Connor huffed. “If he’s not back in two minutes, I’m out!”

No one cares, Connor. By all means, leave.

At a minute and fifty seconds Mr. Harper came back with Ms. Jameson only a few steps behind her. She was the music teacher who laughed too loud and had a beard that was too noticeable. One would think she would’ve shaved it by now seeing as how she taught at a high school with some of the most brutal bullies in the history of bullies, but I guessed she loved herself the way she was.

Behind Ms. Jameson came her classroom of students holding instruments. My cheeks flushed when I saw Levi walking in with a violin by his side.

I shifted my stare to the ground and tried to pretend I didn’t notice him.

I peeked up.

He smiled at me.

I didn’t smile back.

“Art,” Mr. Harper gestured toward our class and then in the direction of Ms. Jameson’s class, “meet soul.” He went on to explain how three days a week we would meet up with our music partners and work on our creative piece, but I’d stopped listening almost immediately. I tried my best not to notice that he was walking toward me. I tried my best not to notice that the seat beside me was empty. I tried my best to hope I ended up partners with Ellie Graze who talked too much and played the flute.

“Hi, Aria,” Levi said, taking the seat beside me. I’d never heard my name spoken so much in one day. Perhaps he had a strange addiction to the letters a-r-i-a. “I guess this is a sign, huh? You’ve been so ubiquitous since I met you.”

“What?” I blinked, glancing around at the rest of my class being partnered up. “What does ubiquitous mean?”

“It was my word of the day this morning. It means being everywhere. Very timely. The universe is obviously shoving us together and screaming, ‘Hey! Get to know each other!’”

“I don’t think it’s anything like that,” I argued. “It’s more of a coincidence. Having one class with someone is pretty common. Don’t look too much into it.” The look of pleasure on his face was showing me that he was indeed thinking too deeply on the subject. “Really,” I sighed. “Stop it.”

“Stop what?”

“Smiling.”

It had to be painful the amount of time he spent smiling.

“I’ll stop smiling the moment you stop frowning. We can switch expressions.”

“I’m not—” Pausing, I noticed how tight my lips were. Wiggling my mouth around, I loosened my face up and gave him a small, fake grin. “Better?”

His lips pouted out and nodded with the saddest look ever. “Much better.” He placed his violin in his lap.

“So the rumors are true?” I asked.

“Rumors? What rumors?”

“That you’re from the South—though I doubt it’s Brazil—and that you’re a word wizard.” I considered mentioning his tattooed private parts, but that seemed like crossing a line for what was only our second conversation. I’d save it for our third.

“I am from the South, but not Rio, and I do like words, but a word wizard? I don’t know about that seeing how I haven’t been placed in my Hogwarts house yet. Fingers crossed for Gryffindor.”

“You seem more like a Slytherin.”

“That doesn’t mean much to me coming from a Hufflepuff.”

I smiled, because Harry Potter references always brought out smiles.

“What other rumors are there?” he asked.

“Well, there was the threesome you had in the locker room with Jessica Bricks and Monica Lawrence during third hour.”

“Oh well, obviously that’s not a lie. It was an amazing threesome with name calling, hair pulling, and everything intense. I’m surprised you haven’t heard my nickname yet.”

“And what’s that?”

“Mr. Wild.”

Bull crap.

“All right, Mr. Wild. What hair color do Jessica and Monica have?” I asked, knowing that he was lying.

“Platinum blonde, duh.”

“That was a lucky guess. Most of the girls here have platinum blonde hair.”

“And blue eyes.”

“Yup, perfect little Barbie dolls with perfectly big checkbooks.”

“Except for you,” he said. “You’re different.” He didn’t say anything else.

The palms of my hands grew sweaty, and I straightened up in my chair. His eyes stayed zoned in on me, and I was shocked by how comfortable I was with our silence. At the same time I was extremely uncomfortable with our silence. How could I be both things at once? I bounced my right knee and bit into my bottom lip nervously. “So you play the violin?” I asked.

“I do.”

“Are you any good?”

“Psh. Is Jascha Heifetz one of the greatest violinists to ever exist?” My blank stare met his shocked expression. “The answer is yes. Yes, I am good. And yes, Jascha Heifetz is one of the greatest violinists to ever exist. God. What do they teach you people at this school?”

“Not the top violinists, that’s for sure.”

“Well, it’s a shame because Heifetz…he played the violin like he was fighting for his life, as if he would cease to exist if it weren’t for the music he performed. The strings screamed and cried and cheered and laughed all at once.”

I wasn’t ready to admit it, or show it, but Levi made me smile. Not just on the outside, but on the inside, too. “Your personality is the complete opposite of your looks.”

“I know that my personality is outstanding, so I’ll go ahead and pretend that you didn’t just call me ugly.”

I snickered.

“Oh! She laughs, too!” He smirked.

Connor walked behind us and leaned in toward Levi. “Warning, warning, oddity sighting, oddity sighting. Save yourself.”

Levi gave Connor a laugh, but it wasn’t real. It was more one of those I’m-going-to-laugh-uncomfortably-so-you’ll-leave-me-the-fuck-alone kinds of chuckles.

“Friend of yours?” I questioned.

“Can’t you tell? We’re the best of buds,” he sarcastically remarked.

“Maybe you can give him some tips on growing facial hair. He’s been grooming that one chin hair for the past four years.”

“I’ll think about it,” he said, turning back to me. “It’s two, by the way.”