Most of the students at The Valley School had parents with so much money they didn’t know what to do with it all. Their kids were destined to go to the best schools, the best universities, and end up with the best careers. But a small percentage of students, a smaller percentage than Megan realized, were there on scholarship. Their families didn’t have the money, but their test scores were high enough to have the admissions department take a second look at them.
Megan was in that second group. She was smart, maybe even too smart. School, studying, and tests came naturally to her, maybe even too naturally. She had what was referred to as an eidetic memory. She could read a book once, and when it came time for the test, she would flip through that book in her memory, find the page the answer was on, and reread the section for the correct response.
But, as Megan learned rather quickly, life isn’t just about school, studying, and tests. The problem with being too smart was that Megan was also extremely naïve. She had very little common sense, believed just about anything anyone told her. Her friends often joked that they wouldn’t allow her to cross the street by herself.
Luckily, at The Valley School, she didn’t need to cross any streets. Everything was on campus, and everything was about test scores. While her clothes were not designer label, her shoes were last year’s fashion, and her backpack still had doodles on it from three years earlier; below the surface she had what she needed to stand out. She could be successful at this school. She would be successful at this school.
“Aren’t you a little young to be in this class?”
Megan snapped her head around to the voice behind her. She knew the voice, but she had to be sure. As her eyes focused, she realized her ears did not deceive her. It was her hall advisor. Evan. Fate had already stepped in. He was wearing a ruffled version of the school uniform; khaki pants, black shoes, a white button up shirt with blue stripes, and a matching blue sweater. The button up shirt was not tucked into his pants, giving him a slightly rebellious, and yet positively dashing signature look. His dark hair was a bit messy, but messy in the way that it probably took him a few minutes to sculpt it just right.
And she was staring. She hoped he didn’t notice.
“What are you doing in this class?” She finally choked out.
“I believe I asked you first.” He looked at her a little sideways.
“I’m a sophomore.”
“But this is your first year?”
“Yes, I only just applied.”
Evan shook his head. “There are prerequisites you have to take.”
“I tested out of the other sciences.” She quickly defended herself.
“The other sciences?”
“Chemistry, Physics, Biology I, and Biology II.”
“Wait,” he stuck his hand out in front of him. “You tested out of them?”
“That’s what I said.”
“I know that’s what you said, but that’s like impossible.”
“Well it’s not impossible, because I did it.”
Evan began to awkwardly laugh. “Oh my God, are you like some sort of genius freak?”
No. Not again. Not him. She couldn’t have Evan, tall and alluring Evan, thinking she was a freak. Not on the first day of class.
“No. I just…” She had to lie. “I studied a lot.”
“For fun?”
“Yes?” She kind of questioned it. She didn’t know the correct answer. She really thought this place would be the place she would fit in, that she wouldn’t be some sort of genius freak. She thought…
She thought things would be different.
“Well, I don’t understand you, but I wish you luck.” He gave her a quick bob of his head.
“What?”
“This class is supposed to be brutal. That’s why most people wait to take it until they’re seniors, or at least juniors.”
“You’re a senior?” Megan jumped at him a little too quickly; afraid she would only get to be in his presence for one year.
“No, I’m a sophomore.”
She breathed a sigh of relief. “And yet you’re in this class?”
“I like brutal.” He quickly winked at her. Megan’s heart jumped inside her chest.
“Well I’m a sophomore too.”
“Yes, you just told me that, not ten seconds ago.”
“Oh, yeah, right.” Megan’s heart began to beat faster. Why did he make her so nervous?
“Not the best memory, huh?”
“Unless it’s written down…” She began, but quickly stopped herself. He didn’t need to know about her eidetic memory. It would only give him more cause to think she was a freak.
“What?”
“Nothing.” She quickly bypassed her almost need to over tell. “This is all just a bit overwhelming.”
“I can understand that.” Evan sat his hand down at the top of his desk. “I’ve been coming here since sixth grade. It gets better.”
“That’s a relief. Thanks.”
“Sure. Good luck, GF.”
Megan’s eyes widened. “GF? Like girl friend?”
“GF like genius freak. God, why would I call you my girl friend?”
Megan felt the blood drain from her face as she quickly spun back around in her seat. How could she be so stupid? Of course he wasn’t calling her his girl friend. Why would she ever think that? What could be more embarrassing?
“Good morning, class.”
Her attention was immediately stolen from her own embarrassment and brought to the commanding figure at the front of the room. He was just slightly taller than average height and just slightly bigger than average build. His hair was slightly darker than brown, and his voice just slightly deeper than deep.
Megan’s eyes were stuck on him. Her ears heard every word he spoke, and she breathed with every breath he took. Her skin crawled each time he took a step closer. She didn’t know whether she loved him or hated him, but there was no doubt that she admired him.
