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Chapter 17 - A (Personal) Historical Disaster

"You're gonna run into something," Don says as we walk across the courtyard to school together.

"Uh-huh," I mutter, reading over my message to Dad again.

Still haven't sent it. Should I add the thing with Marcus yesterday? It feels important, but that's two problems in one message. Is that too much? I mean, it's Dad's job to address all problems, and there are a million other messages to get to. So if I put all my problems in one message, that should give him less emails to sort through. So...

I start typing in the new details, vaguely aware of Don sighing.

"If you hurt yourself, that's not on me," he says.

"Okay, Socrates," I murmur.

I feel a hand on my shoulder and spare a glance and smile at Tobias. Marcus is next to him, so I offer him a smile, too - I think we're on a smiling basis right now - before going back to revising the message.

Tobias must look at Don for an explanation because Don says more loudly than he needs to, "She's obsessing over something again."

"As long as she doesn't run into anything or anyone, it's fine," Tobias says, his tone lighthearted.

"We should let her."

I don't even spare Don a glance. I keep adding to the message and reading over it.

"Hey," someone says. "I was just--"

"Ashlyn!" Tobias calls.

I gasp, dropping my phone as I run into someone. They drop whatever they're holding, too, to reach out and steady me. I fold in on myself, looking up at August. Don snorts into his fist while Tobias punches him in the arm. Marcus glances between me and August as we give each other startled looks.

I feel the heat rise to my face and butterflies flapping around in my stomach, trying to escape. I don't think I've been this physically close to August since the hug on Friday. But this feels different. Maybe because I'm actually looking directly at him now. And he's not exactly shy about how he's looking at me. I don't think his eyes have ever been this intense. Not that they're burning a hole through me or anything but like they're lighting me on fire, sending warm tingles throughout my body.

"You okay?" he asks.

I blink, his voice breaking me from my thoughts. I glance away and nod, clearing my throat. "Yeah. Sorry. That was my bad."

I take a step back, kneeling to pick up my phone and the box he was holding. I straighten, holding the box out to him, hoping my face isn't as red as it feels. But I don't trust myself to look at him again, so I focus on the box. It's white with a red ribbon on it. Pretty. Wonder what it's for. Not that it's any of my business.

"No problem," August says. "And actually, that's for you."

I blink and risk a glance at him. "What?"

He nods, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Yeah. It's a gift."

I furrow my eyebrows, laughing nervously. "For what?"

"Just... because..." He smiles at me. "So are you gonna open it?"

I shut my eyes, nodding. "Right. Sure."

"Smooth," I hear Don mutter.

He makes an indignant noise as Tobias elbows him and ushers him away. I catch Tobias' eye, and he smiles at me, wiggling his eyebrows. His attention turns to Marcus, but Marcus is already walking away, giving us our privacy for... whatever this is...

When they're gone, I tuck my phone away and untie the ribbon on the box. August takes the ribbon from me, running it between his fingers. It feels like he holds his breath as I take the lid off. The moment I see what's in the box, my breath catches in my throat.