted my every emotion.
    I shifted my backpack uneasily, and tossed it in my car. "Guys are too much hassle."
    "Roger that. But one I can't live without."
    When I pulled to the curb in front of my house, Becca pulled her pack from the backseat and flung it over her shoulder. As she did she glanced at the stairs rising to Kimber’s mansion. Her voice rose an octave. "Oh my god. Who is that ?"
    I followed her stare, past the iron fence and the perfect lawn to the guy leaning against the porch column. Black t-shirt. Dark hair. It was him .
      "You can see him?"
    My question sounded comical but Becca just lifted her sunglasses to get a better look. "Can I ever."
    He was far enough away that he couldn't hear us, but near enough to spark my instinct to flee. His t-shirt stretched across a sinewy, muscular chest. Aggressive green eyes stood out against olive skin. His stance was guarded. A cowlick of dark hair curled across his forehead, a soft touch that did nothing to ease my anxiety.
    I was at once captivated and shocked at his human form. Becca summed up his impact pretty well. "He’s so gorgeous, he could make a nun give up the convent. Thankfully, I’m not a nun." And she strode up the walkway to the house.
    I parked the car and ran after her.
    "We don’t know anything about this guy," I said in a low voice.
    "He seems to know you."
    "Well, he doesn't." But a voice inside my head whispered "yes."
    My street smarts, that calculating edge that kept me safe when we lived in dangerous neighborhoods, told me to get back in my car and keep driving, or spend the night at Becca’s.  And yet, I was magnetically pulled toward him.
    I followed Becca to the porch. "Can we help you?" she asked.
    He ignored her and locked eyes