He spoke of the requirements for the class, of his expectations, and of his grading scale. He spoke of his passion: he spoke of his disgust.
He spoke, and they listened.
He spoke, and they did what they were told.
“You each will be assigned a partner. Any projects that are deemed ‘partner projects’ will be done solely with this partner. I don’t care if you don’t like each other. This is Psychology. Learn to deal.”
There were quiet murmurs among the students: some making faces at their friends, others crossing their fingers at the person sitting beside them. But, Megan didn’t partake. She didn’t dare look around. She was still mesmerized by her psychology teacher. He had her full attention.
“As I call your names, pair up. Allen, Avery. Bowman, Carver. Coulis, Covington.”
“It’s Coulis. Like Coo-lee.” Megan’s voice rang out over the crowd. Although her lips were moving, she couldn’t understand why she was talking. Then, she couldn’t understand why she couldn’t stop talking. The words kept spilling from her mouth. There was no logical reason for her to correct the domineering man standing at the front of the classroom. As a rule, Megan was nothing, if not logical. What was she doing?
“Excuse me?” He looked up from his paper.
“Coulis, sir. Like raspberry coulis.” She was still talking; now about desserts.
“Megan Coulis?”
“Yes.”
After a tense moment of anticipation, an unexpected smile formed across his face. “Thank you. You should be proud of your name, and I should make sure I say it correctly.”
“Oh thank God.” She whispered under her breath.
“Did you say something Miss Coulis?”
“No sir. I mean, thank you.”
“You’re very welcome. Where was I?” He looked up at her as he stressed each syllable of her name. “Coulis, Covington.”
“That was a close one.” That voice behind her rang into her ears. She didn’t want to turn around. She wanted to ignore him, to make
him go away. She didn’t want to look at the cute boy who she had only minutes earlier thought called her his girl friend.
“Hey, Coulis, you can’t ignore me forever. You’re my partner.”
Megan put her hand to her now damp forehead. “Oh God no.”
“You know you’re saying these things out loud, right?” Evan’s voice continued to ring in her ear. “I can hear you even when you whisper. Sound waves, and all. You did test out of physics, right?”
Was this possibly more embarrassing than the GF thing? She wanted nothing more than to disappear. She wanted to run out of the lecture hall and hide under her bed until her ten o’clock English Literature class.
“Plus, I’m the one who should be cursing God. I’m stuck with the new girl as a partner.”
Okay, that was enough: she had to stand up for herself. She swung around to confront him, but in her haste knocked her textbook, green notebook, pen, pencil, and highlighter to the ground. The sound of each individual item hitting the floor echoed from the high ceilings. Everyone turned to stare at her, to scowl at her.
Nope, this was definitely the most embarrassing thing.
“Great. Miss Coulis, once you’ve finished reorganizing your desk, you’ll be my first volunteer.”
Megan picked up her textbook, green notebook, pen, pencil, and highlighter, set them back in their specific places, and slowly made her way to the front of the room. No one said a word, not even Dr. Covington.
But all eyes were on her, and all eyes were judging.
She might have been a genius, but she was definitely a freak.
CHAPTER THREE
Megan fell onto her bed with a sigh. She reached into her bedside table, grabbed a granola bar from its box, and tore it open. Her first day of school had been too long.
All day, she had endured whispers about her not quite fitting in. She didn’t have the right clothes, the right backpack, or the right shoes. She didn’t have a summer beach house and she didn’t have a winter cottage. She didn’t walk the way the other kids walked, she didn’t hold her head the way the other kids held their heads, and she didn’t wear her hair the way the other kids wore their hair. She was poor, and the other kids just didn’t know how to react to her. They had no idea how to even talk to her. So they didn’t. They ignored her.
She had decided to skip lunch; for fear of running into those same comments, awkward stares, and she had decided to skip dinner for the exact same reason. But mostly, she feared running into Evan Covington. She couldn’t handle any more bouts of embarrassment for the day.
Megan unzipped her backpack and took out its contents in preparation to begin her homework. She decided to save her English homework for last; since it was simply to read fifty pages of a book she had just so happened to read only a month earlier. She could easily reread its pages as she laid down for bed. She had already tackled her five calculus problems during her lunch break, so she set that aside in her ‘done’ pile. Her economics teacher had given the students a few minutes at the end of class to read a chapter in their textbooks, with the promise of a quiz at the top of the next day’s lesson. Megan had already memorized it after reading it once, she also put that in the ‘done’ pile. All that was left was her psychology homework; for that, she needed Evan.
She couldn’t hide forever. She swung her legs off the bed, grabbed her green notebook and a pencil, and made her way down the hall to room 601. The door was open.
“Knock, knock.” She mirrored his greeting from the day before.
