Rory touched his face, but the bumps and ridges weren’t there. He ran to the bathroom and threw on the light, then stared awestruck at his refection. “Only the beauty in your heart matters.” He touched the glass. Psyche healed him. It was the face he’d always had under the acne, but he hadn’t seen it in years.
Rory remembered the guy he used to be before the worst of it hit. He joked with girls, stood with his shoulders straight. It was later he started hiding in fantasy novels—when girls cringed to look at his face.
He grabbed his backpack and keys and ran toward the door. For once he wasn’t going to sneak in right before the tardy bell. There was something he had wanted to do for months.
“Breakfast!” his mom called after him, but Rory could miss a meal for this.
He parked and jogged toward the nearest door, skipped going to his locker and headed straight to his first period class. Only one student was there. She sat in the front corner with a lock of dark hair tucked behind her ear. Her homework and calculus book were neatly stacked in the top corner of her desk, and she was hunched over a book.
“Hi, Vanessa.”
“Hey, Rory.” She didn’t look up.
He knelt beside her desk and watched her eyes move back and forth across the page. “If I buy, do you think you could ditch Koontz for one day and have lunch with me?”
“Are you serious?” She looked up and went doe-eyed at the sight of his face. “What happened?”
“Do you believe in magic?”
“Not really.”
Rory smiled and was surprised by the slight change in her eyes. She’d drawn a quick breath, too. “Then, I grew out of it. Isn’t that what everyone says will happen?” He pulled the book from her hands. “I realize I’m not nearly as intriguing as Dean, but you have to eat.”
She smiled into the faux wood grain of the desk. “If you don’t mind being seen with me.”
Rory touched her chin with the tip of his finger and drew her gaze to him. “I would love to be seen with you.”
He blessed the gods of love and beauty.
Author’s Notes
The myth of Cupid and Psyche first appeared in the Roman work The Golden Ass by Lucius Apuleius in the second century AD, although it is believed the tale existed before. Since that time Cupid and Psyche have been the subject of numerous stories and works of art.
Although a Roman myth I chose to use the Greek names of the gods because they are generally more familiar to young adults.
Acknowledgements
My journey as an author has been long, mostly uphill, and I would have fallen by the wayside long ago without the love and support of many wonderful people: my mom, Barbara Kerr, who read and loved all my novels, even the really bad ones; my husband, Nathan, who never resented the hours I spent writing and did his own laundry when the writing disease set in; Esther Davidson, Aimee Davidson, and Hank Wyborney for reading countless drafts and offering suggestions; Jessica Hansen, Emily Hansen, Janae’ Hansen, Tiffany Coulson and Ashley Yorgesen for loving this story; Ashley Yorgesen, Keitra Calaway and Conner Coulson for the cover photo; and to everyone who encouraged me to push on when the rejection letters piled up. Thank you. I needed you more than you know.
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