“Be right there.” She heard him call right before she saw him.
He emerged from a doorway across the room, wearing nothing but a white towel draped around his hips. His dark hair was slicked back, and his body was still gleaming with droplets of water. His skin was tanned, and his torso as defined as his arms. Megan held her breath for fear she would let out a small scream if she didn’t. She felt her body strangely begin to tingle.
“Hey GF, what’s up?” He casually tilted his head toward her.
“Ummm…ummm.” She couldn’t find any words.
“Not so great with the social skills either, huh?”
How did he always know exactly what to say to make her want to explode? Yes, she had a good memory and yes, she had fine enough social skills. But for some reason, unbeknownst to her, neither seemed to work around him.
“When did you want to work on the psych homework?” She finally managed to spit out.
“I’m good now.” He motioned for her to sit on his bed.
“You’re naked.” She blurted through her lips.
“Well, I’m wearing a towel.” He winked, “But if you want me to be naked…”
Megan childishly screamed and covered her eyes, dropping her green notebook to the ground.
“God, GF, I was kidding. Calm down.”
“You know what? I’ll come back.” Megan quickly turned around, embarrassed at her own embarrassment.
“No, no. Sit down. I’ll go throw on some clothes.”
Evan devilishly smiled before he turned and headed back into his bathroom.
“Your room is really big.” Megan called to him, uneasy that she was in his room alone.
“That’s the perk of being a hall advisor; big room and your own bathroom.”
“Is it a lot of work?” She was just randomly making conversation to combat the awkwardness she felt.
“I don’t know. This is my first time. But I seriously doubt it. I personally never went to my hall advisor in all the years I’ve been here. I can’t imagine I’ll have too much to do.”
Evan reemerged from his bathroom, this time wearing a loose-fitting pair of sweats and a white muscle shirt. Megan took a deep breath, attempting to hide her immediate excitement over his attire.
“So psych…”
“So psych…”
Dr. Covington had assigned them a simple task for their first partner project. They were to each tell their partner a story from their past, and then the partner was to report on three things they learned about the other person that were not directly stated in the story. This specific undertaking thrilled Evan. He loved reading people, seeing what made them tick. He loved picking out their tells, their insecurities, and was doubly excited to perform this little experiment on Megan. He knew everyone else in the school. The Valley School wasn’t that big, and all the students, at least the sophomores, had all been there for so long. He’d either had classes or played on teams with most of them, and the others he’d met at parties. He prided himself on being able to walk by anyone on campus and name at least one fact about him or her.
But not Megan. Everything he knew about her was not much more than skin-deep. She was beautiful: there was no mistaking that. Her skin was pale, practically white: her hair was dark, practically black. Her eyes were crystal blue, with white streaks cutting through her irises. They were almost hypnotizing, and they almost had been the first moment he had seen her. She was standing next to her mother by the window, with the afternoon sunlight backlighting her, he had felt his knees go weak. It was strange and unsettling. Then earlier in the day, when she turned around to him in class, and he’d caught her stare; he could have sworn his heart skipped a beat. That was also strange, unsettling, and also not something he cared to have happen again. Evan made a quick promise to himself to hold himself together whenever he was around her, but he wasn’t quite sure how long he would be able to keep that up.
On a different level, he had assumed from her clothes that she didn’t come from money. The rest of the school did, and from there he assumed her IQ was fairly high. The Valley School rarely made exceptions to their rule regarding the enrollment period. They preferred their students to be enrolled in the sixth grade, but they would also evaluate students coming into their freshman year. Someone coming into the school for the first time in their sophomore year was practically unheard of. Then, for her to have tested out of Chemistry, Psychics, Biology I, and Biology II…well, there was no doubt: she had to
have been some sort of genius freak.
“So tell me a story, Megan.”
“Oh no, you can go first.”
“I am going first. The assignment is to analyze your partner’s story. Not to tell a story.”
“Right.” She swiftly agreed.
“So tell me a story.” He leaned in close to her.
“Um, okay, about anything?”
“About anything.”
Megan took a deep breath, wriggled her nose, and began her short story. She told him of her last birthday. She told him how her friends had thrown her a surprise party at a park across from her house. She told him how it was so unexpected that she actually started crying.
“That was so silly.” Her cheeks blushed.
“No it wasn’t.” Evan loved the way her lips pouted when she was embarrassed.
“But I barely said anything. What three things can you say about me from that little story?”
“Well, let’s see…” Evan leaned back against a pillow. “First off, you didn’t want to tell your story first, so I would say you’re hesitant when it comes to taking the lead on anything. Maybe you’re still unsure of yourself?”
Her lips pouted again.
“Secondly, I’d say you’re shy and embarrass easily, being as you picked a very recent and yet not too personal of a story.”
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